These past two months we had the amazing opportunity to partner up with Curzon Cinemas to work on the UK release of BAFTA-winner American Fiction, which is currently nominated for 5 (five!) Oscars. Listen to our brilliant podcasting community rave riot on the film, here.

Caution - spoilers lurk within.

But also love. So much love.

We’re marking LGBT+ History month by celebrating the 5th Anniversary Edition of Proud, an award-winning anthology compiled by the talented Juno Dawson featuring stories, poetry, and art all by LGBTQ+ authors and illustrators 🏳️‍🌈

Unbelievably, another week has gone by, so it’s time for us to gather up the most tantalising titbits of culture news and present them to you in bloggish bite sized pieces via our What This Week tasting menu.

If you know us at all, you’ll know that a large percentage of any disposable income that we find ourselves with is spent on books. We live for books. But sometimes - just sometimes - one might need something in which to transport ones books, or perhaps an accessory to showcase your favourite book to the world, or to attract fellow bookish friends. As such, we have developed a bit of a love affair with Well Read - and we suspect some of you might be familiar with their work, too.

Tandem is working with the wonderful team over at The School of Life, a unique and transformative charity that is committed to helping other businesses develop better emotional intelligence in the workplace so that all employees feel fulfilled and happy. How Ready Are You For Love? is one of their new nonfiction releases that aims to help us understand ourselves and our romantic relationships more clearly. 

You may have noticed that we’ve got a new little something something on our socials in the way of our Tandem Collective Culture Instagram page - a one stop shop for the culture vultures in our community.

What This Week is our weekly roundup of some of the most tantalising titbits of culture news; from film to books to theatre to music to sport and everything in between. So, without further ado, here are some absolute corkers from this week!

It’s the month of love and with this, we’re delighted to bring some of our favourite romance tropes

and which titles that if you haven’t already, you definitely need to be reading!

As Hugh Grant said, I’ve got a sneaky feeling that if you look for it, you’ll find that love actually is all around…

But it sure does feel a little lacking, doesn’t it. The saccharine sweet Valentine’s Day hype is all the more sickly when we look at the world today; things are truly horrifying, for so many people, in so many places, and collectively it’s hard not to feel sad, hopeless, or scared at the way things are going. So I wanted to come to you today with some alternative ways to love others and yourself this Valentine’s Day - actions that go beyond the giving of a box of chocolates or petrol station flowers (not that I am necessarily averse to such things, I’ll never turn down chocolate ever - gimme it - I just think that we can do a bit better, this year, that’s all.)

Hello friend! Pull up a pew, grab a cuppa and get comfy - it’s time for us to have a good old catch up.

You may have noticed that we’ve got a new little something something on our socials in the way of our Tandem Collective Culture Instagram page - a one stop shop for the culture vultures in our community.

What This Week is our weekly roundup of some of the most tantalising titbits of culture news; from film to books to theatre to music to sport and everything in between. So, without further ado, here are some absolute corkers from this week!

The grand old debate as to whether the book or the film adaptation is better. Here are some of our personal favourites.

Allow us to take you behind the scenes of the film industry, unravelling the stories of fearless women who defy stereotypes and challenges while navigating the demanding world of filmmaking during pregnancy.

A fast-paced, forbidden romance for fans of Helen Hoang, Lindsey Kelk and Ali Hazelwood, Still Unwritten is our latest obsession here at Tandem - and we’re here to take you on a whistle stop world tour of the most romantic spots inspired by the book and its characters.

We’ll be sizzling in Seoul, falling in love with London, swooning in Sicily and cuddling up in North Carolina, while giving you our top K-culture recommendations as we go. Ready? Let’s go…

Let me preface everything I’m about to say with the following disclaimers; I was a musical theatre kid, who had absolutely no problem being the ‘leading lady’ in her life ages 0-10, and has always had a heart for good storytelling.

If you follow us on our socials, you might have seen our little roundup in Reel form of the Tandem Wellbeing Weekender - if you missed it, go check it out!

Recognition that creative burnout is a very real thing has been an important first step for many of us at team Tandem, and for many members of our community; some of us have experienced it so badly that we have had to stop working for a period, others have found their physical wellbeing impacted, others have fallen out of love with an industry or creative pastime that they previously loved. It’s real, but it’s avoidable, and this weekend was our way of equipping members of our creative community with the tools to avoid burnout in the future.

A podcast transcript for Season Two of FINDING JUSTICE, hosted by Cal Lovett, featured in UNSOLVED/UNBURIED by Heather Critchlow.

This weekend, in the heart of Robin Hood country in rural Nottinghamshire, cosying down among 88 acres of countryside, you’ll find a group of Tandem community members. The purpose of the weekend is to work on wellbeing; something that lots of us will be feeling the pressure and/or need to do as we navigate a cold, grey January after the excitement, colour and merriment of the festive period. It’s very, very easy to fall into a wellness trap in January; marketing budgets for expensive diet plans and apps, juice fasts, meal delivery services and gym memberships are at an all-time high, and social media pressure is everywhere…

Where to even begin? There are not enough words that would give justice to the magnum that is Jane Fonda and the impact that she has on the world. The uplighting power that she has in the film industry, the climate crisis, fitness world and her activist voice for positive change. Leaving her footprints that echo around the world and a legacy that will resonate for generations. And recently advocating that life only gets more exciting and illustrating the vibrancy of older age.

It’s awards session again and what an exciting year for exceptional films and TV series we have had, even with the film industry coming to a complete standstill with a six month strike. 2023 spoiled us with incredible filmmaking from “Oppenheimer” to “American Fiction” and “Killers of the Flower Moon”, and of course we cannot forget about “Barbie”,, which almost broke the internet.