The Weekend With Billie Marten

“It’s my birthday soon and for a treat I’m taking myself to The Rooftop in New York (Pier 17 have played there once and stared at the Statue of Liberty whilst singing) to see none other than Belle and Sebastian play the entirety of If You’re Feeling Sinister along with Joanna Sternberg – a great musical love of mine. It shall be magical and there shall be no notes. I love when old and new loves come together to form perfect harmony. I used to cry a lot to Piazza New York Catcher as a teen and then I started crying to Joanna’s This Is Not Who I Wanna Be in place of old pain. I’m predicting soothing melancholia at sundown.”

“It’s been a really big reading spree of late. So much reading. I regret nothing. My most recent loves were Graham Greene’s autobiography: A Sort Of Life. He talks of ‘a splinter of ice in the heart of every writer‘. I enjoyed Pathemata by Maggie Nelson, a short and really lovely read with lots of nice words in it. I always find myself being drawn to write or discuss physical ailments as sometimes they serve as an emotional creative portal to some sort of release. I feel like she does this in this essay.

I liked My Work by Olga Ravn, as excruciating and off-putting as it was in reference to childbirth and pregnancy, it shouldn’t put one off reading it. For some levity there’s a book called Brian by Jeremy Cooper which is a really lovely story of a person who visits the BFI every day and watches all the films. It’s about much more than that of course.”

“I’m a pseudo New Yorker at the moment (did I mention) and I have to rave about one of the best solo culinary experiences of my life at the deeply unassuming but highly perfect Motorino in Williamsburg. It’s right opposite Baby’s All Right. I know it’s a chain and blah blah but I popped in there for a quick bite during a show and I touched heaven. I ordered the meatballs and the fennel salad. Best meatballs of my life: soft, fragrant, perfect tomato sauce. And the salad: lip-smacking, juicy, perfect crunch, umami dressing, fresh fennel. No notes Motorino!”

“Currently on my third rewatch of The Sopranos. Really enjoying Tony’s tenderness and tiny smile.

A film I’d like to commend and I’m sure it got a lot of that at the time but regardless – It Follows. Twisted cinematic beauty, gorgeous soundtrack from Disasterpeace, every shot made me want to weep. Very very clever and beautiful.

For a taste of home, the BBC are doing an archive thing where its re-releasing all the old footage of aired programmes. There’s some great stuff in there and far too much to cover but this one about Brockwell Lido is really quite beautiful. If I ever made a visual thing I would hope it would turn out something like this.”