August, you have been insane, in the best way possible. I hope your month has been just as action-packed as mine! This Carousel is coming to you live from Los Angeles — I booked a spontaneous trip on Thursday and arrived on Sunday afternoon. Yay! (See my Instagram for palm trees and other very Californian things.)

Here are my favourite reads of the month. Enjoy ’em!

When you’re done fighting for it: the upside of finally giving up. Oh yes. Sweet relief.

25 famous women on being in charge.

“I realized in all the cases where I was happy with the decision I made, there were two common threads: Surround myself with the smartest people who challenge you to think about things in new ways, and do something you are not ready to do so you can learn the most.” — Marissa Mayer

This is so real. 27 Unforgettable Things All ’90s Teenage Alt Girls Did.

I’m not mad, that’s just my resting bitch face.

In the aftermath of Cecil the lion, Delta has become the latest airline to change its rules on transporting game trophies. The crazy thing is that they had been happily doing this for years! WTF? Oh well, better late than never.

Here’s how Louis C.K. makes decisions. (Louis C.K. and I are birthday twins, and I love him sooooo much.)

Ronda Rousey’s astrology chart is fascinating and she also says amazing things, like when some reporter said she looked a little chunky, she replied, “I train for combat not to fuck millionaires.” OMG yes. Don’t be a “Do-Nothing Bitch”!

“Being put in the position of being a role model, I don’t think I’m infallible enough for that. I have this one term for the kind of woman that my mother raised me to not be, and that’s a ‘do-nothing bitch’, or I call it a DNB a lot of the time. Like, the type of chick that just tries to be pretty and be taken care of by somebody else.”

These photos of Detroit then and now are fantastic!

Here are 50 short tips for great writing! Yesssssssss.

Anam Cara and the Essence of True Friendship: Poet and Philosopher John O’Donohue on the Beautiful Ancient Celtic Notion of Soul-Friend. This is so, so beautiful.

“A friend is a loved one who awakens your life in order to free the wild possibilities within you.”

What about the scholarship of selfies?

Oh, Angelyne. So L.A.

Nepal is the latest country to offer “other” as a gender option on their passports. (They join Australia, Pakistan, and India.) Fuck yes.

Has Tinder really sparked a dating apocalypse? Yeah, not so much…

Mindy Kaling’s guide to killer confidence is pretty great, to be honest.

Here are a few principles for predicting and manifesting from Danielle LaPorte.

How Witchcraft Is Empowering Queer and Trans Young People.

Why is my ex’s happiness making me so sad? This is great advice for anyone, not just the recently broken-up.

Shirley Manson and Butch Vig on 20 years of Garbage.

“The one thing I really have come to understand as an adult is that female sexuality is so powerful. And a lot of young women don’t realize how powerful they are. I think they think their sexuality makes them weak, and therefore they have to use their sexuality in weak, kitten-esque ways. In fact, the opposite is true.” — Shirley Manson

Dreamy multiple exposure photos of L.A..

There’s a Bill Murray scratch and sniff book! And it’s only $6. So you should probably buy a copy.

Sound Baths Move From Metaphysical to Mainstream.

How do celebrities keep their weddings a secret? STEALTH!

What happens to those businesses after Gordon Ramsey, Tabatha, and the business gurus come in to try and fix them? Well, a lot of them go under. Here’s Theresa’s ON POINT analysis of the situation.

Awesome: Sky Ladder made of fireworks by artist Cai Guo-Qiang! Even better, this was his fourth attempt — he dreamt about doing this as a child. “Despite all life’s twists and turns, I have always been determined to realize it. Sky Ladder today is tender, and touches my heart deeply: it carries affection for my hometown, my relatives and my friends.”

A new (well, unreleased) Bikini Kill track is now available for your listening pleasure!

There’s an underground amusement park in Transylvania… And we should all go.

Interesting stuff: Love in the age of big data.

They imagined that a happy relationship was built consecutively in seven years. The foundation was a strong friendship, based on John’s laboratory findings that couples who spoke more fluidly and in more detail about each other and their pasts were more likely to stay together. Then came sharing admiration, “turning towards” each others’ bids and developing positive feelings about the coupling. Once that had all clicked into place, a pair could proceed through learning to manage their fights with, among other techniques, a process they dubbed “dreams within conflict,” whereby people try to see the positive dream inside what looks like a partner’s negative position. At the top–the pinnacle of a great relationship–came helping each others’ dreams come true and building a shared sense of purpose, like volunteering or traveling the world.

These Boots Were Made for Stalking: When Women Harass Women Online. Imagine being manipulated, threatened, and humiliated because someone really, really wants to be your friend.

These taxis in Mumbai are gorgeous!

How One Airline Ticket Can Equal Two Seats. Good tips for international playgirls!

There was a $100,000 statue of Baphomet unveiled in Detroit. Some people weren’t thrilled about it, but you have to watch the video. It’s amazing… There’s a very theatrical Satanist giving an incredible sermon about it while a goth girl looks SO bored behind him!

I’m obsessed with this mix.

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She can RAP her ASS OFF!

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If you loved Home Alone… This is your jam. And all the videos after this are stupid things that made me laugh this month.

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Here’s to an incredible September!

Love you,

Photo by Elizaveta Porodina.