David Attenborough’s mission for Mammals 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 | Tell It Like It Is

β€œToday, measured by weight, less than 6% of mammals in the world are truly wild. The other 94% are our livestock, our pets and ourselves.”

β€” DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
 

When JoΓ£o, my new favourite Yoga teacher, asked the class what each of us sought from our practice, a chill went through me, which was odd given the sweltering heat of the space. To practice Yoga at any level is to practice the art of belonging; to our body, mind and by virtue the world around us. There’s something so humbling to holding a certain pose and simply breathing through the discomfort. Learning not to judge our shortcomings but simply observe the moment. Which, it soon dawned on me, is what I sought above all. To inhabit the unvarnished present for all its worth.

Madre mio! How is it August already? Time flies when you’re having fun making playlists (in the sun) πŸ”†
 

Mammals πŸ“Ί 

There’s nothing quite like blissing out in bed with a first-rate nature doc. This new BBC docuseries offers up an unprecedented look at a diverse set of warm-blooded vertebrates and the precarious lengths being taken to survive in the shadow of man. Which is how I was reminded of my favourite line from Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. Life finds a way. For most of human history, we’ve survived on folk stories and cautionary parables of the animal kingdom. But in the past fifty years, we’ve been granted a God’s eye view into the inner workings of the natural order and its awe-inspiring complexity. A fitting accompaniment to Melanie Challenger’s How To Be Animal.

β€œPeople are not going to care about animal conservation unless they think that animals are worthwhile.” β€” Sir David Attenborough
 

White Teeth πŸ“š 

Growing up with an Irish father and Mauritian mother was never a burden. But being second-generation Australian always kept me on the outside looking in. It wasn’t anything said or done per se but more of a feeling that my life story never much resembled the melodramas on the telly or conversations down the pub. Zadie Smith is the first novelist I’ve come across to speak truth to this state of mind. Her wry and poignant examination of immigration revealing just how it feels to be a stranger in a strange land. I found myself howling in ecstasy at her way with words, held captive by a cast of characters whose existential complexities and neurotic compulsions went a long way to exorcising any lingering shame.

 

When We Were Kings πŸ“Ή

It’s hard to tear your eyes from Muhammad Ali in this 1974 showdown with George Foreman for the world heavyweight belt. What was so remarkable about this title fight is that all of its participants were fish out of water. Mobutu Sese Seko was just crazy enough to put up the ten million dollar purse (five million a piece) in hopes of putting Zaire on the world stage. His gamble paid off, immortalizing the Congo as the backdrop for the β€˜rumble in the jungle’. I was held spellbound by the 1996 documentary and its archival footage of James Brown, Bill Withers and a youthful Don King. But to watch Ali and his machine gun zeal is to be reminded that charisma is contagious.

 

Aquaphoria 🎢

Where has Kelela Mizanekristos been all my life? This 2019 release samples some of my favourite ambient works, blending and elevating it into something fresh and decidedly contemporary. I’d never given Kelela the time of day before tuning in to this mixtape and after listening to Cut 4 Me, her debut 2013 mixtape and Hallucinogen, her debut 2015 album, it dawned on me that Kelela is an artist’s artist. But its Aquaphoria I return to, a mixtape that reminds in the power of creativity. Creation meets celebration. I love the way the D.C. native has made a coterie of artists accessible for a new generation of listeners. 
 
 

Monkey Man πŸŽ₯

The personal is political in Dev Patel’s action-packed directorial debut. Sure, there’s nothing all that novel about the story’s archetypal frame but Patel and his writing team go the extra mile in making social commentary sing. Sure, Monkey Man panders to the moment, laced with a kinetic pace ripe for TikTok, but it’s viciously vicarious action set pieces and self-referential Bollywood nods are not to be missed. Patel joins a rarefied list of actors that elevate their talents behind the camera. He also enjoys the privilege of drawing the ire of Narendra Modi’s government as it drags it feet on a nationwide release.
 

Be Here to Love Me πŸ“Ή

Just how (and why) do sad songs leave me brimming with hope? Because they carry a truth that words can’t buy. And while I’m prone to favour melody over lyrics, Townes Van Zandt proves an exception to the rule. His cadence and tone of voice carrying an aching sadness that echoes across time. Because to feel that stab of loneliness is to accept the inevitable. That you, me and everyone we know are going the way of the Dodo bird. Sure, it’s great to get happy. But when the blues come knocking, it’s best to open up, put on a pot of tea and tune into Margaret Brown’s heartfelt love letter of a documentary. Watch it for free right here. 
 

Sir Laurens Van Der Post πŸ‘€

Hasten Slowly, a 2001 documentary on the legacy of Sir Laurens Van Der Post, simmers in my mind’s eye. I knew nothing about the late author beyond the fact that his confessional publication The Seed and the Sower, based on his years in a Japanese concentration camp during WWII, served as the basis for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. But what lingers is Van Der Post’s life crisis following his release. Spiritually bereft on his return home to South Africa, he retreated from public life, drawing into the wilderness in search of himself and The Lost World of the Kalahari. The godfather to King Charles III was a true soul in wander. You can watch the doco here.

β€œHuman beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.” β€” Sir Laurens Van Der Post 
 

Killer Road 🎢

Patti Smith’s collaboration with Sound Collective’s Stephan Crasneanscki was sparked by a serendipitous meet-cute on a plane ride. My own serendipitous discovery was had on a Sunday visit to CCB’s EVIDENCE. The immersive exhibit offers a sonic experience of the pair’s collaborative efforts, soundscapes and spoken word poetry filtered through dynamic bluetooth headsets. Blame it on the a weekend’s worth of summer shenanigans but it felt like Patti Smith had swallowed my subconscious, inducing a cathartic contentment. When the mood strikes, Killer Road, produced alongside daughter Jesse Paris Smith, lulls me back into this blissful state. 
 

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