Looking Sideways: 10 Things
Looking Sideways: 10 Things
Here are this week's ten things I thought were worth sharing
1. The community that has developed around Looking Sideways is one of the best bits about the whole thing.
And I’m beginning to think that my Substack newsletter and platform is the best place to try and foster this community. And I’m curious about who is out there reading the newsletter and listening to the podcast. So I’ve started an Open Thread which listeners and readers can contribute to by clicking the button below.
This will be an ongoing, open thread you can use to introduce yourself, tell us your favourite episode, ask me questions, suggest future guests, meet fellow listeners, share your favourite complisult, recommend books or links I might have missed, and generally just say hello.
I’m thinking of making some fairly significant changes to the way I run and operate the podcast in the next few weeks, so it would be really amazing to get some feedback and start a conversation with the many, many people who are out there listening and reading. Of course, if you don’t fancy the Open Thread you can always just DM me or email me.
Hope to hear from a few of you!
2. I was out in Hossegor last week to run a live panel for my friends at Db (more on that here), and to record a load of episodes for a Hossegor omnibus.
The first episode with Tim Myers is out now. Tim is an award-winning and renowned cameraman, cinematographer, journalist and storyteller who has carved out an extremely interesting career for himself telling human interest stories as a freelance gun-for-hire for people like the BBC, CNN and the UN.
The story of Tim’s route into this world via his upbringing on an Australian ski resort is a fascinating one.
I had the pleasure of hanging out with Tim for a few days while we were in Hossegor, and recognised almost immediately that I was dealing with a total legend; somebody with combines a steely sangfroid with a curiosity about the world, and who has an ease about him that makes people feel comfortable straightaway.
I really enjoyed this episode - Tim has plenty of lessons to impart from a life and career lived at a hungry, breakneck pace. Listen here.
3. A couple of years ago I had an idea to find a way to help new creatives and storytellers find a way into the industry. It turns out my pals at Db had a similar idea.
So I’m really happy to have joined forces with them to launch the DB x Looking Sideways Fund.
Photographer, writer, podcaster, journalist, film-maker, artist - whatever the medium, we want to find and mentor the next generation of creatives who have a story to tell, and help them get their project out there. If you’ve listened to my episode with Tim, or watched his episode of Pack Heavy, Chase Light (above), you’ll know that everybody needs some kind of break or leg-up to get into this game.
This summer, we’ll be picking two winners, offering them up to €5k each, mentoring them, help them getting their finished project out into the world - and even offering them chance to appear on Looking Sideways to talk about it!
Find full details and apply on this link - and please consider sharing this one, so we can open this opportunity up to as many new voices as possible.
4. This new campaign by CALM, the suicide prevention charity, is a really extraordinary, important and moving piece of work. It’s such a powerful and well-executed idea. Watch it above, and please consider sharing it.
5. The deaths of journalist Dom Phillips and activist Bruno Pereira in Brazil recently was such profoundly depressing news. In a previous life, Dom had been editor of Mixmag, and this incendiary tribute to his close friend and colleague by Frank Broughton brings home what a loss his death is. Click here to read it.
6. I don’t often get the guest perspective, so I was intrigued to read this blog by recent guest Wig Worland, in which he describes the experience of coming on the show. It sound like Wig enjoyed it (albeit in the same way one enjoys a pain-free trip to the dentist). Click here to read it, and here to listen to the episode with Wig, one of UK skateboarding’s true creative greats.
7. In which Mick Lynch, head of the RMT, single-handedly changes the nature of political conversation in this country by refusing to play along with the ludicrous pantomime that is political discourse in this country; and by meeting outright lies and disingenuousness with calmness, civility, humour, and facts.
A true breath of fresh air and the hero we need at just the right time. If you watch any clip in this week’s newsletter, make it this one.
8. Regular readers will know I’ve been following the story about the participation of trans women in female sport pretty closely over the last few months. In essence, the debate comes down to one simple question: can you have encourage inclusion without compromising fairness or safety?
Now, with the news that swim federation FINA have barred trans women from international female competition, the debate has entered a new realm. I found this piece by Sean Ingle in the Guardian to be a pretty even-handed take on the issues at the hand, and what this decision means for the future of elite women’s sport.
9. I loved this little Oakley profile piece on British skater Tom Knox. Watch it above.
10. Finally - I tend to ignore most cancel culture tales, but since it began last summer I’ve found the controversy around Kate Clancy’s book to be pretty fascinating on a number of levels, and I was waiting for somebody to look into it properly. This Guardian story tells the whole complex tale and is well worth your time.
What did you think of this week's mailout? Seen anything I should know about?