Podcast Recommendations: March 2021

There's been a lot going on in the world (as per) and I thought I’d just recommend some podcasts that I’ve listened to over the past few months that were particularly enlightening. All episodes linked are to Spotify (oops lol).

Citations Needed

News Brief: The Transactional Dog-Whistle Politics of the Term “Taxpayer”

Really interesting take on the term ‘tax-payer’ and how such language is leveraged by both the right and left to justify austerity and underfunding services. Raul Carillo, of the Law and Political Economy Project and Associate Research Scholar at Yale Law School, is a guest on the show and offers wisdom around how the law upholds such ideas. The conversation gets slightly meta around what money is and the speakers also touch on Modern Monetary Theory. 

News Brief: Finance Media’s GameStop Meltdown and the Thin Moral Pretexts of Wall Street’s Game Rigging

Ah how funny was it when the hedge funds lost loads of money… alas this episode shows how the Redditors vs Hedge Funds wasn’t really as David & Goliath as they were making it out to be on Wall Street Bets. The participants were certainly not ‘revolutionaries’ or protesting the hedge funds as much as they were trying to make a quick buck lol.

Episode 129 - Vaccine Apartheid: US Media’s Uncritical Adoption of Racist “Intellectual Property” Dogma

REALLY interesting episode about how the West has used IP laws to prevent the Global South from accessing the IP to produce their own vaccines. This means the Global South has to rely on vaccine charity in the form of COVAX and wait for Western countries to donate their surplus. The issue isn’t even that the IP is expensive or anything - unfortunately the justification is much more sinister. The West just don’t want to set a precedent for future medical access. 

I actually did a bit of further research after listening and found out that around 100 countries signed a proposal to waive the IP laws - https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/12/urgently-waive-intellectual-property-rules-for-covid-19-vaccine/

 

It’s just horrific to gate-keep access to a vaccine in the midst of a GLOBAL pandemic which cannot be fully resolved without universal vaccination. It’s especially gross when you realise a minority of rich countries have hoarded supplies (think the UK’s bought 5.5 doses per person, Canada 9.6 per person) meaning that a large proportion of the Global South won’t come close to being fully vaccinated until 2023/2024. 

Weekly Economics Podcast

Vaccine Nationalism

Similar episode to the one above but with more detail around specifics like manufacturing, costs etc.

Is Outsourcing Out of Control?

Really damning episode on the cronyism shown by the government throughout the pandemic. Debunks myths that private companies are more efficient than public companies. Indeed, the NHS did a much better vaccination and test-and-trace programme than what the private consultancies tried to come up with. 

Very laughable that the UK’s government, perceived as having high standards and low corruption, actually encouraged the civil service to award contracts to friends of MPs lol. Only 1 in 100 contracts related to the pandemic (e.g. sourcing PPE) were given out to competitive tender. The rest were awarded to friends, to the detriment of us all. Isn’t capitalism supposed to breed competition and in turn innovation? Ha! 

Exposing the truth about modern slavery

‘Modern slavery’ has become a popular phrase for businesses and the government to throw around and condemn. This episode demonstrates that what causes modern slavery is actually borders, economic disparities and structural inequality. It is not a phenomenon caused by a lack of policing and criminalisation which is what Priti Patel would have you believe.

Finding hope during and after the pandemic 

If you’re a person who cares about marginalised people, politics and general society, you have probably noticed how things have been Not Good for quite a long time now. This episode provides some solace and sets out some ways the Left can recover from the past few years…

Today in Focus

Is this the worst year ever for the UK music industry? 

Spotify is soooo bad lol. So bad for not compensating artists. Poor musicians. 

Musicians contribute over £5bn to the UK economy but have been completely left behind in Brexit negotiations as opposed to industries like fishing which comparatively contribute much less (around £1bn). 

This episode also features the wonderful Arlo Parks <3

I was shocked to find out the subscription you pay to Spotify doesn’t really go towards who you listen to. It gets distributed rather, based on the number of streams in total… So your money’s basically going towards artists like Ed Sheeran.

No sex please, we’re British. Dating in a pandemic

This was just a sadly relatable and sweet episode. Our neoliberal society/government only recognises monogamous cohabiting relationships lol. RIP to single people’s love lives loll… Also around 70+% of 20-29 year olds aren’t in cohabiting relationships - that was a relief to find out lol.

Freshwater part 1: are the wrong men in jail?

Interesting exploration of the justice (or lack thereof) system in the UK. In the UK, you cannot rlly access transcripts of cases without having some kind of paid membership to websites like WestLaw or LexisNexis. In the US (a country which is notoriously known as not being equitable in their justice system), you can access court trial’s transcripts online for free. 

Also I know that it’s even hard to access accurate UK legislation online. The government websites are frequently out of date. So yeah, you likely need a lawyer to even tell you the basics of what’s against the law and what isn’t…

The series also informs you of how in the UK, if you’re charged with a crime you can’t even see the evidence that’s used against you. And it’s police officers that write down the evidence? So they usually miss things bc it’s an onerous process. Whereas in the US, you naturally have the right to access all those documents in their raw form as well, which makes it much easier to appeal a wrongful conviction (at least in Louisiana).

The series also points to how legal aid has been cut massively because of austerity. It is extremely difficult in this country to access a fair trial if you are not wealthy.

It’s a bit long to listen to all of the episodes, but I would recommend it. Tbf I love these kinda true crime long series though.

It’s a Sin: a nurse reflects on the Aids crisis of the ‘80s

This episode made me cry multiple times. Very moving stories of what it was like to work on the Aids ward of a London hospital.

The Log Books

“Please be gentle” Episode 1

 

This is part of a series which explores the HIV/Aids crisis of the 1980s in the UK using archive footage from Switchboard (a helpline for LGBT+ people) and interviews. 

I was inspired to listen to it from the previous Today in Focus episode. The nurse from that episode is also featured in this series. Really moving tales, again, I cried. Very strongly recommend you listen to this and the rest of the series but if you’re short of time, listen to the Today in Focus one.

We Are Not the Virus

Water.

Moving and heart-wrenching stories from people living in the Moss Park encampment in Toronto. An important spotlighting of unhoused people and their lives. I think I cried. I was pointed to this podcast by The Heart by Mermaid Palace.

Planet Money

Fine and Punishment 

This episode starts with the story of an ex-prisoner Michael Taylor. He’s served 40 years for selling drugs. He owes an extortionate amount of money to the Oklahoma state for having been imprisoned. He’s homeless. If he doesn’t pay his debts, he goes back to prison. He’s already been locked up twice for failing to pay. One time he missed it by two days and the other time by a week. 

The episode brings light to an issue in the US of ex-prisoners being indebted to the state, by having to pay fees once released. 

Many of the ‘fees’ which they owe to the state are completely unrelated to the crime they committed, such as having to pay a fee to maintain the court’s website. 

It is important to note such fees are not their punishment for committing a crime. Incarceration was their punishment. So why are they being charged with these fees? To raise money for the local government. 

Many courts across the US are putting ex-prisoners in debt in order to raise revenues, in light of people voting for hard caps on taxes and the lack of political appetite to overturn such issues. 

It’s just so unfair especially when you consider that more often than not, people in prison are working full-time for literally no pay. Also, they have to pay inflated prices for basic necessities. In some prisons, you even have to pay to read books (per hour). 

Abolish the prison-industrial-complex AGH! (includes border detainment centres etc)

(Why can’t they just raise taxes?! It’s more expensive to put people in prison!!!!! i am so angry lol)

Modern Monetary Theory

Accessible and easy-to-understand introduction to MMT… Essentially the idea is that a country with its own sovereign currency does not need to “balance the books”. A country’s budget is not like a household’s lol. And yes inflation is an issue when pumping a lot of money into the economy but it’s also true that inflation has been too low for the past few years. 

Countries don’t use tax revenue to pay for services. Taxes help keep inflation in check!

(also imo quantitative easing has not been working … and the way that the gov allocates money is v arbitrary - look at how quick they are to spend billions to bail banks etc, which is fine, but have to be bullied into paying, in relative terms, pocket change to feed literally millions of children over school holidays)

Switched on Pop

Kaytranada’s journey from basement beat-making to the Grammys

Really cool analysis of how Kaytranada uses samples and musical history in his sounds. 

The Scandalous Sounds of Bridgerton (with Kris Bowers)

Really interesting insight to how classical music has always been quite erotic and exciting. The speakers mention four hand piano pieces and how flirty and seksy these were haha.

I think that’s the round-up so far. I hope you enjoy learning and listening to all these episodes as much as I did !!!!

I am also always open to suggestions!!

podcast recommendations :)

i listen to a lot of podcasts and am always banging on about the most recent thing i've listened to... i also get a lot of people asking me for recommendations so i decided to compile a list! for some of the podcasts, i've added links to particularly memorable episodes. ive tried to include a mix of indie vs organisation-associated podcasts.

sorry these are all linked to apple podcasts but pressing the link should take u to the episode description n then u can click go to episode webpage. also i think for most of them u can find them on other providers like spotify. i hate the apple podcasts app cos it always crashes but it's just the easiest one for me to use.

For general everyday listening to keep up-to-date with the news, I like:

The Daily by The New York Times (i know that a lot of NYT news stories and headlines can seem quite liberal/biased, so i was initially quite hesitant about listening but this podcast is genuinely really great journalism, probs one of my favs. they do have a tendency to peddle some overly "balanced" opinions though esp when talking about race and gender.)
- one of my fav episodes,  it's about a summer camp for kids to overcome OCD.

Today in Focus by the Guardian (this is british-centred which is nice, a lot of great interviews. u do kinda have to accept it's the guardian tho so not groundbreaking as with a lot of recent podcasts on race which have an overt omigodomigod factor)

- quite a difficult episode to listen to but about child trafficking by gangs etc in the uk, wouldve done better if they highlighted more of the systemic issues causing this but still rlly important.

- a battle between citizens vs shell in nigeria. another difficult episode to listen to but so important.

BBC Woman's Hour (another one i was hesitant to listen to bc jenni murray has been quite an exclusionary feminist, BUT they do acc do great interviews n talk a lot about class, disability, health, culture n gender-based issues esp in the UK. understand if u cant get over the nonpartisan aspects of the podcast but there r some gems n also jane garvey is so funny)

- recent episode highlighting issues like lack of public toilets rn n also alcoholism increase during lockdown

The Indicator by NPR Planet Money (really good summary of economic news tidbits per day)

The Intelligence by The Economist (the podcast does really well at highlighting significant news stories with a transnational scope, rlly good for de-centering western news although still western perspective ofc)

Today Explained by Vox (similar to the daily, good factual content)

UpFirst by NPR (short and snappy but about the US)

The Financial Times' News Briefing (short n good for staying up to date with business news if that interests you)

Interesting content about society as a whole i guess:

About Race (ran by Reni Eddo-Lodge, amazing work ofc and british-centered!!! read her book if u havent im p sure u can find it online for free if u cant afford to buy it.)

- first episode here

Decolonization in Action (run by edna bonhomme a historian, who conducts interviews with generally other people in academia + their research, good for relating a lot of transnational issues back to colonialism)
- loved this episode, esp as it was about black british history n experiences which is generally NOT talked about

- rlly liked this episode, an interview w a comedian which touches on white supremacy when travelling n how whiteness is universally glorified 

Citations Needed (about media, power and basically debunking bullshit)
- very recent episode, converging frustrations of how protests are being misrepresented in the american media as well as how nothing's changing even 6 years on from BLM

- episode about the whitewashing of Classical Civilisations and the co-option of them by alt-right groups n white supremacists 

Codeswitch by NPR (rlly great podcast highlighting racial issues esp within the US but also generally quite light-hearted)
- episode about interracial friendships, n how it can be difficult to maintain them 

Have You Heard George's Podcast? (run by George the Poet about "inner city life". haven't listened yet but seems VERY popular and highly rated. excited to start listening!)

The Slow Newscast from Tortoise Media (fab journalism run by Brits!)

Checks and Balance by The Economist (haven't listened to many but the episode below i rlly enjoyed)
-  episode about social mobility + university in the US through a historical and sociological analysis

The Bugle (funny satirical show about the news. hosted by a number of comedians, good for a chuckle on a saturday although it is probably aimed at those w quite a niche sense of humour. very british.)

The New Yorker Radio Hour (mix of interviews, storytelling n general news)
- rlly liked this episode about ppl in nyc during the peak of corona. brought me to tears :(

Hidden Brain by NPR (about psychology n interesting stories... a lot of good stuff but sometimes feels a bit apolitical which is ok but can be slightly misleading)
- interesting episode about marriage! wat i meant about apoliticalness could probably be demonstrated here as i feel like they could do better about explaining the link between marriage as a patriarchal n capitalist institution.

Philosophize This! (bitesize tidbits, accessible way of learning complicated philosophical concepts)
- i loved the michel foucault series! did really well.
- we probs live in a simulation

Shortwave by NPR (sciencey stuff, short interesting episodes)
- the pandemic timewarp... why lockdown has whizzed by

Science Weekly by the Guardian (not always interesting but has some good content)
- i liked the gene gap series about the potential to edit genes in humans

The Economist Asks (an interesting podcast interviewing a variety of people)

- i have only listened to the episode with the wondrous michaela coel which had some gems but i also did feel as though she was naturally more stilted and uncomfortable in this interview compared to her gal-dem one... although i do also feel as she was able to bring more to the table in this interview in comparison perhaps due to more challenging questions and her feeling less comfortable ? 


Culture:

Stance Podcast (AMAZING work tbh. the first time i fell in love w a podcast. about art, music, film, etc predominantly thru highlighting marginalised ppl/critiquing issues within the arts. has a high-profile list of interviewees like Nao, Four Tet, Tarana Burke, Riz Ahmed + Kate Tempest. also is good at highlighting transnational perspectives but is also very british which is nice. the host Chrystal Genesis replied to me so kindly on linkedin n their instagram follows me!!)

- about Nightclub culture + how it relates to resistance esp for those who are LGBT+
- the first episode i ever listened to. about classism n elitism within the arts.
- about PTSD in communities w a lot of violence. how this is an ignored epidemic which affects ppl more than soldiers who may experience ptsd from war.

Dissect (fantastic work by one man. he dissects albums in a rlly forensic way. helps u understand the artists' intentions n see their work in a whole new light. only gripe is i feel like his voice can be a bit monotonous)
- ive only fully listened to the season about to pimp a butterfly but have dipped in n out of other seasons. this was his first season so im sure hes improved his style since then.

Culture Call by the Financial Times (generally quite good although a bit white feminist vibes, good interviews n recommendations)
- i think the first episode i listened to, a bit voyeuristic but also v intimate interview w george the poet who i'd never heard of previously.

The Great Women Artists Podcast (VERY good, n i would urge u to follow the instagram if u havent. only issue is its not very accessible n i feel like unless u have studied art history in the past etc it may be slightly intimidating. esp as im sure its named after a seminal piece of work by art historian linda nochlin "why have there been no great women artists?" rlly fantastic essay btw but again kinda elitist as u wudnt be able to connect this if u hadnt read it.)

Business Wars by Wondery (ik sounds v capitalist but their Marvel vs DC series is genuinely so well-told n is v engaging... a lot of the businesses mentioned shape our culture n its interesting to find out their origin stories as well as the rivalries they face)
- i binged this series haha! the marvel vs dc one. genuinely just worth listening to this series. although i did enjoy the patagonia vs north face n some of the coke vs pepsi as well as the adidas vs nike ones.

Switched on Pop by Vox (cool music podcast about trends in popular music! it's a bit millennial but yh.)
- interesting episode about restaurant music n how u tend to not change ur music taste as u age

Pop Culture Happy Hour by NPR (fine, some good interviews n content but VERY american)

- liked this episode on the limits of an anti-racist reading list !! very important n the full article is on Vulture here

Fashion Unzipped by The Telegraph (informative podcast about what it's like to work for the fashion world/insight on how to get in)


Relationships, advice, conversations:

The Receipts Podcast (just rlly nice light-hearted n funny chatting, on relationships, identity n general advice as well as sometimes touching on politics. good if ur feeling homesick as a londoner especially or if u just feel alone, u rlly feel like ur in the room w them n they're really talking to u)

The Gurls Talk Podcast (by Adwoa Aboah mainly interviews about important issues, quite upper middle-class perspectives tho)
- rlly enjoyed this about rehab n addiction esp since i dont feel as though it's talked about much

The Heart by Mermaid Palace and Radiotopia (kinda centered on understanding oppression, trauma, power, love etc. i liked their adjacent story podcast called Asking for It.)
- who taught you to be white? how even well-intentioned white ppl who have experiences of oppression uphold white supremacy

Ear Hustle by Radiotopia (stories by and about incarcerated people in the US, read up on the prison industrial complex if u havent heard of it.)
- this episode details 4 women who r in relationships w incarcerated people, rlly moving. i think i cried

Life Kit by NPR (short tidbits of generally gd advice. ranges from whether or not to have an office romance to also more practical things like financial literacy.)

Laid Bare (by Oloni, really funny and great advice. i havent listened to much just bc a lot of the episodes are quite long but ik its very popular.)

Growing up with Gal-Dem (very new podcast. included cos i love gal-dem but ngl none of their episodes as of yet have rlly captured me. maybe cos they recorded it last year so it seems out of date.)

- *update* brilliant interviews w amazing people !!!! a delicious n affirming listen 

Too Rude for Radio by BBC (funny honest conversations relating to music n also whatever the hosts want to talk about, similar vibes to receipts esp as the host has been a guest on receipts before)

Modern Love by NYT (i like this sometimes but it's not a go-to personally. i cant think of any stories that have particularly moved me but ik that this is a popular podcast about relationships/love stories. sorry im just a massive cynic about love)

Where Should We Begin? by Esther Perel (couples therapy! interesting to be a fly on the wall but again not a massive cup of tea of mine. i feel like esther also doesnt rlly understand queerness but maybe thats just my opinion.)


Economics but not 2 boring: 

Planet Money by NPR (i LOVE this podcast lol ive listened to like quite a sizeable amount of this. they make quite complex theories n stories VERY engaging n understandable. has changed my understanding of how much freedom we have as consumers. each episode is written like they r solving a problem. 10/10.)

- this one's about billboards n how they r being used to surveil us n market products to us !!! eek
- this one's about what makes a restaurant nice to sit inside... it's rlly cool n something u never think about!
- this one's about how companies have literally invented a new type of potato that will stay fresher for longer as a fry

- episode about a german man who changed the way ppl thought about green energy, doesnt sound exciting but acc is

- about music producers n how they get famous/make money!!! rlly cool

Freakonomics Radio (quite good n informative but there is a lot i dont necessarily agree w/like... esp a recent episode about china which i felt was quite orientalist)

DISUNOMICS (he's funny n explains theories in a rlly accessible way with some really great guests, great if you're interested in growing your personal wealth)

Weekly Economics Podcast by the New Economics Foundation (this is a brilliant informative podcast which is quite left-leaning but always very fact-checked with accomplished guests)


Politics:

The Guardian UK: Politics Weekly (fine for a weekly update, feel like it can be rather biased but mostly alright coverage)

FT UK Politics (good coverage, often gets into the nitty gritty of parliament)

The New Yorker: Politics and More (very american, interesting sometimes)

The NPR Politics Podcast (good, i like this but obv focussed on america too)

BBC Global News Podcast (can be good tool to find out about other parts of the world but i dont necessarily think their journalists/coverage are the best)



WOW! so finally finished my list which seems sort of endless. i have listened to other podcasts and there are probably ones im missing out but these are the ones i thought were worth mentioning. hope ur all staying safe n educating urselves !!!!!

Thoughts on a Film: Towelhead

Yesterday night when I realised I had some free time (not actually free - I just couldn't be bothered to do work lol) to relax, I was scouring through tumblr and came across a meme/film still with words along the lines of (this isn't completely accurate the script was better):

Girl (Jasira): My daddy says you can't come over.
Boy (Thomas): Why?
J: Because you're black.
T: What? You're being serious? Who cares what your daddy says!
J: I have to! He's my daddy. 
[T hangs up phone]
 -A different scene-
J: I can't believe Thomas is mad at me! I'm just obeying my father.
Friend (can't remember her name oops): I would be mad if I were him.
J: Why? It's not my fault!
F: If you do what a racist tells you to, that makes you racist too.

So, instantly, I was intrigued. Because, not only were the love interests an inter-racial couple, they were also an inter-racial couple of colour (and the film was dealing with racism among POC)! Which you never see in movies. Like, never. Especially not in teen coming-of-age slightly indie movies. So this was so exciting.

Thankfully, the whole movie (the near 2 glorious hours of it), in pretty good quality as well, was on Dailymotion so I could watch it for free and online, in bed *happy face* (also sorry not sorry for the illegal streaming thing 'cos of practicality issues and also 'cos I'm a broke student).

I really liked this film because it dealt with so many important relevant issues, especially to teenage girls, while not obviously berating those who may have done wrong. For instance, Jasira's father sometimes beat her up. Or got really angry. Or just had really unfair and hypocritical rules. And obviously, that's wrong and really can fuck up a child. But the film also showed how he could be a good father and that the whole issue of a familial relationship is more complex than labelling people as bad or good. She still loved him. He was still her father after all. Everyone makes mistakes. Okay, it sounds like I'm justifying his actions, but I'm not - a lot of what he did or said was very contradictory to my own personal beliefs and made me feel actually quite angry.

An example being, how her father was totally holding up double-standards against her just because she was a girl. Like, seriously, hitting your kid for not changing out of "over-revealing" PJs in the morning? Or not letting her wear tampons because they're supposedly only for the use of married women? And also, obviously, the whole racism thing - not letting Jasira see Thomas solely on the basis that he's black. However, then again, the film does show that the father is simply ignorant or very set in his beliefs and that with some communication and grappling with different ideas, people can get along. The viewer can understand where he comes from when he states that "he didn't make the world how it is" implying that because black people aren't always as respected as others, it'll be potentially damaging for Jasira to date one. I mean, the viewer gets it. He's only a concerned father at the end of the day, no matter how outdated his views are.

Then, Jasira's relationship with her adult neighbour was also, in my opinion, quite a good reflection of the reality of non-consensual sexual activity and grooming. You could see how, assumedly because of her young hormonally charged body, she found him quite attractive and she even enjoyed the attention he gave her. However, at the same time, the viewer understands that she's simply too young and what he does for her and gives to her is inherently wrong. Because, at the time, while it may have felt tolerable, the after-effects are what challenges the mental stability of a person. And we feel some sympathy for the guy, we really do. Because the film, very cleverly, shows him not to be some uber-creep like the guy in The Lovely Bones, but a normal father, an attractive man even - a person who most people would never suspect to be some gross paedophile. It's not because of this, I think, that helps us feel sympathy, I think it's more the fact that he clearly seems not to mean much harm; he doesn't seem malicious or even that scary. So the genius is that, though it seems that it wasn't extreme abuse, it was still abuse and still solicited his arrest. And also, I like how Jasira wasn't portrayed as a really sad victim. She owns her sexuality. She still wants to have sex with Thomas even though she'd been sexually abused because she felt safe with him and felt good with him. I thought that was a nice touch (I mean obviously it's okay to feel scarred emotionally and not want to be touched but I feel like that is sometimes an over-used trope they use in movies to add an extra layer of drama).

Also, I loved the way she totally owned her sexuality and was experimenting with her body. She was masturbating and having orgasms by herself and she was a girl, a young teenage girl! WOW! I've never seen that ever. Especially not with a POC (Lebanese in film, Indian/Mexican in real life) main character! Wow!

The references to race and the way racism was approached in this film, was refreshing because it showed how potentially meaningless and shallow comments could still cause an inflammatory reaction and an overlying feeling of derogation and inferiority in the victim. It was particularly poignant for me, as I've had to deal with such comments myself, especially when I was a kid. I thought the way Jasira's dad worked really hard to make himself seem as patriotic as possible and as far away from the "towelhead" stereotype as he could, was pretty hilarious but also demonstrated how POC are constantly undermined and the sustained feeling that we need to justify ourselves and assimilate in fear of accidentally subjecting ourselves to stereotypes and negative tropes.

Generally, I thought the film was really well made. The colour scheme was pretty nice, with good shots (almost Wes Anderson style though others will most likely disagree) and amazing music (I think it was banghra West Asian Mid-Eastern style and the way it was timed was so perfect not to mention we never get to hear non-Western music in media unless it's meant to be ironic or stereotypical). The fashion was a highlight for me. Every outfit of Jasira's and even Thomas' were beautiful. They were simple but colourful and stylish and sleek and chic - and totally reflected the best of the 80s'/90s' fashion eras. Yes. Total outfit-inspo.

But anyway, I thoroughly recommend a watch if you're looking for a coming-of-age drama that's a little bit different to what everyone's used to. It's refreshing and it shouldn't be bold, but it really is. 11/10 +gold star! :)

Art Throughout the Ages: Greek and Hellenistic (850 - 31BC)

This period of Hellenistic Greek art was one focused on perfection building on idealistic visions. Such ideas are reflected especially through the era's architecture and sculptures. Mainly the art consisted of (of course) architecture, sculpture, painting, painted pottery, mosaics and (interestingly) music.
So obviously this is a massive period and has been so significant in many societies (but that may just be our perspective only because the curriculum is so white)??
People had been living in Greece for ages and there were two main parts which evolved during the Bronze Age- the Minoan culture on Crete and the Mycenaean culture on the mainland. Then like, everything got burnt down and people disappeared and weird new people settled in and there were little tribes and not much culture or a society so that was a bit awkward.
Then, it got all interesting and a "rebirth" happened!

The Geometric Period (850-700 BC)

Settlements grew into cities and sanctuaries were founded. Societies were once again developing and people started creating lots of art. Usually painted on top of pots. It was mainly based on geometric designs (duh) like triangles, dots and straight and angled lines. Realistic human body silhouettes with curves and funny round bits, rather than misshapen angular parts like previously, started to emerge around 700 BC. They decorated burial monuments. Exciting stuff.

 (omg centaur)

The Orientalizing Period (700 - 600 BC)

Greek art started to be influenced by the advanced civilizations of Egypt and Western Asia (known as the Orient) especially in the city of Corinth. The geometric style was replaced by more experimental and bolder pictures with brighter colours. More animals were put into the art too. I'm not sure why.

The Archaic Period (600 - 480 BC)

This was kind of a combination of the previous two styles. This was the period in which the distinct Greek style came about and there were increasingly more naturalistic styles shown because of Near East and Egyptian influences. Stay with me. This is a big one...

So after about 600BC, the Greeks began building temples to honour their gods. This saw to the creation of the three famous styles of pillars - Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.

Doric is the simplest design as you can see for yourself...

Below us is a picture of the Parthenon which uses the Doric order for its architecture. This is the famous temple dedicated to Athena and located in the city named after her, Athens, the capital of Greece. It is on the Acropolis which is a big hill that overlooks places. The temple was constructed from 447BC to 432BC (technically it's not a part of the Archaic period but more on that later) and is made of marble. It is very beautiful. Unfortunately, if you visit it today, you won't be able to get a complete view of the temple - there is so much building work going on because of course it is very old and rickety and also during the British colonial/bigoted times in the 19th century, some rich man basically stole loads of pieces off the Parthenon and used them to establish the first few bits shown in the British Museum which now refuses to give them back. Controversy...

These are some Ionic columns. As you can see, they are still pretty simple, but now they have the added luxury of some twirly pieces of embellishment at the top which looks pretty funky.

Here is a modern example of a place which was designed by an architect that was inspired by the Ionic order - the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C!

Now below is where things really got fancy. This is the Corinthian order. It is much more detailed and almost resembles nature with its petal-like shapes.

These columns are some of the few remaining columns of the Temple of Zeus in Athens.

 These columns are actually a part of the New York State Post Office. What a fancy post office, right?

Basically, people started to get better at sculpting and subsequently were able to make more natural-looking figures who were life-sized even and this new found talent was used mainly for sanctuaries and grave monuments. The statues were painted in many colours and the concept of an ideal body type was born.

This is a statuette of Herakles made of bronze with the purpose of being worshipped in a sanctuary.

Wall painting was popular but unfortunately few examples remain. However we have lots of painted vases! By this time, painters had really improved. There were two main techniques to paint: one with figures painted on the vases in liquid clay which you then baked for it to become black so you'd get cool black silhouettes which you could carve details into or paint stuff on and there was another technique which reversed this idea with having a black background with coloured figurines on top. 

The Classical Period (480-323 BC)

Parthenon (447 - 432 BC)

This was the temple dedicated to Athena by the citizens of Athens as they believed that she was responsible for the creation of their city. It stood on the Acropolis (the highest point of the city) in order to show her power and its columns were built in the Doric order. It is made of solid marble and was decorated with magnificent sculptures and reliefs of the greatest points in Athena's life e.g. her kicking Poseidon's ass. 

Then about 20 years later, the Erechtheion was built on the Acropolis with cool caryatids (these are sculptures used as columns). It was for worshipping the god/king of Athens Erectheus. 

The picture below shows the Porch of the Maidens on the temple.

Much of sculpture originals don't remain from this period but the Romans made plenty of copies. During this time, more people were beginning to create sculptures of the ideal body shape which was seen to be an athletic male figure. One of the most famous examples of this is 'The Discus Thrower' by Myron of Thebes created around 450BC.

As one can tell, this is heavily stylised, mainly due to the fact that the figure's face is not at all contorted as it should be when having to be in a difficult physical position. He is very beautiful, however, and is made of pure marble. One can clearly see the tenderness with which Myron made this figure and his clear focus on carving his beauty. However, this exists today only as a Roman copy. 

Classical sculpture peaked after the mid 400s. Two really famous sculptors of this period are Phidias and Polykleitus. Phidias made colossal gold and ivory statues of Zeus and Athena but unfortunately we only know about this through writing. Polykleitus made athlete figures such as the Spearbearer. This firmly established the ideal measurements and proportions for a body and the position in which the figure is in (contraposto) has been a source of inspiration throughout the rest of art history.

Yet again, we do not have many remnants of painting from this period. Figure painting on vases even began to die out by the end of this period.

Mosaics started to gain popularity during this period though they had been around since 500BC. They were made of bits of marble, glass and stones to decorate walls and floors. They depicted mythological scenes and nature.

The Hellenistic Period (323 - 146 BC)

With the rise of great cities and the ever blossoming influence of Rome at hand, urban architecture flourished. This grew as the invention of stone came about.

Hellenistic sculptures did have a lot of influence from the Classical period and there were still many figures of men in peak physical form being made but now, children and even the elderly were being depicted including more dramatic facial expressions to reflect the influx of tragedy in the popular Greek theatre. Two of the most famous Greek sculptures date from this period - the Venus of Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. We don't know who created them. They are both in the Louvre Museum of Paris.  

The Venus de Milo is marble and is armless as I guess her arms broke off. This may have been during the time as they often buried damaged sculptures (the irony). Though, we call it 'Venus' after the goddess of love, it is possible that it was a sculpture of a prostitute as at that time while prostitutes waited for customers, they would thread a ball of wool (or something like that).

This depicts the Greek goddess Nike standing on the prow of a ship with her wings spread wide and her garment flowing in the wind.

Paintings actually survived from this time period and they are mainly found in the tombs of some people living in a Northern Region of Greece called Macedon. The complicated compositions and the use of different colours and perspectives show that there was a high standard among paintings. I don't have any examples unfortunately...

Mosaics became more intricate and people found better ways to make them during this period.

The below depicts the great emperor Alexander leading the Macedonians against the Persians and is found in Pompeii (a Roman city in Italy).

Okay, thanks for reading and I know this was quite a long and complicated one! The Greeks were so freaking cool as you can probably guess from this post. Obviously, this is a really really brief overview of this time period so make sure, if this interested you, to read up on this!

My Experience: Oxford's UNIQ Summer School

Hello!

So I came back from Oxford University's UNIQ Summer School last week. I was studying "History: Race and Protest" and I thoroughly enjoyed it all. It's almost like it finished too quickly but at the same time, while it was happening, it felt almost interminable. It was both the longest week of the year and yet it was also far too short.

There were 30 of us on the course but we all stayed in different colleges. I stayed in Brasenose (well more specifically Frewin Annexe which is 2nd year accommodation) with 9 other historians (all girls woo gal power yo) and other students reading Medicine, Geography and Materials Science (it's so cool how we were all studying really different subjects).

My pretty room in the Frewin Annexe!

Beautiful Brasenose

This wasn't even the fanciest food we ate in the week (but damn that steak was probably the best steak we've all ever eaten)

I don't know if you've spotted it yet but sorry I'm going to ruin it - the unicorn has a hugely erect penis! It was put there to scare the women away from applying to the college when it first opened to women (men are so stupid no offence - we just found this hilarious!)

Alumni Dinner at Balliol College (this was by far one of my favourite colleges it was stunning and huge and also left-wing!)

Above is the alumni dinner at Balliol and yes those chocolates do have the Balliol crest embedded on them and they were still really tasty

The beautiful Brasenose historians in our costumes before the Bop (which is a disco/party and it was lovely and held in a really nice club +10 points if you can guess the theme)

Brasenose College Crew! <3

Favourites:

Comedy Night with the Oxford "Imps", an improvisation group who were hilariously witty and talented. For the last twenty minutes, they even created a whole new musical from the word "whip" which was shouted out spontaneously from a member of the audience. Yes, a musical. It involved singing and therefore included improvised rhythms (people clicking musically in the background while also shouting out random words to the beat) and improvised rhyming and funny lyrics! My body was full to the brim with a raging sense of jealousy and an even stronger sense of admiration after the show. I wish I could sing well and I wish I could effortlessly throw out witty comments into conversation(sob).

Lecture about "The Struggle for Equality in Britain in a Global Context" by Imaobong Umoren who read History at King's College in London and has since began doctoral research at Oxford University on the international travels of Caribbean and African American women in the 20th century. This was my favourite academic lecture because it gave us a chance to finally appreciate the people who drove the movement, the people who weren't lucky enough to become major figureheads, the people who struggled and fought, arguably, the most for equality. She started the lecture by showing us a picture of the "Empire Windrush", a boat that's famous for transporting loads of people of colour from the Caribbean to Britain. The people who came were largely respectable middle-class men (being able to afford the transport to Britain is proof of that) in the hope of finding a good job after being subject to a lot of British propaganda in their own countries which portrayed England as the kind-of "Motherland" holding many fantastic opportunities for them. Unfortunately, however, there was a kind of "Colour Bar" that existed which meant that people could pick and choose who worked for them and thus this meant that many skilled people of colour (blacks, indians, others from the empire etc.) were degraded into working unskilled jobs for little pay. There was also a horrifying amount of prejudice in daily public life like in schools, finding housing and even politics. For instance, as a part of Peter Griffiths' winning Tory parliamentary seat campaign, he used the slogan "If You Want a N*gger for Your Neighbour Vote Labour".
We learnt about how in 1963 Paul Stephenson led the Bristol Bus Boycott which successfully allowed black and other ethnic minorities to work on buses and the fact that Dr Harold Moody founded the League of Coloured Peoples in 1931 which was the first black pressure group in the UK and also had a journal called "The Keys" that was about race issues which often transgressed borders for instance by reporting about the Scotsboro Trials and the maltreatment of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. What was particularly interesting for me was the fact that the 1935 invasion of Abyssinia (now called Ethiopia) by Mussolini particularly sparked anger in people therefore galvanising activism for racial equality as Abyssinia was one of two of the only independent African countries (the other being Liberia) at the time.
Also, the fact that there were so many women who also worked really hard to create racial equality was great to learn about - here are just a few of the names Anna Julia Cooper (an author, educator and orator), Paulette Nadal (co-founder of great newspapers that highlighted racial struggles and was also a key activist who later worked for the UN), Una Marson (poet, playwright and journalist who contributed to Moody's "The Keys") and Eslanda Robeson (an anthropologist, author, actor and civil rights activist). What particularly stuck out for me was how class really affected whether these activists were taken seriously - without the money for a good education and respectable clothes, would they have still achieved such great things? That's the sad part. It was so difficult to do anything if you were born, not only into the "wrong" race and/or gender, but if you were born into the wrong class. The question remains... Is it still difficult? And if so (which it pretty much is), how can we change this without the need of "social mobility" (being working class is not actually a bad thing on a personal level!)?

The generosity of the University astounded me - they gave us so much good food and 4 amazing free books! When I say "good food", I mean good food... Like I think I experienced about three formals in that one week (formals are like three course fancy meals and everyone sits down in the Hall which is usually really pretty and gothic and Hogwarts-esque) and we had the option of waiters bringing us a cooked breakfast every day and we got vouchers to spend at the local "Taylors" deli for lunch which had such good-quality food. Also, the books we received were "We Ain't What We Ought To Be" by Stephen Tuck (worth over 20 pounds) from whom we were lucky enough to receive advice about topics from admissions to studying history in a global context (it's a really fabulous book btw), "Black Experience and the Empire" edited by Philip D. Morgan and Sean Hawkins (on the Oxford website this is over £80! also possibly my favourite as this is about Britain and thus relatable/applicable to me), "The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation" by Jim Cullen (costs a hard-to-swallow 19.99 in USD) and finally "A Very Short Introduction to American History" by Paul S. Boyer (which I'm currently reading and it's quite a good brief easy read and shockingly though it's only like 100 pages it costs 7.99) = over 100 quid in books and likely even more on food! Thanks Oxford jheez!

Finally, I really enjoyed discussing things and having the opportunity to reflect on the things we'd just learned with people who were really very clever and had a lot of great things to contribute to the conversation and especially with the tutors (we had postgrad students so not crazy daunting but they were still pretty damn knowledgable and thus still significantly intimidating) who were capable of asking the most deep questions. I felt like it was a great way to really get into more depth about such new ideas and thus solidify your understanding of them and help you create your own ideas, arguments and general points of views on particular issues/subjects. It's a teaching style I thoroughly recommend.

I hold the regret of wasting a lot of my research time in the library which meant my essay was not up to scratch at all and was not finished and probably didn't make sense which led to my tutor being pretty sceptical of my ideas during my tutorial and him and the other student in the tutorial winning with their side of the debate but I feel like when I do go to university, I would particularly enjoy that kind of independent learning because it's just the best (you can literally learn anything you want) and it's just a kind of means of getting into the routine for me, or so I hope (!).

Anyway, I hope this has been helpful for you if you're thinking about applying to UNIQ (literally just go for it)/will be attending UNIQ or just generally interesting for you!

For some more pictures check out this link http://uniq15wk1.tumblr.com/ and for more information about UNIQ click here!

Thoughts on a Film: Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Okay, so recently (like last thursday to be exact) I got a Netflix subscription. Yep, that explains my disappearance from the world of blogging and also real life. So to make the most of this free month (honey you think I'm gon pay good money to sit on my butt?) I've been watching a plethora of different shows and movies (finally getting round to starting "Orange is the New Black" and "That 70s Show" which are both fab fab fab but more of that later) and one of which being "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" because it's something I've been wanting to watch for ageees!

I love the styles and the cast and crew for this film. It's basically like my dream teen movie. So cute!
I can't really reveal anything other than yes you need to be over 12 and preferably over 14 to watch this film cos there's some nudity and female objectification (which sucks but ya know we do live in a patriarchy so we might as well try and appreciate what we can).

The teenagers talk a lot about sex and relationships and, you know, wanting to be cool. It's great because it's like a "billdungsroman" kind of genre (that word may only apply to novels but whatever) and so we kind of grow with the main character as she explores what is actually important to her. It pretty much encompasses the basic teen desire of lust and the confusion between being in love and being in love with the idea of love. I find it sweet and also, sort of, relatable (cringe).

Here are some stills:

It's a fun teen flick with the perfect mixture of teen angst, lust, mushy cuteness and humour. I recommend it! Especially if you're into 80s' movies (they are my jam).