Looking Sideways: 10 Things
Free Point Break tickets, a new playlist, and an essential book.
1. Thanks for all the thought-provoking feedback about this piece - it’s the type of thing that would usually only be for my Insights subscribers, but I thought I’d make it free-to-read this time. Click the link to have a read.
2. I began my reading year with a brilliant book I haven’t been able to stop thinking about, especially given what is unfolding in LA right now. This is the best thing I’ve ever read about our collective addiction to fossil fuels, for one. If you want to understand why ‘fire season’ is now basically year-round, as well as the mechanics of the wildfires that are currently devastating Los Angeles, start here.
3. On topic - Fire Weather author John Vaillant on why ‘the 21st century will be shaped by fire’.
4. I’m five years into one of my favourite rituals - saving every song I like into one annual playlist. The 2025 version is off to the usual eclectic start.
5. Fancy a free showing of Point Break at a cinema near you? Thought you might - sign up here.
Use my code LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for massive ski rental discounts and snowboard rental discounts from my pals at Intersport.
6. ‘Snowboard magazine dabbles in actual journalism’ shocker - Stan Leveille on the Park City ski patrol strikes.
7. ‘How exactly will Natural Selection ‘reinvent’ pro surfing’, asked Jamie Currie late last year. With the line-up announced this week, we are one step closer to finding out.
8. Washington Post cartoonist Anne Telnaes on why she recently quit - an important read in the week that Meta binned moderation, and Musk went even more tonto than usual.
Use my Stance discount code LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 15% on any purchase.
9. On topic - The Atlantic on why Mark Zuckerberg is ‘at war with himself’.
10. Finally, I am enjoying this new BBC Human Intelligence series on ‘disruptors’ - especially this short on Malcolm X.