I have a thing for this kind of aesthetic. That is all.

xox Joany 🍕🍕🍕

“There was formerly a capacity for light-heartedness and play which has been to some extent inhibited by the cult of efficiency…The pleasures of urban populations have become mainly passive: seeing cinemas, watching football matches, listening to the radio, and so on. This results from the fact that their active energies are fully taken up with work; if they had more leisure, they would again enjoy pleasures in which they took an active part.”

From Bertrand Russell, in 1932.
Remarkably prescient.

xox Joany 🍕🍕

I fell in love with the design of this bag. There’s something classic to it. And the way it combines the raw punk imagery and iconography with the staid conservatism of the leather satchel is striking. It’s a want, not a need. As are so many of the best sort of things…

xox Joany 🍕🍕🔥

“There is a strange interaction between this planetary body we know as our home, rising up above the horizon of some other planetary body in space. Even now, I look at that and I’m like, “That is the who and where we are.” We live on a planet; we’re all Earthlings. The only border that matters is that thin blue line that blankets us all. That’s undeniable when you look at that image. It’s that kind of connection we want to make as human beings back to ourselves.”

The truth is, we are all earthlings. We are all connected. It’s our job to protect the most vulnerable, the most hurt, the most persecuted people, against the anger and fear that enforces borders around who we are and where we belong.

We’re not all that different when we’re broken down to our core building blocks; we have the capacity for love and hate, for creativity and mundanity, for joy and sadness. The difference comes...

“I like to work with fashion in my paintings; it’s a modern day thing that people can relate to now, and I actually really enjoy fashion myself. It’s a part of me, and it gives [the work] that really nice contemporary feel. Maybe it’s our generation, just who we are, but I think for a lot of young artists that’s how we see ourselves, and subconsciously maybe that comes out.”

These paintings feel incredibly real and raw to me. They’re able to touch a part of the experiences and lives of the myself and the women that I know. The comfortable intimacy in the way her subjects spend time together, the poses and clothing that take into account absolutely no aspect of male gaze.

The work rings true, and it catches me.

xox Joany 🍕🍕

“You already found your passion, you’re just ignoring it. Seriously, you’re awake 16 hours a day, what the fuck do you do with your time? You’re doing something, obviously. You’re talking about something. There’s some topic or activity or idea that dominates a significant amount of your free time, your conversations, your web browsing, and it dominates them without you consciously pursuing it or looking for it.
It’s right there in front of you, you’re just avoiding it. For whatever reason, you’re avoiding it. You’re telling yourself, “Oh well, yeah, I love comic books but that doesn’t count. You can’t make money with comic books.”
Fuck you, have you even tried?”

Sometimes you read something that just kicks your ass when you need it the most. I’ve been thinking more about passion, and about what drives me, and this piece was a timely reminder that my procrastination and laziness when it...

“I think there are two things about living in a godless universe that scare some people. First, there is no one watching over them, benevolently guiding their lives. Second, because there is no life after death, it all feels rather bleak. Instead of scaring me, I find these two things incredibly liberating. It means that I am free to do as I want; my choices are truly mine. Furthermore, I feel determined to make the most of the years I have left on this planet, and not squander it. The life I live now is not a dress rehearsal for something greater afterwards; it empowers me to focus on the here and now. That is how I find meaning and purpose in what might seem a meaningless and purposeless existence; by concentrating on what I can do, and the differences I can make in the lives of those around me, in the short time that we have.”

I read this round-up today over lunch, and it stopped...

I’ve never been good with people - I can understand and communicate with them only occasionally, in certain circumstances. And even then, there are periods when human interaction is impossible.

There are periods where I’ve gone long enough without it, that it’s become unbearable to even entertain the idea of it.

In those moments, I seek out the silence, and bury myself in it. It’s the oldest friend I have.

I’ve only ever been good with one thing - writing. Finding decent words, and placing them in an order that makes sense has come easy to me, where almost everything else has been difficult. I can understand writing.

Even if it takes a little while for it to come out, even if it’s only intended to be read by myself.

Even if I never want to see a single line of it again in my life, after it’s been written.

Writing well is not about putting the right spin on the perfect phrase.

That might make for well-crafted prose, but it does not make for good writing.

Good writing is something a little more than that, and sometimes a little less.

Good writing expresses the authentic idea and the truest meaning, and it distils them.

Good writing is honest.

When I read, I know and I can feel the good writing. I can feel it in the unbearable urge to cringe away from its honesty, to hide from the power of the words that express everything I am screaming out to keep inside. A good book might tell a story, or state a fact, or merely convey an idea or an image, but it will do all of these things with an honesty that is complete and never excludes its own truth.

Pop content lacks that truth. It relies on its inherent dishonesty, a mess of empty promises and vain statements and de-contextualised quotes...