Meanwhile #106
This week’s Meanwhile comes to you from the bizarre serenity of York St Johns’ library. I came here for some peace and quiet and, quite by chance, discovered it’s the day before term starts. There is nobody here and it is magical. Three floors of books and desks and silence all to myself – absolute bliss. I’m basically Burgess Meredith in The Twilight Zone, but with better WiFi.
The illustrated Jean-Paul Belmondo — mubi.com
MUBI’s poster correspondent Andy Curry explores the many faces of the late, great French cinema icon, accompanied by my own shameful realisation that I’ve only ever seen one, maybe two of his films. Must remedy that.
Browsing the web in 2021 is a terrible experience
“In many ways, browsing the web is a lot like driving a car, getting from point A to point B, following a path through a series of signs. When you drive a car and you see ads on the side of the road, when you hear a commercial on the radio, you don’t feel distracted, you don’t feel in danger of crashing the car because of these ads. The driving experience is certainly not improved by these messages, but they don’t ruin driving, they don’t make it an unpleasant experience. Browsing the web is like that, but instead of cruising on a nice highway in your comfortable car, you’re behind the wheel of a kart on Rainbow Road, and it’s the final lap.”
Everything I Know So Far About Running a Freelance Illustration Business
Taaryn Brench demystifies the illustration business with this handy ebook, sharing hard-earned wisdom about finding work, self promotion, dealing with clients/agents, getting paid, etc. Well worth checking out Taaryn's portfolio while you're there.
I’m a bit obsessed with the new Little Simz album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. As well as being generally fabulous, what really gets me is her incredible breathing control absolutely blows my mind. Seriously – try singing along to any of the tracks and you’ll be a hyperventilating mess on the floor within seconds. Anyway, respiratory wonder aside, this Seb Emina interview for The Gentlewoman is well worth a read.
32 years of Guardian Weekend magazine
”I think the most successful ones are the ideas we come up with straight away. If you’re still working it out five meetings later, then probably the idea isn’t that good.” Since its creation in late 1988, the Guardian’s Saturday supplement has been lauded for front covers and features that have caught the eye and sparked joy or sometimes controversy. As its final edition is published, some of the team who worked on it explain how they brought the magazine to life.
“The initial image and presentation of the ‘Bat-Man’ was so much weirder, scarier and cooler from what I was used to on 1960s TV, it seemed like I was seeing the actual, real depiction of him in these comic book pages from 1939. Also, the writing of the stories was very dream-like, in a strange, ‘we’re-still-trying-to-figure-this-out’ kind of way.”
What’s your best charity shop find?
Threw this out on Twitter earlier and already it’s turning into one of my favourite threads, full of original Vivienne Westwoods, misprinted Beatles, Davids (both Hockney and Shrigley) and Keystone movie cameras. Got a feeling this one will grow and grow.
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