5 Cool People You Should Pay Attention To

You know what? I bloody love the internet.

At the risk of sounding like a total twat, I’ve always felt a bit ‘underground’ for lack of a better word. I was never part of the cool people crew. I always liked things no one else really knew about. Musical theatre for example. When I was in high school my classmates were listening to Insert Popular Musician from 2001 Here while I was calling the specialist music shop in the city to see if they could order The Complete Symphonic Les Mis recording for me because it had Anthony Warlow singing Enjolras. I’d get free magazines from the newsagent where I worked and I’d take them to school for my friends, carefully hiding Serial Killers Magazine that I subscribed to in my school bag so people didn’t think I was weird.

The internet changed everything. No matter what weird thing you were into, you could find a group of people on the internet to talk to about it. Make-up, comics, Dungeons and Dragons, My Little Pony, Barbie, Seinfeld, Korn, fashion, food. It was bloody marvellous.

Not only did the internet give me a space to talk to people about the things I was interested in but it also gave people I already knew the confidence to own their interests as well. Sometimes it would be a message from someone saying ‘I loved Sweet Valley High books in high school too!’ or ‘I thought I was the only person who has watched every episode of Degrassi High!’. 

The internet has changed a lot over the years and so has blogging and I’ve adapted to those changes. Back when I first started blogging, us bloggers would all link to each other in big round-up posts and that’s how we all found each other. You didn’t really share your blog posts on Facebook back then, so that was kind of the ‘newsfeed’ of the day. I thought I’d go old school and link to a few people I’m loving right now that you should totally follow. Pretend like it’s 2009. You should add these people to your Google Reader… (Side note: Is anyone else still gutted about Google Reader shutting down? I don’t think I’ll ever get over it… sob!)

1. Deborah Frances-White

I only very recently discovered her and she’s the host of The Guilty Feminist Podcast which has recently become my latest obsession. A lot of you would know from some of the conversations we have that I struggle a lot with feminism. I mean I am an incredibly staunch feminist but this causes me grief daily because I really like looking pretty but I also hate the societal expectation for me to do so which results in some very weird inner monologues when I’m getting ready each day. She always has amazing guests like Sarah Millican, Celia Paquola and Hannah Gadsby and she’s a comedian herself so it’s always hilarious. I resisted listening to this because I generally like to listen to pure entertainment style podcasts and although I obviously fight constantly for equality, I was like ‘Urgh. I don’t need to listen to a feminist podcast. K thx bai.’ I have to say, it’s so damn good. I regularly LOL listening to it and I do not write ‘LOL’ lightly.

2. Sam Bane

He’s a British writer responsible for Peep Show, Fresh Meat and very recently Ill Behaviour. These are three of the best shows I’ve ever watched, he writes the most incredible, complex and endearing characters. Ill Behaviour is very dark so just be warned. It’s about two friends who have a mate who is trying to self-cure cancer with natural remedies and he refuses to have chemo so they kidnap him and force him to have chemo. It’s horrific and excellent. If you see a show with Sam Bane credited as one of the writers, watch it. You won’t be disappointed.

3. Michael Mosley

He’s a doctor who’s been focussing on fasting and gut health in his studies for the past few years and his approach to research is brilliant. He self-tests everything and presents his findings in a very even and measured way. He also doesn’t get a self-boner everytime he has a breakthrough. I’m very wary of anyone in the weight loss industry because it’s such a goal mine for manipulating people but everything Michael Mosley says makes perfect sense. I’ve had a lot of success in the last few years with health and weight loss by taking his advice. He’s also not afraid to admit when he’s wrong or if he’s found other research that disproves something he said in the past. That’s a mark of a damn fine doctor if you ask me.

4. Celeste Barber

This one is just for fun but Celeste Barber is a comedian on Instagram and she does parodies of weird photos models post. She’s hysterical. I just have a good old fashioned belly laugh every time she pops up in my feed, she’s a delight.

5. Louis Theroux

If you haven’t watched any of his docos, watch them. He has this incredibly even and fair way of representing people. He covers the most controversial topics like prostitution, drug addiction, Nazis, paedophiles but it’s not sensationalist at all. I finish every one of his shows feeling better informed and more understanding of people who are different to me. The Westboro Baptist Church ones are the best so if you can, start there.

This week on Straight & Curly, Kelly and I are chatting about movements, people and things that you should be following.

What excellent people or things do you follow that I should know about? Let me know in the comments!

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