Emma Brockes column
A weekly column on culture and the American-British divide from
Emma Brockes
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Facing my fear Facing my fear: sleeping, alone, in my mother's house just after she died
Emma BrockesMum barely left the house during the last months of her life. If I was home alone, it meant she was really gone
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People who work when most of us are still asleep claim that’s when they’re most productive. That may be true, but how exhausting
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Revisiting old shows can come as a shock: 20 years ago, we found mildly funny things hilarious and gave copious overacting a free pass
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Being with someone and on a phone is the modern iteration of a key pleasure of family life: to be sufficiently comfortable to drift in and out of communication
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From Hillary Clinton hanging out with Lena Dunham to Bernie Sanders dancing on the Ellen show, attempts to win the youth vote often are cringe-worthy
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Retailers who want to satisfy all appetites at once should remember that there can be too much of a good thing
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There’s no reason why the Yahoo CEO can’t go back to work if all goes well. So let’s not judge her decision on moral grounds
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If, as a matter of programming, life events are dragged annually into the light, they start to occupy some new, all-encompassing version of the present
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The sense of renewal that once came from buying a new pencil case is, many years on, no less childishly furthered by finishing a prohibitively long novel
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Do you still believe in the myth that there is perfect combination of subscriptions and discounts to live your best life at the lowest price?
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There is something inexplicably moving about the obsessions of others, even if that thing is miniature vehicles
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Financial modesty could indicate a lack of interest in the superficial ways of valuing one another, or a desire to maintain some modicum of independence
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But one suspects that they are loved less for their acting ability than for their roles as men who pound heads into tables
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Elizabeth Gilbert didn’t have the assistance of ‘flying genies’ or ‘magical elves’ for her career. There’s no need to tout their help now
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I used to disparage the man behind Cats, Phantom of the Opera and now School of Rock. But my children gave me a new appreciation for fun without subtext
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The books and television shows from our formative years are a special kind of security blanket when you need to re-create a certain feeling
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The newest way to show your love and affection for a friend’s special day is a expertly curated video package documenting your relationship for all to see
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Emma Brockes: Don’t catch up on Serial. Do as God intended and watch a war documentary with your extended family as time slows to a crawl
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Emma Brockes: At sea for two weeks with a bunch of vomiting hipsters and suddenly the back of Virgin economy on a full flight from Bangkok looks ideal
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Emma Brockes: Welcome to the most wonderful time of the year ... because trust me – you do not want this food during the other 11 months
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Emma Brockes: Does anyone piss you off more than classist snobs who send back food, yell at the waiter and blame it on their personality? ‘Type A’ isn’t a type – it’s the ultimate humblebrag
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Emma Brockes: You never knew you needed to watch 34 straight hours of the weather report until you watched a weatherman turn into a prophet
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Emma Brockes: Backing up everything will make you feel safe ... until trusting the precarious netherworld of online data storage with your precious memories drives you mad
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Emma Brockes: Maybe the sheer banality of the web could induce the kind of fugue state that allows ideas to flourish
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Emma Brockes: The whole point about this kind of food is that you’re not supposed to tart it up
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Emma Brockes: Brace yourself. There will be photos
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Emma Brockes: What if literature’s ultimate prize is a secret plot by the judges to make a curmudgeonly old man yearn for even more awards? What if he’s not alone?
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Emma Brockes: Ideas from the news are usually pretty stupid, but so is the entire sexed-up state of the holiday. Dress up as the ice bucket challenge? Sure. Everybody draws the line somewhere
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Emma Brockes: The nostalgia for old tech is undeniable. Who doesn’t want to go back in time to an era when your things just ... worked?
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Emma Brockes: Forget those classist hedge-funders and their 300-page report on pasta water. What could be more authentically itself than Olive Garden?
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Emma Brockes: Don’t kid a kidder: you clicked on it, you liked it and you shared it. We can’t help but get invested in the royals’ progeny
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Emma Brockes: Models in our midst! ‘Events’! The mere fact of our breathing may seem like vulgar excess to the fashion crowd. But we doth protest too much
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Emma Brockes: Good riddance to the sunny, lazy season. You know exactly what you’re going to get with a rainy, productive day
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Emma Brockes: Can’t we agree there are some subjects that provoke such all-consuming rage that it’s impossible to leave them alone?
The new side of Sheryl Sandberg is something to celebrate