Slow News Day #004
Well here it is. The fourth iteration of this Slow News Day thing I’ve been putting together about my favourite bits of writing, media and whatever else I enjoyed from the last few days.
There are no rules. It’s just about sharing things that piqued my interest and why.
You can work your way backwards through the earlier editions, #003, #002 and #001 if you like.
But before it’s time to get stuck into the current highlights, I wanted to write about something.
It’s the lump in my throat I’ve been carrying for the last few days.
I was terribly saddened to follow the news about Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit: How he was reported missing before his body was found a few days later just outside Edinburgh, and the waves of feeling that came with it in real time, during and after the news.
The sensation of experiencing a sadness and loss to someone you’ve never met is a strange one – and I’ve never cared too much for celebrity culture and the like. I just loved Scott’s music and art.
I had the privilege of seeing Frightened Rabbit play Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory on two occasions. Both times Scott took to the stage in front of a packed room with an unplugged acoustic guitar, commanding a silence as he performed Poke. Think of the most intimate moment you’ve had at a concert, multiply it and you’re just getting close to what it was like.
Last Christmas, there was only one thing I wanted, and thanks to my girlfriend I was lucky enough to receive Frightened Rabbit’s Recorded Songs EP on vinyl. Roadless and Rained On are among the best songs put out by the band. I couldn’t wait to hear what came next.
I know too little about mental health and suicide to go deep into details. Nor do I want this to be a eulogy, a tribute or obituary.
I simply loved what Scott produced. I love the music. I love the words. I love the artwork. I love the voice. I love it all so much I’m heavyhearted.
Rest easy, Scott. Thanks.
xo
The Man Who Cracked the Lottery — Reid Forgrave
The New York Times
What kind of a person takes nearly a year to claim a winning $16million lottery ticket? More importantly, why?
If you want a story of cunning, guile, bumbling characters, bigfoot and a relentlessly intelligent prosecutor in the field of white collar crime with a hint of Philip Marlowe, this is for you.
I really enjoyed the pacing and prose of this story as it led me through its many twists and turns and surprise ending. The article is also illustrated in a noir style as part of a series of features from The New York Times Magazine’s money issue. It’s a real standout.
Becoming Spring Brucesteen: My Quest to Meet the Boss — Toniann Fernandez
The Paris Review
This is a really fun piece from the Paris Review about falling in love with Bruce Springsteen, the man and the musician, and the absolute commitment that comes with it. There are few passing Springsteen fans. It’s an all encompassing lifestyle choice when you fall under The Boss’s spell.
I love all the little stories from this piece about the desperation to meet Bruce. Despite being a man of the people, not everyone can just come up and meet the man.
I guess, there’s some of my own personal parallels there too. I love the Boss. And Fernandez writes about leaving your industrial seaside home town for the city and how, after time, it has a magnetism that draws you back. There’s also the part about unemployment. Which rings a little too true as well.
Even if you’re not born to run, this is a story for you. It’s written in a way where you’ll see yourself reflected in the writing. If you don’t, that’s kinda sad. But nothing Darkness on the Edge of Town won’t fix.
Why Do We Stay On Facebook? It’s Complicated — Kathryn Jezer-Morton
The Conversation
If you’ve ever grappled with Facebook and its purpose and usefulness to your life, this read is for you. I wouldn’t call it scathing of the social network, and it’s certainly not condescending towards those that have elevated themselves above it. It’s just a great pause for thought about this institution that has become embedded in so much of our lives over the last decade with a strong element of complicity on our part.
I’ve ditched Facebook on plenty of occasions. When I no longer needed it for work, I didn’t take a lot of value from it. Then I wanted to share a few things I’d made. Short films, articles, fundraising efforts etc. I recalled how it gave me, a normal bloke in Sydney, a captive audience of people who have shown some modicum of interest in my life by connecting with me. The proof was in the numbers.
Businesses are the same. And working in the media, it blows my mind how so many companies rely on it now for traffic and readership. If any other business in the world risked a majority of its income on an algorithm and platform it had zero control over (or, in truth, any actual understanding of), it would be considered a huge risk. Media just accepts it as normal. How weird, dangerous, and myopic.
So far, at least in my own feed, the same old script is being followed to the letter. The soul-searching is punctuated by passionate cris-de-coeur from the feed’s more opinionated characters: Wake up, sheeple! If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product — remember? Quit Facebook! Encrypt your data! Smash your phone under the heel of your steel-toed boots!
Next, right on cue, the incisive social commentators swoop in to remind us that these calls are coming from inside the house. “Pretty ironic that you’re posting all this stuff on Facebook!” To which everyone silently rolls their eyes in resignation. Cue the gallows humor about how we’re all under constant surveillance, rinse and repeat. The human condition’s same old two-step. Sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Stabbing prompts ‘stupid’ criticism of Wollongong methadone clinic — Angela Thompson
Illawarra Mercury
There was a fatal stabbing around a methadone clinic in Wollongong recently and I thought this article from the local paper painted a very unique picture of the incident and addiction. In the interests of transparency, I’ll say I know Richard from the article and lived around corner from the clinic recently. There is definitely a personal interest from my perspective.
What stood out for me was the clarity. How the stereotypes don’t fit and the complexity of running an institution like this.
Local news is difficult and this is a great follow up piece to a crime. It’s certainly something the paper could hang it’s hat on.
But then whatever respect I gained for the local rag was thrown out the window when it opted to publish a collection of Facebook comments (from a story about a change to road rules) from some knuckle-draggers about running over people on pushbikes over. It is, in my opinion, incredibly irresponsible and dangerous, not to mention a desperate grab for clicks. How such respect and empathy can be shown in one story, then have the absence of any moral or logical sense to hold off publishing something as thoughtless as this reeks of asininity, recklessness and a gluttony for clicks. The gluttony for clicks is coming at a cost of trust.
2018 Brian Johns Lecture — Morry Schwartz
Last year I won a subscription to The Saturday Paper. It’s not always my cup of tea and leans pretty heavy to one side of politics, but I do have a lot of time for Paul Bongiorno’s regular columns. And truth be told, I think the weekly deadline helps make some news stories a little bit more digestible. It’s warm takes over hot ones.
The paper’s publisher Morry Schwartz gave a lecture on media models and there are fewer things journos love talking about more. It’s easy to dissect the ones that fail and pin your hopes on others to succeed when you’ve got a fair bit on the line.
Given the context of The Saturday Paper and its launch in 2014, I thought some of the notes from this lecture were fascinating.
“Free content comes with a great threat as one taskmaster is replaced with another. In the past, a publisher had to tread gingerly around the concerns of big advertisers. But when the news became funded by the readers they become the bosses, and much tougher ones than that.
“With digital news the publishers exactly know what their readers read and want to read and when survival is at stake, even the highest journalistic ethics will be tested.
“This is the crux of the new reality. When the publishers chase numbers, they pander to their readers and their content tends towards irrelevance. They no longer challenge, they seek the readers’ love, they only entertain. It is not possible to think critically in public while at the same time giving the readers what they want.
“We all know the history. The two big publishers — News and Fairfax — tried free content, but immediately realised their folly and started building paywalls. People paid for news in the past, why not now? People pay for Netflix, why not their news?
I don’t know where you can find the whole thing. My previous short-term employers at Sky News ran it once. Track it down if you can.
Oliver Sacks: A Journey From Where to Where
Radiolab
I haven’t listened to a heap of podcasts lately. I spent a day last week fixing my iPod and that’s been hogging my ears, thanks largely to The Misfits.
In any case, this is a bit of a throwback to a very enjoyable listen about Oliver Sacks, the scientist and author. Sacks’ partner begins to follow him with an audio recorder following his terminal cancer diagnosis. It adds another element to a legacy that is already rich.
I particular love the segment on failing hearing and how the brain creates its own interpretations. Mishearing grocery bags for ‘poetry bags’ is very sweet.
The Long Way Round: The Plane that Accidentally Circumnavigated the World — John Bull
Medium
Last week I was scheduled in for my first flying lesson. It’s not a change of careers — just a gift because I like to try new things.
When it was cancelled due to high winds, I spent an afternoon at the HARS History Museum, surrounded by some miraculous pieces of engineering.
I’ve mentioned before how I love stories of audaciously biting off more than you can chew and in many ways that’s the essence of building a plane. You’re defying physics and making the impossible a reality.
On the same weekend of my postponed flying lesson, a mate sent through this great story. It seemed to slip through the cracks at the time — which is understandable given WWII had just kicked off.
Anyway, this is a great story about a time of travel being hard work, when seaplanes took people around the world, a fella named Poindexter and finding your way home.
They mock vegans and eat 4lb of steak a day: meet ‘carnivore dieters’ — Olivia Solon
The Guardian
Combining bitcoin and carnivores in an article sounds like something Louis Theroux would do. Even the below quote belongs in one of his shows.
“Bitcoin is a revolt against fiat [government-backed] money, and an all-meat diet is a revolt against fiat food,” said Michael Goldstein, a “bitcoin and meat maximalist” based in Austin, Texas. “Once someone has grown capable of seeing beyond the lies and myths that experts peddle in one domain, it becomes easier to see beyond them in other domains as well.”
It’s been about seven years since I stopped eating meat, and I’ve found it works pretty well for me. But hey, to each their own.
This story is pretty entertaining, informative and a little absurd. Mostly, it’s memorable for its folly.
Of Miracles and Men — Jonathan Hock
ESPN
I’ve been a huge fan of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series for years and have slowly been chipping away at the evergrowing list of films. This particular one, a 70-minute doco about the Soviet Union and Ice Hockey, is a ripper. The archival footage is amazing and telling the story from the other side of the Cold War is elucidating. Well worth a watch. Even if you know little about hockey. Like myself.
It’s been more video work for me recently — although I’d love to get back into some more writing as well. I just haven’t pitched many ideas lately.
That said, the video work has been a lot of fun. It was nice to see some of the fair dealings packages end up on SBS and Fairfax in Australia and I hope I’m improving with the editing and voicing. I can’t post those for legal reasons, but they’re out there somewhere.
What I can share is something I’m pretty proud of.
My friend Matt invited me along on a trip to the Central West of New South Wales to film some drag racing outside of Dubbo/Wellington. Matt is one of the most intelligent and creative people I know and has carved out a niche for himself as a video producer who tells great stories about and with cars. That’s not easy. He’s done plenty of awesome stuff previously and I have no doubt there’s more to come. There always is with him. Hope you enjoy the video. It was great fun to shoot.
Thanks! Until next time.
