Sunday culture
Looking backwards has been a bit of an accidental theme of the last week, prompted by immersing myself in old photos in the hunt for one in particular (reader, I couldn’t find it). The photo albums downloaded from a now deleted Facebook account in which our more carefree nights out were scrupulously documented, before social media was fully dominant and filters took hold. Sure, some of what was pictured was messy, but so were we. Also fucking gorgeous and full of JOY.
What I’ve been reading
Lena Dunham has released a memoir and I have fully dived in. She is someone who has attracted an incredible amount of hate over the years since she debuted her TV show ‘Girls’ and in this memoir she reflects on the cost of it all. If not the voice of a generation, definitely a voice (the Girls girls know).
What I’ve been watching
Well, it follow that it has to be ‘Girls’, right? Early 2010s New York, surviving your 20s and coming of age as a woman (a middle class white woman, anyway). I previously shied away from it in a similar fashion to how I often avoid spending too much time with incredibly self centred people but it really encapsulates that time in a way that few other things do. It’s tricky to realise the impact a piece of work had at the time as many of the unique things about a piece (such as writing style, being female centred, being unapologetically sexual etc) has become more subsumed in to pop culture. But as a girl who lived with other girls in her early 20s, it does speak to me, even with some uncomfortable later in life perspective.
What I’ve been listening to
One of my favourite investigative journalists Patrick Radden Keefe has released his latest work ‘London Falling’, a deep dive into the mysterious death of a young London teenager mixed up with the underworld of the city’s wealthy. It is captivating as an audiobook (although the author‘s pronunciation of ‘Abramovich’ is jarring to those of us who recognise the name from his days as the owner of Chelsea FC).
My nostalgia fest themed week has extended to the music I’ve enjoyed this week. The Strokes, soundtrack to my own yearning for the indie life in NYC, appeared at Coachella this week then released unobtainable tour tickets (guys you can opt out of dynamic pricing you know). And yet I delved back in to ‘Room On Fire’. Real ones remember when ‘Reptilia’ was the ringtone on my Nokia phone. Simpler times.
Pals watch on ‘A+E After Dark’
Still nothing this week. Not even a background crumb.
To the week ahead. It’s okay to look backwards but don’t forget to be in the present.
GRMA, Deirdre x
