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Reading Week #9 – Reviewing Cups, Hazelnuts & Historical Cats

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Oldest Living Things In the World from Deepspeed media on Vimeo.

 

Happy Friday!

This week I’ve been mostly cat-sitting, working up to my upcoming sabbatical, and getting ready for Small is Beautiful.

I also got around to reading through most of my Pocket list – so hold in, it’s a big one!

 

 –– On ROBOTNIC.CO ––

Sorry, move along, nothing to see here…

But elsewhere I did cover Investing in Your Microbusiness and I blogged some picks for Edinburgh International Film Festival!

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

Reasons to Be Optimistic During the Disruption of Publishing: thoughts and excellent recommendations from Jane Friedman.

A lovely piece on friendship and self-discovery: While Writing for ‘Orange Is the New Black,’ I Realized I Am Gay.

This lady is a badass. Nellie Bly’s Lessons in Writing What You Want To.

The Los Angeles Review of Cups. Witty reviews of Jonathan Safran Foer’s “genius” stories-on-Chipotle-cups project.

The art of letter-writing is alive and well on This Recording: In Which We Travel Too Far Back.

 

–– DIGITAL ––

 LiveJournal is awaiting a revamp. Yes, that LiveJournal. I’m torn somewhere between “Yuss!” and “How very dare you?!”

3-second distractions are enough to throw you off-course… and more depressing work-related gems in The Science of Us, via NY Mag.

We’re all aggregators now, says Ann Friedman – along with some tips on how to be ethical about it.

 

–– LONGFORM / JOURNALISM ––

How YouTube and Internet Journalism Destroyed Tom Cruise, Our Last Real Movie Star – excellent stuff on film, celebrity, and how the internet changed it all, by Amy Nicholson.

A postcard from San Francisco. A sad one, at that.

 

–– &c. ––

Nutella: How the world went nuts for a hazelnut spread: one of humanity’s greatest inventions.

The company is the number one user of hazelnuts in the world, buying up 25% of the entire world production.

 

An earnest appreciation of @historicalcats, by Caitlin Dewey.

Currently reading: The Secret History by Donna Tartt (still!)

 

What’s making you happy this week?

 

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Reading Week #8 – Beyond Link-Lists

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Mid-show view from BBC Pacific Quay
Mid-show view from BBC Pacific Quay 

 

Happy Friday! How has your week been?

This week I’ve been mostly making plans and planning/scheduling ahead of my sabbatical this June. Every year I take the month out to work at Edinburgh International Film Festival. It’s like a working holiday.

Meantime, it’s also the countdown to Small is Beautiful and I had a nice wee afternoon on the radio.

Here are some of the great links I pocketed along the way!

 

 –– On ROBOTNIC.CO ––

Yesterday I reviewed all of the weeks’ big releases and chatted fandom with 3 fellow journalists and the lovely Janice Forsyth. Here’s the running order and you can listen online here with BBC iPlayer.

 

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

I’m looking forward to seeing Beyond Clueless. Here’s an interview with its director, Charlie Lyne.

Do you read novels on your phone? “War and Peace” on the subway: How your iPhone is saving literature.

 

–– DIGITAL ––

Some new Tumblrs for you to follow:

 

I’ve been gearing up for lots of training and collaboration at work lately, so here are guides to Choosing a Content Calendar and Getting Your Team Content Strategy Savvy.

Some interesting ways in which publishers are handling their video output.

In the latest episode of the Hello, Internet podcast, Grey & Brady have an interesting discussion about Net Neutrality.

 

–– LONGFORM / JOURNALISM ––

This lovely piece on the Scottish Independence debate is a nice break from the bullshit: Scottish independence: what young Scots want.

 

 

–– &c. ––

How to Scale Yourself and Get More Done Than You Thought Possible. Or, productivity gets hardcore-as-fuck.

Currently reading: The Secret History by Donna Tartt. (Not that I’ve finished any of the others I’ve started in previous weeks!)

 

What’s making you happy this week?

 

Subscribe to receive Reading Week direct to your inbox! It’s free, all I need is your email address, & I promise not to spam you.

Reading Week #7 – Playing Catch-up

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Shakespeare & Co Prague

 

Going back to work was messier than expected so there was no Reading Week last week. Sorry!

This week is back on track, so as are we. How was your week? Read anything good?

Here are a few from me…

 

— ON ROBOTNIC.CO —

Further Adventures in Podcasting — more recommendations for you podcast fiends.

My belated April Reads with capsule reviews.

Review of Every Day is for the Thief  by Teju Cole.

 

— ARTS & CULTURE —

Someone finally asked why we’re ok with Louis CK getting with hot women on Louie, but not with Lena Dunham getting with Patrick Wilson. One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure: Lena Dunham, Louis C.K., and the Persistent Sexism of Comedy.

I recently bought and began to read MFA vs NYC. Junot Diaz wrote a response about his experiences in a New Yorker piece: MFA vs POC.

Then Salon continued the discussion with Junot Diaz’ undergraduate reading lists. I want to go to there.

Ryan McGinley: Naked and Famous by Alice Gregory, recent guest on the Longform Podcast.

— DIGITAL —

I wrote a couple of blog posts about freelancing for Small is Beautiful – a conference I’m involved with. Here are some Social Media Tips & some thoughts on Managing Yourself.

Net Neutrality in the USA is under threat. New Yorker says Goodbye, Net Neutrality; Hello, Net Discrimination & CGP Grey issued a rallying call in Internet Citizens: Defend Net Neutrality [VIDEO].

 

— LONGFORM / JOURNALISM —

We all know that The Media Has a Woman Problem. But when you see it laid out like that…

Kerry Clarke on Rereading Fear of Flying: On Not Being Pregnant in Mid-Air With Isadora Wing. 

English Class with Mr. Roth sounds pretty awesome.

 

— & c. —

Evan and I just started watching Anthony Bourdain’s latest show, PARTS UNKNOWN – which made me want to go to Tangier even more. On Tumblr he asks: So, why don’t we love Mexico?

 

Currently Reading: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote & This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.

 

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What’s been making you happy this week?