Weekend Reading

  • Kitchen machismo off the menu as female chefs blaze a trail in Scotland
    Julie Lin MacLeod worked in male-led kitchens for years, and her experiences there – inappropriate sexual advances among them – served as motivation to open her own place, one that would be run by women.
    Some of the best eateries in Glasgow on this list.
  • 5 Psychological Strategies to Ease the Stress of Perfectionism
    The last three months I’ve been trying an experiment. It’s something that I’ve never done before, and in a certain way, it’s been a huge challenge. However, in other ways, it’s been an enormous stress relief, and I would say a largely successful effort.
    Read for myself, sharing for others.
  • ‘I have an appetite for transgressive women’
    Phoebe Waller-Bridge is sitting in an upmarket restaurant, asking me to teach her how to burp at will. “I can’t armpit fart and I can’t fake burp, and I think that’s a tragedy,” she says. We met about five minutes ago; I’m not quite sure how we reached this point.
    Killing Eve was superb. Prompted another rewatch of Fleabag which still delivers.
  • Why You Should Surround Yourself With More Books Than You’ll Ever Have Time to Read
    Not sure I fully agree but I get the sentiment.
  • Why we don’t have to attend every drama we are invited to
    This week I lost my purse. It had all the stuff your purse usually has in it – bank cards, credit card, driving licence, loyalty cards, stamps (how retro), photos and £50 cash. I was gutted. Gutted I’d have to cancel all my cards. Gutted that I had cash on me when I rarely do.
    Step away from the drama! (life rule 592)
  • One Small Step for the Web…
    I’ve always believed the web is for everyone. That’s why I and others fight fiercely to protect it. The changes we’ve managed to bring have created a better and more connected world.
    Will be following this with a lot of interest. Everything has to start small.
  • You Should Be Eating Pie for Breakfast
    From the moment it opens at 8 a.m. every day, customers flood Chicago’s Bang Bang Pie shop, drawn in by the smell of browned butter and toasted sugar. On a recent morning, peach raspberry was moving fast, as were slices of apple spiked with a slash of cider and baked in a graham flour crust.
    Not actually read this one, just going with the headline!!
  • Students raise money to send a janitor on the first vacation he’s had in almost a decade
    Custodian Herman Gordon has been spreading kindness at Bristol University for more than 11 years. This summer, students of the UK university decided it was time to return the favor.
    Awwwwwww
  • The Joy of Experiencing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody for the Very First Time: Watch Three Reaction Videos
    Remember when you first encountered Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”? I suspect many of us don’t. It’s not the Kennedy assassination.
    Wow. I’d love to be able to go back and do something like this.
  • Hip Hop Fan Freaks Out When He Hears Rage Against the Machine’s Debut Album for the Very First Time
    I consider myself lucky to have been a child of the nineties. As you know from Portlandia’s tribute to the decade of slack, it was a time when “people were content to be unambitious and sleep to 11 and just hang out with their friends.
    As per above. This is why I keep going to gigs, why I seek out new music. I want THOSE moments.
  • Labels
    For the last 5 months or so, I have been doing some long hard thinking about who I am, something that I probably should have confronted years ago, but somehow managed to bury deep until this year.
    Feelings. All of them!
  • An In-Depth Explanation of Computational Photography on the iPhone XS
    Outside of Apple employees, one of the people most knowledgeable about the iPhone’s camera is Sebastiaan de With, designer of the manual camera app Halide. It is fitting, then, that Sebastiaan would publish what I believe is the best explanation of the iPhone XS camera system to date.
    Geek time. I’ve not yet stretched the XS camera but planning to this very weekend.
  • Raised by YouTube
    The platform’s entertainment for children is weirder—and more globalized—than adults could have expected. ChuChu TV, the company responsible for some of the most widely viewed toddler content on YouTube, has a suitably cute origin story.
    Good that it’s global and multi-culture based. Bad in terms of extended ‘screentime’.
  • Britons Among First to Try Out Carlsberg With Much Less Plastic
    In its effort to use less plastic in its products, Carlsberg A/S will start gluing together the beer cans it sells in six-packs around the world.
    Great idea. Probably not the best lager in the world though, eh.
  • Comedian Shares Stories Of All The Times She Didn’t Encounter A Rapist
    The investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have been really hard to watch.
    More men need to read this. Strike that, more men need to UNDERSTAND this.
  • Apple Park
    In Lego.
    This is insane. Amazing. But insane.
  • Why are Apple Watch faces such a mess?
    The state of the Apple Watch is good. Tim Cook continues to hail its popularity, albeit without any hard sales figures. Most pundits felt it outshined the iPhone at last month’s Apple media event. The new Apple Watch Series 4 seems to have been received well by reviewers.
    Could not agree more. Hopefully it’s only a matter of time but, given their track record, I’m not holding my breath (this would be an entire OS upgrade I reckon.
  • Neal Preston’s best photograph: Robert Plant catches a dove
    As far as I know, I’m the only person ever to be Led Zeppelin’s tour photographer. I was just 22 and knew a plum job when it landed on my lap.
    Legendary.