The Missive #61
Kill the 1200 calorie diet. Reform the discourse. Don't make me think. Let's go, girls.
Hello! I hope you’re all well. I’m sitting here thinking about how different my life was the last time Labor won an election1, and how momentous this election was: not because Labor won, or ScoMo got binned, but because both Labor and the Liberal-National coalition can no longer ignore that Australians don’t see their needs and values reflected in their party’s policies.
I’ve managed to shave 90 minutes off my average screen time this month, so it’s a bit of a shorter Missive. Quality over quantity!
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Reads
“This election, more than anything else, has been a revelation about just how corrupt and corrupting our failed political media are. We got a taste of the ill-conceived way in which the sausage is made during the press conferences of the pandemic, but the media pack following the leaders during this election have shown us this bullying, bias, and manufacture of controversy is the rule not the exception.
Even if Morrison loses, we will still have the same media in place and they will continue to eat away at the foundations of our democracy, putting their own interests ahead of the greater good, and failing to properly distinguish between truth and lie.Fixing that should be high on our list of priorities once this election is over.”
— Tim Dunlop, “Death of a Salesman”2
“But bodies claw back: aggressive diets will deplete muscle mass, making weight regain easier and subsequent diets harder. An aggressive diet is like swimming as hard and fast as you can out into the ocean. Maybe you accomplished something, but now you are in the middle of the ocean. How do you live? It’s very different here, where there is no land, or food, or friends, or modern conveniences. “
— Casey Johnston, “Time to put the 1200 calorie diet in the grave”
“Happiness requires struggle … if you want the benefits of something in life, you have to also want the costs. Sometimes I ask people, “How do you choose to suffer?” These people tilt their heads and look at me like I have twelve noses. But I ask because that tells me far more about you than your desires and fantasies. Because you have to choose something. You can’t have a pain-free life. It can’t all be roses and unicorns.”
— Mark Manson, “The most important question of your life”
Video and audio
Harry Styles and Shania Twain sing Man! I Feel Like A Woman! at Coachella. Pure joy!
“How my band lost almost $17,000 on tour”. Here’s the reality of being a touring musician in 2022.
Hacks was my favorite show of 2021 and the recently-released second season is just as good as the first. It’s on Stan, if you’re keen.
Song Exploder (a podcast where artists break down and explain a chosen song) has had a run of songs I actually like, for a change. I enjoyed Halsey’s “You Asked For This”, Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves”, Peaches’ “Boys Wanna Be Her”.
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Torrey Peters — Detransition, Baby
I haven’t enjoyed a novel this much in a long time. It’s funny, thought-provoking and an easy read. I didn’t love the ending, but maybe it means we’ll get a sequel?Steve Krug - Don’t Make Me Think
A short book about designing digital experiences (ie. web sites and apps) in a way that makes them easy to use.
Glennon Doyle - Untamed
I honestly didn’t expect to feel challenged and seen by a Glennon Doyle book. My new book club chose it as the book for June, so I grudgingly borrowed it from the library expecting it’d be a light read for my weekend away. Instead, I ripped through it in three hours and came out the other side asking deep questions about how my control issues have shaped my life. Good stuff.
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Reading posts on the My Energy-Efficient Home Facebook group is chewing up a lot of my time, in a good way. If you’ve ever wanted to make your rental or mortgaged home more energy-efficient, get a refresher on physics AND get into moral and ethical debates, it’s the place for you!
I was a 21-year-old uni student living in a decrepit share house with a bunch of other creative young people and a very lovable Blue Heeler in Windsor, Brisbane. I’d been unable to work properly for six months due to one health crisis after another and felt like my life was out of control.
I feel very gross and conflicted about the small role I and the kind of career I had has led to the sorry state of the media.