Welcome to the last Friday Fourteen of 2022!
Instead of reading the internet this week, we’ve been looking back on the year that was. We sent out 48 Friday Fourteens in 2022, and more than two thirds of you opened every! single! one! (thank you 😭)
We asked the Slice team to share their favourite fourteen things from this year’s Friday Fourteens, and this is what they said:
Vanessa, content & strategy director —>
As someone who generally resists the idea of resting and has been forced to this year for multitudes of reasons, I’ve found myself revisiting this guide on what rest is a lot. I love the gentle bossiness of the writing (“Rest is not sleeping. Sleeping is sleeping”) and there are so many good ideas for giving your body the rest it needs (“Rest is soft, or sensual. It’s massaging your own palms with your thumbs, or touching a purring cat, or holding a warm mug of tea, or smelling flowers or coffee beans or cut-up herbs. Rest should softly pleasure the senses, is what I’m saying.”). Maybe one to bookmark ahead of the silly season?
After reading this Guardian article back in July, I’ve made it my mission to never return Tupperware empty again
Lizzie, managing director —>
This Vanity Fair article featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt revisiting scenes from his movies was one of my faves this year; I'm all for a nostalgia hit, and this one hit the right spot
Hands down, the best show I discovered this year was Old Enough on Netflix. Each 10-minute ep follows a Japanese toddler running an errand on their own, and I could not get enough
Michaela, content and digital marketing specialist —>
The Guardian called the end of small plates back in April and ever since, every time I forgo a main in favour of a bunch of starters and sides I worry it’ll be the last time
Thinking about the overturning of Roe v Wade continues to make me insurmountably angry and this list of people who can go f*ck themselves still stands (reminder: this is what a pregnancy looks like before ten weeks)
Maddie, social media coordinator —>
Reflecting on my fav stories from the year was hard – it’s been a huge year of content! But ever since I first read this piece on practising rituals instead of routines, I’ve been looking at my daily habits as rituals (and treating them that way), which has made me see them in a whole new light
Another piece that I’ve not stopped thinking about is Grace Loh Prasad’s essay on motherhood, loss and community. Maybe it’s the image of a grieving whale being supported by her pod, or maybe it's the hit at feminine stereotypes by comparing mothers to spiders, but there’s something about this essay that I’m still mulling over (and might be for a while)
Ava, copywriter and content producer —>
Last week, I walked into the bathroom of one of Adelaide’s newest restaurants and heard a familiar voice. One that spoke of far-flung destinations, captivating encounters and local delicacies. A flicker of darkness in his tone snagged my chest as I recognised that I was listening to Anthony Bourdain, and it took my mind back to this piece about his unauthorised biography.
One of my most impactful reads of 2022 was this article by Lena Dunham for British Vogue about what Marilyn Monroe had to endure in her life, and the lessons she learned from one of the world’s most closely examined women
Jeremy, visual content creator —>
Earlier this year, more than 40 poets, painters, photographers, filmmakers, actors, musicians and writers shared their career advice in this beautifully designed NY Times article that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. In particular, a piece of advice from writer and actor Ryan O’Connell struck a chord – "You can’t wait for permission. You just have to do it. It sounds really simple to say, but showing up every day and doing it is the most important thing. It’s like going to the gym but for your brain."
After travelling to Japan last month, I finally understand why Japanese people would live in the teeny tiny shoe box apartments we gawked at in issue 145. I probably wouldn’t spend much time in my apartment either if I lived in a city as exciting as Tokyo! For anyone thinking of going to Japan in the future: do it, I promise you won’t regret it.
Hamish, content coordinator ––>
It’s easy to forget how little access we had to consumer AI tech at the beginning of this year. We were so intrigued by tools like DALLE 2 and ChatGPT when they were in beta, but since they’ve become available to the public there have been some big conversations going on about the nature of creativity, art, and labour. It’s been an interesting case study of how disruptive technology is to society, and watching the disruption in real time has been fascinating
I feel like the funniest story of the year, which didn’t get enough airtime in my opinion, has to be the chess cheating scandal that morphed into a wild conspiracy involving AI-powered anal beads. It was one of the most chronically online stories that I’ve ever read, and I was so proud of the chess community for finally injecting some excitement into what is objectively the most boring spectator sport in the world (bar cricket ofc)
