Welcome to Quality Sheet, a weekly assortment of outside-the-box news, events, trends and offbeat oddities to indulge your curiosity. Subscribe for a midweek treat each Wednesday that'll make you hummm with intrigue and amusement.
Now that the glitter dust has settled, it appears we’ve firmly decided our favourite appearances at the Grammys: Celine Dion (great), Tracy Chapman (wonderful, aspirational), Meryl Streep lovingly, tipsily, accosting Beyoncé (also aspirational). It seems a nice night was had by al—oh, wait, except for anyone in Jay-Z’s line of fire.
Welcome to Quality Sheet! This week is short, sweet, and packs an overzealous punch.
🍬
Alice Mackler’s story is one of perseverance, and an inspiring reminder that you never know where the spark of an idea might take you in life—or who might notice. The Manhattan-based painter and sculptor got her big break at age 81 with pieces depicting “stumpy but elegant women, mermaids and other creatures with knobbly textures and minimal but highly emotional features,” her obituary in the New York Times states. Despite the time it took for her art to be recognised, the “brassy, self-possessed” Mackler never wavered in her self-belief. “I always knew I was good,” she once asserted. Mackler died over the weekend aged 92.
🥠
Hear ye, hear ye: Bonhams is auctioning off The Crown’s jewels today. Some of the most dazzling items and clothes worn and featured in the Netflix series are being sold as we speak. If you’re in the market for an imitation Greek bust, porcelain corgis, or a replica Coronation gown (worn by Claire Foy), hop on to it, now.
🍭
Hyenas have been having the last laugh ever since a 2021 UCLA study found dozens of animal species—not just humans—love a good chuckle. ‘Play vocalizations,’ which researchers Sasha Winkler and Greg Bryant suggest is equivalent to laughter among humans, have been detected among dogs, cows and parakeets while they’re having fun with each other. Related: Here’s how vets around the world are using medical cannabis to treat pets and animals in zoos.
🍩
Day Zero, a festival established 12 years ago to ring in 12/12/12—the Mayan day of apocalypse—is “still going strong,” Dazed’s James Grieg writes. Escape for three minutes into the “winding paths through the jungle, art installations and design features” at the event near Tulum, Mexico, and discover the mix of local and international DJs, artists and partygoers at last month’s festival.
🍦
News of London hosting an array of new Italian-American eateries is almost enough to satisfy my serious craving for New York. It’s not just Carbone, which is opening in Mayfair next year—pizzerias and other Americanized Italian dishes are popping up to rival the capital’s already loved and classic Italian spots. London On The Inside has the skinny.
🍫
On the heels of recent interviews by Hollywood heavyweights Issa Rae and Denis Villeneuve on the state of storytelling in cinema and TV, is the industry in a creativity crisis? Halima Jibril writes in Dazed that now is the time to support “independent projects that empower marginalised people who are denied opportunities in Hollywood and genuinely want to create bold, creative art.”
🍪
Writer Marc Typo is highlighting Black writers on Substack in his “The Cookout” series throughout US Black History Month. Check it out here and subscribe to his newsletter, Raising Myles, here.
🎁
Thank you for reading. Share to sweeten someone’s day—and have a lovely rest of your week!
Isabel :)
Get in touch/share links/follow me:
I have another newsletter that explores what it means to live freely! It goes out a few times a month, you can subscribe below: