Long Weekend Recommendations!!!
Not everyone has a packed weekend of family lunches (read: political fighting), so here are some of my favourite things to stimulate and entertain on your days off.
Happy Long Weekend, condolences to those who do not get four days off. You deserve your penalty rates and I hope people aren’t absolute turd burgers toward you.
I know it isn’t my usual column, but I just wanted to quickly jump in with some filler to keep ya going. I know that this is an interesting time of year. While it doesn’t invoke quite the same level of loneliness that Christmas often does, it can be a long period of time if you don’t have great family dynamics OR if during this cost of living crisis you aren’t able to or willing to go away.
I’ll be away from my family, housesitting for the next week with my partner (the excitement! the fresh relationship giggly period! Slay!!!) and working from home. It will be a BIG period of writing my book and doing Cheek forward planning, which means I very much would like a content escape wherever possible. If you want to inhale a heap of shit over the next few chocolate demolition days here are my TOP TOP TOP recommends.
Movies, these are my ALWAYS recommend films with a mood/atmosphere breakdown to make sure it is right for you:
I, Tonya (Margot Robbie, perfect PERFECT perfect athlete biopic with serious and comedic themes)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Kate Winslet has a surgery to remove all memories of her relationship with Jim Carrey, emotional and abstract)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (my favourite movie of all time, incredibly traumatising including themes of murder and sexual violence, but it brings female rage, revenge and grief all to the surface in ways I’ve never seen a film do - incredible and not for the faint hearted)
Miss Sloane (political thriller, fucking kickass and hard to keep up with but clever, nuanced, strategic and feminine in it’s evil)
Erin Brokovich (you want to feel good? you want a salt of the earth happy in your heart film with intellectual bite and purpose? This is the movie for you - Julia Roberts is a single mother of three that gets a job at a law firm and takes on a major corporation)
In Her Shoes (relatively unknown and underappreciated romcom/drama film starring Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette as sisters - such a nuanced portrayal of womanhood and family which travels through the shades of grey incredibly well)
Spotlight (my second favourite film of all time, leaning into my niche beloved genre of ‘journalist at famous US newspaper changes the world’ this is HEAVY but basically is about uncovering global institutional child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church)
Definitely, Maybe (I know it is tacky but it is a GREAT romcom)
Promising Young Woman (the modern guide to female rage, it is heavy but it is a fucking HUGE hitter - from Emerald Fennel who directed Saltburn)
Howl’s Moving Castle (if you’ve never watched an anime film, try this masterpiece)
NEXT UP music wise, I’m vibing a cooking and nibbling and cocktail making weekend and here is my Spotify construction of choice for this atmosphere for tonight (is anyone reading having fish today - please inform me in the comments. More specifically, did anyone get a filet-o-fish? I am passionate about these niche life moments and how and why we engage in them).
Now to what I’ve been reading recently. One of the best articles I read in the last couple of weeks as I trample my way through writing book 2 is on the silence that surrounds wealth (#QuietLuxury) titled, ‘If You Grew Up With Money, Stop Being Weird About It’ by Daisy Jones for Refinery29. The other that became my Roman Empire for a few days was ‘We’re sedating women with self-care’: how we became obsessed with wellness’ from The Guardian by Katherine Rowland at the end of last year.
Podcast wise, I am always honest that I simply do not ever listen to pods (the exception being the Imperfects and the occasional SPECIFIC episode of something I listen to). but I have JUST started this one, Who Trolled Amber?, because I’m challenging myself to get into it more and I’ve had five people recommend it to me in the space of two days. If I’m being honest, I never really looked into the depths of Heard v Depp. Here’s the blurb of the pod:
What comes to mind when you think of Amber Heard? Liar? Survivor? Narcissist? Millions of us watched the celebrity trial of the century, Depp v Heard, in 2022. Amber Heard lost and Johnny Depp was vindicated. But what if Amber was actually the victim of an organised trolling campaign? What if the online hate against her was manufactured?
Alexi Mostrous, the reporter who brought you Sweet Bobby and Hoaxed, investigates what happened to Amber and who might have been responsible. It’s a story about how our own thoughts and opinions can be moulded without us even realising.
Finally, boooooks. Brutally, I’m finding reading incredibly hard while writing second book (the capacity for long form goes out the window because I then start analysing the writing and it throws me and I can’t just enjoy) I am trying to read a Court of Thorns and Roses but not succeeding so far (more me than the book). Must keep trying. I did a Top Shelf interview with Primer recently all about my book opinions which gives you some ideas if you’re desperate. But, here are two incredibly good books I’ve just read…
HOW THE PILL CHANGES EVERYTHING: YOU’RE BRAIN ON BIRTH CONTROL By Dr Sarah E. Hill, this is the only place I’ve found it to buy in Australia.
aaaand what I’m reading now: The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue. I’m not far enough in to recommend it yet, but I did recently LOVE Good Material by Dolly Alderton if you haven’t yet got your mitts on it.
Have a great long weekend, eat those hot cross buns and don’t get caught listening to people who say fucked up shit like ‘diet starts tomorrow!!!!!!’. We are tiny specks on a spinning planet in space - no one on their death bed regrets the bunny and ferrero and margarita and pasta salad and LOVELY chicken breast and perfectly baked bread and excellent time they had on a long delicious weekend. Read your book and nibble nibble nibble.
Love you, (treat yourself to a paid Cheek subscription? You can also gift other people subscriptions). Also, pop your best recent piece of content in the comments!!!! I’d love a recipe! I’d love a pod! A playlist! A book!!! A vibrator review!!!!!!!
H Ferg x
I really loved your suggestions - I’d welcome this type of content in the future!
Thank you so much for these! Especially “If you grew up with money stop being weird about it.” I needed to read this - we’re extremely lucky and very financially comfortable but did not come from families that were the same so navigating this sometimes feels hard. Especially since we made the decision to send out girls to our local public secondary school (for a myriad of patriarchal, anti capitalist reasons lol but mainly because it’s a great school!) and their friend have started calling them “rich” and asking where our helipad is (we live in a normal suburban home). While it doesn’t bother my kids it feels very jarring to me. Our goal has always to be grateful, kind and generous as a family but I’ve been struggling with how to do this while worrying about what others might think and how the might judge. But this short article has reminded me to just suck it up and be me, embrace it and own it!