The Monday Media Diet with Celeste Blewitt

On the AFR, Odd Lots, and the Shipping Forecast

Celeste is a Australia-based friend of WITI. Happy to have some Melbourne representation this week. -Colin (CJN)

Tell us about yourself.

I’m the Chief Operating Officer at Frais Capital, a boutique wealth management firm based in Melbourne (my sister is the CEO and founder and some say a dynamic duo). I’m from a family of six, number three of four siblings and my parents have always created a conversation around media diets. Active debate is what we grew up with and continue to this day, we say it’s the bush telegraph of communications - always live discussion. My nan was here until 98, finishing a cryptic crossword a day, so I am now on a mission to start the process of learning how to attempt a crossword. Hence the media diets and always to be in the know is innate and hereditary.

Understanding macro economic trends in the world and how it may affect the financial markets and global economy at any given moment and how it may affect financial markets, supply chains, consumer spending trends, interest rates and employment rates among all the economic data is important on many levels and it also helps to prepare for the day.

Throw in anything on culture, art, tech and fashion and every waking and sleeping moment is taken to feed my superpower. I’m a voracious reader of every aspect of media, print, online, social, podcasts, radio, ALL of it. I live and breathe all types of media, it’s a sport to me, and it’s a way to start and continue conversations, to be interested in what others have to share and also to add to a conversation.

I live in Melbourne, Australia and have been a longtime reader of Why Is This Interesting for many years. During the pandemic, Australia was closed to the world, international and domestic borders closed for nearly two years. WITI gave me the opportunity to time travel all over the globe. In that time and beyond, many of my favourite finds and people have come from reading The Monday Media Diet and I have read and listened to much that has been suggested and shared in the MMD. Talk to many from Melbourne, Australia and many still have many thoughts on that time.

This is certainly a privilege to share my media diet.

Describe your media diet.

I am chronically online (it’s not new to me, I have enjoyed creating this digest to see where I could adjust/ add/remove) and I am always reading, listening, researching and observing. I love this type of media diet, because it is not only part of what I do on a day to day basis, it feeds every conversation and idea I have. It’s how I research, find new ideas, brands, conversations. Here we go, buckle up and tune in.

Mornings are for the BBC, NYT and FT apps to see overnight movements on Wall St and the world, each of these publications provides an insight from every angle, of which as an Australian, I’m very aware that domestic and international view is necessary, especially given the tyranny of distance, we live on an island, albeit it an extremely large island. .

I have a plethora of newsletter subscriptions and love Substack for its broad diet of all of my most favourite topics, from geopolitics, the zeitgeist, business, arts, fashion, food, culture and tech, which leads me to my first morning check after the news apps, SIC Weekly Daily editions for every piece of zeitgeist that you can imagine. Ben Dietz is a master of this and always well worth reading. The curation of links Ben shares allows you to be across every topic of conversation if you choose. Feed Me by Emily Sundberg for a NYC centric business focus, with a dash of salacious discussion thrown in for good measure. Comment is Freed and International Intrigue for geopolitics and the movements in the world of foreign affairs as they provide a level insight, with an historical background to every aspect of foreign affairs. I find these to be similar to a non-fiction version of The Bureau, and tune into the WITI piece on The Bureau if you haven’t viewed it previously, the plots, costumes and Frenchness adds to the intrigue.

Locally I check The Australian Financial Review for the Australian finance updates and that’s all before the day has started. I also like to read through The Atlantic, FT’s HTSI, The Guardian, Town & Country, Tatler, books and everything in between. Town & Country and Tatler provide the society and leisure gossip of the world we now watch with an eager eye. The social pages of Tatler make excellent research to see those double barrel surnames in print. It’s a Plum Sykes world in the social pages of Tatler.

Of a weekend, I enjoy Laurel Pantin’s ‘Earl Earl’ for an instant hit of fashion and style. Five Things from Becky Malinsky for an Upper East Side style hit, The Mon Review from Monica Ainley and Books and Bits from Pandora Sykes for the crossover of books and chic fashion insights and, Yolo by Yolanda Edwards for every chic travel destination I have ever imagined traveling to. Each media gives me an opportunity to learn or find newness or be reminded of an old favourite. Earl Earl, Mon Review and Yolanda Edwards share their uber chicness with us all, to read these is an opportunity to be drawn into the world of travel, fashion and art, from LA to NYC, Paris and beyond. For dinner ideas I subscribe to Caro Chambers ‘What To Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking’ and always love that I imagine that I am going to meal prep, whip up an amazingly delicious meal that will last the week. The recipes and cooking insight are brilliant, now I just need to engage the cooking muscle.

Podcasts are also a favourite in my media diet:

• UnHedged and Odd Lots for an insight into macroeconomics trends that others may not have thought to discuss, with a hearty debate and repartee between the hosts of each.

• The Rachman Review for foreign affairs, geopolitcs and hearing how the world is pieced together as a jigsaw puzzle

• How Long Gone for up to the minute cultural zeitgeist, with the satire and humour that is unlike any other discussion.

• Dish by Waitrose for a laugh and a story around food,with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett providing a hearty sense of humour.

• Desert Island Discs for a step back in time and a playlist,

• Fashion People for up to the minute fashion reporting on all the hot takes with Lauren Sherman.

• The Powers That Be for the latest news of the world, The Town for advertising and Hollywood biz, The Grill Room for journalism and in-depth interviews and the occasional tune back into Pivot and On with Kara Swisher.

• In fact any Puck podcast is always on my to listen list.

I take notes, then dive into the items noted in each episode.

I also tune into the AM radio stream, ABC 774 AM and Radio National, plus the weekend radio covers regional Australia and there is a wholesome nature to being in metropolitan Melbourne, listening to farmers and primary producers discuss current weather and agricultural trends, it’s important to hear, given Australia has such a strong agricultural sector, we produce more primary products than we can consume. .

I loved the BBC Sounds App, and thoroughly miss the options to tune into BBC live. it’s no longer available to international audiences, there was something brilliant about tuning into BBC and Nick Grimshaw’s broadcasting on BBC 6. And the Shipping Forecast.

I use social media as a research tool, and find Instagram to be a live reference,ideas guide and I am always finding a new source, a new idea, a new artist in the algorithm. Tastemakers and culture creators, hospitality mindset is real and feeds into my daily worklife, plus being able to tune into Paris Fashion Week live is quite magical. For me, Instagram is a brilliant moveable feast of culture and ideas.

So you may say that my media diet is big, it’s large and it’s my superpower. I’m sure I’ve missed many, but this is just a start!

What’s the last great book you read?

January in Melbourne is summertime reading, books that are beach reads, books that you read in a day and one that was great is The Wedding People. A beach read with dark humour and a tale of weddings, parties, anything. It was light and breezy, the reflection of January. I can certainly see it being made into a screenplay, it would make for a fun film, perhaps it’s in Margot Robbie’s hands as I type. It’s in the vein of Elizabeth Day, Marian Keyes and the like. I also loved Rivals by Jilly Cooper,

What are you reading now?

Between my media diet, I’m currently on a search for my next read. I have around 6 in the pile, from serious non-fiction to glorious fiction that you can’t put down, plus my ever growing library book pile (which must be read within the three week time limit).

On my list: The Heath by Hunter Davies, Hunter is a well established journalist and writer in his eighties and writes about finding love after his wife of decades passed away. He writ with self-depreciating humour, and writes of ageing as a privileged. His writing is also a mix of personal, humour and life. It’s a joy to read.

Then there is Around the Table by Diana Henry. When I need a break from non-fiction or the news of the world, I thoroughly reading food journalists share their story. Their descriptions of food and life make for the perfect anecdote when it’s time to dive into a book.

Next up, I also would like to restart The Chairman’s Lounge by Joe Aston. If you’d like to know more about the monopoly of airlines in Australia, The Chairman’s Lounge tgives an insight into the undoing of Qantas, once Australia’s beloved airline “I Still Call Australia Home”. At every Australian airport there is a separate lounge known as The Chairman’s Lounge, it became Qantas’s undoing, alongside the leadership. Joe Aston is a highly valued Australia finance journalist who has shared many anecdotes on business and the behaviours associated.

Finally I need to get back to Empire of The Elite by Michael Grynbaum, loving the stories of the boomtime in New York publishing.

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication?

Front to back, skim the ads and then read through the best bits, the arts and culture sections, the news and current affairs. The tyranny of distance means Melbourne, Australia, my favourite magazines arrive by air freight if at all, so they are normally a few months behind (The World of Interiors, Grazia UK, Vogue UK, Elle UK, Vanity Fair, Town & Country).

Although I have magically found the Asia weekend version of Financial Times in print and am able to read that weekly, even if it arrives on a Tuesday after the weekend has departed, it is still an excellent read from front to back. The pink pages, journalism and insight is beyond excellent, it provides insight on the world at large, the latest in art and culture, and geopolitical discussions. Jo Ellison always shares a dry wit within her editors letters, this week’s piece non Withering Heights certainly put t paper the thoughts i had been thinning after seein gWuthering Heights. For fun , the final section of the FT Weekend is to read House & Home and go through the property section, breathtaking, whether you’d like a castle, villa or uber chic London pad, it’s all in House and Home.

When I’m overseas, the first stop is to find the print version of every newspaper, every magazine and more.

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not?

I could choose Shakespeare or James Joyce, but in reality, everyone needs to read Ruth Reichl, to read of Ruth’s breakout as the LA Times food critic in an era when being a food critic wasn’t really a gig. Her writing is warm, funny, intelligent and leans into similar nostalgic non-fiction in the vein of When The Going Was Good by Graydon Carter and Nora Ephorn, Marian Keyes style storytelling. .

I was late to the Ruth Reichl party and reading her memoirs and fiction during the pandemic made me feel like I was time travelling, her writing is magical in some senses, description of food journalism and characterisations are sublime. It takes you back to the boom times of New York and the publishing era.

I borrow a basket load of books from the library weekly, and while I may not read them, I find the habit of visiting the library a meditation. The quiet hush, the book smell that greets you on arrival, it leads to picking up many authors that we should all be reading. The library has them all.

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone?

My local library app, Spydus. I often find myself in a bookshop, or reading FT’s book recommendations and will open up my library app to reserve the recommended book. I love cookbooks as my relaxation reading. My new lifehack is to reserve new release cookbooks, and if I find myself cooking a recipe from the book after borrowing from the library, it’s a winner. In the depths of Australian winters, when the latest air freight delivery of Tatler or Vogue has arrived on the shores, it’s often the best time to open the library app and reserve away new book recommendations.

Plane or train?

Australians are plane travellers, the tyranny of distance highlights we are often on planes, domestically and internationally. The Melbourne to Sydney flight path is the 6th busiest flight path in the world, with 9 million seats sold yearly and 70 flights a day. So while the romantic notion of the train is the dream, plane travel is the transport of choice. On the off chance a regional train is taken, the tyranny of distance can often mean no internet coverage.

What is one place everyone should visit?

The library, wherever you are in the world, whenever you visit a new city or a new country, take a moment to visit the library. Even if you aren’t a reader, there’s a magical energy that is ever present in local libraries, the book fragrance is the fragrance I would wear if DS & Durga or Diptyque created such a fragrance. People studying, reading quietly, taking in ideas and conversations. These libraries may be majestic a la New York City Library, they may be quaint, a la your small local library or they may have a slice of history entwined within them a la The New York Public Library. Libraries are central to gathering, learning and communities, a space for all.

Toastmasters. Yes, Toastmasters. All over the world, when you are travelling, you can stop by a Toastmasters and engage in brain gym. The fear of standing in front of a crowd, speaking in networking events or striking up an intriguing conversation with a stranger. Next time you are anywhere in the world, stop by. Brain gym is most important, it keeps our memory and cognition active, and Toastmasters truly makes any presentation or conversation an absolute breeze, plus it’s a bit like a sports club, without the sport!

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into.

Like many, rabbit holes form part of my every day, why is orange juice rising in price, why are people selling their polished silver, why is reality tv such a balm for calm. I could go on as to why rabbit holes can turn into some of the most informative threads of ideas, they provide not only a conversation starter, but also a level of intrigue and information you may have never learnt before.

This week, my rabbit holes range from the AI bubble, data centres and energy requirements (TBPN, Odd Lots and all the discussions from the last few weeks in the markets) to press tours scripts, in this instance, the Wuthering Heights press Tour.

Energy consumption is intriguing, given we use it every second of every day, add in the omnipresent AI world of tech and the data, reports and conversations are ever consuming. Now, where was I, that’s right, the Wuthering Heights press tour, alongside most other blockbusters these days have become a movie in themselves, styling and brand strategy is threaded throughout the press tour. Lead actors are now still more than likely in character while being interviewed. I offer one suggestion to those reading here who may be in the Hollywood sphere. Toastmasters for Hollywood, a script for a press tour. I’ll leave you with that thought while I continue on my rabbit holes.

One final rabbit hole is reality tv and cooking series are how I unwind, so I find that rabbit holes at the end of the day turn into where British reality stars are now and what is Ina Garten cooking in Paris. Oh and then there’s all the Chateau fixer uppers, my favourite to follow is an Australian, Jane Webster who has created a lush lifestyle in the Chateau region, plus in Paris, I could go on, and on and on. But first, let me get my pain au chocolat and a Yorkshire Tea and I’ll continue. Oh and Yorkshire tea, their instagram is brilliant and that could be a whole day of rabbit hole about tea leaves, british pottery and the best way to drink tea.