issue 33 - a summer to strip the self
on relevancy and self definition, hot bling summer continued, the importance of curation, the Gingerbread Man Shopping Channel and more
happy official falltime, happy belated mid autumn festival and a warm welcome to our new FRESHers who have joined us over the summer! we’re popping back into your inboxes for a quick handful of updates, spurred by a sudden energy burst to write to you again.
once again, a round of quick housekeeping updates:
about that ad-hoc publishing basis we mentioned last issue - once every month or two seems more realistic at this point in time. still dealing with some writer’s block and writer’s guilt about not writing more often, but know that we’ll still be in touch every now and then!
GUESTFRESHes and that new topic-centric issue format still in the works, bear with us!
FRESH: self
A Summer to Strip the Self
i’ve been in an energetic lull for a good part of the summer. both my consumption input (of media, actual food, social) and output (writing, creating, connecting) took a huge drop the past few months - it’s felt like hitting a giant stop button. i just simply didn’t have energy to spare for “extra” tasks; besides keeping myself fed, hydrated and hopping to and from the gym.
albeit not planned nor of my own conscious volition, it’s been a good experiment of stripping away everything “unnecessary”, all the excess noise. proving to myself that i still can live day by day just by existing on my own.
who or what is left of me, when i remove the external things i’ve chosen to define me? without friends or a lover constantly blowing up my phone, validation from story views, inspiration from a muse? without someone else’s problems to psychoanalyse, overwhelming emotions to drown in, the rush of staying out all night with strangers you’ll never see again? when you peel back all the layers of the onion that have grown over each other, what is really there inside? i don’t quite have the answers figured out yet.
the idea of writing an issue again felt so daunting: what could i possibly share that would still be relevant, when i’ve been out of the loop, not actively engaging with the world around me and uninspired? relevancy perhaps isn’t the point - information is timeless, and the very act of experiencing or sharing that information to someone else makes it once again relevant to the present moment, like retelling Grimm’s Fairy Tales to each new generation of unsuspecting kids.
if Wham’s Last Christmas can consistently make a comeback every wintertime even after four decades, then i think i’ll be alright sharing these little tidbits of things that made me smile for a moment in time on this small corner of the internet, relevancy be damned. rather, they’re relevant because they hold some sort of meaning and importance to me right now, and if i’m lucky, maybe they’ll be kind enough to grant you the same.
FRESH: bling
Hot Bling Summer, Continued
let’s go with with something that’s definitely time-sensitive: we’re super excited to announce that our bling by wing summer pop up store will be continuing throughout the rest of the year, tentatively until new year’s eve!
reinventing designs and restocking new pieces into the store has been a much needed constant this summer that i’ve unexpectedly enjoyed. having the immediacy and physicality of a real location has granted me extra motivation to keep creating and building something tangible, however small.
sometimes i lose sight of the bigger picture of what i’m working on, with our main storefront being virtual and pieces never staying long in my hands when they get shipped off to wonderful new owners around the world. being able to head over to the store and see everything together in one place still gives me a reality check whenever i need it, a feeling of “ah, this is what i’m doing it for”.
here’s our pop up location, come drop in and browse some bling!
box C9B (middle of the store), THE CUBE, shop S122, 2nd Floor, Argyle Centre, 688 Nathan Road, Mong Kok, Hong Kong
head over to our bling Instagram also to peep some of our available pop up pieces!
FRESH: lifestyle
Hi From Your New Amazon Associate
hate to be an inevitable cog in the capitalist wheel that makes the world go round… but if so, let’s make it have at least an ounce of use, no?
curation is an integral part of my life, no matter the aspect - FRESH itself is founded on the basis of curating bits of information from all over into digestible bite-size meals. i relentlessly curate the thoughts in my head like trimming overgrown bushes, curate the places i frequent onto endless pins on Google Maps, and i’m particularly meticulous about curating the objects around me that i either use, put onto my body or consume.
hence, i’ve whipped up this mini curation list of things - you could say this is a Wing Starter Pack™:
the majority of selections in here are things i’ve either used before or am currently still using, in some cases the exact product wasn’t available so i’ve added similar items in. each one has added some sort of value to my life at one point or another - perhaps some of these will for you too. take a browse here and see what takes your fancy!
if you’ve got a particular area or type of item you’d like to see me curate, reply to this email or drop a comment and i’ll add it to the list!
i earn a small commission fee through this link, if you choose to purchase something.
FRESH: new music
Remnant - G Jones
although being the fourth and last single released from G Jones’ next (yet unreleased) album offering, titled Paths, Remnant certainly holds its own against its fellow tracklisters. it refuses to categorize itself into one genre, flowing effortlessly from the ambient sounds of Everything All at Once, to hyperpop-esque trap ever so slightly reminiscent of the hard-hitting drops off R.A.V.E.. it may be too early to call it, but Remnant may end up being my overall favorite track off Paths - my Spotify play count can attest to this.
we’re absolutely here for Troye’s new era of music - the sonic choices, the vibrancy, the styling, the art direction all comes together to feel oh-so nostalgic and bittersweet (hello Blue Neighborhood) yet fresh as ever. obsessed with the Gucci disco ball suit from the Got Me Started music video.
resident Brit Ed Sheeran has a new alias as the host of The Gingerbread Man Shopping Channel - a series of short commercial spoofs about the wonders of British autumn (heavy sarcasm), to promote his new album Autumn Variations. all of them are downright entertaining, but this first one made me crack up the hardest:
FRESH: film + television
Bostonian Chris Evans keeps a relatively low profile these days after his Cap retirement back in 2019, but it’s good to see him pop back into the pop culture sphere every now and then to play with puppies or more recently, give a crash course on his entire acting career over the past two decades. itching now to dive into more of his filmography that i’ve missed along the way.
one of the highlights of my week was rewatching a random episode of CSI: NY with no prior knowledge that a young Chadwick Boseman would magically appear as a New York City lima-bean-wielding hustler in the middle of Times Square. i did about five double takes before opening up IMDB and losing it.
FRESH: youtube
you can take the boy out of Hogwarts, but you can’t take the Hogwarts out of the boy, as badboy Slytherin alumni Tom Felton would probably argue. here’s his heartwarming new commercial with Uber Eats, complete with catastrophic spell-casting consequences. wonder if his father has heard about this?
maybe i’m just secretly a cat in my spare time, but i really enjoy throwing on one of these 8 hour long Cat TV bird videos whilst i’m cooking - something about watching birds hop around and break the fourth wall is extremely soothing and comforting.
we’ve made it through! thank you as always for being here and choosing to spend your time with me. sending all my love, and enjoy the rest of this (climatically unpredictable) falltime, before we hunker down for the winter.
if you enjoyed this issue and would love even more FRESH in your inbox, click right here to upgrade your subscription to a paid one today - we appreciate your consideration dearly!
love as the leaves fall,
wing
alright, over to you now - hit up the comments section, or reply to this email with your thoughts! if you enjoy a little prompting:
what layers of self have you been stripping away recently?
what is your take on the idea of staying relevant?
name one product that’s been bringing value to your everyday routine lately.
which spoof or crossover commercials do you have stuck in your memory?
when was the last time you were surprised by an unexpected actor cameo in a film or episode you watched?
head over to freshbywing.com to catch up on past issues of FRESH, and find us on instagram!
Love this candid reflection on your summer, Wing! I'm also trying to strip away those layers of guilt for not being as "productive" as I could be. I make to-do lists every day, and feel a little bad when I don't finish them, even if doing so would be completely unrealistic in the time allotted. I also wonder what I would be without my work, without the idea of "helping people" as core to my personality. This school year, I hope to find a better balance between putting my own energy first, and serving my loved ones & community.
Those Ed Sheeran commercials are hilarious! I love how he dumps everything into the box, and the grey cast over the film is the icing on the cake. When it comes to funny commercials, I always return to Panda Cheese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYz3sl0LEA4
My latest unexpected cameo was Will Poulter in the second season of The Bear! It was such a good episode about learning new perspectives through travel and dedication to one's art form.
I think for all of us non famous people with an audience staying relevant is something that has to do with what we decide to do and what audiences know us for. On my Instagram, I used to regularly share my thoughts on new releases in the music world on Mondays. People would reply with their own thoughts. I had new colors for my template each month when I did it and everything. I haven't done it in a little bit but instead have begun to share posts from @discussingfilm or @geekfacts and shared my thoughts on those. My audience knows me for music and movie stuff so while I may not be covering both, they still get my feedback and I suppose still consider me "relevant" + I still post music related stuff or do fun participatory posts like the ones from @a.song.that
The Shamwow commercial spoof nigahiga from YouTube did when I was in like elementary school still randomly pops up in my head lol. His was called the ShamWOOHOO! and he had this specific way of saying it that was a part of the running joke in the video. I also enjoy basically allll the commercial skit/spoofs from the show Portlandia. They all stem from a semi niche thing and I'm glad I "get" it because I know some people don't.
Going to use a VERY recent example and say I was BLOWN AWAY by how many big name stars were in the "Fishes" episode of The Bear. I knew it would be special because of the length but I never expected so many guest stars - and guest stars whose work I thoroughly enjoyed. It's an exceptional episode from a nerdy technical perspective and also just cool to see so many big names in one episode of a show.