Looking Sideways: 10 Things
ACM is hiring, a disappointing reading experience, and Christina heads for the moon
1. Our pal Christina is on her way to the moon!
I’ve been very excited and tickled to see the great Christina Koch finally take off on Artemis II this week. One of my fondest memories of recent years was meeting for lunch in London in February 2023 (above) and asking her how work was going: “Well, looks like I’m off to the moon in a year or so”.
If you’ve yet to listen to my episode with Christina, in which we discussed her experiences as an astronaut, and why she loves surfing so much, catch up below. (And yes, I will be inviting her back for a second round once she’s back down on earth).
10 Things will always be free, but it takes a lot of effort, love and curiosity to pull this thing together each week.
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2. My agency ACM is hiring. Know anybody out there who’d be suitable for this, or who might want to come and join our team? Click this link to find out more.
More simple ways to support Looking Sideways - use any of these codes and I’ll get a small commission 🫡
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3. Congratulations to the gang behind Hotpipe Hillbillies for winning the Best Emerging Talent award at the recent North East Surf Film Festival, which sounds like it went right off last weekend.
4. Speaking of Sal McGee from Yonder (one of the organisers of last weekend’s event) this is a really nice back-and-forth between her and Easkey Britten on Finisterre’s excellent Broadcast blog.
5. Rest in peace, The Face magazine. Again.
6. I know I’m sharing a lot of Len Necefer posts at the moment, but I’m finding his entire take on the AI conversation to be provocative and fascinating. His latest piece is another example - I would love to know what people out there think of the arguments he’s making.
7. I’ve been enjoying The Horrors on the BBC’s reliably excellent Artist in Residence series (UK only)
8. Interesting read from Yvette - Wave Wahines - if you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know I’ve been making this point for years now (notably here and here - and yes I made my usual points in the comment section of this piece).
Interestingly, I’ve yet to hear anybody responsible for organising these conferences credibly defend the practise.
9. This week I read the most remarkable piece by Jamie Brisick about the 2019 Woolsey Fire that took all of his possessions.
Naturally, being by Jamie, our most talented surf writer, it’s about so much more than that.
Reading this story took me back to the first time we met in person, which was in Malibu in 2019, a few months after the fire.
We sat in the ashes of his former home and recorded a beautiful and honest Looking Sideways conversation about life, love and loss; and how he was processing the impact of this cataclysmic event.
At the time I remember being struck by the generosity with which Jamie approached what must have been a really difficult morning with two people he didn’t really know. Owen captured this moment in a series of typically brilliant pictures, which I’m sharing here.
Since then we have stayed close, and his support and friendship have become increasingly important to me.
I love the fact that we tend to only see each other in fairly random and impromptu places( Malibu, Santa Monica, Biarritz, London); that our conversations take flight in unexpected directions each time we meet; and that he’s such a champion of my own work. Listen to our conversation below:
10. It’s always a slightly discomfiting experience to find a beloved book a bit ‘meh’, which has been my experience with Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend. Anybody else out there read it? What am I missing?
Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️