43. READ. LOOK. THINK.

Excitement in Jessica World. I chose this photo in honour of the fact I’m seeing Patti Smith tonight. (I actually have a photo of her and me together – “Look how kind she looks, it’s like she’s your mum or proud of you or something,” Jude said when he saw it – but even though it was taken 18 months ago it still feels too oddly fresh to show off to anyone.) And now for an unusually man- and politics-heavy READ.LOOK.THINK.

READ:  Don’t let thoughts into your head: on podcasts. | Marina Abramovic, aged 27: “Am I still young and beautiful enough to become a famous artist?” | “I know that the world only tramples me as a street crowd does an earthworm — not out of malice or stupidity, but because no one sees it.” On being nothing. | ‘I’m thinking of you.’ A poem in Meanjin. | Findings. | “Rarely do I watch Joe Biden give a speech or an interview without looking for some evidence, in his eyes or the lines of his face, of the fact that he lost half of his young family when he was 30 years old.” | On Hillary Clinton (I love her hero’s journey; HRC’s played the long game and won.) | Sarah Wilson’s perspective on confessional writing: “readers aren’t really interested in my personal angst…they just want to know that they’re not alone in theirs.”| “Photoshopping your party/holiday pics is vain. But applying a filter to or Snapseeding your iPhone pics is creative.” I listed some of my social media theories for Nextness. | Some small truths at The Moderation Hotel. | The final irony.

LOOK: The Ascent of American Girls: Melissa Ann Pinney’s intimate, candid portraits capture the intimacy and self-sufficiency of girlhood. | The (literal) deconstruction of Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. | Hawaiian Coconut, a tumblr. | I love the new Australian show Puberty Blues.

THINK: No formal funeral for Australian PM Julia Gillard’s Welsh father as he donates body to science. | Study shows acupuncture provides true pain relief. | Grindr will mobilise gay men as a political bloc in the 2012 elections by delivering geo-targeted messages about equality issues to its 1.5 million US users. | How the internet has changed the way we perceive time. | “While most hobbyists and sports fans are realistic about the value of their fixations, politics fans often labor under the delusion that they are being serious and engaged when they are in fact goofing off.”

LINKNESS: My wrap up of the week’s top strategy + creativity + marketing reads on Nextness.