Stop scrolling: spooky season, The 1975 and getting closer to nature
Woo's cultural tonic for the endless cycle of doomscrolling
Woo's cultural tonic for the endless cycle of doomscrolling
Doomscrolling can take you into a grim place, being linked to both physical and mental health - a recent study said that of those with “severely problematic” news consumption, 74% reported experiencing mental health problems and 61% reported physical problems.
Our antidote for this sorrow, the endless blast of short-form nonversation and headlines about the end of the world, is to help you escape the news cycle and embrace what the great big world has to offer you. We know you're busy and there’s a lot to digest, so each week we’ll bring you a roundup of carefully curated reads, exhibitions, big-screen events and album drops to check out.
Listen to The 1975’s ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’
After the band’s electrifying headline set at Reading and Leeds Festival in August, The 1975’s fifth studio album has been one of the most highly anticipated projects of the year. But instead of the festival bangers and angsty existential ballads that have long typified the alt-pop group, this album strips it all back. Focussing on affairs of the heart while interrogating the intimacies and difficulties of millennial life, *Being Funny in a Foreign Language *offers a restrained, softer side to the band’s sound and persona. While a departure from the Tumblr era nostalgia they're known for, Matty Healy’s word-smithery still gets the job done.
Get closer to nature at the Wildlife Photography of the Year exhibition
Showing at the Natural History Museum, this year’s annual Wildlife Photography of the Year exhibition is getting up and personal with the natural world around us. From mesmerising views of vast landscapes to zooming in on some of the Earth’s smallest creatures, this photography showcase captures nature in all its technicolour wonder. Here you can see the work of this year’s finalists, including the winning image ‘The Big Buzz’, taken by American artist Karine Aigner.
The Wildlife Photography of the Year exhibition is now showing until 2 July 2023 at the Natural History Museum.
Join Extinction Rebellion in their Festival of Resistance
Let’s face it, today’s headlines about the climate crisis are rarely positive, and it’s easy to feel deflated about the future of our planet. But there are ways to overcome your climate anxiety, come together with others and help inspire change. This is exactly what is on offer at Extinction Rebellion’s London Festival of Resistance this weekend. From peaceful protests about the energy crisis to listening to a collective of poets, comedians and inspirational speakers, the festival blends together celebration and resistance. Involvement is what you make it, so you won’t feel pressured to do anything you don't want to. Whether it’s petitioning parliament or simply enjoying the words of guest speakers, the organisation invites you to experience climate activism in any way you see fit.
Watch the re-imagining of a cult classic, Halloween Ends
Spooky season has officially arrived, and what could mark it better than the return of the iconic villain Michael Myers in the latest addition to the Halloween horror franchise. Forget psychological thrillers or blanket-covering slow-burners, sometimes a good old-fashioned slasher movie at Halloween is all we need. The film will re-acquaint us with Jamie Lee Curtis and James Jude Courtney, who will re-inhabit their roles as timeless nemeses in this serial killer classic. Get your popcorn ready!
Experience the Amazon Rainforest like you’ve never seen it before
Debuting at 180 Studios, Richard Mosse’s latest project ‘Broken Spectre’ is an immersive visual story-telling experience you won’t forget. With 4k video and all-encompassing surround sound, the exhibition brings together video footage taken from the depths of the Brazilian Amazon. Forcing us to confront realities of deforestation and destruction, Moose invites us to reconsider our relationship with the climate, nature and the future of our planet.
Richard Mosse’s ‘Broken Spectres’ exhibition will be showing at 180 Studios in London until 4 December 2022.
Read the Nobel Prize-winning words of this year’s laureate Annie Erneux
If you’re looking for your next book to snuggle up with and get lost in - literally - then look no further than the most recent work of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Annie Erneux. Known for her unfiltered memoir writing, Erneux amplifies the mundane pain and triumphs of everyday life to beautiful effect. Composed of her own diary entries between 1988-1990, Getting Lost recounts the author's affair with a married Soviet man while in Paris. Written with detail, earnestness and allure, you won’t want to put it down.
Getting Lost is out now via Seven Stories Press.
Get involved in helping to save our planet this weekend
Today marks the launch of a national campaign to re-assess the health of our natural waters. The UK-wide ‘Autumn Water Watch’ is a project launched by climate charity Planet Patrol. The non-profit organisation is encouraging people across the country to find their nearest water landmark - be it a coastline, river or lake - and observe its condition between Friday-Sunday. You can download their app, which will advise you on what to look out for, and allow you to record your findings. The data will amount to a national survey and could provide an unprecedented picture of the condition of our waterways.
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