Some interesting stories, thoughts, and ideas i’ve discovered throughout September 2020, rounded-up.
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Scientists Rediscover Rare ‘Singing’ Dogs - I’m not saying I have one in the house already that makes noise when the postman arrives, but i’m not not saying that either.
What Does Everyone See in Jesse Plemons? - From being absolutely the bigest asshole in Breaking Bad to main cast in the recent I’m Thinking of Ending Things and all the supporting roles in between, Jesse Plemons is getting a lot of work. This is an excellent profile on his rise to stardom his confusion thereof. We recently watched him shine in Season 2 of Fargo- he’s definitely an actor worth following.
The Controversial Origins of the Story Behind Mulan - Disney’s recent live action Mulan has been embroiled in delay after delay, pricing concerns, and even social boycott. In this story TIME examine just how faithful (or otherwise) it is to the legend, and if it matters or not (I don’t care for the animated ‘original’ all that much…)
Glitzy SUV Adverts Subverted on 100 Billboards by Guerilla Eco Warriors - ‘Brandalism’ is now both my favourite word and concept of 2020.
What is ‘friluftsliv’? How an idea of outdoor living could help us this winter - While a fireplace, books, and hot chocolate are usually the go-to idea of winter, here’s an alternative suggestion: go outside. Exploring and exercising in nature is a great way to escape mental hell and internet doom, and comes with lots of benefits. Tme to layer up.
What hundreds of American public libraries owe to Carnegie’s disdain for inherited wealth - An excellent article about sharing knowledge via wealth and the sacred comforting aura of the library. Andrew Carnegie built just over 2500 libraries in his lifetime and gave away the majority of his wealth. What a legacy! Take note Bezos and Zuckerberg…
This game of Dungeons & Dragons has been going on for 38 years - We’re only a few months in so only really scratching the surface tbh, but here’s a great story of history inspiring roleplay, the inifinite possibility of the game, and most of all, the comforts of a friend group kept together despite a worldwide pandemic.
The impossibly perfect landing of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 - I’ve never skateboarded, but the recent remaster of these games this month have been a long-time coming. These were the games I spent an entire puberty playing and now in 2020 it’s a remake that’s audiovisually perfect. Twenty years later it’s great picking up exactly where I left off, minus (most of) the tantrums.
Stolen books worth £2.5m found under floor of Romanian house - We’re not quite at ‘hiding books under the floorboards’ capacity level here in the house, but an interesting news story about a recent BOOK HEIST with plenty of advice, illegal or otherwise for moving and storing books.
Daily Pics of Chameleon Holding Lego - exactly as it sounds. Now, if only we could get him to actually sort and tidy Lego as well, that would be fantastic.
Video
Caravaggio: Master of Light - Another excellent video from The Nerdwriter, this time examining Caravaggio’s dynamic use of lighting in his works and the cleverness within. His paintings are always bold, brave, and really quite profound; a visionary ahead of his time
Audio
The SS Reoccurring Nightmare - These are the audio logs of Chief Engineer Marrow Pilkinbear of the spacecraft S.S Re-Occurring Nightmare. Some excellent sci-fi narrative v cleverly presented. Give it a listen!
Other
Autumn Feels Film Playlist - With Autumn now here/fast approaching I picked 10 of my favourite films relating to or about the season. Everything starting a bit warm and golden, quickly changing to cold dark nights and reasons to stay inside; Letterboxd rounded-up the most-mentioned from all the site users.