Welcome back to 5BF. As November comes to a close, here’s a
list of 5 things I enjoyed this past week.
1: What I Watched
The Crown @netflix – hesitant, therefore late, to watch this
show, but when this past week as Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ released its season 4, I finally thought
to give it a shot. Oh my! This is GOLD! It’s all the things I love about films at
one place: drama, history, amazing visuals, brilliant screenplay, enchanting
score, excellent acting, and overall great storytelling. I’ve now watched the
first season, and it’s all green lights. Worth watching and giving your finite
time!
2: This Week’s Podcast
Maria Popova @timferrisshow – for those of you who don’t know
Popova, whom I myself only came to know and follow a couple of months ago, runs the
website ‘BrainPickings’, where Popova reads and writes about books that answers
the diverse question of ‘what makes life meaningful’. With Tim, she discusses
how the website started as an email to a few friends, how she runs it, and what
has she learned from it. There are some really key life lessons in this one,
give it a listen!
3: On Healing and Loneliness
Healing a wound in an appropriate setting with Jake Gyllenhaal
@modernlove – Modern Love by NYTimes brings weekly stories of love, loss and
redemption, and in this particular episode, actor Gyllenhaal reads Tom’s essay in
which he writes about how being a doctor helped him heal his private wound that
his fiancé caused him after exiting their 12 years old relationship. It’s just…
beautiful! With key lessons on love and relationships.
Wishing Well @poetryunbound – this narrative poem from Gregory Pardlo talks
about loneliness of individuals in a big city as New York, where one is shy to
come out of his loneliness, almost afraid. With a strong ending, this long poem
shows the power of a small conversation with a stranger, and how it helps to
come out of one’s shell once in a while – even if by luck.
4: This Week’s Articles:
Teenagers are going to sext, let’s teach them to do it safely @aeon – talking about one of the most relevant and important
issues among teenagers in today’s digitally interconnected world, this article
unclothes what is happening and why, as well as giving some very early tips on
how to safe oneself or others from severe consequences of intimacy through screens.
7 Things I Learned in 7 Years of Reading, Writing, and Living @brainpickings – this is Popova’s piece she wrote on 7th
anniversary of her website ‘brainpickings’. I believe she points to seven key life
lessons in this short article of which we can all benefit and learn.
5: This Week's Quote:
"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." - Annie Dillard