Goonies, Grunge and the Lost Generation – by Rebecca Pickett
To me 1979 will always be two very important things – a song by the Smashing Pumpkins, and the year I was born. This also means I was born on the verge of an important cultural shift; a generational cusp. The 80’s brought us Madonna, personal computers, new wave music and the fall of the […]
T2 and Choosing Nostalgia – by Lucy Watson
As I walked out of Westgarth cinema two weekends ago, having just seen T2 Trainspotting for the first time, I felt that great rush; when you see something that gets under your skin, and makes you feel that odd, longing sensation somewhere between your heart and your stomach. The one that only certain cinema gives […]
Public Grief and the People Who Hate You For It – by Nick Caddaye
So far, 2016 has been a funny old year for public grief. With the deaths of David Bowie and Alan Rickman this week there has been an outpouring of emotion, matched quickly by an outpouring of sniffy commentary about how such public displays of mourning for celebrities are, if not self-serving, then at the very […]
Cheerleaders, Groupies and the Female as Spectator – by Lucy Watson
Back in 2005, I was at the Edinburgh Fringe, and it was one of those mornings where we were hanging with a gang of comedians outside the Gilded Balloon as the sun was coming up, deciding where we would kick onto. I was chatting to a comedian mate of mine (a really nice guy, who […]
The Unbearable Numbness of Being – by Lucy Watson
Today my heart hurts. It aches for Paris. For Beirut. For the world. A lot has been written in the days since the Paris attacks that the world only cares about white lives. That there is only an outpouring of love and support for Paris, but not for Beirut. Or for countless other conflicts. This […]
Taxis, Ubers and the Bitter Pill – by Lucy Watson
Ok, so it’s a Friday night, and you’re a bit thirsty. This a perfectly reasonable thing for you to be feeling – it’s the weekend. You’ve had a tough week at work and you’d just like to unwind. So imagine you walk into a bar. After all, bars serve drinks, don’t they? And drinks are […]
Stubble in Paradise – by Rebecca Pickett
On the 2nd July 2015, an eruption from an Indonesian volcano sent the lives of thousands of Australians into disarray. They could not even deal. Their perfect plans had been thwarted. What ensued in the following weeks can only be summed up one way: #Bogangate2015 How DARE you God/Mother Nature? Why couldn’t you just let […]
A Guide to Healthy Living – by Lucy Watson
You are not your weight. You are not “what you eat”. You are what you experience, what you feel, what you make, what you do, what you say, how you love. Eat healthy food, because it is delicious. Understand your food and what is in it, because unprocessed, real food is a joy. Exercise […]
Other Duties As Required – by Bethany Macdonald
My job description as an esteemed public servant has always included the ambiguous clause ‘other duties as required’. Whilst this is suitably vague enough to cover all manner of tasks, the most common seems to be posing in photo shoots where we can’t afford to pay real models. My face has appeared on promotional materials […]
The Hardest Word – by Lucy Watson
Quite a few of my friends have been going through tough times, of late. Only, unlike speed bumps in the past, their recent troubles have shaken them to the very core. Because it would seem that there is a moment in life, often around our early thirties, where the armour we used throughout our twenties […]