What's got my attention this week

Want some ideas for things to read, watch and listen to this weekend? Look no further...

I know, I know, I've already used this picture, but nothing sums up this week better: I mean who doesn't need a friend who celebrates their wins like Jamie Lee Curtis?

Every month we do one links round-up free – this is January's. I hope you enjoy it. If you're already a paying member, thank you, you help keep The Shift alive and thriving. If not, why not join our community and get two weekly newsletters and access to all paywalled content for less than the price of a couple of (small) coffees a month. (Or one large fancy one!)

SCROLLING
• Michelle Yeoh's and Jennifer Coolidge's Golden Globes wins launched a thousand think pieces. Here's mine (Opens in a new window). (In the unlikely event that you missed it.)
• If, like me, you're horrified by how much plastic you produce, try living a day without plastic (Opens in a new window) and see how you do...
• Menopause is so much more than hot flushes. Great piece by Gaby Hinsliff on menopause and mental health. (Opens in a new window)
• 80s supermodel Tatjana Patitz (Opens in a new window) died aged 56.
• How many clothes do we really need? (Opens in a new window) Inevitably it's far fewer than we think.
• And following on from that, Stacey Duguid has the only detox you really need (Opens in a new window) in January.
• Agony aunt Philippa Perry helps a woman who hates her ageing body. (Opens in a new window)
• OK, so we've had #MeToo, but guess who's still more likely to suffer the career consequences (Opens in a new window) in a sexual harassment case. (Clue: the white, male, middle-aged manager is doing just fine...)
• Hilary de Vries is the only thing between her mentally unwell sister and homelessness (Opens in a new window).

• A compulsively late person's guide to being on time (Opens in a new window).
• Moving piece by Hannah Beckerman on why she doesn't regret her 25 year estrangement from her dad (Opens in a new window).
• One writer "eat-pray-loved" her way around the world (Opens in a new window) and discovered she was just as unhappy in a £££ Italian hotel as she would have been at home for free!
• Jennifer Crichton finally realised dieting is about your brain (Opens in a new window)not your digestive system.
• Yes, it's a cliché but evening classes can change your life (Opens in a new window).
• It doesn't pay to be a chicken (or any other kind of domestic fowl) round Margaret Atwood (Opens in a new window)'s house.
• Wendi Aarons on why the tunic comes for us all (Opens in a new window)!

READING
It's been a week of reading for work, so I want to show some love to a couple of non-fiction books I read ahead of interviewing the authors for the podcast:
• You are not alone by Cariad Lloyd (Opens in a new window) (creator and host of the podcast Griefcast (Opens in a new window)). Cariad's dad died when she was 15 and this humane, witty, highly readable book is part memoir, part practical guide to coping with grief in all its guises and loads of totally non-judgemental shared experiences from her podcast guests.
• A girlhood: a letter to my transgender daughter (Opens in a new window) by Carolyn Hays, is a thought-provoking and compassionate look at what happens when your child tells you, almost as soon as they can talk, that they are not in fact a boy, but a girl. Carolyn Hays is the pseudonym of a successful American author, writing anonymously to protect her family's privacy. When you've followed their incredible journey you will see why. I read a lot of memoirs and this is one of the most powerful I've inhaled in the last year. (Both are out January 19th.)

WATCHING

The Rig, Amazon Prime
I've been watching The Rig this week and, controversially, I don't hate it! This horror-cum-mystery-cum-drama has come in for a fair bit of abuse on Twitter (where else?) and hasn't been unscathed by the critics BUT I'm going to stick my neck out and say I'm quite enjoying it. But then show me a supernatural mystery set in the middle of nowhere with no chance of escape and I'm there. Needless to say, The Rig is set on a, erm, rig, that is thrown into turmoil when a strange fog rolls in taking all communication methods and the crew's sanity with it. Then spore appears in the air and starts taking over those who come into contact with it... The cast is strong (Iain Glen, Martin Compston, Emily Hampshire, Rochenda Sandall, plus Owen Teale shouting a lot, which seems to have become his thing) and the plot is engrossing, even if the CGI is distractingly obvious and your disbelief might have to be occasionally suspended. I've got two episodes to go and my money's on the planet fighting back, which might annoy those who'd prefer a James Herbert style Fog-horror, but so far I'm satisfied.

LISTENING
• Everything But The Girl announced their first album for 24 years, Fuse, coming April, and released its first single, Nothing Left To Lose (Opens in a new window). I've had it on repeat and it's everything I hoped and more.
• Emma Gannon's Ctrl Alt Delete podcast about creativity is ending after six years and 400 episodes. So I've picked a few of my favourites for your listening pleasure: Oliver Burkeman (Opens in a new window) on the productivity trap; Glennon Doyle (Opens in a new window) on getting untamed; Dame Stephanie Shirley (Opens in a new window) on learning to love change; and Philippa Perry (Opens in a new window) on how we internalise our parent's voice. There are obviously 396 others where those came from!
• I also listened to the Newsagents and felt the rage about Rishi Sunak's private jet (Opens in a new window). 🙄

And on The Shift podcast this week...
...we're revisiting some of my favourite episodes of last year. This week super-stylist Kat Farmer shares practical, affordable advice for regaining your style mojo when it feels like all your clothes hate you.

• If you enjoyed this round up, why not consider becoming a paying member of The Shift? You'll get this and so much more every week, access to our archive and you'll help me keep making the podcast you love, all for the price of a large coffee.