Goodbye summer. Hello another month of recommendations. It's been a whirlwind for music, film and books this February. There was Taylor Swift (and Blink 182's) Australian shows, we're currently in the thick of awards season, and our TBR piles are threatening to topple over. Our recommendations this month reflect all this momentum – and offer even more. So what are you waiting for, find them all below...
Mia Steiber
Digital Strategy Director & Associate Publisher
Watch… This month I’ve been consumed with True Detective Season 4. I actually just watched the finale. It’s definitely different in tone to the past three seasons, but highly enjoyable in its own right. It stars Jodie Foster. I’ve also been in a Y2K mood and have unapologetically been watching reruns of The L Word. Shane forever <3.
Read… The last six months I’ve been on a fantasy book binge and I’ve finally decided it’s time for a palette cleanser. I studied Naomi Klein in high school, she’s one of my favourite journalists so it's high time I read her latest, Doppelganger.
Listen… I have a little bit of time to kill before Lana releases her country music album. So I’ll be on the hunt for some new music to fill the void between now and then. But recently, I’ve actually just been listening to the old Blink 182 catalogue in preparation for their concert. I bought tickets to the concert back in 2022, I can’t believe the time finally came!
Samantha Corry
Assistant to the Editor in Chief
Watch… After seeing Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, I've been going on a bit of a tangent with her movies. I sat down to watch Lost In Translation and Marie Antoinette for the first time, her movies are visually insane. I want to watch One Day but everyone is saying it’s like Normal People, which I am still recovering from (it’s been a year). But you bet I will be in the cinemas on the 29th of February with my Dune popcorn bucket ready for Part 2!
Read… In the trend of Sofia Coppola, I managed to grab a copy of the Sofia Coppola Archive and I have been flipping through it each night, reading all the director notes and scripts. Ah, to be on a Sofia Coppola set.
Listen… Still have been listening to Mitski a lot, and of course a bit of Usher since the Superbowl. And since this is both a listen and watch, I've recently seen Paul Mescal’s Chicken Shop Date with Amelia Dimoldenberg, she is just too good. Watching people flirt is the best form of journalism.
Alys Hale
Music Editor
Watch…With the year getting off to a racing start, I’ve been going for comfort and that for me is food porn to unwind. Now, I love any woman who will eat an anchovy on bread with excessive butter, and Nigella Lawson is in that club. I find it reassuring that she isn’t the best with a knife and invents her own little cocktails. She’d be great at a party and visiting her crab macaroni cheese was a calorific delight. I’ve also started Feud: Capote vs The Swans but my partner doesn’t know that yet.
Read… I have been re-reading Girl In A Band by Kim Gordon for a very specific purpose.
Listen… So much new music this month, which I will write about in the monthly music roundup: Beth Gibbons, Maxine Gillon, Lord Esme (and Scott and Charlene’s Wedding so I don’t mess up the bass parts at the show).
Olivia Repaci
Creative Studio and Campaign Manager
Watch… I’ve overcommitted and have been watching a few TV shows this month, namely The Walking Dead (still), One Day (it’s good but I can’t stop comparing it to the OG film) and The Office (for the 20th time). To make my roster even more busy, Drive To Survive season 6 is now available on Netflix and so that has, of course, taken priority. I need to see how all my boys are doing! (NB: I avoid the real life F1 races so that it doesn’t ruin the show for me…)
Read… Every month this question stumps me because I never have any time to read. But I did recently cop the Sofia Coppola Archive book, and it has a very cool collection of the scripts, letters and emails Sofia writes to her talent and producers. I’m loving seeing and reading the BTS of it all.
Listen… I’m back in the world of triple j’s Like A Version after a road trip in early February, during which I listened to the entire Like A Version archive on Spotify. I discovered Eliza & The Delusionals cover of Motion Sickness (which is one of my fave songs of all time), and it has been on repeat. Other notable faves from the archives that are getting a good workout over the car speakers include Gracie Abram’s cover of American Teenager, The Vann’s cover of Hey Ma and Gang of Youth’s cover of Blood.
Stacey Gaskin
Consumer Revenue Manager
Watch… Like many Aussies, I couldn’t get my hands on Taylor Swift tickets (not for lack of trying). The silver lining though, was The Eras Tour concert film on Apple TV. We have a projector for special movie nights and my husband was kind enough to surprise me with snacks and a fluffy blanket along with our at home cinema set up, which was just the best. If you’re reading this, love you honey!
Read… I haven’t thrown myself into a book this month (boo). What I did accomplish this month though, was a trip to Harry Hartog in Bondi Junction, where I picked up a few from my TBR. I’m so excited to get back into regular reading. There is truly nothing like the feeling of being so enthralled by a book that you’re going to sleep at 4am and picking it back up at breakfast. A couple titles I bought were Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang, Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.
Listen…While I missed out on one concert for tickets, last year I managed to secure some great tickets to NF for his February 9th show at Qudos! Suffice to say my musical cup was full this month. It was such an incredible show and I have been in an NF bubble ever since.
Cassandra Dimitroff
Production Editor
Watch… On a quiet Friday night recently I decided to watch Tár, the Cate Blanchett film from the year before last that generated quite a lot of Oscar buzz. I’m notoriously late to almost every buzzy film party, but I really enjoyed this one. From the pacing to the storyline to especially the set and costume design (please let me live in Lydia’s Berlin apartment!). Obviously, Cate had some incredible monologues worthy of that golden statue, but I’m also a bit of a sucker for those haunted artist type films like Whiplash or Black Swan. It felt like Tár nicely rounded out the trinity.
Read… While I finish the last couple chapters of Edward Chisholm’s A Waiter in Paris (which I’m taking my time with), I am already starting to dig into a recently gifted copy of The Fran Lebowitz Reader (a compilation of her two essay collections, Metropolitan Life and Social Studies). Having recently been blessed with her quick wit and sardonic conversation at the Sydney Opera House, I felt inclined to dig into her catalogue of written work – so this was the most perfectly timed present!
Listen… A choice that needs no explanation – I have been listening to good kid m.A.A.d city on repeat again this month, for no reason other than it’s just THAT good that it deserves a few re-listens from top-to-bottom every now and then. I’ve otherwise added the following vastly unrelated songs to my monthly rotation – Tentpole Shangrila by Djo (very Mild High Club vibes); girls like drugs by Paris Texas; Feels Right by Biig Piig (I saw her perform in the pouring rain a few years ago and she was fab!); and because why not – Englishman In New York by Sting.
Jasmine Pirovic
Arts & Culture Editor
Watch... I wolfed down One Day, a perfect comfort watch and tear-jerker if you're feeling emotionally constipated. Also on my list are a few awards season titles like American Fiction, The Zone of Interest, The Holdovers and How to Have Sex. It feels like I've been waiting months to see them all, especially the latter. I wish Australia would have the same release schedule as overseas... Looking forward to Dune this Thursday!
Read... After saying goodbye to Elena Ferrante's Lila and Lena, I've opened Amy Odell's Anna Wintour biography. It is basically 480 pages of hot industry gossip. Delicious.
Listen... The Whole of the Moon by The Waterboys. A few years back I listened to Jack Antonoff's episode on Charli XCX's podcast and he mentioned this song in relation to feeling FOMO as a teenager. It featured on the One Day soundtrack and it's been on repeat, as has Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks.
