The Weekend List: No. 3

Hello weekend! Here in Manchester the sun is out, and it's properly hot which is softening to blow after my flatmate Nanon booked a last-minute trip to the Greek Islands this week and I understood the unattractive notion of being 'green with envy'. I'm thinking about buying a large paddling pool and spending the weekend in the garden, which is really at its early summer peak and is verdant and busy, with a large jug of White Russian..

Other things that happened this week: Me and Rose went to see Hossein Amini and Viggo Morternsen in conversation as part of a preview screening of The Two Faces of January, which I thoroughly recommend for a stylish, classic 60s thriller set in the Greek Islands. (Hence my jealousy of Nanon's similar escapades..) Based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, it's also rather Ripley-esque and has given me some ideas about the sort of novels I'd like to read this summer.

I also attended some of the Museums at Night goings-on in Manchester on Thursday night which included a very special performance in the glorious reading room of the Manchester Central Library from the Montgolfier Brothers who played some beautiful and pragmatically romantic songs that reverberated around the domed room.

And so for some weekend reading which is rather 'watching' orientated this week, with a must-watch online comedy series, a disco-flavoured news report and a guy who uploads hilarious dance videos onto Instagram every single day...

Clockwise from top left: Yumi Zouma, George Best, Mary Frey, Adamscarpenters, Erin D. Garcia.

TV

Despite being somebody who really likes the internet when it comes to podcasts and webseries I have a rather large gap in my knowledge. Last night I read Good Good Girl's very informative guide to Funny Girls  and guffawed and guffawed and at Be Here Nowish, a comedy mini-series about "two sexually progressive New York gals who ditch their down-and-out lives for LA in search of a spiritual awakening." Don't let the spiritual awakening bit put you off; this is Girls and Frances Ha  and Karley Sciortino's Slutever all rolled into one. Any piece of film or TV that features the unspeakable bond of squatting to pee next to one of your girlfriends (ah, the rising steam! the laughs!) gets a thumbs up in my books; my kind of version of the Bechdel Test.

Last week Kirsty Wark's documentary Blurred Lines: The New Battle of the Sexes was aired on BBC Two, exploring the rise of the rape joke, manning up and portrayals of women in the media. (Also available on YouTube under the title "More BBC Feminist Propaganda!!!" by its silly uploader.

Disco Music: 60 Minute Special Report, a 15 minute excerpt from a 1978 news report; the sort that involves a suspicious presenter explaining a new craze to the masses just after the moment has passed. "This is the place thats IN with the Disco crowd!!"

Music

A song to revisit; spine-tingling violin stringed, vocal wonderfulness from Butler and McAlmont:

The sort of song that might play in an American Apparel store and require a Shazam, Yumi Zouma's track Salka Gets Her Hopes Up is a good old-fashioned hazy pop song for the summer.

An album to get to know this weekend: Fanfare by Jonathan Wilson. Man, it's a goodie- Neil Young-y, Beach Boys-ish, a bit of Pink Floyd and- of course, because not every artist should be justified through a comparison to their predecessors- a lot of himself, too.

Style

Photographer Mary Frey, included here for her Gloria Steinem-esque glasses, sharp-as-hell suit and 1970s jeans and braces.

Annu Kilpelainen's is a fabulous illustrator, and this t-shirt is one to add that I'll be adding to my suitcase whenever I get around to going on that beach holiday that I'm craving so badly.

Badges. I know, the glow-in-the-dark variety got some loving in the last edition of The Weekend List
but I'm not done with the badge appreciation yet. This week Joanna Long of Parish Council sent me one of her wonderful homemade 'GOOD EGG' badges in homage to my love of those ovals of protein goodness.

Brutalist! The team behind the Modernist Magazine have created a badge for lovers of severe, concrete architecture. Sound like you? Go forth!

Thumb scrolling (aka who to follow on Instagram)

I'm dedicating this to my friend Rose who was complaining this week that she doesn't follow anybody interesting on Instagram. Rose, are you ready for this?? Adamscarpenter is one of those rare people who has a ridiculously inspired and hilarious approach to Instagram. No food shots (one of my own vices), no feet on beaches and no identikit shots of the Barbican (we've all been there) Instead he uploads a dance a day. It's hard to knew where to begin with describing his level of commitment to this activity. But it's fair to play that regardless of your sexuality, you will probably fall in love, hard.

Erin D. Garcia, an LA-based visual artist who paints amazing murals with simple, highlighter-hued swiggle lines.

Culture

If, like me, a large portion of your online surfing comes under the 'fantasy' category (see: adding incredible and unaffordable Airbnb listings to your watch list or browsing house-sitting jobs in Los Angeles..) then you'll probably like WowHaus too. It's a blog-cum-property website listing beautiful Modernist properties available around the world, delving into the history of their architects, and often famous residents. See: Elvis Presley's Palm Springs honeymoon retreat, or this cooler and 10x more subtle property in Wilmslow, which was designed by Frazer Crane (also the architect to George Best's supercool pad in Cheshire)

A lovely short film made up of archival clips showing Montreal in the 1960s.