This week's edit - 22nd August 2016

Visiting
Fashion Cities Africa is a small but fascinating exhibition at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery dedicated to contemporary fashion from Nairobi, Johannesburg, Lagos and Casablanca.

Reading
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley is a compelling and twisty-turny thriller from the writer of my beloved Fargo TV series.  I loved it.

Watching

Stranger Things is a slow-burning but addictive supernatural Netflix drama, set in the 1980s which delights in its constant and obvious homages to Stephen King films and other 80s tropes.

Listening
Edith Bowman's Soundtracking podcast interviews film directors about their use of music.  Essential listening for film buffs.

This week's edit - 15th August 2016

Read

I See You by Clare Mackintosh is the creepiest book I've read in a long time.  It has a very clever central premise and I suspect it will say with me for some weeks.

See

The Sicily: Culture and Conquest exhibition at the British Museum has just finished, so sorry I haven't flagged it up in time, but I managed to visit this week and it was an absolutely fascinating insight into the early history of the island and the impact of Greek and Norman occupation.

There is still time to see Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick at Somerset House.  A curated exhibition of contemporary art inspired by or related to the films of Kubrick, this show is a bit of a mixed bag but the highlights are worth seeing, including a film installation called The Corridor by Toby Dye (above) and The Shining Carpet by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, as well as works by Doug Aitken and Julian Rosefeldt.

Watch
The Olympics.  Is there anything else??!

Mustang is a beautiful and atmospheric film about five sisters in Turkey coming of age.  Highly recommended.

This week's edit - 15th August 2016

Read

I See You by Clare Mackintosh is the creepiest book I've read in a long time.  It has a very clever central premise and I suspect it will say with me for some weeks.

See

The Sicily: Culture and Conquest exhibition at the British Museum has just finished, so sorry I haven't flagged it up in time, but I managed to visit this week and it was an absolutely fascinating insight into the early history of the island and the impact of Greek and Norman occupation.

There is still time to see Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick at Somerset House.  A curated exhibition of contemporary art inspired by or related to the films of Kubrick, this show is a bit of a mixed bag but the highlights are worth seeing, including a film installation called The Corridor by Toby Dye (above) and The Shining Carpet by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, as well as works by Doug Aitken and Julian Rosefeldt.

Watch

Mustang is a beautiful and atmospheric film about five sisters in Turkey coming of age.  Highly recommended.

This week's edit - 8th August 2016

Read

Modern Lovers by Emma Straub is a great read, with beautifully drawn characters and a real sense of place.

Watch

The BFG is an utter joy, full of warmth and humour and carried by wonderful lead performances from Mark Rylance and Ruby Barnhill.  Definitely not just one for the kids (and not just because I couldn't find any to take with me - "too babyish" for my nephews apparently!)

See

Not long left now to see the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy.  Always a mixed bag, this year seemed to me to be more coherent than normal, and I loved work by Yinka Shonibare, Jock McFadyen and Hannah Starkey in particular.

The Palma Edit

The Arts Edit
The cathedral in Palma is beautiful and well worth the queues (even better if you can go early when it's almost empty).  The Fondacion Bartolome March is worth a visit - it's a beautiful but strange house with a programme of temporary exhibitions inside and in the garden, currently showing prints by Salvador Dali and sculpture by artists including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Auguste Rodin.

The Food and Drink Edit
I haven’t eaten often in Palma but can recommend the small outside cafe just by the entrance to the Fondacion Bartolome March which does excellent p’amb oli, and sushi from the fish market is totally fantastic. The best bars and cafes/tapas places are in the streets behind the Passeig Born and Bar Abaco is a 'must-see' if only for its unique decoration.  The best tapas I've had was at Ombu, and although I have never managed to go, I’ve heard really good things about the food at Simply Fosh.

The Shopping Edit
Sluiz Ibiza, tucked away down a backstreet near Passeig Born, is a vast labyrinth of cool hippyish clothing and homewares I'd bulk buy if I owned my dream house in Mallorca.

How to use Twitter and not go mad

I love Twitter.  I love its inclusiveness.  I love tweeting and reading tweets during big TV and cultural moments.  I love getting tips and reviews of books, films, restaurants and exhibitions I would never think of engaging with.  I love being able to safely vent my anger at the current political maelstrom (#hellinahandcart).  And I love sharing the joy of watching Chris Froome running up Mont Ventoux during the Tour de France, while I'm working alone at my kitchen table.

I understand why so many people don't 'get' Twitter.  I don't love the trite 'Why Taylor Swift Loves Avocado on Toast' articles and, at the other end of the scale, I don't love the anger and the picking fights for no reason and the general hatred aimed at others.

So to keep it fun, and avoid the madness, I follow art critics I respect (@adriansearle, @januszczak), film critics I usually agree with (@robbiereviews and @markkermode) and writers with similar taste in books to me (@hemmo, @sambaker and @indiaknight).  Aside from that, I follow my favourite restaurants, museums, cinemas, friends and people who make me laugh.  I never tweet anything I wouldn't say to someone's face.  And that's it.  No drama, no histrionics, no trolling and no avocado on toast.  #perfect

@kathmellor

This week's edit - 1st August 2016

See
Georgiana Houghton was a Victorian medium who painted under the 'instruction' of ghosts including Titian.  The exhibition of her work at the beautiful Courtauld Gallery is an absolute joy - fascinating and visually striking, her work is before its time in its abstraction and symbolism.

Watch
Weiner is a fascinating documentary about former congressman Anthony Weiner and his attempted political comeback after a sexting scandal.

Read
Liane Moriarty is a very underrated writer and her latest novel, Truly Madly Guilty, is a perfect sunlounger read.  She writes beautifully readable plot-twisting domestic thrillers, and creates believable and imperfect female characters.