The Monday Mix (08/02/2021)
Hello friends,
Another week goes by and we're entering the last stretch of winter here in the UK. By the end of February it will be spring and the cold weather, hopefully, will begin to pass. Given this is the UK, you can’t take anything for granted when it comes to the weather. But I’m hopeful there’s a good chance the weather will start to turn for the better!
Being stuck in lockdown for the past few months in cold weather has been tough. The return of warm weather and longer nights is more than welcome!
Here are this week’s links which I found interesting and which I’m sure you’ll enjoy!
Can’t Get You Out of My Head - A few weeks ago, I included a link to one of my favourite documentary series, The Century of The Self. The filmmaker, Adam Curtis, has announced he’s releasing a new documentary this Thursday, the title of which references Kylie Minoque’s famous song.
Curtis is one of my favourite thinkers and his documentaries are a spectacle as much as they are educational. His new series is an emotional history of the modern world and asks how we got to where we are today.
Several interviews with Curtis have been released in the past few days. I liked the New Yorker one, in which Curtis explains his thinking behind his new documentary and the state of the world today. This Guardian article lists some of the figures featured in his documentary.
It’s available on the BBC iPlayer here in the UK on Thursday. If you’re abroad, it will be harder to watch, unless you use a VPN. But his documentaries normally end up on YouTube and the brilliant site, Thought Maybe at some point anyway.
Who’d be famous? - Tim Ferriss is one of the most well-known bloggers in the world. He shot to fame off the back of his bestselling book, The 4 Hour Workweek. He has the kind of life most people would kill for.
Yet all is not what it seems. Fame is a double-edged sword. It offers plenty of opportunities, but it also presents a lot of problems. His article is a candid look at the life of a famous blogger and what he has to deal with.
Just consider Tim isn’t well known outside of blogging circles. Imagine what life is like for someone such as Taylor Swift, who’s known around the world. The mind boggles at what life must be like for someone as famous as her!
11 Reasons Not to Become Famous
Who owns the future? - Politics is short-sighted. Most politicians are concerned with getting reelected rather than looking ahead and taking the next ten to twenty years into consideration.
With the threat of climate change hanging over us, this short-term outlook is more dangerous than ever. That’s why this article is so fascinating. It’s written by Roman Krznaric, the author of The Good Ancestor, which I’m planning to read in the next couple of weeks.
This article is a good primer on his thoughts and our need to start planning for the long-term rather than focusing on the here and now. It’s a thought-provoking essay and one which will leave you wondering how we can be good ancestors.
Future generations deserve good ancestors. Will you be one?
That’s all for now. I’ll post my latest essay here on Wednesday. Keep your eyes peeled for that, in the mean time, enjoy this week wherever you are in the world.
Tom