I will not bore you with yet another rant about how short February felt like, but instead I’ll leave you with my Recommendations list for the past month. Also, scroll until the bottom to open two translated articles from my ELLE Romania column. Enjoy!
ARTICLES
A world built for men – The Guardian
This might be the best article I have read in the past months. It shows the risks women are put through because most safety regulations have been made for 75 kg 1.8 metres men, the hidden toxic problems behind nail salons, phone sizes and much more. It’s an absolutely eye-opening piece that you have to read!
The Millennial obsession with starting over – Medium
I got this article in one of my Medium newsletters and it hit home hard. It speaks about the obsession young generations have with moving from place to place and letting a move define them, while also falsely claiming that solely moving to a new place could change them instead of changing themselves first from the inside.
VIDEOS
How the “Shallow” Scene from A Star is Born was designed – INSIDER
If you want to learn more about sound mixing and sound editing or if you still cannot get this epic song out of your head, you should definitely check out this video which presents the complexity of sound layering in one of the most intense scenes from A Star is Born.
If you haven’t seen this ad yet, please do. It is likely going to be one of the best ads of 2019 and unsurprisingly, it was produced by the amazing Wieden+Kennedy team. It’s narrated by Serena Williams and I got goosebumps while watching it.
I also wanted to link here a new YouTube channel I have recently discovered: it’s called Jubilee and they produce lots of fascinating content with some of the best formats I have ever seen: Middle Ground, Spectrum and Both Sides are some of my favourite shows they produce. Definitely worth checking them out.
Bonus: I made a playlist with all the videos featured in my Recommendations series plus much more. It’s a great resource when you are looking for something smart and entertaining to watch.
AUDIO
Everything is Alive – Ian Chillag
Some of my friends could not stop praising this podcast so I gave it a try and loved it! The premise starts with the host interviewing an innate object which can suddenly speak. They actually end up speaking about some more profound things, like how does a bath towel feel about human vulnerability or the identity of a soda can – is it the can itself or the liquid in it? It’s really fun and surprisingly refreshing to listen to it.
Me and my podcast partner in crime, Mike, have recently launched a podcast in which we debate various topics from Valentine’s day to political correctness and the relevancy of Art Degrees and if you are curious to listen to it, you can do so on Spotify and on the podcast’s website.
PLACES
FOAM Amsterdam, Feast for the Eyes exhibit
FOAM is one of the photography museums in Amsterdam which regularly hosts temporary exhibits. The big one they had until early March was about the relationship between food and photography and it was a true feast for the eyes – from presenting how cookbook photography came to be to showing eating rituals in various cultures, the exhibit was fun, drool-inducing and a great way to spend one hour in the museum!
Rijksmuseum – Alles Rembrandts exhibit
You may have heard that the Dutch State Art Museum planned to celebrate Rembrandt’s year (350 years since his death) with the biggest exhibit ever done with his work. The exhibit gathers together 22 paintings, 60 drawings and more than 300 prints and it was extremely fascinating to see it because it proved Rembrandt’s versatility and complexity as an artist like no other exhibit.
BOOKS
This book took me by surprise. Don’t get me wrong- I heard it was good, but it has completely outdone my expectations. It was funny, immersive, shocking, beautiful, emotional and mature and it presented South Africa in a way that made me understand life under apartheid better. Could not recommend this book more.
Modern Romance – Aziz Ansari, Eric Klinenberg
Another book written by a comedian (Aziz Ansari), yet with a different topic: love in the time of digital tools. The book aligned with the reviews I read about it – meaning this is not necessarily a funny book with some science, but the other way round. It included lots of previous research, both psychological and anthropological, combining these with the evolution of modern dating in a light, yet informative manner.
In March I am planning to read lots of books which have been waiting for me for a while, and also translate some more articles (like the one on speed traveling or the one on social media which originally appeared in ELLE Romania and which can now be found on my blog in English too!) and attend some pretty exciting events.
I hope you’ll have a great start of spring!
Laura
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