Looking Sideways: 10 Things
Looking Sideways: 10 Things
Here are the ten things I thought were worth sharing this week
1. “My curiosity outweighs my fear”. A week later, I’m still thinking about the conversation I had with explorer, writer, artist and activist Shannon Galpin for the latest episode of my Patagonia Europe Type 2 podcast.
I first became aware of Shannon through her long-running work in Afghanistan, where she has been involved with women’s rights projects for over a decade now. She first visited the country in 2009, eventually helping to establish the first Afghan Women’s National cycling team, and continuing to advocate for the right of women in the country to ride bikes in safety.
As you’re going to discover from our conversation, Shannon has a truly remarkable range of interests and is creating important, transformative work across a number of different creative fronts. Her work is also a brilliant demonstration of the power of the humble bike as a storytelling device with the power to change the world.
Click here to listen and find out why one listener sent me a message saying ‘Matt, your podcast with Shannon is among the five best podcasts I’ve ever listened to’.
2. Speaking of my pals at Patagonia, they’ve just released We The Power, a brilliant new podcast series presented by my pal (and previous Type 2 guest) Lucy Siegle. Click this link to listen.
3. Among the reams of blogs, articles, posts and Instagram Lives doing the rounds about COP26, I found this centrist view on climate change from Wired Magazine a thought-provoking take on the problems we face. Click here to read it.
4. My friend Lauren MacCallum has been working ferociously hard for years, and right now it is brilliant to see her accessible, compassionate advocacy and activism get the wider recognition it so richly deserves. Watch her in episode 7 of A Seat At The Table, the new YouTube series from Jack Harries (another previous Type 2 guest), above.
5. There’s still time to vote for your favourites in The Shorties, the annual London Surf Film Festival contest to find the cream of UK surf filmmaking talent. There are 13 to choose from - you have until November 6th to support the scene by watching, sharing and voting for your favourites.
The best will be premiered on the big screen as part of the 10th Annual London Surf / Film Festival x Vans Europe taking place this year between 2-4 December at the iconic Genesis Cinema in London. And this year, marking the big 10 there’s a £1000 filmmaking award for the winning short. How great is that?
Click this link to watch all the films and get voting.
6. Tom Livingstone and Matt Glenn’s first ascent of the north pillar of Tengkangpoche sparked quite the online debate about the ethics of alpinism in the social media age. Read this Evening Sends article, which kicked the whole thing off, Tom’s rebuttal, and Quentin Roberts’ Instagram post to get up to speed with the whole thing.
7. With a new season on the way, the latest raft of stoke-inducing snow films has started landing on the internet, so I picked out a few to check out this week. Starting with this extraordinary piece by Christoph Thoresen and the Legs of Steel boys. Ah, just watch it.
8. At the other end of the spectrum is Precious Leader Woman, the new film which sees snowboarder (and ex-podcast guest) Spencer O’Brien explore her First Nations heritage. It is showing at Kendal (I’ll be there; come say hello if you’re around) and you can watch the trailer above.
9. Austen Sweetin’s latest, meanwhile, should be filed under ‘makes you want to go riding immediately’. Watch it above.
10. After chasing him for about two years, I am tantalisingly close to getting Dylan Graves on the podcast. Why? Because he’s using his platform to make pieces of work like his latest film on race and inclusivity in surfing. Watch it above.