5 Things I Consumed Last Week (watch me 👀)
on my mind & me, shantaram, great films, break the internet and a short film on how to read more books
First things first! If the title doesn’t remind you of ‘Watch Me’ by Lab Siffre, you need to listen to it! If you are a psycho like me about music, here is how I found this song and that is why you need to watch this series.
I have been soaking in some sunsets (read traveling 4 hours for it), making weekly meal plans and getting back to my planner. I revisited the goals I had set for this year and it has been 60:40 on achievement/ non-achievement. Making the last month count by executing just one more new thing. What’s that one thing you want to get done with before we bid goodbye to 2022?
This issue is mostly visual, I read short form content this week, watched films, videos and series. Go watch them! (fine, just read one essay, please?!)
My Mind & Me | Selena Gomez | Documentary
A tell-all tale, raw and deeply personal. The documentary careens all over the life of a star, following Selena’s trip to Kenya for her work with Rare Impact Fund, enduring questions from paparazzi, accompanying her as she visits people from her old neighborhood, reflecting her irritations dealing with press, her battle with lupus and bipolar disorder.
At first glance, I thought this is going to be mostly about Justin (NAIVE) but good to watch just Selena being herself - her battles, her accomplishments and her journey.
This documentary seemed incoherent and all over the place at times but if you are fan - who doesn’t like watching behind the scenes?!
Shantaram | Drama Series
This is the third time I am mentioning Kevin Kelly in this month but this is how I found the book Shantaram and then this series. Kevin recommended the book in this podcast.
Based loosely on the novel by Gregory David Roberts (which was based loosely on his own life), “Shantaram” is a complex drama, one that trusts its audience to be patient (take it slow) with a story that unfolds over 12 long hours. Set in ‘80s Bombay, Shantaram tells the story of heroin addict and bank robber who escapes dreadful torture and beatings in a prison in Australia, to Bombay. (they have tried their best to portray Bombay in ‘80s but definitely not gritty reality)
It is a story about second chances and how much regret and grief we carry from one chapter of our life into the next.
How to find great films to watch | Psyche | Guide
Psyche’s ‘How to’ Guides have become my go to sources for anything and everything. They try to break down topics in digestible points with a summary and great resources to link hop.
Film has been with us for more than 125 years. The contemporary mainstream is just the tip of a massive cinematic iceberg
In this issue, Geoff Andrew breaks down how to experience cinema in the form it’s meant to be experienced. I am using this essay to update my ‘things to watch’ list - something that I have neglected for a long time.
Some folks seem to think that a movie with subtitles must be ‘arty’, pretentious, difficult or boring. In fact, subtitles can be a good sign, since their presence shows that the film has been deemed interesting enough to be exported to other cultures.
Ralph Breaks The Internet | Disney Movie
It might look like just another adorable animated family film, but it is highly relatable in ways that are downright bone-chilling - cuz it’s the Internet. Somewhere amid the film’s ornate imagery and deliriously irreverent humor, we might begin to realize that we’re watching a terrifying, incisive satire about the ways that a life lived online makes monsters of us all.
Besides the DEEP serious stuff, it is funny, entertaining, delightful and heartwarming. It weaves enough sophisticated humor into the kid-friendly antics to keep adults watching as well.
How to Read More Books in the Golden Age of Content | Max Joseph | YouTube video
If there’s anything that you should really really watch from this newsletter, watch this!
In this short film, Max answers the most basic question - how to find more time to read, the potential for uncovering the meaning of life within classic literature, and the habits one must establish in order to become a voracious reader.
In addition to his coverage of South America and Europe’s most stunning book stores (i.e. book store porn), Max interviews Tim Urban, founder of the OG blog Wait But Why, and Barking Up the Wrong Tree author Eric Barker, as well as the world’s fastest reader Howard Berg.
That’s all for this time. Watch and read.
Things I’m doing lately
I watch this channel the most on YouTube.
I am loving this newsletter.
I am reading this book and I finished reading this book.
See you next week 🙆🏻♀️
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With gratitude,
The Hummingbird🌺