We Recommend: Your Friday Freebies
Junkee-endorsed bits and bobs, to make your weekend better. Featuring a compilation, an essay, a Spring Breakers supplement, and the most ridiculous YouTube channel you've ever seen.
Each Friday, our contributors send in a bunch of (legally) free stuff that’s come out this week, to help you make the most of your weekend. You’re welcome.
–
Gallery: Delicatessen With Love, by Gabriele Galimberti
Recommended by: Matt Roden (‘This Is Why Everyone Hates Don Draper‘)
The photographer’s grandmother Marisa Batini, 80, Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. Swiss chard and ricotta Ravioli with meat sauce.
Mums are very great, no arguments here. No protests at the old flower-and-slippers factory for me this Sunday. But don’t forget the Grandmums on Mothers’ Day, as they are truly the Grandest of all Mothers. Gabriele Galimberti’s photography series, ‘Delicatessen with Love‘, is heartwarming and mouth watering. And occasionally bad-ass — did your Nanna ever serve you moose steaks or iguana with beans?
–
Essay Collection: ‘Spring Break Forever’, in The New Enquiry
Recommended by: Kate Jinx (‘Why RuPaul’s Drag Race Is My Religion‘, and ‘Ten Films To Watch At Sydney Film Festival‘)
I’m still making up my mind about Spring Breakers. In the cinema I swung wildly between loving it and hating it and loving it and hating it and loving it again. Is it as complex a film as I think it might be? Or is it just another one of Harmony Korine’s fever dreams, dripping in fluoro and grillz and shorts in every different colour? Thankfully, The New Enquiry have put together a special free supplement for people like me, featuring eight critical essays about this very topic! There are real life stories of depraved former spring breakers and bad girls, and a surprisingly sassy look at the economy of the film. The titles are good too: ‘Bikini, Kill’, ‘Kids In The Haul’, and ‘Fort Slaughterdale’ are faves. See the film, watch The Lonely Island’s gay marriage parody, download this PDF and let’s all check in after the weekend.
Mailing List: The Friday Five
Recommended by: Luke Ryan
The brainchild of New York-via-Sydney digital whizkid and rap enthusiast Grace Gordon, The Friday Five is where Grace gets to indulge her sometimes worrying obsession with all forms of hip hop. Sign up to the mailing list and every Friday she’ll deposit her top five tracks of the week straight into your inbox, which, at the very least, will give you something to charge up to before heading out for the weekend.
–
Game: Slayin’
Recommended by: Alasdair Duncan (‘A Danish Show In Which A Couple Of Old Dudes Critique Naked Women‘)
Slayin’ is about as absurdly simple as games get. In this free-to-play browser title, you play a knight, running from left to right, stabbing things with your sword. The difficulty level ratchets up really fast, and before long, you’re scrambling for your life as wave after wave of cute enemies come flying at you. You won’t get very far on your first few tries — or at least I didn’t, because I’m a bit uncoordinated when it comes to this sort of thing — but it’s addictive as hell, and the chunky graphics recall an era when games were cuter and deadlier than today.
–
YouTube Channel: Andrew Ucles
Recommended by: Sam Cooney
On an otherwise nondescript Wednesday evening last week, I fell in love with a man named Andrew Ucles. I’m not sure how I ended up meeting him, but once I did, once I saw his taut tight brown billabong of a body as he scampered about The Top End, once I heard his sexy creaking voice with its accent that is one part ocker and one part Nick Giannopoulos, once I saw him carrying four live venomous snakes by their tails and then proceeding to use them to catch wild rabbits, I was smitten. Here, let me introduce you to Andrew.
How much time you want to spend with him is up to you. I wish the both of you all the happiness in the world. Hi, Andrew.
–
Writing: ‘Depression Part II’, in Hyperbole And A Half
Recommended by: Stephanie Van Schilt (‘Can Ryan Gosling Make Carnies Cool?‘)
Hyperbole And A Half has returned! For the first time since 2011, creator, writer, illustrator, all-round amazing humourist Allie Brosh is back with a new story: the second installment of her ‘Adventures In Depression’. You may be familiar with the webcomic, or even just the imagery that’s used as avatars all over the social medias; Allie’s personal experiences and relationships are key to Hyperbole And A Half, with some of the best posts revolving around the adorable stupidity of her simple-minded dog, or the adventures she undertook during her mischievous childhood — be sure to check out ‘The God of Cake’ (and ‘The Alot‘ – ed]. This morning, Borsh broke her silence of the past two years to explain where she has been — and it’s an incredibly poignant, funny, and far too real piece of writing.
–
Compilation: Garage Swim
Recommended by: Rob Moran (‘Five Spring Breakers Water Cooler Talking Points‘)
Adult Swim (a channel with weird cartoons and TV shows for weird stoners) have joined forces with Dr Pepper (a drink for weird stoners) and put together a free compilation of tunes from garage (rock, not ‘Re-rewind‘, although that’s an excellent song) luminaries like the Gories, King Khan (who’s touring Australia in a couple of weeks), Thee Oh Sees, and new-ish guys like King Tuff, Jeff The Brotherhood, Mikal Cronin (the guy in the t-shirt, who’s new power-pop album MCII is actually way better than this thing, but, you know, costs money), and other similarly weird, hairy people. Download the whole thing for free here and explode your eardrums. I used too many parentheses.