Tidying a Messy Mind
I shaved my legs for...THIS?!? Newsletter #78
Good morning!
I have tried to write this newsletter for weeks and seem to be hitting a block with it, so this will be a random collection of thoughts (my bluets??) instead. I intend to use this newsletter for some more considered micro-essays, workshopping characters, and refining pitches in the coming weeks, though happy to hear what you would like more of. Might not do it, but happy to hear it.
Most importantly though, I am doing the show 4 more times in Brisbane from the 16 - 19 May and you can buy tickets here! As far as I know, it is currently the last time I will be doing the show so it’s an historical event worth spending the big bucks on. Here is a snippet of a good review identifying that I am in fact from Queensland…
Also, it isn’t all plugs, but if you are a new reader and you trust me now is a great time to subscribe to this fortnightly-ish free newsletter:
Thoughts/Ideas/Reflections (My Bluets)
There has never been a better time to remind yourself that you create things because you love it and the challenge of it. Unfortunately, this is because comedy, writing, film, TV and social media to promote your creativity have all become increasingly precarious and difficult to predict. If anyone has an idea I can replicate daily with huge success on social media that is regularly interesting and doesn’t involve having to put on makeup then I am all ears.
Trying every day to balance doing enough of what I don’t enjoy to afford to live and enough of what brings me joy to be willing to live. With the rise of AI doing creative work, it seems we are increasingly keen on the idea of only paying people for the things we hate doing. In which case I hate writing jokes and characters that fall hopelessly in love with each other (Is a double bluff/reverse psychology approach the new manifestation?)
During a particularly difficult show, I asked everyone in the audience (maybe 10 people) whether they felt that they were successful. Not a single person said yes… but they all said they were happy with their lives. Is striving for success a quick ticket to being miserable? How do you decouple the need for the things you spend your time on to be meaningful from external measures of success? How do you maintain a spark for your ideas that burns for you alone?
I’ve entered a space of becoming uncomfortable with feeling comfortable. That feeling when you need to push through a barrier and do something big or different and associated with taking on a massive risk. Of course, it’s harder to take risks in your life when you are the type of person who could make even smoking look uncool.
I’ve been obsessed with the idea of viewing the things you see when people watching - the man running out of a hospital in the gown and Nike Air Max’s to make a call on a payphone a woman yelling ‘This isn’t the end, this will never be the end’ in an Office Works before immediately walking away and some would argue, ending, the interaction - as cold opens for TV shows that I’ll never get to see the rest of. Is there a reason these particular events stay with me? What are they trying to say about my life?
Links
Of course, the links provide a helpful insight into how I have been spending my time and the things that I have been feeding my mind. This time we have:
Love Culture Study and in particular this edition on the industrial burnout machine and the way women are meant to work on passion jobs. I lament that the modern workplace has taken my passion and used it against me until there is hardly any left to give.
Also enjoyed this Noah Kalina newsletter on ‘Normal Houses’ aka gorgeous houses surrounded by fog had my jaw on the floor. I think we are all at the point where we would happily accept a few ghosts in the house in return for a bit of space all of our own.
If I had a spare $500 I probably still wouldn’t spend it on this Rainbow Chard vest by Rachel Antonoff but I’d definitely think about it.
I’m pretty sure I’ve posted this dream apartment in Barcelona before but every time it comes up I can’t resist it.
I find the concept of Chain, a fine dining restaurant homage to your favourite fast foods to be endlessly fascinating and also a bleak look at our prioritisation of nostalgia over anything new or interesting.
Also this house in Bath - god I am in a deep House and Garden phase. I never thought this would happen to me. I remember being disappointed when my mum would bring home a house and garden from the shops rather than a Woman’s Day.
Hopefully back with some proper writing next time now I have put down some of the mess in my name.
Love you! See you soon my Prudes xx