Roger Scruton’s ode to beauty and much moreΝβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ 
James Pillion
 

MY FAVOURITE THINGS | More Than Enough

β€œBeauty can be consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane; it can be exhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling. It can affect us in an unlimited variety of ways. Yet it is never viewed with indifference: beauty demands to be noticed; it speaks to us directly like the voice of an intimate friend. If there are people who are indifferent to beauty, then it is surely because they do not perceive it.”

β€” ROGER SCRUTON
 

A digital photo frame was my sister’s Xmas gift to the folks, a present that now features hundreds of images from the near and future past. Every time I’m in the family kitchen, I’m drawn into the latest rotation, especially when they feature my little niece. Little creatures like Giselle, who celebrated her first birthday at the end of last year, are the perfect metaphor of time. A ticking clock that encapsulates the ethereal nature of the here and now. It feels like only yesterday she was a wrinkled newborn wrapped in a blanket. Now she’s bounding about on hands and knees, her wide-eyed chipmunk cheeks drinking it all in. Gigi’s presence carries a vital lesson, one that reminds me to seize the moment, every moment, before it slips into the past tense. 

Happy New Year! πŸ₯³ Please enjoy my β€˜best of β€˜23’ newsletter and let the soothing sounds of this January playlist be the soundtrack to those New Year’s resolutions.
 

Why Beauty Matters πŸ“Ή

My first visit to the Sistine Chapel last year left me emotional tizzy. Just how did Michelangelo conceive of such beauty on his back? Witnessing such a labour of love helped me contextualize Roger Scruton’s despair for modern art and architecture. While a skyline of glass towers can induce a sense of primal awe, it’s never consumed me quite like the Louvre in Paris, the Pantheon in Rome or SΓ£o Vicente de Fora in my new hometown. Beauty, according to the late English aesthetician, has no place in an age of utility. Such thinking, proudly touted by Silicon Valley and its acolytes, threatens to cut us off from the one thing that makes us truly human. Our ability to be moved to tears by the inexplicable. 

β€œWhen we find beauty in a youthful person, it is because we glimpse the light of eternity shining in those features from a heavenly source beyond this world.” β€” Roger Scruton
 

Why Adults Lose The Beginner’s Mind πŸ“»

Early last year, I was invited to share a section from Putting Yourself First, my self-help book on unlocking your inner child, for an educational platform called Uptime. In the process, I was reminded how much these principles have rescued me from despair time and again. After coming upon this archived episode of The Ezra Klein Show, I was stunned to discover that my homegrown remedies aren’t completely bonkers. Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology and philosophy argues that we can learn so much from our old habits. Harnessing spontaneity and new information with delight in place of judgement. Of course it’s hard to be awe-inspired by the ordinary but Gopnik reminds that magic only happens when we remain open to the world around us. You can read my five-minute hack for Uptime here. 
 

The Fire Within πŸ“Ή

Werner Herzog’s requiem to Katia and Maurice Krafft struck a nerve. The German-born filmmaker has a certain affinity for strange birds. Individuals who thumb their nose at the collective consciousness, pursuing their peculiar passions with flagrant disregard for their personal wellbeing. It’s not hard to see what Herzog saw in the volcanologists. The visions captured, and shared within the ninety-minute doco are profound and prophetic, recalling Hieronymous Bosch and his Garden of Earthly Delights. Carried by their mutual passion, the pair stumbled into their vocation and forged a lasting legacy. In the hands of the veteran filmmaker their images become a celebration of cinema itself. Herzog’s OST is a must listen too.

β€œI cannot live without volcanoes.” β€” Katia Krafft
 

Four Thousand Weeks πŸ“š

I was arrested by the calming logic of Oliver Burkeman’s new book (as recommended by Scott Pape’s weekly newsletter). As he tells it, the answer to our finite existence lies in taking a deep breath, slowing to a crawl wherever possible and simply taking in the present moment. A quick gander around any CBD offers the exact opposite. Strangers bounding along with impatience, huffing on vape sticks and skulling down takeaway coffees. Burkeman diagnoses this modern phenomenon with succinct brutality. High speed living as emotional avoidance. Aristotle and his contemporaries had it right all along, touting self-reflection as the highest form of leisure. This Guardian podcast by the author on the illusion of free will is a must listen.
 

Dear Mama πŸ“Ή

I have KCRW’s The Business to thank for turning me onto Allen Hughes’s new five-part series on the late Tupac Amaru Shakur and his tempestuous relationship with his mother. I first discovered the incredible story of Afeni Shakur in Adam Curtis’s landmark series The Century of the Self. Much like her son, Shakur’s brilliance and dogged determination led her to rub shoulders with the rich and famous. An opportunity that radicalized her passion into political activism. It’s fascinating to discover how her son, named after an insurgent indigenous chieftain, got one over on the record labels, bringing hit singles to market that revived the discarded legacy of The Black Panthers.

β€œHe was teaching us to understand each other and to communicate. To make more of an impact on the people coming behind us. He got that from the Black Panther party.” β€” Snoop Dogg
 

A Field Guide To Getting Lost πŸ“š

A long-lost friend thrust a well-worn copy of Rebecca Solnit’s book into my hands days after arriving to Lisbon last year. Curiousity got the better of me as I dived into the opening essays which offered fresh perspective on my decision to uproot my life yet again. The very act thrusts me out of my comfort zone and forces me to be present. To see the rituals of life with renewed clarity. Solnit gets to the heart of getting lost through the metamorphosis of a caterpillar which, she writes, is dependent on decay. For with death comes new life and an enriched vision of our unique place within it. Solnit occupies rarefied territory in my soul ever since coming across The Mother of all Questions.

β€œLeave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.” β€” Rebecca Solnit
 

Three Colors Trilogy πŸŽ₯

Raw humanity bleeds out of this early nineties veritΓ© trilogy, stories of everyday people reckoning with the upheavals of life. Each tale, loosely based around the French tricolours espousing libertΓ©, Γ©galitΓ© and fraternitΓ©, follows a central character in the throes of sudden loss. I have a personal soft spot for Three Colors: Blue, the opening installment which follows a composer (Juliette Binoche) grieving the loss of her family to a car accident. It’s rare to come across such a strong female character these days, one that doesn’t have to raise her voice a single decibel to garner respect from the world around her. Krystof Kieslowski, the Polish auteur behind the work, builds off his iconic Dekalogue series to deliver world-class cinema.
 

Trauma Zone πŸ“Ή

There’s nothing quite like a good dose of existential dread to get the mind churning. Which is how I found myself lost in Adam Curtis’s Hypernormalisation on a particularly sullen Paris afternoon. The three-hour doco proved the perfect entrΓ©e for Trauma Zone, his seven-part series on living through the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Watching this docuseries, a compilation of A-grade BBC footage, feels like a waking nightmare, albeit one that inspires occasional bouts of delirious laughter. Marina Hyde’s Guardian write-up gets the story straight and strangely inspired me to rewatch Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker. You can watch part two here.

β€œWhat I’m doing is taking these fragments and I’m trying to create a world for you to get lost in, a sense of what it was like to live through that world.” β€” Adam Curtis
 

Elle πŸŽ₯

Sexual consent lies at the heart of this brooding drama led by the masterful Isabelle Huppert who held my attention with an effortless grace that only the French can pull off. Paul Verhoeven’s 2016 drama brims with life, littered with an ensemble of contrarian characters whose underlying contradictions make them so very human. It’s strange to hold a filmmaker so close. Growing up with Starship Troopers, coming of age with Showgirls and relishing recent adult fare like Benedetta. While a genuine darkness carries throughout, I was surprised at how much the film’s supporting cast had me chuckling, from Huppert’s ex dating a yoga beauty to her geriatric mother’s fling with a toy boy. Top-shelf storytelling.
 

Destiny Disrupted πŸ“š 

A visit to La Galerie des Batailles in the palace of Versailles put Tamim Ansary’s highly compelling history of Islam into perspective, reminding how civilizations are born at the end of the sword. Reading of the rise and fall of the Muslim world recalls the childhood game of telephone, the original premise and promise corrupting beyond comprehension. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when Ansary threads the connection between the origins of Islam and the ongoing Middle East crisis. But thanks to Louis C.K., Ansary’s surprising page turner has red-pilled me into bearing witness to the machiavellian machinations of the West and the endless turmoil that it has wrought by treating one of the oldest cultures on earth like a gadfly.
 

Tina Turner πŸ‘€

Reading the obituary for this larger than life icon shook loose memories of taking home first prize at the school line dance. Shaking my little tush to Tina Turner’s Nutbush City Limits (catnip for Australians). Little did ten-year old me realize he was boot-scooting to a song set in Turner’s backyard. Wesley Morris’s love letter of a farewell sets the record straight on just how a 5’4 middle-aged divorcee from the backwaters of Tennessee, decked out in leather and a shimmering Shih-Tzu wig, turned audiences into dancing putty. If you’re looking for a feel-good watch than look no further than the recent HBO documentary Tina. Inspiration in motion.

β€œI got to thinking that maybe I was such a mixture of things that it was beyond black-or-white, beyond just cultures β€” that I was universal!” β€” Tina Turner
 

Catch Me If You Can 🎢

This Atlanta S3 playlist turned me onto the compelling sounds of Adekunle Gold. In the space of a few weeks this 2022 LP has become my summer anthem, a collection of singles that make you want to kick back and revel in the sun. Gold, or AG Baby as he’s known to his stans, delivers delicious strains of pop tenderness that leave you coming back for more. I was amazed to discover that the Nigerian heavyweight, born Adenkunle Kosoko, hails from Lagos royalty. This great little Q+A write up also turned me onto the gut warming sounds of King Sunny Ade and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey.
 

Thanks for reading. To show your support, forward it to someone who’d like it or treat yourself to one of my books.

If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can read previous issues and subscribe here.
 

WRITING | @jamespillion
FILM | @jamespillionfilm

Tv. dos Pescadores 6
Lisboa
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