Shakespeare Aliens, Jelena Dokic for Witchery, my solid perfume pick, and an ice-cold migraine hat
The book giveaway this week is ‘Locked Ward’ by Anne Buist.
Things are heating up in 2023 in the sense that it’s shaping up to be a year when I get out and about more – see more shows, try more things, live life, make up for lost time. Long may it continue!
We saw Shakespeare Aliens at the Adelaide Fringe on the weekend. I’ve always been a massive fan of the original Alien movie and its sequel. (The more recent additions to the franchise, particularly Prometheus? Not so much.) I can pretty much recite Aliens by heart, so when I saw this high-/low-brow mash-up of the movie converted into Shakespearesque language in the Fringe guide, I was ecstatic. And it lived up to expectations. They kept most of the iconic lines intact and Shakespeared it up without obscuring the meaning of what was happening. It moved along at a brisk pace and included so clever props and backdrops to recreate the movie experience on stage. Loved it, even bought the T-shirt. I’m not sure whether they’ll tour the rest of the country, so I haven’t included this as an official review in this newsletter, but get along to it if you’re at all a Ripley fan and see it showing near you.
Being Fringe time around the city, it’s also time for Adelaide Writers’ Week. It started Saturday and goes through until this Thursday. Given my crime fiction bent, I’m keen to get along to Jane Harper’s session, ‘The Aussie Queen of Noir’. In time for the event, podcast Either Side of Nhill have done a special show themed around Writers’ Week and guess who they interview in the episode? My best writerly friend, Rosalie, aka R. A. Wodecki. Can I just proudly say: she knocks this whole being interviewed thing out of the park? I even teared up towards the end. And Ben and Kristy are ultra-smooth, professional hosts. I’ll be listening to more of their fine show. If you want to refresh your memory (or read for the first time) about Rosalie’s experiences of writing and publishing her gothic novel, you can read up on her here in Becks and the City. Check out the podcast, though. It’s ace.
Anyway, I hope the start of March is treating you right. I’m digging the autumn vibes that are happening right now. Bring on the crunchy leaves, cooling breezes, new-season cute cardies, and the cosy feeling of hunkering down to write. Until next time, folks!
News
1. As someone who, in my 20s, wore so much Witchery I once asked a friend to ban me from shopping there, I’m pumped that the brand has chosen Jelena Dokic as its latest ambassador. Check out the Style Collective interview and photos here. I played tennis in my teens and remember Jelena as someone I looked up to around that time. She went through so many struggles to emerge as a wonderful tennis commentator and advocate these days. Honestly, I don’t think Witchery could’ve chosen a better woman for the campaign. She’s gorgeous inside and out, continues to fight for the causes of those who are struggling with mental health, bullying, and other issues, and is all-round an A+ person. And the clothes look absolutely fire on her – I’m especially eyeing off that white double-breasted blazer. Perfection.
2. Couldn’t agree more with this – an article in The Guardian calling for an end to unpaid internships as part of uni degrees. I had to suspend working for pay while I completed six weeks of unpaid work at a firm as part of my law degree years ago, and not having an income for that length of time was rough, man. I did it, but I had a supportive partner who could make up the shortfall for a while. Even so, I had to go back to paid work the second I clicked over the minimum amount of internship hours. I can only imagine how much of a stretch it is for students these days with the cost of living marching upwards at a rate of knots.
3. This tickled me and I might have to put it on my bucket list – finding a message in a bottle. Not only does it conjure up stories of pirates and treasure islands from my childhood reading, there’s something cool about these types of snail mail escapades – pen pals, sending roaming gnomes around the world to random unsuspecting strangers, postcard confessions, and the like. It’s just so whimsical and playful. So the fact that someone, against the odds, found this message in a bottle after its mysterious three-year travels around the ocean is so darn cool. He was able to return it, barnacles and all, back to its owner. The wildest way to meet a person and a story you can share with others for life. I’m inspired to ditch my own corked-up message at sea at some point.
Reviews
1. Honestly, why isn’t solid perfume more of a thing? Instead of a sample vial of your everyday perfume that can crack and leak all over your handbag, I reckon it’s much more convenient to carry a solid perfume with you, particularly for travelling. Obsessed as I am about packing super-light, I scouted around for one for my recent Melbourne trip. When I asked whether they stocked any in the Myer fragrance section, the salesgirl looked at me askance like I was trying to trick her. She’d never heard of them. I ended up buying The Body Shop’s Apricot & Agave Fragrance Dome for a measly eleven dollars, as it was reduced from its already tiny price tag. It's not a forceful fragrance, but I’m not into punching people in the face with my perfume anyway, and you can always slather on more. I’m a fan – this pot will be accompanying me on trips from now on.
2. I’m no medico, so take this review with a grain of salt, but my sister-in-law recently bought me one of these – a HappyCap. They’re a spongy hat that you pop in the freezer ready for the next time you feel a headache or a migraine coming on. I had high hopes for it – when I’m in the migraine zone, my body tends towards dehydration and feels like it’s on fire from within. I usually manage this by wetting down flannels and applying them to my forehead, neck, etc. This hat is like levelling up on that solution. I wore it straight out of the freezer when I had a ‘light’ (still bloody sore, but not completely incapacitating) migraine last week and it was a godsend. It did seem to give me a bit of brain freeze after wearing it for maybe ten minutes, so I found it worked best when I did a ten-minutes-on-five-minutes-off type of arrangement. Anyway, you’ll be prying my HappyCap out of my cold, dead hands, it's that good.
Giveaway
The winner of last week’s giveaway, Make it Meaningful by Debbie Haski-Leventhal, is Brenda Williams. Brenda, I’ve emailed you.
This week I have a copy of Anne Buist’s novel Locked Ward to give away. Pop your name and email address in here to enter.
Playlist of the Week
Sitting in my luxury treehouse listening to birdsong:
1. Morning Breeze – Juke Ross
2. Mereya – Dangle
3. Flume – Bon Iver
4. Return To Innocence – Enigma
5. Shelter - FINNEAS
6. Bird Song – Juniper Vale
7. Forest – Together Alone
8. Children – Robert Miles
9. Earthsong – Erthen
10. Far Away – Lonely in the Rain
11. nightfall – Snail’s House
12. A Day Without Rain – Enya
13. In My Place - Coldplay
14. Leafy – Rotem Sivan
15. When Autumn Comes – The Ambientalist