Wellmania, my prospective new hair colour, and what’s the point of reading writing by humans?

The giveaway is thriller ‘The Ugly Truth’ by L.C. North.

First, a question: Should I have my hair dyed this colour and how much is the answer ‘yes’? (Photo snaffled from Harper’s Bazaar Australia here.)

I’ve experimented with brunette and reddish looks in the past, but have been blonde for years, rarely even varying the length much. Time for a change. You’ll see the results soon after my trip to the hairdresser.

On Friday, I met with my friend Casey who gave me the lowdown on what being a mother is like and how four-year-olds and 18-month-olds behave. In mid-March, I lamented in this Substack about my lack of knowledge in this area being an early obstacle for my novel-writing. Casey was generous and non-judgmental with her explanations and now I’m armed with lots of useful anecdotes, facts, and avenues to explore. Thanks, Casey! You’re a legend!

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s bunny-and-chocolate season. My Easter-mad partner and I made our annual pilgrimage to Melba’s Chocolates in the Adelaide Hills and lemon myrtle macadamia fudge and various flavours of eggs. Even I, adamant preferrer of savoury foods, am keen to dig into our supply.

I hope you spend an excellent long weekend with friends/family/furry creatures and treats. Have a good one! : )

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News

1.     I tweeted about this last week because it was a day early but by crikey, it really did read like an April Fools’ Day joke: ‘Jim’s Mowing founder secedes, declares himself king’. In short, the head honcho of an Aussie lawnmowing mega-business is cracking a sad because of Victorian Premier Dan Andrews’ COVID lockdowns. He’s decided instead of putting on his big boy pants and dealing with it as most other Victorians did, he wants to chuck a belated tanty and cast off his citizenship, declaring himself king of his own micronation. A’ight then.

2.     Local councils might seem pretty small-fry in the push for power, but this seems like a trend we should be nipping in the bud. A bunch of anti-vaxxers going by the seemingly innocuous name of ‘My Place’ have their sights set on infiltrating local councils to further their agenda. My partner is super-conscientious when it comes to voting on things like local councils and I must admit I haven’t shown much interest (compulsory voting at state and federal elections are obviously a different story). I’m beginning to come around to his way of thinking, though. I reckon next local council election I’ll be looking the candidates up online and researching their affiliations before absolutely casting my vote.

Reviews

1.     Ooft – this week in The New Yorker Jay Caspian Kang explored ‘What’s the Point of Reading Writing by Humans?’. We’re in a time where many writers are worried about the limits of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligences writing content that looks vaguely like a human produced it. The question Jay raises is not so much about whether or how quickly AI’s will reach the stage where they can convincingly pass as a human creator of essays and stories, but whether we’d want to read ‘art’ made by something artificial. Don’t we then lose a connection to other humans through feeling what they’re feeling or what they’re trying to express? Isn’t that a beautiful enough experience to want to protect it? I’d say yes, but what do the bean counters say? I reckon we need to draw some lines around this and decide where the ethical limits are now before we go much further down this track.

2.     Been meaning to try Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty range for ages and have finally had a chance to give it a crack. Sephora sent me a sample of the Fenty Skin Hydra Vizor invisible moisturiser SPF 15. I’m curious to try her other products. This one comes out of the tube a pale purplish pink and smells like blueberries. A little goes a long way, so don’t make the mistake I did of smooshing out what I thought was a reasonably sized blob only to be rubbing in the excess for a minute or so. It feels nice on aside from looking greasy immediately after application. I wore it by itself without foundation on top, and it did dull down after a while, although the greasy stage didn’t look too bad – kinda glassy and glowy. If you’re keen to avoid shine like the plague, you could probably find a foundation or powder that would tone it down without losing the glow. This Fenty product didn’t beat my favourite moisturiser/combo product, Mecca’s To Save Face, but it’s not a bad second option. I do wish it had a higher SPF rating, though – To Save Face is SPF50+.

3.     Have you been eagerly awaiting for Wellmania to drop on Netflix like I have? The aptly named Liv (played by absolute hoot Celeste Barber of poking-fun-at-celebs’-social-media-posts-of-their-hot-bodies fame) flies from New York to visit her family and friends in Australia and is trapped here when she loses her Green Card. There’s a catch when she tries to get a new one – the medical conditions say she must improve her overall health if she expects to return to New York in several weeks to take up the job offer of a lifetime. She’s determined to reform her hard-partying ways long enough to earn her ticket back to the US, but is she running to a new job as a food critic on a hot TV show or away from her problems in her home country? I thought the eight episodes that dropped this week were fab. I sure hope there are more – the season ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, so be warned going in in case it’s not renewed (I reckon there’s a good chance it will be, though). Recommended for: swear bears, Celeste fans, spotting the gazillion Aussie stars in supporting roles, anyone who enjoys poking fun at the whole ‘wellness’ industry and influencers, lovers of down-to-earth comedy.

Giveaway

The winner of last week’s book giveaway, Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, is James Pizzey. Excitement! James, I’ve emailed you.

This week’s giveaway is thriller The Ugly Truth by L.C. North. Pop your name and email address in here to enter.

Playlist of the Week

Eating a slice of carrot cake in Autumn:

1.     cardigan – Taylor Swift

2.     505 – Arctic Monkeys

3.     Linger – The Cranberries

4.     Back To Black – Amy Winehouse

5.     Me & You – HONNE, Tom Misch

6.     Set Fire to the Rain - Adele

7.     Romantic Lover - Eyedress

8.     Just Can’t Get Enough – Black Eyed Peas

9.     Sunrise – Norah Jones

10.  Billie Bossa Nova – Billie Eilish

11.  Neon Lights – Demi Lovato

12.  Sweater Weather – The Neighbourhood

13.  Autumn in New York – Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong

14.  Habits (Stay High) – Tove Lo

15.  Rolling in the Deep – Adele