In Case You Missed It #7
My monthly curation of all the excellent things!
Welcome to the opposite of doom scrolling :)
Hello to all newcomers! Each month I send out an eclectic collection of the brilliant things I have chanced upon in the last month that I loved so much I think you might too. I keep the list (relatively!) concise but I’d never assume you didn’t get there before me, hence the In Case You Missed It of it all. The archive of past editions of this series can be found here and in the comments you are always warmly invited to share all the wonderful things you’ve stumbled across yourselves.
Now, onto the main event…
*If you have any trouble reaching the end of this email, click ‘view entire message’, apparently that should sort it :) or read the entire thing on Still Space*
THIS WEEK—SO MANY GOOD READS AND ALSO SO MUCH FUNNY
with a Poetry prescription for people who don’t get poetry
Not only does this selection of exquisite poems include one of my favourites ever by Mary Oliver which I’ve shared with you myself (Wild Geese) but it offers up the most gentle, lilting introduction for poetry skeptics. I love the premise of this, I love the collection of poems, I love the whole concept of a weekly poetry prescription, I love everything Maya is bringing to the world. I’ve taken a pause from my own poetry curation for the time being (though this post along with my recent anniversary review really made me miss it!) so for now Maya is my go-to provider for all things poetry related—I’d wager a weekly balm no one knows how much they need. I also want to give a shout-out to her upcoming series of virtual craft & poetry classes, you can get more info on those here. I also loved her recent piece on grief as well as How do we know that what happens to us isn’t good? I guess ‘Subscribe’ to her she’s pure gold, is what I’m actually saying.
on Standing Up For Comedy
MO COLLINS people! Joan freaking ‘powder my nose amongst other things’ Callamezzo of my beloved Parks & Recreation (imho, the greatest sitcom ever made and Joan one of its most sublime character creations) is on Substack. Now I’ve loved her as an actor for years but her writing too, my god. I could not be more thrilled. In this particular piece, everything Mo says I have thought about but not articulated with a quiet aching rage, notably that THE BEAR (as exquisitely executed as it is) IS NOT A COMEDY. Her rallying cry here on behalf of belly laughs everywhere in support of funny is funny, I second with all my pencil-headed might! She posted this mid-last year but hot on the heels of the strike-delayed Emmy Awards where The Bear went on to clean up in the comedy category?? she reposted it and is how I discovered her. This is a fabulous read. Also, her Substack is donation only for the time-being so you can dig in to the bounty of all her other awesome posts on offer right here.
is giving you 3 things guaranteed to change your life (a week)
When the comedians descend… two come along at once. My Substack inbox is getting funnier by the second and I cannot get enough of it. Paul Scheer, another Parks & Rec alum—actor, writer, podcaster and lols machine extraordinaire, joined Substack last month and his weekly offering 3 Things (think of them like perfectly formed short skits in the written word) is already cracking me up—like properly properly, out loud, till you choke on your own spittle kind of cracking up. So far he’s convinced me that wearing a gilet is a crime (except they call them vests in America), that I need to see a Jason Statham movie about bees and also that Jesse Eisenberg needs Abraham, a child who he cycles past every day, to know that he is NOT Napoleon Dynamite. Paul’s newsletter is free for now, f*cking hilarious and joyfully thoughtful too.
on How she learned to dress herself (aged 45 and a quarter)
What always surprised me most about my now notorious Marie Kondo clearouts was that the categories she set up as the easiest to tackle first—books and clothes, were the ones that absolutely floored me. My attachment to clothes in particular is what has prevented me from taking on another clear-out since. They hold the very fabric of my life’s history in their fibres and I was reminded of that sentimental-wrenching feeling reading this gorgeous piece by Farrah Storr. No one says it like it is, like Farrah. I’ve never really been interested in ‘fashion’ more so ‘style’ but Farrah expresses something in this piece which I found effortlessly elegant and pragmatic like all of her writing. LOVED.
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with a guest post from Alice Sophie on How to make paint from potatoes
Chip them, bake them, mash them, roast them, paint with them?? We already knew potatoes were up there for most versatile vegetable ever but it’s just topped out the table for good as far as I’m concerned, with this new revelatory information courtesy of the ever-wondrous Leyla Kazim. I am passionate about eliminating chemicals wherever possible from my life—and of course being a more responsible citizen of this precious earth, so this post made my heart sing. Of course humans must have used other means to create paint pre-industrial times but I’d never considered how before, nor how toxic modern paint with all its fantastical colour possibilities has become. Verdict: Farrow and Ball is out, potatoes are IN.
on Why Is Music Journalism Collapsing?
Why does everything I read of Ted Gioia’s leave me with a feeling of unbridled hopefulness? That a New World Order - and one that serves the people - isn’t just possible but might just be right around the corner? Truly, the more doomsday sounding the title, Ted’s words only ever galvanise me towards action. This particular piece made me want to listen to music again and learn about its makers like I haven’t for years because like most people, I too have fallen foul of the streamers intent on destroying the industries they’ve monopolised.
Condé Nast recently announced that Pitchfork ‘a leading music media outlet for the past 25 years’ will be absorbed into GQ. As a music outsider this meant nothing to me until I read this piece which as always with Ted’s work, because he so deeply understands his field of research, is articulate and concise in a way that in just over 1,000 words (seriously, I checked!!) somehow leaves you feeling like you just watched a 10 hour documentary on the subject. It’s fascinating and essential reading for its further reaching implications, way beyond the world of music.
eliza mclamb on The Discourse Age
I absolutely loved this playful but forensic analysis from Eliza McLamb on how some of us choose to interact with social media these days, particularly those who innocently or not, offer up petrol to a raging fire. This is undoubtedly a piece even more so enjoyed from the sidelines (as someone who no longer participates on those sites) but it is as skilful in its chosen case studies (the innocuous posts that launched a thousand retweets), as it is in its deeply meta understanding of how the internet (as a metaphor for humanity??) is eating itself. Hilarious, self-aware and hugely enlightening.
on Substack stage-fright
A thousand times YES to this hot off the press piece from my number one fave EG. Emma has an extraordinary ability to help articulate feelings within my own body that up to now haven’t made sense. In this piece she discusses being a writer who found herself not writing but instead, attending lots of meetings—and then how her body brought her back to what she loves to do the most, write. I cannot tell you how much I relate to this as an actor who in recent times has found themselves having to do more press and promotion (that I have no skills in) than my actual job. Is it just artistic industries where this has become so prevalent? I suspect our old friend social media has a lot to do with it, attempting to turn us all into mini marketing execs. But I digress. Substack found its way to Emma and supported her on this journey, and thank goodness it did—another joyful and inspiring read from her, as ever. 💛
The Guardian’s You Be The Judge on Should my wife’s family stop using my toothbrush?
It has been a good few weeks since I first read this article (where readers pass judgment on petty domestic disputes) and I am still catching myself belly-clench laughing thinking of poor Edward and his REVOLTING in-laws. Full credit to
for sharing this first so this a true ICYMI but I have not been able to stop thinking about it since nor will I maybe ever, so I had to share it again. I can honestly say this is an equal parts gem of a horrifying yet hilarious read with Roald Dahlian-esque energy. I am still laughing now even writing this. Go get some funny in your bones. (The following week’s article lists the public poll result, you can see it here, just scroll to the bottom. This made me scream even louder.)GAWPING AT
Pandora Sykes’s London Home
I am absolutely obsessed with Pandora' Sykes’s home as featured in the UK’s Home & Garden magazine from back in May 2020. I generally find this magazine to be pretty exclusive and aspirational - not in a good way - but this piece feels like a mildly refreshing counter to that, probably because Pandora is so authentic and approachable herself—I’m a big fan of her Substack too, but this one is really about the visuals because I absolutely adore what she’s done with her house. It’s so playful and unique. It really subverts the very traditional staid ideas of decoration particularly her emphasis on bold colours and collecting eclectic vintage pieces wherever possible, and bold layers of different patterns and textures in the same space, and yet it feels completely in tune with the Victorian terrace that it all sits within. I wish I lived in this house/ Pandora’s brain. I found it super inspirational as someone about to get decorating who wants to do as much of it as possible myself (one more shout-out here for potato paint, yey!) So if you’re about to do the same, this might be a great place to start.
I’M (STILL) LISTENING
Office Ladies Podcast
“The Office BFFs Book” Q&A Episode
Last Office Ladies shout-out for a while I promise! But whilst digging into my own creative process recently, this episode of Office Ladies auspiciously cropped up with Angela and Jenna sharing their writing journeys as part of the promotion for the release of their book Office Ladies BFFs—and I loved it! They’re both incredibly frank about what worked for them and what didn’t and how they worked that out for themselves. I especially enjoyed hearing about how they found a way to work together on the book because it’s exploring their artistic collaboration (which in a wonderfully meta way is really about their friendship), but it’s also a really true account of how long it can take to produce an original work. So often in the promotion of new works, the true extent of the journey up to that point can get a little lost in the rose-tinted wonder of the shiny, new thing. It’s the difference between the genuine hardship of the Fellowship’s journey in the Lord of the Rings books that then wasn’t necessarily reflected enough in the movie version of it for me—lol. But Angela and Jenna are brave enough here to tell the truth and it’s more revelatory than a stay with the elves in Rivendell.
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ICYMI on Still Space
I interrogated my creative process and why it can be so hard to finish what we start—
For those that have had it with diets and diet culture and food fad trends; I shared an introduction to intuitive eating (lots more to say on this topic so consider it a leaping off point)—
I wrote about my tentative forays into ‘slow living’ with a postcard from Los Angeles—
This Sunday just gone in true ICYMI fashion to celebrate a year since relaunching Still Space into the stratosphere, I put together a comprehensive library of the 99 posts that I’ve published during the last twelve months. This is a great one to dip in and out of, especially for newcomers—hello!
And finally, upcoming this week I have another birthday post in honour of someone else very close to my heart—Adriene Mishler, marking a decade of practising Yoga With Adriene. This one’s for my paid subscribers so if you’re not one of those yet, join us below!
Any of these pieces really speaking to you? Anything you’d love to recommend to the community? What’s caught your eye recently?
A wonderful array of the most excellent things! Curated exquisitely as always with such care and detail. ✨
Can’t wait to delve deeper into everything.🧡🩵(OMG that toothbrush article… unreal 😱🤢)
What an honour to have my little article about making your own decorating paints from POTATOES mentioned in your as always beautiful round-up. Thank you so much, dear Sian 🎨