This and That

Happy Friday! Lots of links this week and I’m already running about two hours behind where I need to be in the day. So.

Let’s get into it.

Good Reads

• Oh. Oh…this is very cool. “10 iconic logos. 156 Americans. 80 hours of drawing from memory.“
• Do the Grammys have a Beyoncé problem?
• Shonette has shared some of Bristol’s best date locations ahead of Valentine’s Day!
• “Raising a person in a culture full of types”: We probably shouldn’t be telling children that who they are determines what they do.
• Britney Spears was never in control.
• New penguins just dropped!
• 🙁 The hidden cost of your supermarket salmon.
• The rise of techno-authoritarianism.
• A pep talk if you need it.
• I’m glad that man stood up for his wife but why are we naming awards after Dr. Dre?
• I don’t know too much about Rylan but my word…let’s protect him at all costs.
• According to research, children don’t ruin women’s careers. Husbands do.

Good Listens and Watches

• It’s Black History Month in the States, fancy learning about The Godmother?
• I can’t begin to properly express how much I love this.
• Taylor Swift and the unbearable whiteness of girlhood.
• I feel like these men are too young to have parents who don’t have enough sense not to name their child James Bond. ESPECIALLY the Black one!!!!
• Not me being a 49ers fan now! 😭

The Best of the Rest

• Adejoké Bakare, founder and head chef at Chishuru, has become the UK’s first Black female Michelin-starred chef. (And the second Black female Michelin-starred chef in the entire world.)
• I would be forced to retire, lol.
• Are we…quoting The Wire in court cases now???
• There is a lot happening here. A lot.
• God dammit I’m going to have to watch the Lego Movie now.

Okay, I have so many more links in the vault but I’m out of steam. The dog needs walking, work needs doing, life needs living. Until next week! 🥰

Happy Friday! The only plans for today are to: survive, be silly, do good work, have a blast, and end up with a snuggle setup like Wookie has going on.

Let’s get into it.

Good Reads

• I quite like the commercial immersive exhibits (and the independent ones!) and I think they serve different purposes for different audiences. Different strokes for different folks, I’d say? But are they a money grab?
• “Accountability is the only way to make tech more ethnically diverse.”
• I might need to bring back the business section – more tips on crafting the perfect pitch deck!

Good Listens and Watches

• Loved listening to thoughts from R.F. Kuang (author of Yellowface) on being online, what it does to your brain, how it impacted the writing style in the book (and why she’ll never write that way again), and how to deal with criticism and feedback.
• What a flex. Go out and get whatever you want, lover girls!
• The Hybrid Worker Malaise via The Daily.
• Y’all are out here making Stanley Cups and toilet plungers look like cakes (and TRAUMATIZING us) when you could be doing THIS.
• Well, this is the sweetest thing you’ll ever see in your goddamn life.

The Best of the Rest

• This is my kind of carrying on.
• Deeply into this brand of investigative journalism.
• I’m sorry is everyone BLIND? Of course it’s a wig???
• Okay THIS is very cool! Lanny Smoot is an actual magician.
• The way his face went from 🤨 to 😍. A lover girl’s man for REAL!
• I’m not going to link to the original video this is mocking because I consider it child abuse and I hope that baby is OK but this has somehow extracted a giggle out of the entire situation.
• Have y’all seen that tweet where the woman is like, “Men should start in jail and have to earn their way out”? Yes.
• Also yes.

Okay, bye. 🥰

Before we get into the rest: If you only click/watch ONE link this week, make it this one, please.

@artisticanticsllc

What does 22,000 look like? 🍉 #soapmaker

♬ original sound – Artistic Antics LLC

Okay.

It’s Friday!

We made it! I’m trying to fit about 7 lives into today, so no long drumroll…let’s go!

Good Reads

• If you want a happier life, you should write a “life brief“.
• “It is super important that we still nurture and progress creative talent during these difficult times, so that when the sector does bounce back, we have a skilled, engaged and supported workforce who are ready deliver world class content!” – Mel Rodrigues
• As a lover girl, I reject this.
• “How solo travel taught me to love myself.”
• How to create the perfect pitch deck.
• “I wish I could stop thinking about ‘Mr. Brightside’.” What if the 2003 hit song is sad and gay?

Good Listens and Watches

• Ignoring the Jimmy Fallon of it all, this is pretty cool.
• Sometimes people need to be called dumb to their faces. Here’s how you hunt for wifi in Africa.
• Now, THIS, is how you tell a dirty joke!!!
• I’ve come to the conclusion that I would die for this woman.
• Obsessed with them. (There’s some NSFW language in the lyrics so careful if you’re clicking this at your PowerPoint job!!)
• Glee clips were doing the rounds last week and I’ve always loved the original of this song but since watching this scene – from the tribute episode to Corey Monteith – and considering how Naya Rivera eventually died: my god. I have not stopped crying since.
• Quinta Brunson just became the second Black actress in Emmys history to win Lead in the Comedy category. FOURTY TWO YEARS after Isabel Sanford won for The Jeffersons. You should watch her acceptance speech.
• I feel like this is what I look like when I drag my 4L water bottle around to speaking engagements (and dinners, and drinks, and the coffee shop, and, and…)
• I love Black people so much, my god. Lolol.
• This makes me a little sad that I didn’t grow up with brothers.
• I sent this to everyone I knew and some people I didn’t. Lol.
• Whenever twins are cast in a fashion show, I know I’m about to see something cool as hell.

The Best of the Rest

• We used to live in a society.
• POCKETS?????
• This is so gorgeous.
• Would you guys still love me if I made a sweater out of Wookie’s hair???

Okay. Happy Weekend. Remember, kids: Rotting is an Olympic Sport.

Bye. 🥰

Um…hey? 😂 Hi.

Hello.

Let’s skip the “I’m back!” stuff and just get into it, yeah?

Good Reads

• “When Black Women Go From Office Pet to Office Threat.” First, your boss loves you, then they dislike you. Here’s how Black women can manage the icy transition.
• Since we were talking about bogs so much this week (because y’all are NASTY!): The Bog Girl.
• An oldie but goodie from Logan, I shared with a girlfriend this week and figured I’d share with you: We need more significant others.
• Even in FemTech, it still pays to be a male founder. (Boo hissssss tomato tomato).

Good Listens

• Have we lost the practical wisdom of what happens as people die?
• “Then maybe you’re with a man whose standard for himself isn’t high enough to be with a woman like ME.” WHEW.

The Best of the Rest

• Can you imagine being THIS strong and wrong?
• “For nearly 100 years, the mockingbird has served as Florida’s official state bird.” Sorry, WHAT? Anyway, let’s change that. Viva el flamenco!
• Tipsy cookies are on the menu this weekend!

Okay. Bye. 🥰

Alright! Let’s get into it. Another week. More opportunities to push through, be good people, and take care of ourselves and each other! I needed to take last week to put 100% into work and a course I’m launching for local business women and the kick-off event is this evening. I’m looking forward to smiles and good energy but most importantly? Hope, progress, and love and light. I’m not sure of everything that the week has in store, but I hope it’s good.

Okay! Links!

Good reads

• Man, The Wing has just…not lived up to its promise. Or maybe it lived up to exactly its promise, for a certain group of people. This is so sad to read.
• These Women Entrepreneurs Created A Fake Male Cofounder To Dodge Startup Sexism.
• Manhattan Beach was once home to Black beachgoers, but the city ran them out. Now it faces a reckoning.
• TikTok and the evolution of digital blackface.
• “The Horror of Isolation: Three new movies show why this cinematic genre is best suited to the Covid-19 era, when isolation has become not just a way of life, but necessary to avoid deaths.”
• How a pandemic and climate change brought down the roman empire.

Good Listens

• How we learn languages.
• This is a good watch AND list: Simon Sinek on Understanding Empathy.

The Best of the Rest

• If you saw all of those black and white photos of women a few weeks ago (and if you participated), please be sure to get familiar with the origins of the trend and why it’s so important to engage with tough issues like this not just on social media but on a deep, critical level.
• Two teenages getting acquainted with Phil Collins is the joy you need in these trying times.

Happy Monday! Go kick butt!

Alright alright alright! Four weeks in a row, fam! That’s nothing to sniff at!!

Neither is the fact that I got myself together and did my hair for the first time in 2020.

Please clap.

Okay! Links!

Good reads

• Why don’t we ride zebras like horses?
• Please for the love of god pay attention to what’s happening to USPS right now.
• If you had Dave Grohl reading Betsy DeVos for filth on your 2020 Bingo Card, here you go!
• He’s served on 14 boards. Now he wants companies to find other Black candidates.
• I feel seen in a way that maybe I never have before! Sob!

Wellness

• Why you should sharpen your axes.
• “Feeling guilty about our ambition is such a waste of time. You’re doing all that you can. It’s enough.”

Good Listens

• I don’t actually have any Good Listens this week but I’ve got a hell of a Good Watch! I, too, have thrown quite a few men out of bars and I am absolutely going to start bringing this energy. Everywhere and all the time.

The Best of the Rest

• Following on from that, I’ve seen a version of this thread a few times. Seems timely to post now.
• Reader, I laughed.
• This is extra cool: “So how can you get a truly personalized serum created without seeing a derm? Atolla’s algorithm works to determine which ingredients should go into your serum and continues to evaluate your skin’s needs as you provide updates on your account.”
• I’ve wanted to go to this restaurant for ages. What a masterclass in transparency, accountability, good PR, and just giving a shit. Well done, I can’t wait to count myself as a customer (when it’s safe).
• The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Visualized.

To end, something that will surely bring you good vibes throughout the day!

https://twitter.com/DannyDeraney/status/1284883502844874752?s=19

Okay! Happy Monday! Don’t let the day kick your ass!