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Why we need Rebecca Solnit more than ever and much more! $$PLAIN_TEXT_PREVIEW$$
MY FAVOURITE THINGS |Love and Happiness
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“We think we tell stories, but stories often tell us, tell us to love or hate, to see or be seen. Often, too often, stories saddle us, ride us, whip us onward, tell us what to do, and we do it without questioning. The task of learning to be free requires learning to hear them, to question them, to pause and hear silence, to name them, and then become a story-teller.” — REBECCA SOLNIT
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I’ve been processing a rollercoaster of emotions over the past week, facing some uncomfortable truths and getting to the bottom of my existential despair (tune in to next week’s episode of Popcorn Therapy if you dare). Yet through it all, I seem to find so much to cherish and celebrate in this present moment. Sure, we’re out of work (or losing our minds while carrying on a 9-5 in our pajamas) but this pandemic has brought things into focus. Helped us to appreciate our very vulnerability as individuals and consequently a society. We’ve been living in a fantasy of our own making and for the first time in modern history, we’re being forced to come together, to unite in the face of disaster. While I’ve been sincerely disappointed with the rhetoric of the mainstream media, it’s been so heartwarming to see citizens the world over going against the collective hysteria. Lending a helping hand to their neighbours or elderly strangers. So let’s keep working towards adopting Russell Brand’s wisdom fear — managing the situation day to day while treating our community with integrity and grace. Xo
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After listening to Rebecca Solnit in conversation with Krista Tippett on her podcast On Being I had an awakening of sorts. Solnit dexterously speaks to the power of natural disasters and pandemics in awaking us from our conditioned reality. According to the Connecticut native, we can look at crises in two ways. How to survive (at the expense of everyone else) and how we can come together to overcome as one. While I have a small footprint in the scheme of things, I’m going to keep fighting for the latter in this newsletter, my blog and Popcorn Therapy. For any fans of this chat be sure to check out her recent conversation with Dorothy Wickenden on the ramifications of Harvey Weinstein’s conviction. It’s a revelation.
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Marc Maron’s latest Netflix special is a good time, laced with some morose belly-laughs that have been gathering real momentum of late. While he’s been championed as a harbinger of doom, Maron is simply calling out the insanity of our current moment. A time when natural disasters have become as common as a rain shower on a summer’s day. Like it or lump it but COVID-19 is only a small taste of the future should we continue to collectively bury our heads in the sand. Maron’s recent conversation with Terry Gross (both chatting from the comforts of home) is the best kind of post-mortem to the show’s recent popularity.
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I had a fall from grace last weekend, growing heated at the Wi-Fi dropping out during movie night. After tuning back in to this 2017 clip from the currently cancelled Louis C.K. I sheepishly ate humble pie. We have so much to be grateful for in this current moment. The very fact that we’re not looting the grocery stores and clamoring over each other in an act of irrational tribalism is a testament to this unprecedented moment. So let’s raise a glass and get happy.
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Ever since I saw the trailer for this Sundance hit last year, I’ve been itching to get my eyes on it. Buying a copy off the Apple store (renting movies only gives the filmmakers a small cut while purchasing outright gives them the full amount!) I was immediately sucked into the hyper-real landscape of Joe Talbot’s debut. There is such an honest truth to this indie flick, a story of two young men (Jonathan Majors has one hell of a career ahead of him!) trying to find a sense of meaning in an increasingly irrational landscape. I love the way Talbot captures the frenetic energy of the Bay Area, a city that has always left me with raised eyebrows. A quiet masterpiece.
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Childish Gambino (a.k.a. Donald Glover) has gone and dropped his latest album in the midst of this hysteria and its a winner. I’ve given a whole lot of airtime to the multi-hyphenate in this newsletter. Be it comedy, (his Netflix special Weirdo is a good time) hard-hitting drama (Atlanta is the shiz) or alt-popcorn entertainment (Guava Island) he can do no wrong. 3.15.20 is the perfect accompaniment to these quarantine times, laced with the right kind of infectious rhythms to help carve up the living room on a sullen afternoon. This Guardian write-up by Dean van Nguyen throws no shade, boldly touting the Georgian native’s third LP as the first album to really celebrate the new decade.
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While I’m yet to get my eyes on last year’s Just Mercy, Destin Daniel Cretton’s previous film is the kind of picture that finds its way under your skin. Based on Jeannette Walls 2005 memoir of the same name, it documents the struggles of growing up within a family of outcasts. Featuring an all-star cast including Woody Harrelson, Brie Larson and Naomi Watts, this film is therapy in action. Thanks to a bit of Instagram messaging, Cretton has also become our first guest of Popcorn Therapy, a fact that has left Kane Senes and I seeing stars. I can’t wait to share more details in the weeks to come.
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If you’ve yet to dive into this incredible podcast series from last year now is the perfect time. Hosted by Jad Abumrad, it offers such a fresh and novel look at the Tennessee titan and leaves you feeling warm all over. As I’ve previously written in this newsletter, Dolly Parton’s outlook on life is so bold and invigorating, her lust for life helping me to see a whole new angle on the art of living. A phenomenal production that sets the bar sky high for the twenty-twenties.
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When Hannah Barlow told me to jump onboard this new Netflix series this week I got all curious to know what the fuss was about. After digesting four episodes, I’ve been on cloud nine, smiling at no one in particular. There is something so addictive about watching these larger-than-life characters, personalities driven by their inner convictions. While it’s sad to realize that their passions devolved into manic ugliness, I couldn’t help acknowledging how much this band of outsiders had cultivated their curiousities. Unashamedly touting principles that went against the grain. I can’t wait to dive into the backstory behind the making of this outrageous docu-drama.
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This interview with Ryan Holliday and Austin Kleon is the perfect antidote to our current moment. Holliday and Kleon are both millennial creatives and authors — Holliday the former marketing whiz of American Apparel in the noughties / Kleon a graphic designer and blackout artist — and both also happen to live in the great state Texas. It’s so nice to see them tapping into the power of history in search of answers to the future, peripheral juggernauts shedding much needed light on the darkness.
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I’ve been finding a lot of solace in Roger Eno’s Mixing Colours, released in full this week. Eno, who has lived in the shadow of his older brother’s success, has finally collaborated with Brian Eno on an album that rises above the collective hysteria. The album is littered with some of the most heartfelt compositions, a collection of ambient and classical tracks, many of which are imbued with Eno’s celebrated tone and sentiment. After listening to the album on repeat for the past few days I know it’s going to age like a fine wine.
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I came across Mati Diop’s curious debut after it went on to collect the Grand Prix award at the Cannes film festival last year. Diop, who has been celebrated for being the first woman of colour to have a film feature in competition, has seemingly married two genres in this story of love and loss. The French filmmaker brings us into the fold of a young couple living in the Senegalese capital of Dakar before a tragic event severs their love. The end result is both surrealist and hard-hitting, confronting the ongoing refugee crisis, class conflict and the burden of family and tradition. An innovative piece of personal storytelling that you can stream on Netflix.
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I found a kindred spirit in this fascinating New Yorker profile on Harold Ramis, the late great director and screenwriter whose movies would come to define the boomer generation. Films like Animal House, Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day were all hits that owe their success to the Illinois native. I found myself marveling at Ramis’ personal innings, his constant need to adapt and change in the face of upheavals on the road to becoming his truest self. His style of comedy would usher in the age of satire, a tradition to which our current culture owes a great debt. A must read.
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