Extremely Online – We Are Lady Parts – Imamu Room
...and other recs this week!
Kia ora, welcome to this week’s newsletter.
Is Miquela the future of social media? An art project? Some kind of scam? If you don’t know what we’re even talking about, have a watch of the first episode of Extremely Online, a new weekly web series all about the internet from the team behind Shit You Should Care About and made with with the support of NZ On Air.
(Lil) Miquela is an influencer, pop star and activist with over three million followers on Instagram who is also not real. She’s a “robot influencer”, which is something I personally don’t want a bar of, but is still weird and interesting to learn about. And that’s what Extremely Online is here for!
New episodes come out Fridays on SYSCA’s Instagram, Mondays on The Spinoff or wait and have them delivered to your inbox in this very newsletter every Wednesday.
–Cal
This week’s new podcasts
On The Fold [Apple | Spotify], Duncan Greive caught up with Lucy Blakiston, one third of Shit You Should Care About, to talk about how and why she and her friends started their hugely popular Instagram account turned media company.
On When the Facts Change [Apple | Spotify], Bernard Hickey looked at an epic intergenerational wealth transfer and the effects of three decades of underinvestment in infrastructure.
On Business is Boring [Apple | Spotify], Simon Pound spoke with Lauren Peate, the founder and CEO of Multitudes, a New Zealand software company that helps measure and improve companies’ culture and performance.
The Real Pod [Apple | Spotify] inspected the all-important master bedrooms on The Block NZ and the lawn mowing moment of the season on The Apprentice Aotearoa.
Remember When… [Apple | Spotify] took it back to the glory days of Jersey Shore.
Dietary Requirements [Apple | Spotify] discussed some of their favourite global food cities and how we stack up.
And The Offspin [Apple | Spotify] listened back to all the joyous voice memos they collected in reaction to the Black Caps winning the World Test Championship.
Subscribe and listen now wherever you get your podcasts!
FIRST
Maybe it’s the pandemic forcing people to seek out comfort wherever they can get it, maybe it’s the mysterious tides of fashion turning as they will, but Crocs are back in fashion in a big way right now. Rising pop star Georgia Lines, has gone from hating the polarising EVA footwear to wearing them on the cover of her latest single. She talks about her shock Crocs flip flop (and other things) in this week’s episode of FIRST.
Conversations that Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take
No matter how much of it we have, how we make it or how we feel about its role in our lives and societies, few topics have such universal relevance in the modern world as money. In this month’s episode of Conversations that Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take, Stacey Morrison is joined by Dr Pushpa Wood and Kendall Flutey as we seek to find out how deep our collective knowledge of our financial system actually goes – from its origins to its current state to its still somewhat unpredictable future – and whether our entire system of exchange could do with a reset.
Follow Conversations that Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider.
We Are Lady Parts
Amber says: “We Are Lady Parts (Neon) is a new UK comedy series about an all women Muslim punk band. It’s smart, funny and incredibly wholesome – I watched all six episodes in a single sitting and didn’t hate myself for doing so afterwards. Highly recommended.” [Here’s a good read about the show from Slate!]
The Queer Principles of Kit Webb
Sam says: “I’ve been reading too much bleak stuff lately, so I decided to take a left turn into something guaranteed to cheer me up: The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, a gay historical fiction romance novel set in 18th century England. Edward Percy wants to pull off a heist on his own father, the Duke of Clare, but to do so he has to coax retired highwayman Kit Webb out of retirement. It’s fun, it’s silly, and it’s a massive distraction from the loud scream of reality.”
Imamu Room
Leonie says: “I know I’m forever recommending YouTube channels to keep the eldritch creatures of your own cursed soul at bay, but I’ve recently become addicted to a home cooking channel called Imamu Room. Imamu is an exceptional Japanese home cook that takes you through all the dishes she makes for her family for the week. It started as a round up of daily bento for her husband (also known as “husbento”) and grew to breakfasts, dinners and weekend meals. There’s no talking to camera, it’s all shot from the chin down so we never see Imamu’s face, or her husband’s or adorable daughter’s (this is pretty common in Japanese cooking videos on YouTube). Instead Imamu captions her cooking with perfect imperfect English and emoticons, and we’re treated to the soothing sounds of someone pottering around a kitchen, followed by the comforting chatter of her family sitting down to eat together. If the perfect comfort meal could be video, this would be it.”
Shattered: Hope, Heartbreak and the New York Knicks
Justin says: “This one is for the NBA Stans. Hosted by Chuck D, Shattered: Hope, Heartbreak and the New York Knicks is an eight-part podcast from The Athletic which excellently breaks down why the best basketball city in the world hasn't been able to produce even the semblance of a decent NBA team for the last 20 years.”
Independent cinema
Lucy says: “I recommend going to your local independent cinema. In the weekend I went to my local in Auckland, the Lido, and saw Dream Horse (lovely film, also rec). Such a nice environment: a small rear-projection cinema with big comfy seats and a cosy lounge area where you can sit before the film and have a wine in front of the fire. No queues, no popcorn smell, very pleasant.”
That’s all for this week! Please reply to get in touch and share with anyone else who might like to subscribe too. See you next Wednesday 👋
