5 Things I’m Doing In March
Everything I've been watching, buying, listening to, reading and drinking this month
Hello dear readers, here is my list of everything I’ve been up to in March. Just a note to say that my monthly list of recommendations will be going behind the paywall from next month, but I will keep one or two things from the list available to all subscribers. Hope you are all having an excellent week! Gillian
WATCHING
I was flicking through Amazon Prime Video for a movie to watch when I saw it now offered the film Girl and my 16-year-old self squealed. Released in 1998, Girl stars Dominique Swain as a high school student-turned-groupie and I think I watched it four times when I rented it from Blockbuster (it may have inadvertently inspired how I spent a lot of my twenties too but the less said about that, the better).
I’d completely forgotten about the film, but, keen for a trip down memory lane, I put it on. My god, it was awful. Much of the acting is terrible, the themes are clunky, characters are unbearable even when you’re meant to be rooting for them. But I could also just about see why I might have loved it all those years ago. I looked it up online and soon realised that this was a film about a high school girl made entirely by men - the author of the book it was based on, the screenwriter and the director. That just would never happen today. The storyline is actually not that dissimilar to Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (high schooler about to leave for college tries to lose her virginity and becomes obsessed with a musician) but whereas Lady Bird is touching and funny, Girl is overly-dramatic and just bad. It got me thinking how lucky we are to live in an age when we have so many brilliant female-driven stories of girlhood, from Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart to Sarah Gavron’s Rocks.
And if you really want to watch a brilliant film about teenage girls in high school - and you can take this as my official recommendation of the month - make it Bottoms (also on Prime Video), in which Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri play gay high school students who start a fight club. I can’t recall watching something so clever and bonkers and genuinely hilarious. And, of course, it’s written and directed by women.
BUYING
Because I have a toddler and never need to go to an office I spend 98% of my life in trainers (sneakers for my American readers - I see you, hi). Yet I only own two pairs. I have numerous lovely loafers and ankle boots yet rarely wear them; instead my navy Converse high tops and grey New Balance are on heavy rotation and I am so bored of them. And then I thought - wild idea - why not buy some more goddam trainers. In the past I’ve done white Reebok Classics and Stan Smiths but I felt like injecting a bit of colour into my rather monochrome wardrobe so I bought these green Adidas Gazelles even though I know we’re all ‘supposed’ to be wearing Sambas and I love them. Was I slightly inspired by Jennifer Lawrence? OK a bit, I’ve been crushing on her ‘mom style’ recently but with most of The Row being out of my financial comfort zone I’ve made do with these instead.
Adidas Gazelle Indoor Low Trainers in Green, £90
LISTENING
I’ve been really enjoying two songs from the opposite end of the musical spectrum that I thought I’d share. First up is “Lounge Lizard” by Molly Lewis. The Australian-born, LA-based Lewis is a whistler (bear with me) and in the past has worked with the likes of Dr Dre and Karen O and even whistled a version of Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” on the Barbie soundtrack. She whistled for Greta Gerwig at Gerwig’s 40th birthday party and - this really kills me - for the actor Harry Dean Stanton when he was in hospice care. Her debut album On The Lips was released last month and “Lounge Lizard” is one of the standout tracks. Very Twin Peaks-esque, if that’s your vibe.
I came across Chappell Roan when her Tiny Desk Concert was released this week and fell in love with her song “Red Wine Supernova”. She’s a queer pop star from the Midwest who is inspired by drag (just check out her fabulous get-up in the TDC, complete with lipstick smeared all over her teeth) and has supported Olivia Rodrigo on tour. This sapphic love song is my new favourite sing-out-loud banger that my husband will almost certainly hate. And those are always good to have.
READING
I’ll admit that I’m not reading a book at the moment (although Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting is sitting unopened on my bedside table which I will get around to) so I want to share a fantastic Substack that I’ve been enjoying with you instead: Andrea Petkovic’s Finite Jest.
If you’re not familiar, Andrea is a recently retired professional tennis player who, among her many achievements, made it to the semi-final of the French Open (soz Andrea, I Wiki’ed you). We have mutual friends and she was one of those people that everyone told me I would JUST LOVE when we met (she is based in New York so we had yet to cross paths). When pals do this it can be quite annoying but we finally met at a party last year and everyone was right, I loved her! If you, like I regretfully did, assume most professional tennis players to be a bit… shall we say on the dull side, Andrea is anything but (Federer has a lot to answer for). She is wildly intelligent, so funny and very cool. Her writing about tennis and life is riveting, everything from how athletes view their bodies to dating as a tennis player to what it’s like to have a rival. It’s such an insightful look behind the scenes of being a female pro athlete and she’s a fantastic writer so I implore you to check out her newsletter! And I suppose I’m secretly hoping that if I give her a shout out she’ll take me to Wimbledon this year.
DRINKING
Finally, I’d like to make a case for the amaretto sour being the perfect spring cocktail. I don’t care for them in winter, or any other drink served ice cold. And they taste like summer but you don’t actually want to drink these in summer (raw egg white in 30 degree+ heat? No thanks) so, for me, spring is the perfect time to enjoy them. The sweet almond and cherry hints at the delights of the season to come. This BBC Good Food recipe has never failed me, all you’ll need is amaretto, lemons, a jar of cherries in syrup, some eggs and a blender (I do mine in the Nutribullet, which, as its name suggests, was probably not its intended use). I’ll be drinking them over the long Easter weekend listening to Molly Lewis. Due to their sweetness, I don’t recommend drinking more than two of these. Them’s the rules.
I'm firmly in the Gazelle camp too and have had my eye on green ones... x
omg yes, i WANT to be the kind of person that lounges around stylishly in perfectly battered leather loafers but with wfh it's Birk Bostons or Gazelles im reaching for 95% of the time