Looking Sideways: 10 Things
Here are this week's ten things I thought were worth sharing this Friday.
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1. One thing I will say for Substack - they are INCREDIBLY good at marketing via the network: especially when it comes to recruiting their writers to spruik the latest feature they’d like everybody to push. That’s why this week absolutely everybody has been posting and sending emails about Notes, the ‘new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more’ - in other words, their version of Twitter. (Hence why Elon Musk kicked off last week, which also provided Notes with its very own storm-in-a-teacup viral moment). That’s my very first Note above, if you’re interested. Does the slightly gun-to-my-head tone give away that I don’t really know what I’m doing?
I’m also not sure how I feel about Notes tbh. One of the things I really like about Substack is that it …. isn’t Twitter or Instagram. That said, it’s clearly very early days for Notes, as you can tell by the slightly goofy way everybody is using it while they\we collectively work how it is going to work. So maybe it won’t descend into the usual race-to-the-bottom hellscape this type of thing always seems to. One thing I did notice while exploring Notes this week was that the few tools who were attempting to start race/culture flame wars were getting short shrift from everybody else. But they’re out there…
Anyway, if you want to dip a toe in you can head to substack.com/notes, find the ‘Notes’ tab in the Substack app or click the button below.
As a subscriber to Looking Sideways: 10 Things, you’ll automatically see my Notes anyway. You can also share your own Notes if you fancy. Anyone had a look at it, or got any thoughts on it? Let me know what ya reckon.
2. This week’s paid sub guest post by Hannah Bailey about her creative process was, unsurprisingly, pretty popular. It was also serendipitously-timed, given I put it out on the day Hannah released her latest amazing project for Outside Studios. Check that out here.
3. Big up Lukas Skinner who just won the Rip Curl Grom Search. It’s going to be really fascinating seeing how far Lukas can take it. Coincidentally, I had the pleasure of watching Lukas take the Wave to pieces this week and can confirm he’s a bit good at ye olde surfing.
4. My pals at the North Devon World Surfing Reserve just announced details of the inauguration ceremony for the UK’s first ever protected surf reserve! It takes place in Woolacombe on May 12, and should be a cracker.
5. My pal Shelby Stanger has a new book out! We’re going to do another pod about the entire thing, but in the meantime pre-order Will to Wild here.
6. Friend-of-the-pod Hugo Tagholm has been fighting the good fight for years - and he’s taken things up a notch by partnering with The Good Law Project to take the UK government to court over the ongoing state of our national waters. Find out more and support here.
7. Related - I’ve had quite a few people send me links to the above Instagram account, which is drawing attention to a forthcoming ‘chemical experiment’ taking place in St Ives Bay next month. Can anybody out there shed any more light on this?
8. ‘Begin your stretching routines! Fire up the Theragun! Order a weekend’s worth of Radox! As part of the UK’s most achy demographic you are cordially invited to Rollersnakes for a day of badly thought-out competitions, falling over, Olympic level moaning and remembering the mobility of our youths!’
Yep, it’s almost time for the second annual Groans Brigade x Dadlands Voltarol 2 Arthritic Boogaloo skate jam, which takes place at Rollersnakes in Derby on Saturday May 13th from midday.
9. Friend-of-the-show Cori Schumacher let me know about the rather radical sounding Stoke Sessions: An International Conference on the Culture, History and Politics of Surfing and Skateboarding taking place in San Diego between April 20th and 23rd.
10. Finally, a use for AI I can wholly get behind.
RuPublicans 😂😂😂😂 That just made my week 👏👏👏