One Project Ends and Another Begins | The Friday(ish) Update

Welcome to another edition of the Friday(ish) Update!

I got a bit snowed under on Friday recording/editing/uploading the Commentary Track video for Patrons on the higher tiers and so didn't quite manage to finish getting this together. But here it is now!

Enjoy!

What have I been up to this week?

As with all weeks following the release of one of my videos, the past week has been a real mixture!

Some of the time has been spent checking-in on the video and replying to comments. Some of the time has been spent creating the additional bits of content promised to those on the higher Patreon tiers. Some of the time has been spent making a start on my next video. And I decided to use a couple of afternoons to continue work on my upcoming new website (which will have lots of great features for Patrons and should make it much easier to browse scripts and other bits of Patreon exclusive content).

The feedback to the boxing video has been great. I think a lot of people haven't quite known what to make of it when they've seen the title/thumbnail (hence my experimenting to find something that entices people to watch!). When folks have watched it, however, they seem to have found it good fun and appreciated the ways in which I use an initially inane sounding topic to explore the ways in which class and notions of respectability are weaponised in our everyday lives.

I certainly really enjoyed making the video and so I'm glad people are having a fraction of the amount of fun watching it!

With regards to the work I've been doing on my next video, I don't want to reveal too much just yet—I'll try and keep some suspense until at least next week! Nevertheless, I've managed to spend a few really focussed sessions on it over the past few days.

The preliminary research and resource finding has gone really well—there are some topics which are very much out of my area of expertise which this one touches on but I at least know where to look for any answers I need! I've even managed to get a few hundred words of the script written which is a rarity this soon after finishing my last video!

As I say though, I'll reveal a little more about that in next week's update!

And outside of work?

During the previous couple of weeks, getting the YouTuber Boxing video finished was pretty all-consuming. This week, however, I've managed to set aside a bit more time for relaxation and recreation!

The morning after I released the video, I set off in the car to go to the wedding of a couple of friends. They've been engaged and had the date of their wedding set since before COVID and so the past couple of years have been a bit worrisome in terms of whether it would be able to go ahead or not—there have obviously been many, many events in that time which have had to be cancelled!

Luckily, however, everything worked out for them. The wedding was at what is usually a youth retreat centre and so we were able to stay in the dorms and a few of us spent the weekend helping to set up and then enjoying what was a really beautiful day.

What have I been reading/watching/listening to?

Last week, I had a full three recommendations for listening and I'm afraid I'm a bit less forthcoming with such ideas this week. I will say, however, that if you enjoyed my latest video about boxing and the stories which we tell about sport, then I would definitely recommend Leon Gast's When We Were Kings.

The documentary is a fascinating insight into George Foreman and Muhammad Ali's Rumble in the Jungle and explores it from all kinds of different angles—as a sporting match, as a political statement, as a business venture. Well worth a watch!

What have I been thinking about?

Early this week, I was playing chess with a friend over the internet and chatting on Zoom at the same time. Eventually we began talking about the climate emergency and whether or not there's still time to halt some of the worst effects of global warming (we already know it's too late to halt there being some effects—they've already started).

The climate emergency has always been something that has been a presence in my politics but never the thing that has been front and centre. In the past six month or so, however, it has muscled its way into the front of my brain. Over the past week, I've been thinking about how to ensure that awareness of the climate emergency involves at least an element of hope!

Thanks for reading this edition of the Friday Update. I'm looking forward to letting you know a little bit more about my next video next week!