Happy Friday!

My work has been a bit stagnant lately but I’ve been getting my shit together to spend a few days in London next week at the London Book Fair.

Plus, sunshine. Plus, yoga. Plus, more plans are afoot…

Meantime, here are some links for your weekend.

 

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

BEDA (Blog Every Day April) continues… well, most days.

On my business blog, I waxed lyrical about my absolute favourite app, Pocket. I’ll get them to sponsor, like, my entire life someday.

ICYMI last week, here’s Bookish Blether Episode 6.

 

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

Richard Brody on Noah Baumbach’s “While We’re Young” is the reason why I have a quarter-finished piece about the same film sitting in drafts.

The latest VIDA count results are not much more heartening than last year’s. But some publications are obviously trying. Those that aren’t will not be getting my clicks.

Ann Friedman covered The Genius of Broad City and totally nailed all the reasons why I love it too.

Self-Portrait Of The Artist As Ungrateful Black Writer. A great piece from Saeed Jones in Buzzfeed.

Are the Virtues of Higher Education a Lesson in False Advertising? An interesting piece about the realities of having a day job and whether advertising is really any more evil than academia.

A couple of pieces from Durga Chew-Bose also caught my attention this week. The first, an interview with her in The Guardian’s series about women who write online.

The second, a previous piece I re-read after it was linked in the above: How I Learned to Stop Erasing Myself.

Appropriately, after reading that I went to a restaurant where they wrote my name as Falcons (despite my spelling it out). I also routinely use the name Jones for taxis to save surname confusion. But all the inconvenience my name causes is superficial so I can’t really complain.

In The Hairpin, I loved this piece by Hayley Krischer on Hysteria and Teenage Girls.

 

–– DIGITAL ––

I think this might literally be the best thing on the internet ever? A WNYC series: Bodega Cats in Their Own Words. *Person Raising Both Hands In Celebration Emoji*

Are we overthinking everything? – a take-down of our hot take op-ed culture. Yuuup.

I haven’t recommended another Tinyletter in awhile, so how about you check out Rachael Maddux’s A Newsletter? She works at Mailchimp and Tinyletter, fittingly, and in this one she sends a bit of personal chat and some links.

Bonus podcast round: Rachael Maddux also recommended some Podladies (i.e. podcasts led by women). As did Bustle, with podcasts by women of colour.

In related, Ann Friedman again – this time being interviewed about her own “Newsletter Empire”. (I’m just jealous.)

 

 

–– ON PAPER / ON SCREEN ––

I’ve got one essay collection and one novel on the go at the moment:

In Praise of Messy Lives by Katie Roiphe – part criticism, part personal essays – which I’d been led to believe was quite controversial? but only has a few major opinions that I’d really question so far. The term “whip-smart” comes to mind.

Fishnet by Kirstin Innes – whose launch I attended last week. It’s about sex workers, and sisterhood, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I’m also meeting her later today so you’ll hear more about this one on Bookish Blether soon.

Which book is on your nightstand?
 

 

–– &c. ––

What Part of “No, Totally” Don’t You Understand? I do love a wacky linguistic trend article once in awhile.

My husband is from California, which is currently suffering through a major water crisis. This week, LA Times reports that California’s wealthy lagging in water conservation. No surprise.

A chat with Elizabeth Wurtzel in Jezebel. She rubs me up the wrong way and yet I’m always drawn to her.

 

​Have a lovely weekend, friends!

 

Well hello dear readers!

After a blustery seaside weekend last week I’ve been trying to get out of spinning-wheels mode and into DIY mode. With April comes BEDA and other spring projects. No more waiting about for other people’s projects to come through the pipeline. Good? Good.

Meantime, here’s some reading for your weekend. Enjoy!

 

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

Bookish Blether Episode 6 is up, featuring short books you can read in a day. Perfect for the Easter and May weekends!

I mentioned BEDA there which, for the uninformed, stands for Blog Every Day in April. I’ve done this consistently for the past 5 years to varying degrees of commitment. It’s a fun thing to do, if only to have a snapshot of my year to look back on. If you’re interested you can follow BEDA 2015 on my Tumblr.

Both of my sites got a refresh this week, too. Check out robotnic.co and nicolabalkind.com for a swatch. What do you think?

Oh and I posted some actual content too. Here, my March Reads.

There, a quick update on Getting Mobile Friendly in time for the new Google algorithm changes.

 

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

Adam Driver and his lovely face are all over the place right now. He seems like the best-worst serious actor type.

I’m looking forward to reading Kirstin Innes’ debut novel, Fishnet. In The List she writes about her research process and coming to terms with telling a story that may not be yours to tell.

Cara Delevigne on speaking up.

As is tradition, I had my monthly binge of Sadie Stein’s daily Paris Review blogs this week. Some highlights: A Dance to the Music of Time | Theory & Practice | Strife in the Fast Lane.

I love Spike Jonze’s Her and kinda hated Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (maybe time for a rewatch?) but this video essay shows their beautiful symmetry.

 

 

–– DIGITAL ––

Austin Kleon On screenshots and taking pictures of words – and Clive Thompson corroborates this idea in Wired.

On Internet Neologisms: Rage Quitting is a Thing. I follow JSTOR Daily on Twitter; really ought to click more often.

Grantland redeemed the boring chat about Tidal (Jay Z’s new venture that’s Spotify for twice the cost of Spotify) with this contributor post: I’d Buy That for $20 a Month.

Some things I’d buy for $20 a month are:

• Weekly/monthly episodes of Broad City forever
• A newsletter from Sadie Stein
• The return of Miranda July’s We Think Alone email project, except with just Kareem Abdul Jabar
• A monthly book subscription that sends me a book I’ve mentioned several times & never bought/read

What about you?

An interesting piece on The Shut-in Economy (or, The New Middle Class is Riddled With Guilt).

 

 

–– ON PAPER / ON SCREEN ––

This week I’m reading a new release – Housefrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum. It’s right in my wheelhouse: unlikable, unreliable, lecherous female narrator. So far it’s not that exciting, though.

Non-fiction-wise, I’m in a bit of a rut. Time for a new essay collection, I reckon.

Which book is on your nightstand?
 

 

–– &c. ––

Evan & I are dog broody, so a friend forwarded on this Buzzfeed contributor who tried out Borrow My Doggy: a service that matches pet owners with pet sitters.

Amazing photos here by Hamid Sardar Afkhami who documented Dukha people, Mongolia’s last nomadic reindeer herders.

In the New Yorker: O Adjunct! My Adjunct! takes on the state of university teaching, particularly in the US.

Tim Gunn’s Sunday Routine sounds bloody wonderful.

A great profile on Mad Mike, the homeless blogger who became a millionaire overnight from The Guardian.

And just for fun: Helpful Spring Cleaning Advice From Gothic Novelist Shirley Jackson.

 

​Have a lovely weekend, friends!

 

Sup guys?

Spring is finally springing and after a rotten start to the week things are looking up. It’s way too good of a metaphor for what’s been happening in my life lately, so I’ll leave it at that before things get cheesy around here. Things are looking good, I feel good. I hope things are the same with you?

As ever, here are some links and interesting things for you to enjoy this weekend.

 

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

Yesterday I reviewed some of the week’s film releases on the BBC Culture Studio: the new live-action Cinderella, Michael Winterbottom’s The Face of an Angel, and Will Ferrel-Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard. Catch up on BBC iPlayer.

On my business blog, I shared a March Links Round-up around social media, content and freelancing.

 

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

Molly Lambert went to the Adult Entertainment Expo for Grantland in this piece that’s both referential and reminiscent of David Foster Wallace’s essay “Big Red Sun” – Porntopia.

Speaking of, (and this newsletter is totally going in everyone’s spam filters, isn’t it?) I finally caught up with Chris Offutt’s brilliant memoir essay My Dad, The Pornographer about inheriting his dad’s literary porn collection – of which he’d written 400 titles.

Here’s a great passage about his dad’s writing process:

Dad’s writing process was simple — he’d get an idea, brainstorm a few notes, then write the first chapter. Next he’d develop an outline from one to 10 pages. He followed the outline carefully, relying on it to dictate the narrative. He composed his first drafts longhand, wearing rubber thimbles on finger and thumb. Writing with a felt-tip pen, he produced 20 to 40 pages in a sitting. Upon completion of a full draft, he transcribed the material to his typewriter, revising as he went. Most writers get more words per page as they go from longhand to a typed manuscript, but not Dad. His handwriting was small, and he used ampersands and abbreviations. His first drafts were often the same length as the final ones.

My favourite bookish podcast, Literary Disco, also covered the essay in a recent episode.

A really interesting piece on documentary film, reporting and ethics – Two Maxims at Odds: Tell a Story, Tell the Truth. More on this soon.

I liked this recent Bookends from the NY Times: Do Money Woes Spur Creativity or Stifle It? Rivka Galchen pretty much nailed it.

Starbucks released and retracted its #RaceTogether campaign in the past week, which made for a short-lived spate of think pieces including these great ones from Jeb Lund (Rolling Stone) and Joe Berkowitz (Fast Company Create) – similar ideas, slightly different approaches.

I’ve just finished watching The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt – highly recommended. Here’s Emily Naussbaum’s great take on it, Candy Girl.

I’m also a recent convert to Broad City and OMG please give these ladies ALL of the seasons. I also also just finished the latest series of Girls and it was quite a finale. Really enjoyed this season. I finally believe all that “Golden age of television” chat that folk have been giving it for 10 years.

A Defence of Low Culture – though I obviously don’t think it needs defending.

 

 

–– DIGITAL ––

Facebook continues on its quest to cannibalise the internet. Call me old fashioned, but, boke.

Here’s Ann Friedman on The Economics of the Podcast Boom.

I have mixed feelings on last week’s Reply All. Reasons I did like it: it’s well told, narration-wise. Reasons I didn’t: it’s way more NPR than Gimlet and it felt exploitative to me – like Goldstein was really forcing the issue to make this guy cry in service of his version of the story. Let me know what you think: Why is Mason Reese Crying?

 

 

–– ON PAPER / ON SCREEN ––

This week I’ve been reading Roald Dahl’s memoirs: Boy and Going Solo. Just bloody delightful.

I’m away this weekend and quite fancy some travel writing, so I might revisit the brilliant Bill Bryson.

Which book is on your nightstand?
 

 

–– &c. ––

NO YOLO.

Here’s a type of story we don’t hear much about – Transformers: the unique challenge of changing gender within a relationship.

Woman abandoned as baby in Macon in 1915 dies at age 100. :’)

 

​Have a lovely weekend, friends!

 

 

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