Welcome to 5BF
1 – what I read
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey – an addict’s memoir
which tells the life of the author Frey himself, starting off at aftermath of severe
and fatal accident due to a hangover. From then on, we see how Frey endures his
life at the rehabilitation center while making some new friends and even a new
lover. In between, we get flashes of his past life and also inside stories into
the lives of other addicts living there. It is just a story, this book, and I could
only recommend this thick book with over 500 pages, only for its little amount empathy
that it produces in reader for the lives of the addicts, about which I have talked
in detail in my review.
2 – this week’s articles
Against cheerfulness @aeon – this article explores the
origin of the cheerfulness as the ubiquitous virtue that it has becomes, and explains
why being cheerful defeats other noble virtues like honesty, vulnerability, and
deep connections. Worth a read.
In praise of patience @aeon – part memoir, part meditation
on patience, in this article the author talks about her and her martyred mother’s
stay in Afghanistan as welfare workers, and therefrom explains how patience is
key to becoming who we are by allowing ourselves to transform at the difficult
moments in life – unlike resilience, which focuses on bouncing back to one’s
prior self. Moving!
In defense of public philosophy @aeon – philosophy has
become mainstream and people are doing it in open public. This article explains
why this is important in today’s age of false news and robbing slogans. Philosophy’s
probing towards critical thinking and difficult conversations might be the very
thing we need to right course of our societies.
3 – movie recommendations
Mass (2021) – two families, one from the school shooting/bombing
victims and the other parents of the homicide criminal himself, meet at a church
in order to make sense of what happened and how, and through that meeting, come
to a resolve that would make their infiltrated lives more livable. A riveting
plot, great performances, brutal dialogues, and intensely moving resolves –
this movie shuddered me!
Petite Maman (2021) – from the director of 2019’s brilliant
film ‘The Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, comes a sweet and fascinating movie
about a family who moves to the deceased grandmother’s house in the woods in
order to empty it. There, the only daughter of the parents meets the child
version of her mom who also live in a similar looking house somewhere across
from her grandmother’s house. A slow, fascinating, and just a simply sweet
movie.
The Lost Daughter (2021) – a brilliant movie based on the
novel of the same name from Elena Ferrante, this movie tells the story of
professor who goes on vacation to an island resort, and once, she encounters
another family on vacation, through which her own past life comes to haunt her.
A movie about motherhood, selfhood, and the contradiction in between. Brilliant!
4 – I graduated!
*I still have to collect my thoughts on it. I’m thinking about
writing something on the topic very soon. For now, just this picture from a deeply memorable day…
5 – this week’s quote
Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and
just be happy.
Guillaume Apollinaire