The Weekend List

Like lots of other people I associate a Saturday morning with the slow pleasure of reading the papers at the table. An ideal start to the weekend is with the papers spread out across the kitchen table like placemats and a plate of eggs, spinach, mushrooms and hot sauce placed just to the right of an article for optimum simultaneous reading and chewing. There's also a strong but milky cup of coffee involved, just near the corner of the papers (but no coffee rings). I'll usually have the kitchen to myself because both of my housemates work at the weekends. Though I think it's nicer to enjoy the papers with a partner in crime (and say "sport" or "money" like a surgeon announcing "scalpel") this is a pretty failsafe way of putting the week of work just passed to rest and welcoming the two-day break.

This ritual however starts to feel a bit indulgent when the papers cost £2.50 a pop and the contents is a lucky dip. Some Saturdays you'll be rewarded with recipes dedicated to lunchbox ideas or a particularly heartwarming story from the family section that lingers in the mind. Other weeks the travel supplement is consumed by a list of 100 Best Family Holidays (straight to the recycling bin) or a disappointing fashion feature in which the cheapest accessory costs £60. With so many different types of readers of different tastes to take into consideration, the weekend papers can become a mixed bag. The eggs and hot sauce never taste quite as good on the duff weeks. 

With this in mind I've compiled my own Weekend List. Reading from a digital screen doesn't always hold the same appeal as a spread-out situation, but at least the content hits the spot. You can come back to it as and when you please, without that sad little clutter of papers that hang around for the subsequent week because you keep promising yourself to finish wading through articles about boring things you feel you should know. This is a chance to catch up on the tabs that have multiplied across my desktop during the week, and to read old essays and watch short videos and listen to new mixtapes too, all for free.

Pictured: Jeff Wall's 'A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai)' (based on Hokusai's 'Travellers Caught in a Sudden Breeze at Ejiri')/ a picture of a couple of dudes dancing by Ariel Finch/ Rudiger Vogler in Im Lauf Der Zeit/ Lauren Fitzpatrick high-kicking at the 2013 Northern Soul Dance Championships/ another of Ariel Finch's drawings.

The weekend list:

Culture

'Back Street All Nighter', a short film made by Law Magazine with Lauren Fitzpatrick, Hannah Deakin and the Wigan Young Souls.

Ariel Finch's tumblr Heartbreak Hotel Honeymoon Suite is one to add to your bookmarks. Not exactly a blog but more than just a kingdom of tumblr scrolling, as there's a lot to feast your eyes on and links to interesting articles on essays (like Susan Sontag on 'Camp' and Beauty Vs Interestingness or 'Visiting Artists', W Magazine's slideshow of artists' studios- including Cindy Sherman, Ed Ruscha and Ellsworth Kelly.)

The Architecture of Dehli.

Im Lauf Der Zeit. Last month I stayed up until 3am watching this Wim Wenders film on our projector with a bottle of wine and a duvet nest. I absolutely recommend it. That Wenders, he knows his way around a superbly soundtracked road movie. The soundtrack...

Online Reading

I've had this conversation with various people recently- mostly fellow bloggers and people working in fashion, and we all agree that we don't read blogs like we used to, and it's because we can't find enough that fulfil us as much as we'd like. There are various reasons. For many of us it's because we started writing and reading blogs in our mid teens, and now that we're older and our tastes have changed we want blogs that are original and personal but with more substance. As these bloggers have grown older (myself included) there are new priorities; where once we were writing from our bedrooms to avoid having to revise for GCSEs or A-Levels and then write dissertations, now we're navigating the world of work and unable to post as regularly. And less updates mean slightly sadder looking homepages, for readers who want to take in lots of new, inspiring updates (like me!). I've haven't given up on blogs, if anything I think this makes the landscape more interesting, and it's even renewed my love for them. Now that I've reassessed my criteria for my ideal go-to-blogs it makes it more satisfying to browse and find the gems that deliver the right mix of art, fashion, essays, though-provoking pieces and laughs. Such as:

Good Good Girl. I'm really looking forward to seeing this site grow. A 'fully female populated and curated site' edited by Wendy Syfret, this is Rookie Mag for women in their 20s. Perfect! Alongside articles like 'Calling Bullshit on the No Make Up Selfie' is a series called 'Shit You Should Know' (not every article has 'shit' in the title, I suppose I'm just drawn to the quiet punch of a four-letter swearword?) There's How To Jump Start A Car and How To Relax. Somebody could do with bringing back a 'How To' tome for women; like one of those go-to books for housewives in the 1950s but with sections on paying bills, understanding pensions, bike punctures and how in gods name you give yourself a blow dry without getting a hairbrush stuck in your hair.

These are the some of other blogs I always come back to: Alaina Wong/ Jessica Stanley / Florence S-W / Through A Glass Darkly / I Capture The Castle / Kat George

Music

Mixtapes and playlists. They're a handy solution when you've been binging on the same albums and you're unsure where to go next. The Mixtape Club is a perfect cure, and I thoroughly recommend BDB's 14th St + Pennsylvania mixtape for throwback funky, laid-back, latin-inspired tracks.

I'm still making my mind up about Todd Terje's much anticipated debut album It's Album Time! but his remix of Chris Rea's On The Beach is one to go back to.

Fashion

It's that time of year again. I'm craving the leather sandal/tanned leg combination. These are my sandals of choice. (Though I'm pretty keen on these sliders which I bought last weekend for £3)

Chronic Sans for unserious, girly, East-London flavoured fashion.

A strong contender for 'go-to look of the Summer' from Topshop Boutique.

Work

Ah, the joy of the mentor. No matter what age you are it's always good to have a friend/boss/confidant who is slightly older, with their shit slightly more together who is willing to let you pick their brain. Now that I'm 9 months into my first post-university job it's a dynamic that I'm really coming to appreciate. And it can be a knowledge-sharing relationship that works both ways too. I recently read this Wall Street Journal piece about Tavi Gevison and Ira Glass, which is probably the coolest as far as mentor-relationships go.

Food

Eating My Feelings. No recipes, no ingredients, just really good photos of food. Which when you think about it is the definition of food porn. Shh, don't speak, I just want to look at you.

Clean Food Dirty City is at the other end of the spectrum, with a silly name that sounds like that Craig David lifestyle hashtag and bowls of food photographed with obsessive compulsive precision. But still, that Cauliflower fried rice with tofu. You had me at hello.