Culture Addict: The Stack Recommends

Isobel Van Dyke - Editorial Assistant

This week’s choice of entertainment

This week I entered a theatre for the first time since COVID hit. It felt a particularly special occasion since my oldest friend was part of the show - a production put on by second year RADA students. The annual ‘Prize Fights’ saw students paired up and made to reenact famous fight scenes from literature, film and TV. It was, quite literally, two hours of 20-somethings duelling on stage with their weapon of choice.

Where I’m spending my weekend

I recently discovered that Pophams bakery in Hackney turns into a pasta restaurant from 6pm Wednesday to Saturday. The restaurant itself is very open and relaxed - as informal as you’d expect a bakery to be, with bags of flour stacked up against the walls. By contrast, the dishes are delicate works of art (the pictures below speak for themselves).

Something we’re looking forward to

This week The Royal Opera House announced a new installation of dance costumes - consisting of one-off pointe shoes that have been upcycled from familiar fashion faces. The likes of Halpern, Liberty, Simone Rocha, Erdem, Roksanda and Rejina Pyo have contributed.

Rhea Cartwright - Beauty Director

This week’s choice of entertainment

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying listening to the Mixed Up podcast, hosted by Emma Slade Edmonson and Nicole Ocran. In a week that has been marred by the racist undertones of this country, they explore race and identity with guests such as Poorna Bell, Big Zuu and Lianne La Havas.

As someone obsessed with continued learning, I’ve also discovered the most brilliant reading hack! Shortform is an app that summarises the best non-fiction books to gain the insights but without any of the fluff. It’s £10 a month which I think is excellent value for time-saving knowledge.

Something I’m looking forward to

Having cut out sugar for 50 days and with 7 seven days left - yes, I am counting - I cannot wait to visit the first UK branch of Eataly in Liverpool Street. With two floors dedicated to the best of Italian produce, I’m in search of some top-tier pesto to drizzle on vegetables and an abundance of pasta to fulfill my carb dreams.

Ellen Atlanta - Content Director

This week’s choice of entertainment

This week I’ve been listening to Sara Pascoe’s book Sex, Power, Money on Audible and I’ve recommended it to everyone I know. Imagine Sapiens, but written by a feminist comedian. It’s brilliant. The book explores it’s titular themes and their intersections, using evolutionary psychology, personal anecdotes and academic studies to cover sex work, porn and the role of money and capital in modern heterosexual relationships. All in uncomplicated and hilarious prose.

Where I’m spending my weekend

I’m in the process of moving to a new flat in Greenwich, so this weekend I’ve got tickets to the Painted Hall in The Royal Naval College. Classed among the greatest painted ceilings in the world, London’s answer to the Sistine Chapel has recently been taken over by artist Luke Jerram with his exhibition Gaia, a huge, illuminated 3D projection of planet Earth. Baroque paintings with a techy twist? It’s a Stack World dream.

Something we’re looking forward to this week

This week has been flat out, so I’m daydreaming about my holiday at the end of the month. I’m spending a week in a geodesic glamping dome at Gayton Farm, surrounded by horses and cows, but only an £8 taxi to the centre of Cambridge. I stayed for a weekend a couple of months ago and I can’t wait to go back. It’s surprisingly affordable, close to some amazing English pubs, and provides the perfect escape from the city.

Georgia Lawton - Senior Content Manager (Events)

This week’s choice of entertainment

This weekend I’m going back to the theatre for the first time since the pandemic. I’m so excited at the prospect of watching something that isn’t Netflix in a venue other than my living room. Some of my happiest childhood memories are from when my mum and I would come up to London for the day and nab last-minute tickets for a West End show – it was always the biggest treat. This weekend I’m seeing Six the Musical. It tells the stories of Henry VII's six wives, through amazing pop numbers and dance routines. Who doesn’t enjoy a feminist retelling of history with Britney Spears-esque costumes and strobe lights?

Where I’m spending my weekend

This weekend I’m going to Six By Nico, a pop-up restaurant in Fitzrovia that serves a different six-course tasting menu every six weeks. This month's theme is Shanghai and I am dying to try their char siu. The menu looks amazing and it’s only £36 for 6 courses, an absolute steal in London. It’s located on Charlotte Street which is one of my favourite streets in London. I'm looking forward to strolling down to the picturesque Charlotte Street Hotel afterwards for a drink.

Something we’re looking forward to

I’m dipping into The Stack World video library this weekend to watch “The Power of Harnessing Your Breath” workshop from our Power & Networks day. Virginie Khateeb, a master breathwork coach, opened our Power & Networks day with this session – our members looked so zen and relaxed after attending. It set the energy for the whole day. I’m really looking forward to taking some time to switch off my phone and connect with my breath. I catch myself holding my breath a lot, when I’m writing a stressful email I often won’t breathe out until I’m done drafting, so I’m ready to just focus on the most simple but important exercise of all.

Hannah Connolly - Editorial Assistant

This week’s choice of entertainment

After 6 months of delays this week marked my first gig since the start of the pandemic. Having rather optimistically booked tickets to see The Staves for January, it finally came to fruition this Tuesday, featuring a beautifully curated setlist played against the backdrop of St John's Church in Hackney. Acting as a part-time haven for music events and a regularly operating community church come Sundays, the hallowed halls provide the perfect acoustic set up for all manner of musical acts. Table service (thank God, literally) ran throughout with a selection of their own St John’s brewed beverages from fruity IPA’s to hoppy lagers, the proceeds of which are all given back into community based programs and charities.

Where we’re spending our weekend

This weekend I am planning on taking full advantage of the 29 degree forecast by staying close to home and sunning it up in the Hackney marshes nature reserve. Diving into a novel plucked from my ever-growing to-read pile, opting for Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, a best-selling Japanese short story that has been beautifully translated by Geoffrey Trousselot. The story is centred around an intriguing tale of the mystical properties of a fabled Tokyo cafe that allows you to travel back in time, under the proviso that you can only visit past events that took place in the cafe, and only for as long as it takes for your coffee to go cold.

Something we’re looking forward to

After much searching I have finally found my new Emily in Paris, the Gossip Girl reboot is quite literally terrible but consider me absolutely enthralled. The narrative arc is set up… is there a love triangle brewing? Will Zoya and Julienne sort things out? Will Monet become the new ruler of the Met steps? I would love to say I don’t need this constant supply of mindless television or that I always opt for a groundbreaking, high-brow documentary but I would be lying if I didn’t admit there's been a sequin-covered Lily Collins-shaped-gap in my heart that has finally been filled.

Sasha Mills - Intern

This week’s choice of entertainment

For my new journey to The Stack World office, I’ve taken up reading on the tube in an attempt to fill the time with something more interesting than just staring into carriages of unenthused commuters. I picked up Nomadland by Jessica Bruder from my local library, and I’m hooked. It charts the lost generation of Americans that have aged out of work, taking up van life and nomadic living in an attempt to overcome rising living costs and a lack of social security. More broadly, it’s a book about what happens when capitalism becomes untenable. Sometimes non-fiction can feel dry, but Bruder’s prose is so literary that it whisks my commute away.

Where I’m spending my weekend

This Saturday I’ll be visiting the newly reopened Honey & Co for the first time for a Middle Eastern breakfast and coffee. One of the perils of London is avoiding the constant temptation to try all of the amazing food on offer, so I’m hoping to try and cook some new recipes alongside eating out. I live on Harringay Green Lanes, which is filled with international supermarkets and grocery stores, so there’s no shortage of amazing fresh ingredients to try.

Something I’m looking forward to

Resting! I moved last weekend and everything I own is still in boxes which I have to rummage through when I get dressed every morning. I’m planning on sitting at the cafe by the lake in Finsbury Park and just zoning out all Sunday.

Lily Van Dyke - Video Content Intern

This week’s choice of entertainment

This week I’ve been spending my free time rewatching Sex and the City (ahead of the reboot).

Where I’m spending my weekend

I’m only in London for two weeks whilst interning here at The Stack. I’ve only ever visited the city a handful of times and want to make the most of my time here. Amongst seeing the sites and romanticising it all, I’ll be visiting as many vintage shops as possible to up my Depop game.

Something we’re looking forward to

Euphoria Season 2 (eventually)! But also spending time with my sister and heading to Primrose Hill in the sun.

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