Five Great Reads: a soy sauce grand master, quitting your office job, and how prepping went mainstream
Happy Saturday! Semicolons are supposedly dying. How many can you spot in this newsletter?* Plus: If I ever quit my job, disappear with a stockpile of soy sauce and spend my days watching Jeff Goldblum movies, you'll know the clues were always here.
Five people were fed up with being inside all day; they worried about their lack of fresh air, and wanted more time in nature. So they decided to quit their desk jobs.
To my complete joy in reading past this headline, these people found outdoor jobs, a stable income and a renewed sense of purpose.
'Surrounded by wildlife, I feel peace of mind': Steve Kell, 59, worked as a high-street banker from the age of 18. At 30, after recovering from an illness, he decided to quit; and he has been a countryside ranger ever since.
'I've never not enjoyed a day in this job': Mandy Abbott, 60, was a cook in a North Yorkshire estate kitchen for 30 years. She now helps run a birds of prey centre with her daughter on the same property.
How long will it take to read: Six minutes.
Ki Soon-do, a '10th-generation custodian of her family's sauce-making legacy', is the only person in South Korea officially designated as a grand master of jinjang – 'a soy sauce aged for more than five years that has developed a depth of flavour'.
Ki's jinjang has been served to Donald Trump and has gained Unesco heritage protection; it is recognition 370 years in the making.
What are the three ingredients of traditional Korean soy sauce? 'Soybeans, water and salt,' Ki says. 'And care and time. Without time, there is no flavour. In modern life, everyone is rushing. But some things cannot be rushed.'
How long will it take to read: Three minutes.
Prepping for the end no longer seems paranoid – not after Covid, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the climate crisis, rising cyber-attacks, and renewed nuclear threats. The UK government even recommends it.
Fact v fiction: Zoe Williams points to the 'most perfect self-contained episode' of The Last of Us, with Nick Offerman's character, Bill, who is a prepper and survives the end of modern civilisation; should everyone be more like Bill and have a survival kit?
'I particularly like that story arc … because it reminds folks that prepping isn't supposed to be about out-surviving others, but building a better world.' – Ed González-Tennant, digital archaeologist
How long will it take to read: Five minutes.
Two more tabs to open: Even Guardian columnist George Monbiot has been stockpiling food, and Australia's top epidemiologist answers whether we are prepared for the next pandemic.
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Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning
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Dom Phillips died alongside the Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira trying to warn the world about the Amazon's destruction. The rainforest – home to millions of people and animals, rich biodiversity and potentially life-saving pesticides – was the Guardian journalist's focus. He cared not just about how it could be saved, but why.
This week's long read is an extract from the book Phillips was writing at the time of his death. It is essential reading.
How long will it take to read: Nine minutes.
A giant second ecosystem worth saving: Ocean with David Attenborough review – a passionate case against the ruination of the seas.
I absolutely adored this flashback with Jeff Goldblum. The actor and musician reflected on the power of puberty, overcoming his fear of acting and what Michael Winner yelled at him. He also shared the devastating experience of losing his brother in his late teens, which was 'terrible' and 'monumental'.
Looking ahead: 'I am 72 now and I'm sure I'll crumble at any minute,' Goldblum says. (How is this guy in his 70s?)
How long will it take to read: Three minutes.
A deeper look at losing loved ones: 'My sadness is not a burden', author Yiyun Li on the suicide of both her sons.
*Four semicolons.
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Why dis Labubu doll wey big like human being sell for more dan $150,000
One human-sized Labubu doll sell dis week for a record 1.08m yuan ($150,324; £110,465), according to one Chinese auction house. Di 131cm (4ft 4in) doll sell for Yongle International Auction for Beijing. Di auctioneer say e don become now di most expensive toy of im kind for di world. Labubu dolls be one kain monster character wey one Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung, create years ago wey don dey popular in recent years after some celebrity endorsements. Labubu dolls, wey Chinese toy company Pop Mart dye sell, dey usually cost around 50 yuan. Dis week auction bin dey dedicated entirely to Labubu. Forty eight items na im dem put on sale with around 200 people in attendance. Di auction house say dem raised a total of 3.37m yuan. Di dolls don cause one kain worldwide buying rush after e appear well-well for social media posts by Lisa from K-pop group Blackpink. Di soft toys become viral TikTok trend after oda celebrities including Rihanna and Dua Lipa wear am. Former England football captain David Beckham also post one photo on Instagram of one Labubu wey dey attached to im bag. Earlier dis year, Pop Mart comot di dolls from all UK stores after reports say customers dey fight over dem. Di Chinese retailer dey often sell di collectable toys inside mystery "blind boxes". Dis items dey popular with customers wey dey only find out di design of di toy once dem open di package. Di popularity of Labubu toys don contribute to di success of Pop Mart. Di firm revenue be 13m yuan for 2024, more dan double di figure wey dem see di previous year. Dem open new stores for five countries including Italy and Spain last year.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
I played 6 hours of Mario Kart World – you need to know these things before you play
The Nintendo Switch 2 is finally here, and with it, the console's biggest launch title, Mario Kart World. Expectations are sky-high for the latest entry in the 33-year-old racing series, which carries the weight of a new console's fortunes on its shoulders. Even before I tried the game, there were a few big innovations on the table. Players can now roam anywhere in a wide-open world, with grand prix tournaments charting long routes that race in and between each of the main tracks. The maximum number of racers is also doubled to a chaotic 24 karts, and a new Battle Royale style knockout mode sees players competing to stay in the race, with slower racers knocked out each lap. Mario Kart World also gets a facelift, shedding some of the grit (at least, what passes for grit in Mario Kart) of the previous game. Instead, there's a bouncier and more cartoony look. Nintendo might not have given Mario Kart World a generational graphics upgrade, but the developer's recent success with a big-budget Mario movie has rubbed off. The newest entry in the series feels more characterful, more animated, and frankly, more fun. I've spent hours playing Mario Kart World ahead of its release date, many of them wasted wandering around the game's open world, but plenty of them exploring everything new and weird about Nintendo's beloved racer. Here, in no particular order, are 19 things I learned about Mario Kart World before you start. 1. The lightning item can make it rain Mario Kart World has dynamic weather effects, so it can start raining or snowing mid-race. However, this isn't just an animation. This not only changes the appearance of tracks, but slick conditions also affect kart handling. Weather patterns in Mario Kart World are fairly stable – I found it only changed a handful of times in about four hours of racing – but there is at least one way to manually encourage the weather to change. Using the lightning item, which wipes out and shrinks every other player, will sometimes trigger a rainstorm, too. 2. You can trick off dynamic waves The raw processing power of the Switch 2 can now create dynamic, splashy, three-dimensional waves during water sections. The wake from other racers isn't big enough to do anything interesting with, but a big enough explosion – a blue shell going off, for example – will create a shockwave across the water's surface that racers can trick off to gain a small speed boost. 3. You can jump on command now Jumping is one of Mario Kart World 's biggest innovations. You can use a jump to gain extra height off ramps for more time in the air for tricks, launch yourself onto the track walls to drive along them, or reach otherwise inaccessible grind rails. The jump button is the same as the drift button and works in almost the same way. Hold down the drift button, and after a few seconds, you'll charge up a jump. But Mario Kart veterans might find this frustrating at first. Steer left or right at any point while charging, and you'll start drifting instead, losing your jump. If you've played as much Mario Kart as I have, every last neuron of your muscle memory will be screaming at you. Charging takes a while, too, so you have to plan jumps some distance ahead of any walls you want to drive on. Speaking of which: 4. You can drive on the walls Mario Kart 8 went hard on the anti-gravity theme, with physics-defying, twisting, turning courses. Mario Kart World is more grounded, but you can still launch yourself onto any suitably flat track walls and race along them. Pulling this off is more challenging than it sounds, as you need to prime your jumps a few seconds in advance; fluffing the timing means colliding face-first with a wall instead of riding along it like Jet Set Radio. The outer walls of corners are rarely the shortest route around the track, but they'll often lead you to otherwise inaccessible grind rails, items and shortcuts. 5. The feather is back First seen in the original Super Mario Kart, the feather item vanished from the series for 25 years before making a shock reappearance in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 's battle mode. Now the feather makes a full and triumphant return in Mario Kart World, allowing racers to perform a jump instantly. Used in previous games for catapulting yourself over track obstacles and skipping bits of the course, the feather in Mario Kart World can be used to initiate wallriding without having to charge up a jump. You'll also be able to use it to access hard-to-reach Peach coins in free roam mode. 6. Four-player split-screen runs at 30fps We were holding out hope that the Switch 2 might be able to handle four-way Mario Kart World with no noticeable drop in visual quality, but play with three friends on the same TV and the frame rate drops to 30 frames per second. That feels choppy compared to the silky smooth frame rate of single player mode at first, but your eyes will adjust to the difference before you've finished your first race. As an aside, if you don't think you can spot the difference between games running at 30, 60 and 120 frames per second, the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour has a special minigame where you can test yourself. 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Battle mode is back Specifically, Balloon Battle and Coin Runners. Balloon Battle, in which you have to pop five of your opponent's balloons while protecting your own, gets its own set of dedicated combat arenas. Like the rest of the tracks in the game, they exist in the open world alongside everything else. Some are destruction derby-style, bowl-shaped arenas, while others, like one set inside a Moo Moo Meadows farm, offer barns and tractors to take cover behind. 13. There's a day-night cycle (sort of) As you race, the time of the day will progress between a few different phases, so you'll see tracks during the morning, afternoon, evening and night. Time doesn't seem to constantly progress in Mario Kart World; instead, you'll occasionally be treated to a gradual transition from, say, sunset to night time in the middle of a race. 14. Gliders are out, wings are in More of an aesthetic change than anything, karts no longer pop out a hang-glider on long jumps. Instead, a pair of wings will spring from your character's kart to help them go the distance. Don't ask me why, but this is better. Like in previous games, karts will also transform into seaworthy vessels during water-based sections of the track, with different designs depending on the kart you choose. 15. You can see inside buildings in Crown City I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but when driving around Crown City, you can look through some windows. The interiors aren't terribly detailed – they're supposed to be raced past at high speed, after all – but if you're feeling nosy in free roam mode and want to marvel at the rendering power of the Switch 2 by peering into someone's front room, you can. On top of that, there's environmental traffic. There's plenty in Crown City, as you'd expect, but some routes between tracks also have vehicles to avoid. Car windscreens are also transparent now, revealing the Toad, Yoshi and Shy Guy drivers behind the wheel. 16. You can hijack special vehicles In certain parts of the world, you'll spot special supersized vehicles driving around with big and inviting open doors – drive inside and you'll take control of them for a short while. In my playthrough, I found two: a huge, double-trailer lorry that can be used to ram through traffic; and a zippy speedboat that looks like it could belong in F-Zero. These special vehicles show up in races as well as during free roam mode, and Nintendo suggested that there are more to discover. 17. You can put your face in the game You can use the Nintendo Camera to have your face appear above your kart during multiplayer races. This even works in a four-player split-screen, where a single camera can capture all four faces at the same time, making it easier to spot (or maliciously target) your friends during hectic 24-player races. Face tracking – where the camera will automatically adjust to keep you in frame – only works when there's one person playing. With more players, you'll see a preview of what the camera sees before each race, giving you a chance to find and manually circle your face on screen. You'll each have to sit still to stay in shot throughout the race, which is bad news for anyone who gets a bit animated towards the finish line. Whenever you thwack another player with an item, their angry face will spin around helplessly above their kart, which is good fun. 18. Cow doesn't get any outfits Hovering, glowing takeaway bags called Dash Food can be found around tracks and in the open world, usually at diner-themed pit stops, but sometimes lined up across the track so that every player gets one. These are location-appropriate and include local delicacies like burgers, curries, ice creams and kebabs. Eat one, and your character gets a cosmetic costume change for the rest of the race, and that costume is then unlocked in the character select screen. An ice cream will give Mario a pair of shades and a snazzy little Hawaiian shirt, for example, but sadly, only the main characters get outfits. If you've always dreamed of putting the cow from Moo Moo Meadows in a sombrero, you're out of luck. 19. But Waluigi gets a Mariachi costume In a possible nod to the fan-made N64 game Waluigi's Taco Stand, Nintendo has added Mariachi Waluigi as a playable character – presumably unlocked when he grabs something delicious on a Mexican-themed track. There's also a costume for King Boo that puts him in a Downton Abbey -esque monocle, moustache and top hat. Nintendo misses a trick by not calling him Boo-ritish, but apart from that, the game is a huge upgrade to Mario Kart 8.
BBC News
9 hours ago
- BBC News
Human-sized Labubu doll sells for more than $150,000
A human-sized Labubu doll was sold this week for a record 1.08m yuan ($150,324; £110,465), according to a Chinese auction 131cm (4ft 4in) figurine was sold at the Yongle International Auction in Beijing. The auctioneer said it is now the most expensive toy of its kind in the dolls are quirky monster characters created a decade ago by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung, which have increased in popularity in recent years after a number of celebrity dolls, sold by Chinese toy company Pop Mart, usually cost around 50 yuan. This week's auction was dedicated entirely to Labubu. Forty eight items were put on sale with around 200 people in attendance. The auction house said it raised a total of 3.37m yuan. The figurines have sparked a global buying frenzy after frequently appearing in social media posts by Lisa from the K-pop group soft toys became a viral TikTok trend after being worn by other celebrities like Rihanna and Dua Lipa. Former England football captain David Beckham also posted a photo on Instagram of a Labubu attached to his bag. Earlier this year, Pop Mart pulled the dolls from all UK stores following reports of customers fighting over Chinese retailer often sells the collectable toys in mystery "blind boxes". These items are popular with customers who only find out the design of the figurine once they have opened the packaging.
