Nº 29: Denise Bonetti
The co-founder of SPAM zine & press shares her secrets: the wine to order when you're not paying, the benefits of acupressure mats and the thrills of waterslide simulations.
We’re back with Denise Bonetti. Read on to find out what she’s into, and if you’re new here, hit subscribe for secret recommendations once a week.
Denise is the founder of the post-internet poetry machine SPAM zine & press, and now works for an events/bars company. She no longer has any hobbies x
☞ AVIATION: the best cocktail for any occasion – ignore the Google Images pics where heads of marketing have conned us into thinking it's a bright purple drink, it should look pale blue and full of nostalgia. It's gin, maraschino liqueur, lemon and creme de violette. Quite niche so very hard to get someone to make it right (annoyingly always on point at Soho House). A drink like the woman I will always gravitate to at a party - tired and fabulous on the outside, impossibly sour/tart on the inside.
☞ WATER SLIDE POV VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE: For when you’re stoned or otherwise artificially stunned. Best paired with a water spray bottle directed at your own face, and timed with the water splashes on screen. Melt that fourth wall.
☞ SPIKY MAT (term author's own): Officially an "Acupressure Mat". Genuinely cured my insomnia and back/shoulder pain from hunching at my laptop. I think the idea is that in order to cope with the sustained discomfort of you lying on a million pins, your body turns down the pain receptors (??) and lets you chill the fuck out. Magic.
☞ THE FLIGHT CHANNEL: Youtube Air disasters channel. Recreations of iconic crashes through a flight simulator program. No voiceover, no sound beyond the whirring of the engines, cockpit alerts and maybe ATC messages - just subtitles for storytelling. Absolutely hypnotising, and there's hundreds of them. Also reassuring in the way that exhausting the ways that things could go wrong is reassuring.
☞ WEIGHTLIFTING AT A LEISURE CENTRE: I cannot stress how much knowing that I could theoretically put a 50 litre beer keg on my shoulders and do 6 squats has improved my quality of life. Go to an uncool/old people gym – everyone will be on the treadmill and not in your way in the weights area (but men will still give you unsolicited advice). Get a weightlifting belt (Miss Trunchbull style) to help w posture if you start going HAM.
☞ TURKEY MINCE: For the meat eaters. beautifully un-meat-like, juicy and versatile. Truly an underdog.
☞ HOMEMADE PROTEIN JELLY: Literally just jelly powder (eg Hartley's) with protein powder mixed in. That's the tweet. The protein ends up at the bottom once the jelly has set, creating a sort of double layer of flavour. Fav Combos: Raspberry jelly w vanilla protein (tastes like those Strawberry Split ice creams), or Lime jelly w with Cookies & Cream Protein (sort of like a Key lime pie x cheesecake biscuit base situation). Great for the gains (see Weightlifting above)
☞ MANTA RAY VIBRATOR (naming yet again author's own): This stunning and very user-friendly device. Nice to be free from phallic tools now and then.
☞ VIÑA TONDONIA RESERVA BLANCO 2009: This specific bottle of incredible white Rioja, which my old boss bought at my leaving dinner at Brat (Climpson Arch) over a year ago for £102. Forever chasing that high. If you see it and someone else is paying, get it.
♪ LISTENING TO:
Off menu – Jay Rainer episode (while walking)
Work Me Goddamit 96 - Armand Van Helde (while doing emails)
Shite Tunes (while at the gym)
(the only three activities in my life)
☠︎ HATES: When a spread doesn't go all the way to the edge of the bread
TY Denise! Follow Denise here. Check out SPAM zine & Press here and here. Listen to the SPAM Lunch Club pod (linked episode featuring GSTS co-founder Livvy) here.
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