5 Bites Friday #99: a biting satire on British imperialism; the disharmony amongst Aurat March; 10/10 for The Batman 2022
Welcome to 5BF
1 – what I read
Assembly by Natasha Brown – at just seventy pages, this
quick yet powerful read takes us inside the head of the first-person narrator:
a black British girl with the well-paying accountant job. In there we find how
she carries her colonized past within herself, deals with her unending
struggles, and lives through the ever-present elements of British imperialism
and racism. A biting yet tendering satire.
2 – this week’s articles
Where is Aurat March headed? @Dawn – Women’s Day in Pakistan
has gotten quite some attention in the recent years through rigorous and strong
marches from women. Yet this article points towards what it lacks: unity,
political presence, and an endgame.
TikTok and Victorian parlor games @aeon – contrary to the
bad image of tiktok, this article talks about what this widely used app has in
common with the two-hundred-year-old parlor games: that it connects the people
on the societal level, just more immediately and cheaply now.
Age is more than just birthdays @psyche – this article talks
about how our biological age may differ from our chronological age, since
organs develop throughout the years and not all at birth. Also, how some people
age faster than others; therefore proving how age is more than just numbers.
3 – what I watched
The Batman (2022) – it was a privilege to watch this
brilliant movie in the theatres without waiting for months for its digital
copy. Matt Reeves has taken his own perspective on the Batman and it looks bold
and fresh. The trilogy that will ensue might just challenge and even beat the
Nolan trilogy of ‘The Dark Knight’. Just brilliant!
4 – I can’t find anything to say… maybe I should start
listening to podcasts again, or use my costly subscription to listen to
audiobooks. Training job has occupied so much that I haven’t been able to reach
out for myself in new ways. Not that the work I do is intense or tiring, it is
the lack of practical work that makes life both light and unbearable, both at
work and the little life that is left outside it. It has only been a couple of
weeks, maybe as time goes on, I’ll be able to squeeze more time to my personal
journey that I have by now gotten far along with – or, I’ll just become a bore
under the reasonlessly occupying nature of jobs. I’m just thinking out loud
here, count it as a filler.
5 – this week’s quote
Smoking is indispensable if one has nothing to kiss.
- Freud