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How Yuval Noah Harari’s reality quest can save us and much more! $$PLAIN_TEXT_PREVIEW$$
MY FAVOURITE THINGS | Brand New Day
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“Ever since the Cognitive Revolution, Sapiens have thus been living in a dual reality. On the one hand, the objective reality of rivers, trees and lions; and on the other hand, the imagined reality of gods, nations and corporations. As time went by, the imagined reality became ever more powerful, so that today the very survival of rivers, trees and lions depends on the grace of imagined entities such as the United States and Google.”— YUVAL NOAH HARARI
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Happy New Year y’all! I hope you managed to take a load off over the break. I was lucky enough to welcome in the new year with some wonderful accompaniments including Nick Bryant’s When America Stopped Being Great (a surprisingly digestible look at the superpower’s undoing), Jane Harper’s The Dry (a clever little Aussie whodunit that was recently adapted into a new motion picture with the one and only Eric Bana!) and Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights (a sincerely heart-warming pseudo-memoir with so many prescriptive delights). While I didn’t have time to put together the usual list, I spent a couple days trawling over the past year to put this ‘best-of’ compilation together to remind us that 2020 was not all bad news. For while this pandemic continues to be a stress test on the world at large, I for one choose to see the coming year as a chance for genuine renewal.
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In 2019, I published a blog post that framed my outlook on the world as seen through the eyes of three celebrated personalities. Yuval Noah Harari was at the very top of the list (followed closely by George Harrison and Ricky Gervais) for providing a ‘soothing antidote to my existential angst.’ While Ian Parker’s comprehensive profile of the Israeli historian makes plain that I am his key demographic (males aged between 25-35) I can’t deny the fact that my whole perspective on our present moment has been elevated in large part to Harari’s output. Sapiens, Homo Deus and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century are all cogently constructed dissertations on mankind’s past, our unprecedented present and disconcerting future. For those that have yet to dip a toe into his universe, Harari writes with a genuine simplicity, digesting the complexities of humanity with remarkably wit and dexterity. He has rallied the admiration of celebrated personalities like Barack Obama and Bill Gates (whose thoughts are uniquely fascinating). His central mantra, — Learn to distinguish reality from illusion — pinned to the bulletin board of his Tel Aviv office, captures my own personal quest and reminds me why he’s such a force for good.
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I’m ashamed to admit I was full of grave regret when the first line of subtitles filled the screen in the opening minutes of Céline Sciamma’s latest film — for some reason I had mistaken it for an English film — concerned that it’s underlying strength might be lost in sacrifice to French pomp and pretense. Instead, I found myself growing more and more emotional as I was swallowed whole by the illicit love affair that plays out between two women in late 18th Century Brittany. Sciamma, it’s writer and director, has constructed a masterful piece of visual storytelling, bringing a relationship to life that feels so honest and true. When a Parisian painter (Noémie Merlant) is invited to a remote estate to paint the portrait of a young noblewoman for her Italian husband-to-be (Adèle Haenel) a connection is struck that can’t be undone. A “manifesto of the gaze”, it offers up such a bold examination of female repression, a truth that plays out in a heart wrenching abortion scene. Never have I ever witnessed something so tender and emotionally absorbing. One of the most powerful movies from last year by a country mile.
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This is one of the smartest adaptations of a renowned IP — based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons infamous graphic novel from the nineteen-eighties — that I’ve ever come across. There is something so potent about watching this new series, created by Damon Lindelof, in the wake of these seismic protests in America. It’s hard hitting. A profound mix of historic events coupled with incredible storylines and extraordinary performances (Regina King and Don Johnson are sensational). What is so refreshing about the limited series is its ability to tackle race and prejudice on a completely new level. The opening scene, a graphic portrayal of the 1921 Tulsa massacre (the African-American Wall Street), brought Kimberley Jones viral video to mind helping to prove that systemic injustice is the ultimate evil. Check it on Foxtel Go.
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When Brit Marling’s recent NYT op-ed piece popped up on my social feed I initially swiped over the click-bait headline. After a friend shared it with me a couple days later, urging me to reconsider, I bit the bullet. The Illinois native’s thoughts hit a nerve, bringing dormant emotions to the surface. Within the piece, Marling shares her personal experiences within the Hollywood system before offering a more macro-focused critique of gender inequality. In doing so, she puts the very history of storytelling within her sights, taking aim at the hero’s journey and arguing (with great conviction) that the very foundations of narratives are skewed in favour of men. It’s hard not to agree, to acknowledge that the very idea of the strong female lead — as portrayed within Hollywood pictures — is molded in man’s image. To realize that our conception of women, as portrayed within the arts, is handicapped by thousands of years of patriarchal domination is a tough truth to swallow.
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I was falling asleep on a Sunday night when we started streaming this 2017 documentary on the life of Jane Goodall. Goodall is the soft-spoken primatologist who became celebrated for ingratiating herself with a family of chimpanzees in Tanzania. There’s something so honest and pure about Goodall’s story, a twenty-five year old secretary sent to Africa to shed valuable insight into the life of early man. What is so remarkable about her life is her blind belief in her purpose. I can only imagine what it would have been like to be a young woman with such bold dreams in the face of the patriarchal system. This rich and luscious footage, rescued from the National Geographic vaults forty years on, paints such a beautiful portrait of Goodall and her love for the wild. Seeing her cultivate genuine relationships with these chimps evoked such a sense of joy within me and helped reaffirm my reverence for the natural world. “Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.” — Jane Goodall
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Based on the true life story of Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan), an idealistic young attorney and his fight to overturn Walter D. Macmillan’s (Jamie Foxx) death-row conviction, this film takes us into the heart of Southern politics. I’d been very excited to get my eyes on Destin Daniel Cretton’s latest film ever since we were lucky enough to have him on Popcorn Therapy as our very first guest. The Hawaiian native has a special gift for imbuing his stories with unpretentious humanity, helping to sweep away the superficial gloss to better understand his screen characters. In this case, Cretton masterfully removes the essence of race — no small feat in a racially-charged narrative — to help us understand the blatant miscarriage of justice. To say this movie is a tearjerker is not going far enough. While Jordan shines bright, I couldn’t take my eyes off Foxx, whose precarious redemptive journey was loaded with such overdue catharsis. A beautiful film I know I will return to in years to come.
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Last week I took a Sunday drive down to Wollongong to sell my prized camera package in order to prop up my savings account. On the drive home I rewarded myself with this incredible episode of Russell Brand’s Under The Skin with Ricky Gervais. The pair debate the meaning of life in such a beautiful way and reflect on the duality of man — those that see themselves above nature versus those that accept our part in this complex and beautiful place we call Earth. Much like the Reading native, I have slowly been accepting my humble place in an incredibly complex universe, putting love in front of all else. Hearing Gervais look back and reflect on his career to date was captivating, specifically the underlying message behind his debut BBC series The Office. As Gervais tells it, David Brent —the title character — is an embittered feller looking for acceptance from his community, his unhealthy desire for fame a vain attempt to fill a gaping emotional hole in his life. Twenty years on from the debut of this deeply dark comedy, the Western world has become an amalgam of reality shows replete with variations of Brent, tragically insecure characters looking for their own sense of worth. If you’ve never tuned into The Ricky Gervais Podcast, his vintage series conceived in the age of the iPod, it’s an absolute rollick.
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I came across this curious listicle on Unyoked’s most recent email newsletter (for those that live Down Under and are in need of some time away their eco-friendly cabins are the best kind of antidote). Nicolas Cole is an online gamer turned online writer who gained notoriety for his viral Quora posts. While I’ve personally never used the platform, I found much solace in his prescriptive list. Like Cole, I’ve been dismayed at so many old friends and peers slowly hanging up their hats as they’ve entered their thirties, turning their backs on spontaneity in return for complacency. Cole offers two statements — ’most people don’t do what they love’ and ‘people don’t like to use their imagination’ — that perfectly encapsulates this transition (IMHO). I love that his primary takeaway is to keep dreaming, learning and to never get too comfortable along the way.
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Esther Perel has achieved something sublime with Mating In Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence, her 2006 exploration into the complex web that underlies modern relationships in the twenty-first century. Sex lies at the heart of the acclaimed psychologist’s treatise on our malaise, a fact that is loaded with great depth and intricacy. This book has helped me bring so many of my own ardent beliefs into focus. It’s helped me understand why I’ve always managed to ruin one relationship after another when the going gets tough. It’s also helped me acknowledge my proclivity to surround myself with women who aren’t afraid to call me out on my bullshit. I love the way Perel breaks down the parameters of intimacy, a term whose relevance only came to bear with the onset of the industrial age, a time when families (often three generations at a time sleeping under the same roof) were pulled apart in service to machines. The Belgian psychotherapist perfectly captures the dualities we all face in our love life; freedom and commitment, passion and reason, stability and change. The more we accept the complexities in ourselves and our better halves the more we can lean into making them work for us. “The grand illusion of committed love is that we think our partners are ours. In truth, their separateness is unassailable, and their mystery is forever ungraspable. As soon as we begin to acknowledge this, sustained desire becomes a real possibility.” — Esther Perel
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I’d completely forgotten about an article I submitted to Medium in early 2019, and which was only published a couple weeks ago. Re-reading through was surprisingly enjoyable and left me smiling in all the right ways. It helped me to retrace my footsteps over the past five years, to accept the rollercoaster that has led me to this present moment and the choices that helped to heal over my open wounds. It’s no easy thing to admit when we’re broken and even more difficult to do anything about it. Yet when we have the wherewithal to put ourselves under the microscope, we open ourselves up to a whole new way of receiving and accepting the world around us. So if you can get past the header you might just find something useful to take with you. “When we know what we want within ourselves we can be truly present with the people we care about. We stop worrying about what other people are doing and thinking and instead devote our energy to nourishing our relationships. It’s amazing how much time we invest in all the wrong things when we’re emotionally detached. We nitpick the most insignificant ideas and are far too self-involved in the most unhealthy ways. When we take the time to listen to ourselves and our inner motivations, we start to put all that wasted energy into the right places. Such realignment goes a long way to enriching our daily lives and improving upon what we see in the mirror.” — James Pillion
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I’ve been slowly making my way through The Invisible Woman, a ten-part audio series on the life of Polly Platt, a producer and production designer best known for being married to celebrated Hollywood filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. There is is something embedded in Platt’s life story that is so compelling and the series creator and narrator, Karina Longworth, goes to great lengths to bring this complex woman into focus. It’s the kind of revisionist tale that is crucial in better understanding the art of the past. Behind every creative artifact is a story and in the case of any celebrated male artist, romantic partners that bolstered their egos from the shadows. In the case of Platt, Longworth helps us to understand just how crucial her creative input was on Bogdanovich’s meteoric rise with films like The Last Picture Show, What’s Up Doc? and Paper Moon. The fact that Bogdanovich never mustered another hit after splitting from Platt is evidence enough. I’ve been a fan of You Must Remember This for years and was blown away to discover that Longworth recently married celebrated Hollywood filmmaker Rian Johnson (Looper, Knives Out) making her critical analysis of Platt’s life all the more fascinating.
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When was the last time you listened to this album from cover to cover? It’s been many years since I’d jumped headfirst into Jimi Hendrix’ third and final record and boy is it ecstatic listening. Produced by Hendrix himself (after an exasperated Chas Chandler stormed out) the end result is an acoustic wonderland of soundscapes that still feels so fresh and exhilarating. The structured chaos of its iconic singles magnify the pain and anguish of the boomer generation. Young men and women haunted by the horrors of the ongoing conflict in Vietnam, the unresolved murder of MLK and the racial tensions in the face of such devastation. This double album has to be one of the most phenomenal records of the twentieth century. An unadulterated revelation.
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