HIGHLY RECOMMENDED W/ SEB WESTCOTT
* Providing the A's to the 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Q's today is Seb Westcott — a UK illustrator who also happens to be the ‘seb’ behind the new HI54 feature called ‘IAMSEB REVIEWS’. Follow Seb on Instagram for more.
#1 - WHAT IS THE ONE ALBUM (OR EP OR SONG) THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE THE VERY NEXT MUSICAL THING THAT EVERYONE PRESSES PLAY ON THE NEXT TIME THEY FIND THEMSELVES THINKING “WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NOW”?
I've spent the past five days thinking about what my answers would be and until about an hour ago my answer was going to be the song Happy by Roy Blair but as I sat down to type this email, I put on ‘Romance Is Boring’ by the Welsh indie rock band Los Campesinos! (a cd I picked out at random from my shelf) and I decided that I want that to be my answer.
It's a good album for when you're feeling the existential dread of being in your early-ish twenties. Also Happy by Roy Blair.
#2 - WHAT IS THE ONE MOVIE OR TV SHOW THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE NEXT IN EVERYBODY’S NETFLIX QUEUE (OK, DOESN’T HAVE TO BE NETFLIX, WE’RE ALL INTERNET ADULTS HERE AND KNOW HOW TO FIND ANYTHING ONLINE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER)?
‘Lonely and Horny’ by Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld.
I've been following Jake and Amir for probably like six or seven years and I think they did a really great job with this series, it's funny, heartfelt and each episode is like 10 minutes long so you can watch a bunch of them in one go.
#3. I (AND BY “I” I MEAN “THE PERSON THAT IS READING THIS”) AM GOING TO THE BOOK STORE (OK, PROBABLY AMAZON) TO FIND THE VERY NEXT BOOK THAT I WILL BE PUTTING SOME EXTREMELY VALUABLE ‘ME-TIME' ASIDE FOR. WHICH BOOK WOULD YOU GET, IF YOU WERE ME (AND, I SUPPOSE, YOU HADN’T ALREADY READ WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO SUGGEST)?
‘Killing Yourself to Live’ by Chuck Klosterman.
I decided at some point around the beginning of this year that I don't like to read fiction. Instead I started reading collections of short essays about pop culture and music. I really like the way that Klosterman writes and I see a lot of myself in the way he describes himself. Sex Drugs and Cocopuffs and Eating the Dinosaur are both really good essay collections but Killing Yourself to Live is more focused and has kind of a loose narrative throughout about a road trip and it feels more personal. Also a lot of people on goodreads.com have given it a one star review.
#4 - WHAT IS THE ONE WEBSITE (OR JUST ANY OLD INTERNET THING: APP, GIF, SERVICE, WHATEVER) THAT YOU WOULD GET REALLY DOWN IN THE DUMPS ABOUT IF IT WERE TO SUDDENLY GO AWAY?
There's a youtube video that Vox put out about two years ago where they deconstruct a bunch of rappers' flows and rhyme schemes and I think it's absolutely fascinating.
I've watched that video a lot of times. Sometimes i just skip to the MF Doom bit.
#5 - AND FINALLY… PLEASE GIVE ONE COMPLETELY UNAIDED RECOMMENDATION THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD START DOING / USING / WATCHING / EATING / THINKING / QUITING / ETC-ING TO MAKE THEIR LIVES A LITTLE BIT MORE BETTER AND/OR BEARABLE.
Start asking interesting questions to your colleagues (and to make it even more fun you can demand that they answer immediately without thinking).
"What do you collect?" "What's your most controversial opinion?" "Would you rather be able to fly or turn invisible?" "What are your top 10 favourite movies?" Things like that.
OK folks, there you have it. Things that Seb Westcott thinks you should consider incorporating into your day/life. Before you log off and go start asking your nearest human some questions, make sure to check out Seb’s website and follow over on the Instagram for all kinds of excellent illustrations. And stay tuned for some more IAMSEB REVIEWS on HI54 in 2019.
