Hi friends,

Our baby's now nine days late so I thought I'd take the opportunity to share some things – plus a special end-of-year roundup. Hello!

This year's roundup features my most-loved things from 2021, including:

💿 10 records
📚 10 books
🎥 5 films
📺 5 TV shows
📻 5 podcasts

Check out the whole thing here: My favourite 35 things from 2021.

Your friend,
Luke

P.S. I want to hear about your 2021 faves, too. Hit reply!
P.P.S. Photo by Morgane Bigault.

Read my 2021 roundup

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Ten Things

1. 💿 The Brilliance – Advent Collection

Have yourself a very mellow Christmas.

2. 📻 The case against loving your job | The Ezra Klein Show

It's okay to not love your job (I recommend it!) and this podcast digs into the reasons why.

3. 📻 Oliver Burkeman: What if I never change? | Hurry Slowly

Burkeman wrote one of my favourite books of the year, and Hurry Slowly's one of my favourite podcasts, so I particularly enjoyed this conversation about time management and self-help bs.

4. 📺 Mare of Easttown

The best thing about baby arriving late is having lots of time to catch up on TV shows. We tore through this in a couple of days.

5. 📝 Beware the emergency avocado: what does ultrafast delivery really cost us?

I can't stand all the new 10-minute grocery delivery apps (Getir, Weezy, etc.) and this article put lots of my feelings into words.

6. 📝 The incredible tale of the greatest toy man you've never known

Incredible profile of the man behind toys like Pokémon and Cabbage Patch Kids. What a life.

7. 📝 On "Succession," Jeremy Strong doesn't get the joke

This profile of Strong, aka Kendall Roy, is a peach. (Who's your favourite Succession character? I'm rooting for cousin Greg.)

8. 📝 Well I guess this is growing up

Fellow Blink-182 fans will love this profile of Mark Hoppus, which covers his cancer diagnosis and Blink history.

9. 📝 Coldplay—and especially "Fix You"—deserve a better legacy

Delightful to read something positive about my Coldplay pals for a change.

10. 📚 Michelle Zauner – Crying in H Mart

On top of making one of my favourite records of the year as Japanese Breakfast, Zauner published a memoir about her relationship with her mum, growing up Korean American, and her music career. It’s beautiful.

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Pertinent information

👨🏻‍🚀 I'm Luke, a freelance writer and maker. If you liked this email, tell a friend. If you're new here, you can subscribe.

💁🏻‍♂️ You might like these things I've written on being a freelance writer, giving your money away, taking care of your brain, and tools to get things done.

✏️ Ten Things is edited by Annabel Bligh.

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