This has been a week of working very long hours. So we’re heading out of town for two days, to the garish streets of Niagara Falls and the wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake. And we are, for the first time in North America, staying in a motel. I AM BEYOND MYSELF. I’m bringing Dirty Old London: The Fight Against Filth, to read to Johannes in the car and in the mornings in bed.
In the meantime, I leave with you with this:
Watch these two bizarre documentaries I recently came across, Once We Were Naked, and Africa’s Naked Tribe, made by infamous South African nudist Beau Brummel, which features Charles Darwin, Beau Brummel’s ample chest hair, and the phrase “genetic urge” used far too often. Also, you get to see naked people go on game drives. BEST. (I shouldn’t have to add that there’s a LOT of problematic elements to these two films, including on the level of representation. You’ve been warned.)
Listen to the episode Status Update on This American Life. I am an unabashed fan of this radio show as many of you know, but this episode struck me especially on account of the first story, about teenage girls and how they use Instagram. The other stories on the episode are good too – an interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates, and a story on debt collection in an African-American neighbourhood in the States.
Look at Jim Shaw: The End is Here, a Tumblr that is part of an exhibition of Jim Shaw’s work, including his collection of thrift store paintings, where people can submit paintings they themselves have found at thrift stores.
Watch this footage of the remarkable piece of protest art, In Mourning and Rage, from 1977, when a group of feminist artists moved on City Hall in the wake of a series of violent rapes and murders in the Los Angeles area. It feels particularly apt after yesterday’s news about Jian Ghomeshi’s acquittal.
Ps: I spent most of the week working at Café Pamenar in Kensington Market, and on Tuesday we discovered that Trinity Common, the beer hall next door, has buck-a-shuck deals happening. See, there really is no reason to ever leave the Market.
CAKE AND DECAY 