Dissecting the dick pic, why there’s so much pressure on LGBT shows to succeed, and, ever wondered if you’re a Virginia Woolf novel? Here’s what the Dazed team are reading this week
REVEALED: BORIS JOHNSON'S DUPLICITOUS HANDLING OF LONDON'S GARDEN BRIDGE
“Oh, Boris. Stop lying to us would you? Now the sun is coming out again, we were getting a bit excited about Thomas Heatherwick's Garden Bridge. We were dreaming of walking across the Thames amongst the trees and butterflies and sitting down on a hand carved bench to admire all those wonderful skyscrapers you and your mates have built. You said that they would pay for this wonderful bridge. You also said that the maintenance costs would come from the Private Sector too. But now it appears that we're going to have pay for its upkeep, not your beloved City boys. 'This huge investment of public funds would be much better spent on improving communal green spaces across London benefiting Londoners of all ages at a local and accessible level,' says Carlo Laurenzi, chief executive of the London Wildlife Trust in Oliver Wainwright's Guardian piece. I'm all up for a whip around, but £3.5 million every year is a little beyond our means. Sort it out, Bozza.” – Tim Noakes, Editor-in-Chief (@TimNoakes)
IS THERE TOO MUCH PRESSURE FOR GAY TV SHOWS TO SUCCEED?
“I'm holding out for a time when we don't need ‘LGBT TV’ made for ‘LGBT audiences’. Instead we have TV for you know, everyone, that's as effortlessly diverse as the world we live in. Until then we have the great Cucumber/Banana/Tofu, which for its faults (addressed here brilliantly by Chris Mandle) is still awesome and you should definitely watch it.” – Natasha Slee, Social Media Assistant (@TashaLouises)
HOW TO TELL IF YOU ARE IN A VIRGINIA WOOLF NOVEL
“If you were forced to struggle through The Waves at school, got hyped about the gender bending power of Orlando or suffered an existential crisis after The Years made you realise just how fleeting life is, you’ll enjoy this article. The Toast never fails in its efforts at making the highbrow lowbrow (see: Women listening to men in art history, Dirtbag Macbeth – which imagines the play’s classic scenes as if the cast were angsty teens – and How to talk to babies about post-structuralism) and this gentle poking fun at Woolf’s sparrow-like, well-meaning upperclass women, oblivious, headstrong men who have just returned from the colonies and florid (but brilliant) prose brings the lols for literature nerds.” – Emma Allwood, Fashion Features Assistant (@EmmaHopeall)
UNPOPULAR OPINION: I'M A FORMER HIP-HOP JOURNALIST AND I NO LONGER WANT TO LISTEN TO HIP-HOP
“There is a song on Mariah Carey's latest album called “#Dedicated” where Nas says, "The summer of 88 is my most nostalgic moment of hip hop music." So has it all gone downhill from there? There is something a bit ‘dad’ about lamenting the slip of tasteful hip hop — pre-‘makin' it rain’ and ‘super manning that ho’ — but with all the trap-happy rap pumping through speakers, there's been an extreme switch between progressive, artful messaging through cutting lyrics to shock-value bragging and sexist stanzas. So much so that this former hip hop journo gave up.” – Trey Taylor, Film Editor (@TreyTylor)
THE LOST STARS OF CHANNEL U: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
“If like me you spent everyday watching Channel U after school, this will set you off on the sort of nostalgia driven YouTube binge that Friday afternoons were made for. Bring back the days of monophonic ringtones, Orange Miranda and £2 chicken and chips...” – Dan Adeyemi, Front End Web Developer (@iamdeaneyelid)
TOWARDS A THEORY OF THE DICK PIC (NSFW)
“Since 50 per cent of you send naked selfies, it's worth linking to this exhaustive introduction to the theory, aesthetics and politics of the dick pic. Published on net-art uber-portal Rhizome, it contains 3,000 words of such gems as; "The crumpled sheets, bad lighting, and dirty bathroom floor of the average dick pic, take the place of the extraneous details of fashion and setting in the early medical or juridical photo.” – Charlie Robin Jones, Digital Editor (@CharliexJones)
WELCOME TO ‘EXECUTION ISLAND,’ THE SURREAL DEATH SITE FOR BALI 9 DRUG SMUGGLERS
“While we may still bemoan drug laws in the UK, compared to other countries our government displays extreme leniency. This feature on Nusakambangan Island in Indonesia, the destination for convicts facing death by firing squad, serves as a reminder of the terrors that other people must face when handling, selling or taking drugs in the country. Nusakambangan is an idyllic island inhabited by drug smugglers, murderers and political dissidents – as the writer puts it, an odd mix of “brutality and beauty.” It’s where the heroin smugglers “the Bali 9” await their fate, who barring a radical change of heart will face their deaths on Wednesday. Despite loud criticism from the international community, Indonesia continues to exercise its right to execute in one of the world’s most beautiful places.” – Thomas Gordon, Digital News Writer (@AngstromHoot)
“This is probably the best book review you will ever read about a hawk-training memoir. I know that sounds almost wilfully obscure, but it is. New Yorker book critic Kathryn Schulz looks over Helen McDonald's award winning book “H Is For Hawk,” which chronicles McDonald's attempt to get over the death of her father by training one of the biggest avian predators in the world. It's a moving and insightful look into grieving, literature and healing – and it's also made me take birdwatching way more seriously than I thought I ever would.” – Zing Tsjeng, News Editor (@MissZing)
"If you want a historical look at breast feeding (yes, really) as you side eye Nigel Farage for his insensitive comments about the very act of nature's greatest gifts – giving life and nourishment. Not breasts, perv. Anyway, look no further than this piece on Adult. If nothing else – or if boobs aren't really your thang – at least take this away from it and smile every time you look to the night sky. “Heracles was born to the mortal Alcmene, but his father, Jupiter, let him suckle from Juno, his wife, while she slept. Juno woke up and spurted milk all over the night sky in her confusion, and that’s why it’s called the Milky Way.' Now everyone, awww" – Ashleigh Kane, Digital Assistant (@AshleighKane)
“If you’d like to take a moment to clear your head of all the Yeezy-ness this weekend, I highly recommend entering Daniel Crooks' never-ending void. 9 minutes of slow tripping with a perfect soundtrack - it just keeps comin’.” – Kate Villevoye, Development Assistant, Dazed Vision
MY YEAR RIPPING OFF THE WEB WITH THE DAILY MAIL
“Huge, earth-shattering newsflash everyone: the Daily Mail is a terrible place to work! In this article, James King writes about his year working at the paper’s New York office, and it’s basically as crap as you’d imagine. Well done guys.” – Dominique Sisley, Editorial Assistant (@DominiqueSisley)
