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Read our latest Live, Work and Play in London and the UK Blogs

London transport is easy to get around on, once you know how. It consists of an extensive network of Tubes, buses, taxis, riverboats and trams. Here are the basics on how to make the most of your time in London by understanding how and what transport...

Packing is an arduous task at the best of times, trying to squeeze in everything you think you will need for an extended stay in London and the UK can be a challenge. I know, I took two big bags of clothes and other stuff with me and found I only wore half...

Money matters when you are travelling. Cause did you know, the heaviest baggage for a traveller is an empty purse? Therefore, try and save as much money as possible for your trip to London and the UK. The more you have the more freedom and choice you have...

Accidents and mishaps happen when you are least expecting them to, and as most of them are out of our control having travel insurance that covers you for your travels is very important. Travel insurance can be complex and is often very confusing so before...

There are many ways to get to the UK and in particular London - as the saying says 'all roads lead to London' - however, as the UK is an island the quickest way is to fly. And there are many routes you can take where you can include a stopover or...

You are spoilt for choice with the available accommodation in London and the UK. It ranges from sharing a hostel room to small B&Bs to large hotels and even castles are throwing open their doors. But for your arrival in the UK you will need some...

The UK has a number of visas allowing you to visit however, many people like to go on an extended stay in the UK and this is possible with the working holiday and ancestral visas that are available. This is great news because you can undertake work to fund...

I had dreamt about seeing some of London’s tourist spots. Buckingham Palace was top of the list along with Big Ben, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. And I wasn’t disappointed either when I finally got to see them. What made it even better was the fact...

Stonehenge - a British iconStonehenge was something I had always wanted to see. And I can now say I have seen it a few times. But I remember the very first time, sitting in the bus it was fast approaching. It was getting bigger and bigger as we drew nearer and I all...


Robbie Myers on Leaning In

Making the best of an untenable situation seems like a not-good-enough way to go through life, yet many women who both work and have children feel that's pretty much their only option. Writing about a thought-provoking new book called Overwhelmed, by Washington Post reporter Brigid Schulte, ELLE's Features Director, Laurie Abraham, brings a fresh perspective and needed insight into what's too often called the problem of "work-life balance." Abraham writes about the way the huge demands in women's lives have been underestimated by academics studying time use—did you know that if your car breaks down and you wait two hours for a tow, researchers count that time as "leisure"?—as well as how we all simultaneously glorify and lament our busyness.

The classification of work and life as two distinct entities (as in, for example, Smith College's oft-cited Center for Work & Life) always irritates me. Work is where I spend most of my time, much of my psychic energy, and nearly all of my physical energy. How is it not my life? I am always working, and I don't mean this in the hyperbolic "Oh my God, they don't ever leave me alone" way. The thing is, I am also always my children's parent. There is never a moment when I'm not parenting them, not providing for them, not loving them. I don't bring the office home, but I bring my brain home, and when I'm helping my son with his homework and thinking about the appropriate amount of assistance to give him, I'm also pondering how to untie a knotty personnel issue in the office or deliberating whether we should drop a particular story for something else. I'm always working, I'm always parenting, I'm always married, and I always care about my friends and extended family. I'm writing this from a hotel room during London Fashion Week; my kids are here with me for two days over Presidents' Day weekend, and they do things without me while I'm at shows or meetings. Am I vacationing during work? Or working during a vacation? I don't know how to separate the two. I'm sure I'd feel good if I just took a vacation, but I didn't set up my life that way, and as demanding as it is, I feel lucky to have it. I in no way mean to diminish the good work that the people at Smith do; nor do I mean to minimize the real suffering a lot of women (including me) go through in an effort to bring meaning to their endeavors and find some semblance of peace amid the noise. It just seems that for all the talk about balance, leaning in, having/not having it all, and who's not doing the dishes, we rarely mention gratitude in the conversation. Rarely do we acknowledge that the reason we signed up for it all is because it's wonderful. Did we really think it wouldn't be hard? What Abraham discovers in Schulte's book is the meaning behind the statistics, and in the process, she shows us a better way to balance opposing forces—not life versus work, but life versus time. If there's one thing we all need more of but are never going to get, it's that second one, so let's stop pitting them against each other.

If anyone can figure this all out, it's the winsome and brainy Emma Watson, who, clever girl, dropped out of the star-making machinery for several years, just enough time to get her bachelor of arts from Brown. There she "read English" (as the Brits say), rolled around in the grass, and basically spent her time racking up good grades as well as gaining a lot of perspective on womanhood and the state of women around the world. It will be fascinating and rewarding to see what she's learned come to fruition through her work. As for her life? I'm sure that will be brilliant too!

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Two major names want to offer travelers a place to crash in San Francisco.

First, Waldorf Astoria, storied iconic hotel in New York City, will build its first-ever San Francisco property, right in the heart of the impending Transbay Center area. The tony hotel will take up 20 floors inside streets, a structure that will feature two high-rises, one of them to be the second-tallest building in San Francisco, at 910 feet.

The building’s exterior will be designed by London-based Foster + Partners in partnership with San Francisco-based Heller Manus Architects.

"San Francisco needed a proper luxury hotel," John Vanderslice, global head of luxury and lifestyle brands at Hilton Worldwide, shadily explained to Condé Nast Traveler. "This project is ground zero for luxury there." (Cover your ears, St. Regis San Francisco and Ritz-Carlton SF.)

The hotel will boast 171 rooms/suites and feature several restaurants. It will open on 2020 or 2021.

In addition to the Waldorf Astoria coming to Yerba Buena, the city’s SoMa District will play host to a big (albeit nascent in the industry) hotel name. Virgin plans on opening their second U.S. hotel on Fourth and Folsom. As Curbed SF was first to report, the London-based company will continue to dip their toes in the hotel market with a place in the city.

While Virgin has yet to officially confirm all of the details, our sources tell us that the upcoming hotel will feature unisex bathrooms, rooftop bar, restaurant, and penthouse rooms that, typically called honeymoon suites, christened "rockstar suites." Not as luxe as the Waldorf Astoria, but exciting nonetheless.

Opening day has yet to be confirmed.

Virgin opened its first U.S. hotel in 2015 in Chicago.


#EnelFocusOn London: when data and energy come together

Technological progress is changing the face of utilities and shaping a new era, creating new ways of using and experiencing energy. Data is one of the keys to the future and allows us to always be connected to the things that surround us.

November 22, 2016 marks a particularly important date for Enel. On the Capital Markets Day, Francesco Starace, Enel CEO, presented the financial community with the 2017-2019 Strategic Plan, which introduces digitalization and customer focus to the strategic pillars of Enel’s strategy.

While the new plan was being illustrated, some of Europe's most influential digital innovators met in an adjacent hall at the Landmark Hotel in London. They had been invited to the second event of #EnelFocusOn, a series of meetings on digital communication that was kicked off in Rome, on September 26th.

Charles Arthur, former Technology Editor at the British daily newspaper The Guardian, moderated the conversation. The guests included journalists, bloggers, startuppers and scholars who are among the leading experts in the field of data.

The meeting focused on the opportunities arising from the use and interpretation of data in the energy industry and on digital tools, such as data journalism, data visualization and open platforms, that help consumers in better understanding their energy needs and allow global players in the energy industry, like Enel, to improve the services delivered to customers.

“We want to make Enel much opener, friendlier and more human”

– Ryan O'Keeffe, Director of Communications

Digitalisation and the Internet of Things

“A year ago, we announced the new Open Power strategy. Today is a landmark moment for Enel. It is presenting a business plan that is centered on the digitalization of networks and on the Internet of Things. It is a plan that further raises our awareness of the opportunities that an interconnected world can bring. We are engaged in transforming consumers into prosumers, allowing them to generate energy. We are also strongly committed to electric mobility and V2G technology. All this is Open Power. And digital communication, with its inherent openness, is driving our new positioning.”

Ryan O'Keeffe, Director of Communications, used these words to introduce the main speaker of #EnelFocusOn London, David Rowan, editor of Wired UK.

The magic opportunities of Open Platforms

At a time when innovation is driving energy to push its boundaries, Rowan talked about the potential of open platforms. Today, the digital world is a showcase for services and shared creative solutions designed to meet our needs: from where to have dinner to how to build a DIY rally car. Connectivity provides a grassroots approach to inventing business models and financing them.

In this regard, Rowan stressed the extent to which the power of the crowd is changing the world of energy too. “When growing numbers of people are installing solar panels on rooftops, using hydrothermal power, and are connected to a smart grid, that means that we are no longer simply consumers, but we have become providers ourselves.”

“If you can take data that is ubiquitous and turn it into something that is actionable, turn it into information, particularly in a visual way, then that starts to get interesting”

– David Rowan, Editor - Wired UK

“Everything we do with data is aimed at making the lives of consumers much easier,” added O'Keeffe who explained how to transform the relationship between consumers and service providers, especially in the energy market. Rowan invited everyone to stop a moment and think: “We need to reconsider everything we knew about energy because it will be changed by people who do not necessarily belong to the industry,” argued the journalist, as he explained a trend that is already in full swing: namely, the transformation of users into prosumers who both use and produce energy.

Data that opens the gateway to the world

The hashtag #EnelFocusOn kept track of the meeting, becoming trending topics and telling about the development of open platforms on Twitter. At the end of the event, Isabella Panizza, Head of Global Digital Communications, presented Enel Data, Enel’s new Twitter channel devoted to data visualization concerning energy, renewables, e-mobility and global trends. In keeping up with the latest data visualization trends and with the information made available in reports, infographics and articles from Enel and other sources, @Eneldata is a simple and engaging tool to be informed about the company and the market and to share them with others.

Data can make complex concepts captivating, can inform and can solve important problems. That's why we believe in the power of data to change the world. Follow us on @Eneldata.

On the road with energy

The event in London was a valuable opportunity to discuss how technological progress is changing the face of utilities and shaping a new era, creating new ways of using and experiencing energy.

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A married gay couple who have been fighting for “safe” housing in London for five years have been hospitalised after they were allegedly attacked by a neighbour’s partner and friends while staying in council-mandated temporary accommodation.

Andrew and Gustavo Williams-Coleman have been campaigning the local council in Brent, north west London, for better accommodation for half a decade, saying they felt unsafe in the area they were living and felt targeted because they are gay.

The couple were placed in a temporary accommodation, the Euro Hotel in Wembley, on June 1.

The Williams-Colemans told PinkNews they were viciously attacked on Wednesday. Andrew was stabbed in the ear and has a small brain bleed. His husband, Gustavo, suffered a facial fracture that will require numerous surgeries.

Andrew said that one of their neighbours in the temporary housing had been hurtling homophobic abuse at them since their arrival. Things escalated when, on Wednesday, the neighbour allegedly said she would fine someone to “kill the gay c**ts.”

Andrew has cancer and mobility problems, while his husband has learning difficulties.

They say that their neighbour, a 31-year-old woman, had been hurling homophobic abuse at them since they were housed at the Euro Hotel at the beginning of June.

Andrew was stabbed in the ear and has a small bleed to the brain (Andrew Williams-Coleman)”The homophobic language she used was disgusting. For a week she has been knocking on our door, and shouting things outside our room at all hours. She called us disgusting AIDS-carrying pigs and queer c**ts,” Andrew told PinkNews.

“She told other guests that she was enjoying doing it.”

The couple claim that the hotel manager witnessed the incidents and let the men into the property.

On Wednesday evening, the couple said that the woman told them they would have to fight for their lives.

“About about 5pm she shouted she was going to get Gustavo and I killed,” Andrew said.

Fifteen minutes later, Andrew said that three men, including the woman’s partner, entered the room, and one of them revealed a knife that was hidden up his sleeve.

It was then he went to stab Andrew, while the others attacked Gustavo.

It was only when a neighbour entered the room that the three fled, and the couple called the police.

“We told the manager, but they wouldn’t tell anyone about it, not the council, not the police. We are just feeling totally numb and shocked,” said Andrew.

“It’s disgusting. Nobody has a right to do anything like that to anyone.”

The 31-year-old woman reportedly threatened other tenants that if they spoke about the attack they would be shot, Andrew told PinkNews.

There was a stabbing at the woman’s address three days prior to the incident, the couple told PinkNews.

“The police were meant to come round to take photos but they haven’t shown up,” Andrew told PinkNews.

The Metropolitan Police did not immediately respond to PinkNews’ request for comment.

A Brent Council spokesperson said: “We are very sorry to hear that this crime has taken place. This will be a matter for the police and we will be liaising with them and cooperating with their investigation.”

William Michelin, general manager at London Hotel Group, which operates the Euro Hotel Wembley, told PinkNews that the hotel is not aware of any altercation taking place on its premises.

“The main issues are that they are not hotel guests. They are from Brent Council on temporary accommodation,” said Michelin.

“Neither parties reported non-guests entering other residents’ house/rooms. Neither parties reported that they were being verbally assaulted. It is our understanding that any arguments have taken place outside the properties, on the street … never inside.

“Brent Council was informed of the ‘disturbance’ (as reported to us by Mr Coleman) and we requested that both accommodation [placements] be cancelled. The council asked us to ‘monitor’ the situation and to report of any further developments.”

Andrew and Gustavo are currently recuperating in hospital, where Andrew will require draining of the bleed on his brain. Gustavo’s extensive facial fracture will require four surgeries, the couple said.

Andrew and Gustavo have previously spoken to PinkNews about their battle to find a home in the London borough.

“This is a an extremely concerning attack. It raises questions about the duty of housing authorities to prevent anti-LGBT attacks of this sort,” Galop’s Head of Hate Crime Services Nick Antjoule told PinkNews.

“We are working with Andrew and his husband to provide assistance and are talking with the Metropolitan Police. No one should have to face violence, hatred and bigotry like this.”


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By Drazen Jorgic

ITEN, Kenya (Reuters) - The athletes who pound the dirt trails snaking through Kenya's lush Rift Valley region have spawned a local industry around their talent and forged a reputation as the world's finest long-distance runners.

But explosive media claims of widespread doping in their ranks, including allegations against Kenya's Olympic medal winners, have cast a shadow over a sport that many in this impoverished region see as a ticket to wealth and stardom.

Kenyan athletics chiefs have dismissed the doping claims as a "smear campaign", yet coaches and runners have warned that the east African nation needs to face up to the problem if it is to protect its rich running legacy and lucrative sponsorship deals.

"It worries everyone. Not (just) athletes, even their families," said Moses Kiptanui, 44, a three-time world steeplechase champion who in 2013 became the first high-profile athlete to warn that Kenya faced a doping problem.

"Their earnings will come down and nobody will want to put money in sponsorship," said Kiptanui, a son of subsistence farmers who used his athletics earnings in the 1990s to build hefty dairy and maize businesses.

Britain's Sunday Times newspaper and German broadcaster ARD/WDR last weekend said they had been leaked suspicious blood results from more than 800 athletes, including 77 Kenyans.

The Sunday Times alleged that athletes who won a fifth of Kenya's 92 Olympic and world championship medals between 2001-2012 had suspicious blood results.

An ARD/WDR documentary aired on Saturday showed a hidden camera purportedly revealing Kenyan athletes being injected with performance-enhancing drugs. It also alleged that corrupt Athletics Kenya (AK) officials had covered up failed tests.

Kenya's London Marathon winners Wilson Kipsang and Eliud Kipchoge this week pleaded with athletics fans across the globe to keep faith in them, saying top Kenyan runners were "clean".

Yet others conceded a cloud of suspicion now hangs above them all.

Story continues

"If someone now wins a race, in their minds (people) are always saying 'athletes of Kenya are using drugs', which is not good," said Lucas Rotich, winner of the Hamburg Marathon in Germany.

In the last three years 33 Kenyans have failed drugs tests but only Rita Jeptoo, winner of Boston and Chicago Marathons, can be classed as a top runner. Her two-year ban in January shocked Kenya's athletes as it showed doping was not restricted to low-level runners seeking get-rich-quick schemes.

Like many others training Kenyans, Dutch coach Hugo van den Broek resents the way drugs cheats have stolen the limelight from the jaw-dropping talent in Iten, a small town which has become Kenya's running centre and a global athletics hub.

"Four or five years ago I used to believe there was no such thing as doping (in Kenya)," he said. "I’ve come to realize that it’s there and I just hope, and still kind of believe, there are not many real top athletes involved."

"DODGING THE TRUTH"

Perched on a Rift Valley escarpment 8,000 feet above sea level, Iten regularly hosts foreign Olympians such as Mo Farah, who cross continents to train with Kenya's elite runners. British, Chinese and Dutch national teams also prepared for the London Olympics in Iten's high-altitude training camps.

Some Kenyans fear well-heeled foreign athletes may now avoid Iten due to persistent doping claims, a major threat for hotels, camps and other job-yielding businesses built around running.

Athletics Kenya has in the past blamed unscrupulous doctors and pharmacists for doping, saying they target desperate athletes seeking overnight riches. AK had also banned two foreign coaches.

But athletes and coaches in Iten say AK ought to shoulder some of the blame as its blanket denials and inaction have helped no one.

Kipsang, who won silver at the London Olympics and hosts runners in his Iten-based hotel, said AK has fallen short in "creating awareness and making sure control measures" were in place to stop cheats.

"It's high time AK stands up and tells Kenyans the truth about (doping). They have been dodging the truth for long, which has seen them give foreigners fodder to tarnish Kenya," added Silas Kiplagat, who won 1500m silver at the 2011 world championships.

AK has denied corruption allegations and said the latest doping claims were an effort to destabilise Kenyan athletes ahead of this month's world championships in Beijing.

Barnaba Korir, AK's Nairobi branch chairman, said the body has tackled doping seriously but needs more help from the government, including in educating runners and building a blood testing lab.

"The name of Kenya has been put on the map of the world as a result of our runners, so definitely resources must be put into this," added Korir, who said AK was unsure if criminalising doping would help curb the problem.

A government task force last year started investigating doping in Kenya but AK refused to cooperate. The police have also questioned top AK officials about why they made personal withdrawals from a bank account where Nike had deposited sponsorship money.

When former athlete Kiptanui, considered a running great in Kenya, started raising alarm bells about drugs cheats, AK officials accused him of soiling Kenya's reputation and attacked him by insinuating he may have also used drugs.

"Many Kenyans are clean, it's some few individuals that need to be exposed. But if you don't expose them, then (how) do we know who is clean and who is not clean. Nobody knows," Kiptanui said.


£6.3 million investment from Whitbread brings 37 jobs to Halifax

LONDON, October 30, 2012, 2:12 pm -- /EPR NETWORK/ -- Whitbread's brand new hotel and restaurant development in
Halifax has opened, bringing a total of 37 new jobs to the local area.
The new Premier Inn hotel and Beefeater restaurant is located on Broad
Street Plaza in Halifax Town Centre and has injected a total investment
of over £6.3 million into the local economy.

The Halifax Beefeater restaurant offers guests a casual dining experience and
features a newly developed menu focusing on steak as well as modern twists on
classic dishes. People familiar with the Beefeater brand across the UK will also
spot new trial branding for the restaurants that will reinforce the brand's steak
heritage through a stylised pink cow logo and a new strapline "Passionate about
steak".

Customers can enjoy an assortment of starters including soup, pate, prawn cocktail,
fishcakes, portabello mushrooms and the new Beefeater sharing platter. Main courses
include grills and tasty steak dishes with a wide choice of sauces and toppings, and
mouthwatering salads including Teriyaki beef steak and grilled goat cheese and
beetroot.

The menu also offers indulgent deserts such as the classic Beefeater black forest
sundae and baked vanilla and toffee cheesecake.

As part of the new Broad Street Plaza, the new adjoining Premier Inn, the second of
two hotels in Halifax from Premier Inn, is at the heart of
Halifax city centre, perfect for both business and leisure travelers.

Christopher Thomson, Cluster General Manager of Premier Inn Halifax, commented: "At
Premier Inn we want to be able to offer our customers value for money wherever they
plan on staying and it is great to be able to offer such as prime location in
Halifax."

Each bedroom caters for up to two adults and two children (aged 15 and under) and
includes an en-suite bathroom; a king size bed; remote control TV with Freeview;
tea/coffee making facilities, and a spacious desk area with 30 minutes free Wi-Fi
Internet access. The site will also offer the All You Can Eat 'Premier breakfast'
in the Beefeater restaurant.

Premier Inn offers all guests a no quibble 'Good Night Guarantee', which means if
customers are not 100% satisfied with their stay they will get their money back.

With over 600 hotels nationwide, Premier Inn is at more locations than any other
hotel chain in the UK.

-ENDS–

About Beefeater
Something exciting is happening at only a handful of Beefeaters in the UK.

The new look Beefeater is fresh, contemporary and has taken on a whole new take on
steak where guests can enjoy delicious dishes in stylish surroundings. The new
restaurants may look different to the original Beefeaters, but the same welcoming
atmosphere and fantastic service can be found.

As well as its take on steak, the Beefeater menu now includes tempting salads, mouth
watering mains and indulgent puddings. Each dish is prepared by experienced chefs
and served with a generous helping of passion and pride.

About Premier Inn
Award-winning Premier Inn is the UK's biggest budget hotel brand with over 600
budget hotels and more than 46,000 rooms across the UK and Ireland. Premier Inn
bedrooms feature en-suite bathrooms, TV with Freeview, and Wi-Fi internet access.
All Premier Inns feature a bar and restaurant; situated inside the hotel or
adjacent, offering a wide range of food choices.

In 2008 Premier Inn launched in Dubai and is now open in Bangalore, India. On a
domestic front, Premier Inn aims to be the largest provider of budget hotels in
London (within the M25) by 2012.

Premier Inn supports Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. The charity
needs to raise £50 million every year to support the care the hospital provides to
some of the UK’s sickest children.


News

Facebook ups the ante with the introduction of “Graph Search”

Facebook announced “Graph Search”, a new exciting service which is all about people-powered results and enables users to discover content that has been shared with you on Facebook.

“Graph Social”, which, for the time being, is available globally to a small subset of users who use Facebook in US English, is a very interesting development for businesses. For, as Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, argued, there is great potential for the social graph to benefit businesses and advertisers.

Therefore, we decided to gather some must-read material in order to help you understand everything you need to know about Facebook’s latest innovation. So, take a breath and let’s start!

What it is

Graph Search is a new and improved search experience that allows users to discover people, places, and things on Facebook. Whether you are a Page, place group, app or game, you and the content you share can appear in search results based on the information you have shared and the connections you have. No immediate action is required other than making sure your Page, place, or app is complete and up-to-date.

How it works

Now people can search the social graph, not just by name but also by categories or simple phrases. They can also find content, such as photos and videos that they may have missed. For example, people can find you based on phrases such as “hotels near the Eiffel Tower”, “sushi restaurants my friends have been to in London” or “videos of TV shows that my friends like”.

Relevant results are unique and different for everyone, based on their relationships and the information and content that has been shared with them.

Improved Results

Suggestions will still appear in the search bar when people are looking for specific people, places, or things. Searches, which do not match a particular result, display a search results page with the results that are most relevant to the user. Depending on the search and type of result, results on the search results page may include social context, category, address, likes, ratings, active users, similar Pages, or a description about the business. Results display a higher photo resolution and more information than our previous search bar and results page. We recommend a minimum 620x620 pixel resolution.

What you can do

1. Make sure your Page, Place of App information is complete and up to date

The name, category, vanity URL, and information you share in the About section all help a user find your business and should be shared on Facebook

If you have a location or local place Page, update your address to make sure you can appear as a result when a user is searching for a specific location

Upload a 620x620 pixel resolution profile photo

Share content directly on Facebook; only photos and videos shared on your Page can appear as a result for photo and video-related searches

2. Strengthen your connections

People who engage with your Page or app do matter. Results are ordered based on a user’s relationships with his or her friends, so it’s not just the number of fans or users but also the strength of those connections that are important. For example, if a user searches for restaurants in a particular city, those that are most popular with his/her closest friends will be displayed first. Additionally, results that are similar to a searcher’s existing likes and interests may be ranked higher.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where and when is this available?

Starting January 15th, Graph Search will become available globally to a small subset of users who use Facebook in US English. The limited beta period allows us to continue to improve the product as we launch this more broadly.

How is this different from other search engines?

Graph Search is all about people-powered results. Users discover content that has been shared with them on Facebook, including public content. Results are based on the strength of their connections and are different for every user.

Can I advertise in the search results?

As in the existing search bar, Sponsored Results are still available in Graph Search. Sponsored Results allow you to promote results in the search bar and will appear whether or not users have Graph Search. We are not launching any new ad capabilities at this time, and there are no ads in the search results page.

Can offsite links be found in Graph Search?

Only objects shared on Facebook can appear as a result in the search bar. We may also make query suggestions in the search bar that trigger web searches. Web searches are powered by Bing and are similar to results on Bing.com.

Why don’t I appear in search results?

Search results are personalized and different for every user: each person may see different results based on what they are intended to see. Search results also adhere to privacy controls around content – so not all users have permission to view the same content. Additionally, search results are ranked by the connections each person has, so the people, places, and things that are most popular among that user’s connections are ranked higher.


As we bring 2016 to a close, Esquire.com looks back at the films, albums, and television shows that have shaped our year and will have a lasting influence on the culture at large. Read the complete series of essays here.

In May, I flew to Australia for a festival tour. My time in Sydney was glamorous, if you're into books. The festival, which was set on the dramatically beautiful waterfront, was packed, and the weather was crisp and sunny. Melbourne, on the other hand, was more intense: It rained, I had exhausting back-to-back appearances, and people had lots of questions. I gave a speech one night about Donald Trump—then just the recent presumptive Republican nominee—and everyone in the audience laughed and laughed, but I wasn't trying to be funny. The next day I had a conversation with one festival affiliate who said, urgently, "It's extremely important Clinton win because it will send a signal to the rest of the world." Signal sent, I guess.

I never recovered from the jet lag the entire time I was there; after seven appearances in nine days, I was spent. I checked into an enormous, drafty, damp airbnb in the Northcote neighborhood, where I was delighted to learn Netflix worked internationally. I channeled Patti Smith in M Train, specifically the chapter where she locks herself in a hotel room in London, shuts out the city, and consumes British crime procedurals for several days. There is safety in binge-watching. I dragged in a space heater from another room and got under the covers. It was the week Lady Dynamite premiered, and lucky me: it was one of the most inventive and exhilarating comedies of 2016.

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Briefly, the show is a loosely autobiographical sitcom about Maria Bamford and her life as a comedian and actress in Los Angeles, surrounded by her bitchy friends, her sycophantic agent, and her two loyal pugs, one of whom talks in the voice of Werner Herzog. She's bi-polar, had a recent breakdown, and is now struggling to recover her sense of self and her career. The show has a complicated structure—we see her in her way past in Los Angeles, when her career is on the rise and she's in the throes of mania; a more recent past in Duluth, Minnesota, where she is recovering from her breakdown; and the present day—her life with her friends and her pugs and lots of terrible dates and acting jobs.

Hijinks are myriad, and weird. She shows up at the wrong audition, and ends up trying out to be a young, black male character on Empire. She trains her dog to competitively herd sheep. She lies on her OK Cupid profile about enjoying outdoor activities and is forced to action-date. "I don't know what I'm doing, more than half of the time," sings Dean Martin at each episode's close.

Lady Dynamite is wickedly funny and brutally frank and also cotton-candy colored in its aesthetic—bright, and loud, and bold.

If Lady Dynamite sounds chockfull of action, it is. Plot points are sometimes not resolved within an episode, but it doesn't affect the pleasure of the story. (The pilot tells us Sugar Ray singer Mark McGrath hates her, but we have to wait all the way until Episode 13 to find out why, making us actually care for the first time in our lives about what happened to Mark McGrath.) The push and pull of the boundaries and the shifting timelines is incredibly clever and makes it all the more fun. Lady Dynamite is wickedly funny and brutally frank and also cotton-candy colored in its aesthetic—bright, and loud, and bold.

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I adored the characters, in particular Maria's two best friends, Dagmar (Bridget Everett) and Larissa (Lennon Parham), both of whom hate each other. In many of their scenes together, they sit in a cafe and talk shit about basically everyone and each other. They are bawdy and crass and like to discuss fucking, and they're Maria's support network, for better or worse, even when they're being total bitches. What a relief it is when characters are allowed to be flawed.

What a relief it is when characters are allowed to be flawed.

I also loved the frank focus on mental illness, self-care, and recovery, with different plotlines dealing with Maria's people-pleasing and boundary issues. One episode Maria learns to accept herself while in the midst of filming a herpes commercial, a brutal-looking fake sore applied to her lip. "Oh my god, she gets better," I thought while I was watching the series. "There's hope for all of us."

After watching Episode Eight, "A Vaginismus Miracle," in which Maria races around town to see if she can find someone to sleep with before her vagina closes up because it's been so long since she's had sex (the realest), it occurred to me my body had collapsed. In fact, I was sick as a dog. Soup, I thought. If I could just have soup.

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I dragged my sorry ass down the street through the gloomy weather to an Indonesian restaurant called Yuni's Kitchen. "I'm sick," I told him. I must have looked pathetic: baggy-eyed, pale, and drowned. He steered me towards a big bowl of Laksa, a spicy curry soup, with noodles and cabbage and bean sprouts. I dug into it and I could feel it in my cheeks, and nose, and eyes, and soul. It was one of the greatest fucking bowls of soup I have ever eaten. I asked for a carry-out container for the leftovers, and the man behind the counter, gentle as could be, filled up the container to the top with extra broth, and I thought: I am not alone after all.

Back to Maria: she falls in love with the man she has sex with in a closet on Vaginismus Day, and spends the rest of the season trying to talk herself out of that love. I reheated the soup for the last episode, and ate it in bed, as rain fell all around me in Melbourne. There is a happy ending, a beautiful speech about loving yourself, with pugs as a metaphor for self-acceptance. I did not cry. Rather, I licked my lips, deeply satisfied by the meal Maria Bamford fed me.

If I had checked the news at that exact moment, I would have been disheartened. The rallies, the trolls, the dramatic dissent in all directions. What I know now to be the beginning of the end. Instead I allowed myself to take comfort in someone else's artistic creation, offered to me so graciously. Art and soup and each other: These are some of the things we have in life.

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