Friday, I'm in Love
From free art school courses to deliciously dark drama, I'm back in my seasonal comfort zone. Well, almost.
Signs of autumn, yet summer is hanging on here in Scotland. We spent a disconcertingly hot afternoon squirrel spotting and conker hunting at our local woods.
1 - For some time I’ve been anticipating the strangeness of the first September in four years that I am not going back to school. Easing the transition was a late summer visit from my young nephews, whose joyous seizing of the day - often from 6am - is an exhilarating energy to be swept up in. I find myself mesmerised by the way they seamlessly slip between Spanish and English, flawless in their linguistic execution yet always seeming to favour the word pero over but.
Every time we’re together I recommit to improving my, still extremely basic, Spanish. I’m yet to land on the method that works best for me (I could write a post called Duolingo broke my heart / streak), but having forgotten to cancel the free trial of Lingopie before the annual subscription carved a new dent in my credit card means I’ll be watching TV mostly in Spanish for the foreseeable.
I’ve already managed to convince myself that I’m practically fluent in French from bingeing four seasons of the, curiously captivating, luxury reality property show, The Parisian Agency this summer. This reawakening of my dormant high school knowledge has led to a game in which my five year-old nephew begs me to speak French to him, before becoming culturally offended and proceeding to shriek It is not a beautiful language! at me in faux, but also slightly real, fury.
2 - Speaking of TV and fury (or The Furies, rather), let’s take a moment to appreciate the righteousness of Jeff Goldblum as Zeus, king of the gods. Teenage me was infatuated with Greek mythology and Kaos (available to watch on Netflix) is reminding me of exactly why. The casting, the costumes, the music, the drama. Utter joy!
3 - I’ve been playing with paint and mixed media again. There’s something about letting a brush dance across board - about the process of layering and stripping away - that always seems to unlock new areas of creativity. I like to have a few pieces on the go at once, setting one aside to dry as I scribble a few words on another. I can spend hours like this, in flow, as electronic music plays in the background - ending the session with very little to show aesthetically and yet an enormous feeling of satisfaction.
Circling back to that September seasonal itch to learn, this week I discovered MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). These free courses have been created by arts institutes including MoMA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Centre Pompidou. So far I’ve signed up to Postwar Abstract Painting. And I’ve also got my sights on Surrealism and Its Legacy. Will keep you posted.
What’s been sending shimmers of delight through your veins lately?
And I’d love to know if you’ve found any successful ways in to language learning. Or what creative outlets you’ve been experimenting with this week.
Taking us into the weekend is Apparat with Soap & Skin and Goodbye - a gorgeously creepy song that has been extensively used on screen, but (pero!) in TV shows and films that I haven’t yet watched and as such remains beautifully untainted by the associations that will no doubt attach themselves when I finally do. On that note, Jay has recommended the German science thriller, Dark multiple times - adding it my autumn watching list now.
This episode of Song Exploder explores the making of Goodbye, if you’re curious to learn more.
I love the energy and variety and the what next feeling of your Friday writing. It makes me want to explore so many things that have never entered my thoughts! And the music, spot on. Thank you for the inspiration Xx
I've been away from Netflix for awhile and this makes me ponder resuming my subscription....thanks for that and other inspirations!