Weeknote for the week ending 19 February 2023
WITAWITA.com
This week marked the first full week after the ‘official’ launch of WITAWITA.
I wrote about inclusive recruitment and realised if I wrote about everything I wanted to write about, it would be an absolute whopper of a post, so I stuck to writing about the part of the recruitment process related to job ads. The other parts are on the ‘to write’ list.
I also wrote about the importance of 3 Feet High & Rising to me, in response to news about the death of David Jolicouer, aka Trugoy the Dove of De La Soul.
In meta-blog news, I also worked out how to manage the writing and publishing workflow for WITAWITA using Obsidian and Github. It was easier than I expected in the end, but the process of working out how easy it could be was hard.
A more fulsome write-up of the technicalities is on the ‘to write’ list. Sorry if you’ve landed on this page hoping to find the details though; you’re too early.
Music
Alexis Petridis did a great job in this piece about De La Soul’s enduring influence on rap in the Guardian: ‘A new style of speak’: the lyrical genius of De La Soul’s Trugoy the Dove
Apart from playing 3 Feet High & Rising on repeat, I’ve also been listening a lot to Burt Bacharach songs, prompted by his (albeit less untimely) death the week before last. An extraordinary amount of songs and performances to choose from, but I’m going to say my favourite is Bobbie Gentry’s version of I’ll Never Fall In Love Again. The rhyming of ‘pneumonia’ with ‘know ya’ might be my favourite rhyme ever1.
Film
I went to see The Fabelmans at the cinema this week. I thoroughly enjoyed the film (the 2h 30m runtime fair flew by) and I also throughly enjoyed the full big-screen cinema experience, including a massive tub of popcorn and a slightly less massive but still huge cup of Tango Ice Blast. Oh, and the reclining chairs at Vue cinemas are the best.
A more fulsome review of the film (well, a couple of paragraphs of opinion at least) is another thing on the burgeoning ‘to write’ list.
Books
I attended the inaugural (FaceTime) meeting of a book club I’ve started with a few friends.
We spoke about Forever Home – by Graham Norton2. In a shock move – based on my previous experience with book clubs – we spent a decent chunk of time talking about the book. My enjoyment and understanding of the book was definitely enhanced by the discussion. It’s good to have smart friends who can point things out that have passed you by.
A more fulsome review of the book (well, a couple of paragraphs of opinion at least) is another thing on the long ‘to write’ list.
The next book on our list is The Satsuma Complex – by Bob Mortimer[^2]. (We’re basically picking our way down the books in an article in the Guardian about novels written by celebrities.)
TV
My enthusiasm for Mythic Quest (Apple TV+) has led to a few colleagues starting to watch it and enjoying it as much as me. We also discussed it at the book club (What can I say? We’re culture vultures) and – I’m still digesting if this is a compliment or not – my identifying with the character Jo was not objected to.
A more fulsome review of the show (well, a couple of paragraphs of opinion at least) is another thing on the already-too-long ‘to write’ list.
That was the week that was for week ending 19 February 2023.
