Weekend Reading #172
This is the hundred-and-seventy-second weekly edition of our newsletter, Weekend Reading, sent out on Saturday 11th June 2022.
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What we're doing.
As our regular readers may have noted from last week’s update, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks in Southern France; notably in the Cevennes National Park and more recently in the petit yet picturesque village of Lourmarin (close to Aix En Provence). Surprisingly during my time in Lourmarin, the town was host to a weekend-long music festival to which none of the friends I was visiting were aware would-be taking place. In what can be described as a three-day extravaganza, we saw some incredible DJs play sets across the town, the most impressive of which was a techno-themed evening in the grounds of the village’s very opulent 12th century Château. Whilst the drive to and from France was rather cumbersome and the fuel/toll prices astronomical, it was an incredible trip and one of my favourite holidays with friends to date. Although one of the benefits of driving over flying is the lack of baggage limits upon return resulting in copious amounts of wine being brought back to London. HS
What we're thinking.
After a whirlwind week in Southeast Asia, we have lots to report and our blogpost this week focuses on a little more detail on our conclusions from our trip. But one immediate observation is the massive difference in behaviour post covid between the U.K. and both Jakarta and Manila. For example in the U.K. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone wear a mask. In Jakarta and Manila it’s impossible to find someone without one despite the high humidity. I think it stems from the differences in culture. The west’s individualism contrasts dramatically with the community mentality in these places. Here, no one seems to mind. There is maybe a culture of conformity as one local friend suggested. Jakarta was also buzzing with activity as many friends spoke of their delight at being back at the office again in contrast with back home where everyone moans of all the inconvenience. Everything in life is relative and the smiles and geniality of most people here especially those who work really low-end jobs is something to behold compared to the entitlement and complaining culture that has emerged in the west. A breath of fresh air to be honest! DC
What we're watching.
There wasn’t time for too much content consumption this week but over the many plane journeys I managed to finish season 3 of the Israeli thriller, Fauda. It was exhilarating. What I love about this show is how raw it is. It just feels so very real – possibly because the underlying source material is so. But the way it’s shot, the camera angles and the deliberate lack of polish to sanitise the show makes it even more compelling. One of those you just can’t stop watching. DC
The latest season of Stranger Things recently released on Netflix this week and despite having randomly walked through the in-person exhibition of the show whilst in NY earlier this year, I hadn’t yet seen it so thought now was as good a time as any to give it a try. The show set in 1980’’s rural America follows the lives of a group of young friends as they uncover secret government facilities in their town and the supernatural and mystical forces that lie within. Now in its fourth season, the show has seen widespread popularity and has gone on to become one of the most-viewed shows on Netflix of all time with a devout cult following of viewers. HS
I recently travelled back to my homeland and got the opportunity to indulge in several movies on the inflight entertainment... Yes, I flew sans kids! I've been desperate to watch the “The Last Duel” which boasts a star-studded line up. It didn’t disappoint! The Last Duel is a cinematic and thought-provoking drama set in the midst of the Hundred Years War that explores the ubiquitous power of men, the frailty of justice and the strength and courage of one woman willing to stand alone in the service of truth. Based on actual events, the film unravels long-held assumptions about France's last sanctioned duel between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris, two friends turned bitter rivals. Carrouges is a respected knight known for his bravery and skill on the battlefield. Le Gris is a Norman squire whose intelligence and eloquence make him one of the most admired nobles in court. When Carrouges' wife, Marguerite (played by Jodie Comer), is viciously assaulted by Le Gris, a charge he denies, she refuses to stay silent, stepping forward to accuse her attacker, an act of bravery and defiance that puts her life in jeopardy. The ensuing trial by combat, a gruelling duel to the death, places the fate of all three in God's hands. DK
Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in “The King's Man”. One man must race against time to stop history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds from starting a war and wiping out millions of people. Some good fun and another star-studded line-up which helped me conclude my 11 hour flight back from SA. Give it a watch. DK
What we're reading.
Benjamín Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World is a genre-bending, hallucinatory set of stories relating to different scientists and their ground-breaking work in the 20th century. In December 1915 Einstein receives a letter from a soldier stationed on the Russian front called Karl Schwarzschild, in which the soldier, to Einstein’s surprise exactly solves the field equations of General Relativity in a way that hypothesises a monster, the black hole. In middle of the 20th century Shinichi Mochizuki and Alexander Grothendieck supposedly developed geometries which terrified them so much that they destroyed their work and withdrew from the world. The book is a great meditation on the ambivalence of science, like the discovery of a process to make fertilizer by Fritz Haber, to which supposedly a huge part of the world’s population owe their ability to exist, but which also led to poison gas used in the first World War, and Zyklon B. The book is not a science book. It is a novel populated by a few fictional and mostly real characters, exhilarating and fascinating. LM