Five Fine Things....

*in which I inflict my taste on you, dear reader

Photo: Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes, Criterion Collection.

Hello there,

for those new to After the Fact this is a list of five things that I’ve been enjoying lately - I write these weekly to fortnightly and sometimes have interesting guests sharing their things too. More here.

I’d love to hear some of what is currently enriching your life too so please do comment below and thank you for reading and passing along!

Love,

Emma x o x o

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1. Watching! the revealing documentary White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch which charts the gross journey of the preppy prejudiced cliched-American- High- School- Movie of a brand. This docu is focused on the 90’s and early noughties at A & F but this discriminatory, abusive, hyper-Capitalist tale of fashion bullies is of course old and ongoing, see this piece in DAZED from 2021 about store Brandy Melville or this November 2023 Fashion United piece on sexist and racist athleisure brand Lulu Lemon. (Here’s something I wrote about rich people dressing to look poor.)

2. Absorbing! the beauty of The Red Shoes, the 1948 film featuring the incredible dancer and actor Moira Shearer. My favourite exchange in the film: ‘why do you want to dance?’ asks ballet company maestro Lemontov ‘why do you want to live?’ replies soon- to- be prima ballerina Victoria Page (Shearer). The techni-colour is feverish and dreamy, reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, and as most of the cast were professional dancers the ballet scenes are stunning. And who doesn't love a destroy- yourself- for- your- art theme?

3. Reading! This Ragged Grace by Octavia Butler an addiction memoir that’s not really about the booze. Butler’s writing is deeply intelligent and she manages to connect a myriad of subjects (seemingly) effortlessly from the art of Louise Bourgeoise, to the attractions of Stromboli, to motorbikes, to her father’s dementia, escapism in its many forms, gender, New York, the experience of eating a whole pack of biscuits in one go, AA, cliff-walking, Cornish sea swimming, and more. (Thanks for this gift readers and friends Jonny and Gray.)

4. Listening! to this interview about octopus farming with activist Sharon Carpenter and Ben Williamson head of Compassion in World Farming USA. Please listen to this before you eat an octopus - the powers that be seem to be promoting the devouring of these highly intelligent, sentient creatures as either very good for you and/or boujie, it ain’t either! (Ben interviewed me last year about my book Roaming Wild - and you can listen to this here.)

5. Also watching! Baby Reindeer (mini-series) on Netflix. This was one of the best shows I’ve seen in years. Creator and comedian-actor Richard Gadd manages to explore issues of abuse, grooming, and the experience of being stalked (as a man) with great complexity and, somehow, with humour. The show is based on Gadd’s own experience - there are no easy answers here and he’s often shockingly honest.