What the Team been Enjoying in August

Craig

Last month I promised you all a review of the book I had then just started. Kirsty Sedgman's "On Being Unreasonable". The book looks at the social rules around us - written and unwritten - and asks both why they are there and when is it ever acceptable or even morally obligatory to break them.

Covering topics range from skipping queues and singing along in the theatre which have a habit of changing with context or time or place, through to rules like "no crying children anywhere" or "no existing while having a disability that means that people might have to take a meagre effort to accommodate your needs" which act as more sinister forms of social control or outright segregation - all too often leading to an endpoint not far short of banning women or people with disabilities from being "allowed" to have any kind of life worth living.

The book ends with asking if it is permissible to break even codified laws if the laws themselves are unjust - something that protestors are all too keenly aware of especially in a time when the laws around "reasonable" protest become more restrictive by the day.

I'll be honest that the last part of the book is the bit that I personally was most interested in so I would have liked a bit more focus on that - but that's perhaps just giving me material to write about myself in future newsletters. It's certainly worth a read if you are a political activist because what is that role other than pushing at the bounds of being unreasonable precisely because the alternative - accommodating to the status quo set by someone else for their benefit - has already failed?

I now have a choice to face in my reading so I guess it's up to the audience here. Should I give myself a bit of a palate cleanser and clear some more titles from my pulp sci-fi pile? Or should I take on something a bit chunkier for review next month...my copy of Marx's Capital and The Communist Manifesto just arrived...

Nicola

Well it's been a relatively quiet month over here, with exception to a couple of nice days out with family and friends. I donned my best pink outfit to see the new Barbie movie, and you can read some more of my thoughts on it in-depth in our newsletter here but overall, it really was a couple of hours of silly, pink fun.

I also enjoyed a nice meal out with the family this month at Angels Hotel in Uddingston. They were very accommodating of ourselves and the young children there, the staff were very friendly and the food was exceptional, featuring the best of fresh, local produce and classic family favourites. I would highly recommend this place for both a relaxing lunch or a catch up with friends over drinks.

Kaitlin

This month I finished Nile Rodgers autobiography. Woah. What a life he has lead (and he's still going). I think what blew me away the most, apart from his undisputed talent, is his attitude towards life and the people who have helped shaped him. He could have so easily grown-up to be an extremely bitter and angry individual, I think I'll always unsuccessfully be striving to be as positive as Nile Rogers. With a big dollop of name dropping and incredible anecdote this book gives a great insight into some of the greatest hits ever, the man who helped create them, and how disco will never die!

I spent a day being a tourist in Edinburgh, even though I live there now. It's quite nice to sometimes pause and actually take in your surroundings and take advantage of the museums etc that your home has to offer. Our first stop off was the National Museums current exhibition "Beyond the Little Black Dress", which I enjoyed immensely. A selection of beautiful garments that really tell a story of how fashions and attitudes have changed over a hundred years or so. If you're at all interested in fashion or just appreciate different aspects of the arts I would definitely give it a visit before it ends in late October. Our next stop was the fairly new Johnnie Walker experience on Princes Street. Having been on many a gin tour, I can safely say I've never experienced anything like this before. It was amazing to see what was previously a run down and under valued building being given a new lease of life, and as a complete newbie to whisky it was great to learn, and I appreciated the interactive elements of it. However, I can't lie there were some theatrical aspects of it that made me questions whether I was still in Edinburgh or in Disney World, the corniness made my toes curl ever so slightly.

Taking a bit of a turn, I've recently been spending some time researching my family tree. I don't think I'll be alone in having a family which acknowledges being related to a person of significance in history, yet no one has any solid proof. This spurred me on to finally find some truth in the matter or put the myth to bed. To be honest I still haven't managed to figure it out yet, but I've found out some pretty amazing facts along the way. If you have any time or interest in finding out more about your family I would highly recommend giving this a go. Update to come on my fact finding mission.

Robin

My musical recommendation for this month is a bit off-beat for many of you. I have been loving the slightly strange, dance/electronica/drum and bass of Korean-American singer Yaeji who has created a really interesting album of pulsating rhythms and random-sounding samples, much of it not in English. It’s called With a Hammer and it’s definitely worth checking out for those who like that sort of thing. A perhaps more mainstream choice would be Bar Italia’s Tracey Denim, if you think Sonic Youth-style vocals and alienated-sounding indy tunes is mainstream. Or for something more singer-songerwriter you could try Nordic-toned Blomi, the new album by Norwegian Susanne Sundfor. It’s not exactly mainstream either, but ranges from vaguely Abba-esque sounding piano ballads to some truly weird stuff that sounds like it was produced by elves.

On TV we’re currently watching the second series of Apple TV’s The After Party. It’s not quite as flat-out funny as the first, but if you enjoy film pastiche tied to a good-old-fashioned Agatha Christie-like whodunnit with a motley crew of suspects effectively trapped in a drawing room, you’ll enjoy. If not and you are (like us) the best part of a decade late making it to ScotSquad, don’t hesitate. We’ve binged two seasons in a week and we’re still in tears of laughter.

Otherwise, like Cristina much of my mind is on the Lochaber/Skye part of the world having just been up for a wedding. But I find it hard to recommend anything in particular because it’s all simply stunning from start to finish. Even CalMac turned up on time. But you’d think that after all these years I’d be used to Glencoe, that I’d greet it with a shrug. And yet every time I get there I feel the same thing - like some divine creator said ‘humans, you think you’re a big deal, eh? Well let me put you straight’…