Musical climax – or something more medical? An orchestra’s orgasmic moment

I recently did jury duty. The 12 of us had so many individual quirks that it felt as if we’d been cast for a TV show. And then, bingo, Jury Duty (Amazon Prime) comes along. The concept? A fake court case and everyone – the judge, the lawyers, the witnesses, the jury – is an actor. Everyone apart from one guy, Ronald, who believes it’s a real case and the cameras are for a documentary. When everything inevitably goes pear-shaped, Ronald goes out of his way to calm the waters and the final episode is a reveal that becomes a celebration of the good guy. Barry Divola

LISTEN / The write stuff

If you’re an avid reader of this magazine – yes, the one you’re holding now – you’re a devotee of longform journalism. Turn to page 12 for senior writer Tim Elliott’s story on vaping [link on Friday], for instance, and you’ll enjoy the insight and colour of the finest narrative non-fiction. What you won’t get is the writer picking apart how they do the job, or came to their career. Enter the Longform podcast, a weekly love letter to writing, with three rotating hosts interviewing the best from the world of words, from Susan Orlean (episode #25) to Michael Lewis (#339) to David Remnick (#202) and Ta-Nehisi Coates (#97). The conversations are long, but that’ll suit you perfectly, just like those stories you so enjoy reading. Konrad Marshall

SHOP / Here, kitty kitty

With Australian Fashion Week receding, the long wait begins for collections to arrive in stores, usually around November. But for a glimpse of what’s trending right now, you need only consult the street-style images from the week. If there was one shoe that reigned above all others, it was this embellished kitten heel by Swedish brand Acne ($960). The elegant, yet so-comfy slides come in aqua or white mock-croc, with cute-as-a-button silver-bow embellishments, or basic black. Melissa Singer

READ / Art and soul

Can you hate the artist but love the art? American writer and critic Claire Dederer explores this in her compelling new book, Monsters – A Fan’s Dilemma (Sceptre; $33). How do we – how should we – respond to movies by scandal-tainted directors, such as Roman Polanski and Woody Allen? Does being labelled a “genius” absolve artists such as Picasso and Hemingway of moral culpability for the way they treated the women in their lives? And what about the women? Would you enjoy novelist Doris Lessing’s work less if you knew she’d abandoned two small children to produce it? As Dederer makes clear, there are no easy answers – the business of interrogating our responses to these “monsters” is as subjective as the works themselves. An absorbing read. Nicole Abadee

DRINK / Some like it hot

Ben Circosta grew up with Nonna Emilia’s “bippi” on the kitchen table. Bippi? A chilli condiment she brought with her from Calabria when she emigrated in 1955. In 2020, Circosta turned Emilia’s spice kick into a jarred sauce for purchase (it’s great on pizza, sandwiches, dolloped into soup – anything); and now, with winter calling for a little heat, he’s collaborated with Ambra Spirits to produce a cocktail with bite: the Spicy Limoncello Spritz kit includes the citrus-smooth lemon liqueur, chilli salt to dust the rim of each glass and chilli-infused dried fruit to garnish. Top with prosecco and you’ve got cocktail hour sorted. Bonus? There’s a jar of bippi in every box ($69). Dani Valent

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