Looking Sideways: 10 Things
A Sri Lankan sojourn, an audio tribute to David Lynch, and some brilliant post-Announcement listening.
1. Greetings from Sri Lanka! For once in my life I am attempting to take a proper holiday, so am here for ten days. My plan is to surf as much as possible, read as many books as I can, and get stuck into the big list of writing I’ve been ruminating over for a while (yes, this is my idea of a restful break).
All of which meant that I’ve been a little late posting my final behind-the-scenes video diary for The Announcement, mainly because I’m staying with my pals at the rather lovely Soul & Surf for the first few days (that’s it above; big thanks to my pals Ed and Sofie), and to be honest I thought this would make a far nicer backdrop than my shed.
As usual, in this instalment, exclusively for my paid Insights subscribers, I’ll be discussing what I got right, what I got wrong, the criticisms I’ve received, the questions I’ve received, while delving into some of the decision-making behind this series.
In this instalment, I’m also mulling over what I learned from making the series, and asking my paid subscribers to let me know what they thought of the series as well. This one will be out for all Insights subscribers on Monday.
2. I continue to be very tickled by the reaction the series is getting, not least the diverse press coverage which next week will include Hypebeast and Surfer Magazine. And big up my ACM pals for sharing, too.
3. In episode 3 of The Announcement I suggested that one of the revolutionary things about the Doughnut Economics theory is that ‘…it asks us to collectively interrogate this idea that extractive capitalism is some inevitable aspect of the human condition’.
So it was with great interest that I listened to this excellent BBC series, which explores how ‘the idea of a business's primary responsibility being to increase profits became so popular’. (Spoiler alert: this thinking is only 50 years old).
4. Thanks to listener and friend Ben Luxford for sending me this fascinating podcast on the five years it took producer Peter Jaysen to get A Complete Unknown made.
5. This one of for Brits only, but this Storyville documentary about British mercenary (and safe cracker) Dave Tomkins is the wildest story I’ve seen for a while.
6. This beautifully compiled audio tribute to David Lynch from NTS is so well done.
7. ‘Don’t Believe Him’, says Ezra Klein re Trump in this must-watch essay.
8. My friend Marie from United We Climb has written a really thoughtful response to the organisers of the She Races Trail Series. More above.
9. I’m only really posting the ‘Central Tee claims he started Nike Tech trend’ brouhaha so that everybody else my age can feel about a billion years old as well.
Use Db Journey discount code LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 15% on any purchase.
10. My pals at The Wave were in touch to let me know about their plans for this year’s Sister Sessions. The first one is next week, and you can find the details about that and the rest here.
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That Ezra Klein piece is great, and much needed tbh!