Gamification Nation

The weekly Looby-list of good things: A visual feast this week. Fabric art, fashion, crochet, oil painting in Tuscany, and good things to watch. There's also some tofu.

Hi friends, 

Here’s another list of good things for you this week. 

I ran into a friend in town the other day, and she said, “I try to follow all the links in your newsletter every week!” I was super impressed and a little surprised. “It’s a lot of reading!” is all I could think of in response. But honestly, I was very touched. Another friend profusely apologised for not having the time to open any of the emails for months. I reassured her I have no problem with this, which is entirely true. I would hate for anyone to read it out of a sense of obligation, “It’s a lot of reading!” I said again. But it got me musing. I do like it when I know people are reading this, of course. I do check the stats to see if emails get opened. I ponder which links get the most clicks (recipes and decluttering links, FYI. Also, loads of people read that article about menopause in the NYT). But I also know that people are busy, and “It’s a lot of reading.”

Of course, there is a whole different tack I could be taking. One that makes a lot of sense in a parallel universe where the newsletter is a product of Loobylu & Co Enterprises Pty Ltd, media conglomerate. Big Newsletter, if you will. A tack that means the big bucks would fly in.

I could gamify my newsletter! Why not tap into people’s need for a feisty dopamine hit, and spike it every time anyone opens up the Looby-list?

I have been learning French with a universally popular app that has completely won over bazillions of people with the gamification of the whole language experience. You know the one. Levels, rewards, leaderboards, friends sending celebratory congratulations with each new achievement… it’s very addictive. Am I learning anything? Not sure, but I can’t stop. A total, very specific kind of anxiety sets in towards the end of the day if I haven’t managed to keep up my streak. “Mon dieu, il est presque minuit!” I have been known to shout before turning on my bedside lamp to spend ten minutes with the little green owl. Day 235 and counting.

With a few tweaks to the platform, Loobylu could have the same sense of competition and the same thrill of achievement. Sundays would roll in, and you would be awake at 5.30 am PST, ready to open and WIN. There could be a special level-up reward for those who follow all the links. Little coins could rain out of the sky with each click. Open every email for a month and be rewarded with a graphic of a special Loobylu gold trophy held high by a colourful little woodland creature. Share it on your socials with all your friends, who will be mildly annoyed, if not completely annoyed. Forget to check in for a while, and you will receive little text reminders that the woodland creature is waiting and waving its little hand; “Hello! I’m here! Don’t forget to love me!” And if you dare to unsubscribe? You will receive passive-aggressive emails of the same little woodland creature looking sad and abandoned, repeatedly, forever. 

In all seriousness, the nicest thing about substack is that it’s here, completely free of algorithms and harassment. It’s here for when you feel like it, and only if you have the time. Among the best things I have noticed about other substack newsletters are the little communities that are springing up in the comment sections. Friendships are being made (for reals!), and inspirations are shared. A little like late 20th Century blogging. 

So, if you feel tempted (no pressure, but let’s say 10,000 Looby-points to you if you do), choose one or some of the following and tell me:

1. What are you cooking this week?
2. Which of the 89 Copenhagen fashion week street-style outfits would you wear?
3. Who is your secret crush? (Yeah, let’s overshare!)

Here’s this week’s list:

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Dopamine Dressing

Oooh and ahhh over this article about Copenhagen’s fashion week street-style - “Traditionally, Scandi fashion is associated with pared-back minimalism, but in recent seasons at Copenhagen Fashion Week, we’ve seen a more eclectic way of dressing taking hold – from dopamine-inducing brights to tulle skirts and cowboy hats.” I am fascinated with the idea of “dopamine dressing” - a post-pandemic style that is all about feeling good with unusual fit, energetic colour, texture and pattern. I am inspired to embrace a bit of colour after decades and decades of a 90s-influenced, Melbourne-esque black palette. I tried it yesterday. I wore yellow pants and a pair of reddy brown boots. I realised I looked like Ronald McDonald. It might need some work.

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Cooking
I keep blowing fuses with my air fryer. What a nightmare. When it’s behaving, it does pretty amazing potatoes. Lately, I have been avoiding potatoes (pasta, bread, blah blah blah, boring, boring), so I just bought a block of tofu to air fry. Here’s the recipe I am using. Here’s a recipe that suggests freezing it for a few weeks before preparing it. That’s a lot of forethought, but maybe it’s worth it.

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Watching
I'd been looking forward to seeing the oscar-nominated documentary All that Breathes, which is now available on HBO. It's an illuminating glimpse into life in Dehli. Urban wildlife, political unrest, poverty, and climate change fill the story's periphery, shrouding it in deep melancholy. Still, All that Breathes is ultimately heart-warming and inspiring as it's the story of three men who thanklessly rescue and heal black kites, a species of raptor falling out of the skies at increasing rates. The cinematography is breathtaking. Highly, highly recommended.

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Beautiful bookstore
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a few beautiful art supply stores, one in Paris and one in Tokyo. This week I discovered this incredible new Seoul bookstore, Graphic. It’s a space dedicated to graphic novels, comic books, and art and design books. The interior and exterior design is based on the pages of books and the experience of reading books.

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Amazing crochet
I am still working away on my granny squares. I manage to do about two squares per evening, with more on weekends. I am enjoying the Instagram of Alexandria Masse, a Canadian crochet artist who is currently doing an artist’s residency in Portugal. After the granny square blanket, I might make a cap with bunny ears, coral reef ear muffs, or maybe even a multicoloured spider, à la Alexandria.¹

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Fabric Spirits

Shot on 16-millimetre film, Shreds of Memory is a five-minute mini-doc interview with textile artist Tau Lewis. Her monumental masks and figurative sculptures are three-dimensional scrap fabric collages filled with otherworldliness. They represent “celestial bodies or talismans who act as spiritual conduits between the past, present and future.”

“We use every scrap of fabric,” she explains, adding that every scrap “has character, it’s mysterious… each new sculpture has a piece of an older one embedded in it. They share shreds of the same memory and the same truth.”

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Friends doing cool things (or should I say “Friends leading dream lives”)
This week I want to highlight my talented friend Mel Williamson, artist and all-around delightful person. She paints extraordinary oils of a multitude of subjects. This September, she is hosting a week-long plein air oil painting workshop in Tuscany. No previous experience is necessary. Stay in a villa, paint, make new friends, eat and drink, and tour the countryside. Heavenly. Having done a workshop with Mel, I can only imagine this will be close to perfection.

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The Lost King
Did you read my post on Wednesday about a lifelong obsession with archaeology? This trailer for an upcoming release is right up my alley. I discovered it the day my newsletter went out, which I think is appropriately spooky timing.

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Loud and Dirty
In Leicester, UK, the punk collective for older women, Unglamourous Music, looks like the best time. “This is definitely not a ‘cutesy grannies have a go at punk’ band – this is serious fun. We write our own music and we’ve got a lot to say about everything we’re angry about. I’ve been enraged for years.” Channel 5’s coverage makes me want to join a punk band, stat. But can I just say, the whole “older women doing punk, how cool is that?” angle isn’t actually all that news-worthy, considering Debbie Harry is 77, Kim Gordon is 69, and the late, great Vivienne Westwood was 81. Older women are punk. Regardless, I was pleased to read about Unglamourous Music.

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Listening
Shaky Graves, Live at Folk Hive is a collection of some enjoyably raw bluesy tunes. I also like the new Tallest Man on Earth single. This piece (below) by Nabalayo will remind you that becoming a watery siren is a perfectly acceptable fantasy. It is from INSHA, a forthcoming compilation of Nairobi-based electronic and experimental artists.

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And that’s it for today. Have a good week. One thousand points for getting to the end of the email!

xo,

Claire

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What’s coming up on Loobylu (aka The Subscriber Pitch):

The next paid-subscriber-only edition will look at the magic of mind mapping… and the slow evolution of my complicated graphic novel plot.

What came before:

In recent paid-subscriber-only issues, I wrote about my lifelong obsession with archaeology, pretty painted interiors belonging to artists, and the rough draft of a new comic, with musical accompaniment. 

Loobylu is a reader-supported publication and entirely free of affiliates, partners and sponsors. For access to past and future subscriber-only posts, support Loobylu with a paid subscription. 

1. À la! The French lessons are working, bien sûr! Actually, maybe it’s all the episodes of Emily in Paris I have been watching while I crochet.