Everything is terrible BUT…
10 nice things to distract from Everything. Pop culture. Writing. Animals wearing jumpers. (Sunday 17th January 2021)
- Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) goes online! GFF runs every year and GFF 2020 just squeaked in before Covid caused disruption to the film industry. Normally you’d have to travel to Glasgow, but this year due to Obvious Reasons, it’s all going online. Highlights include Oscar Hopeful Minari, Creation Stories which starts Ewan Bremner as Alan McGree, founder of Creation Records. which launched bands such as Oasis and Primal Scream, and Benedict Cumberbatch and Jodie Foster star in The Mauritanian, which tells the story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a inmate of Guantanamo Bay who proclaims his innocence. Tickets go on sale on the 18th January and ticket bundles are available. More information about the festival can be found here.
2. India’s National Fisheries Development Board looks like this, which tickled me immensely. More imaginatively designed buildings please.
3. Author Marian Keyes is running free Novel Writing workshops! They will run for 4 weeks in total and will cover the basics of plot, characterisation, and dialogue. She will broadcast live on instagram on Mondays at 7.30pm, but if (like me), you can’t make that time, her videos will be available on Youtube afterwards. You can send Marian questions and she’ll also post daily writing prompts on her twitter/instagram. Her first one was last Monday and if you’re interesting in writing, I can highly recommend catching up with it. I watched Week 1 yesterday and it felt like being given a massive hug (while also learning about plotting a book).
4. These Shetland Ponies wearing jumpers. And looking mighty handsome, I must say.
5. Joe Biden’s Dog is getting his own inauguration. A ‘Indoguration’. Congratulations, Major Biden! What a good boy he is.
6. Betty White turns 99! Golden Girls star and all round American National Treasure celebrates her birthday today. Happy birthday Betty!
7. You’re Wrong About is one of my favourite podcasts. Journalists Michael Hobbs and Sarah Marshall take a topic or person that you think you know about, but investigate all the misconceptions and misinformation around it/them. Topics range from Tonya Harding to Killer Clowns, the Y2K Bug to Stonewall. Recent mini series have involved OJ Simpson, Princess Diana, and Jessica Simpson. Highly recommended.
8. Jim Henson. The Muppets were in the news again, with apparently an announcement coming soon. But until then, I’m remembering Muppet creator Jim Henson. Sadly we lost him in 1990, but his work lives on in The Dark Crystal, Fraggle Rock, and Labyrinth, to name just a few. If you want to read more, I can recommend this biography by Brian Jay Jones.
9. Yes, this is a branch of McDonalds. I’m slightly obsessed with this twitter account which showcases branches of McDonalds from around the world. The one above can be found in Independence, Ohio. Do check check this out, as there are ones even more unusual than this.
10. This puppy hugging this goose.
See you next week! Stay safe! Wear a mask!
Mhairi x
