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Hi All!
Here is the current issue of my weekly “Sunday Share,” a list of what I have been engaging with, excited by or otherwise found intriguing.
What I’m reading —
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
As a seventeen-year old bookworm, my favorite author by a long shot was Samuel Becket. Not because of his famous play Waiting for Godot, but for his utterly extraordinary novels, like Molloy, Watt and Malone Dies. In fact I was so in love with Beckett, I wrote a mini-thesis on him that same year. I was just reminded of Beckett while reading Mason Currey’s superbly curated pieces on how 161 different artists organized their daily work.
As I prepare to publish my rather daring The Illustrated Wild Boy, I have been reassured by any and all exhortations to make art of my true inner being. Here’s a description of Beckett’s epiphany in that regard:
“Amid the howling wind and churning water, he suddenly realized that the ‘dark he had struggled to keep under’ in his life—and in his writing, which had until then failed to find an audience or meet his own inspirations—should, in fact be the source of his creative inspiration. ‘I shall always be depressed,’ Beckett concluded, ‘but what comforts me is the realization that I can now accept this dark side as the commanding side of my personality. In accepting it, I will make it work for me.’”
What I’m watching —
Motherless Brooklyn by Edward Norton
I love soulful movies that, while entertaining, make me ponder on the nature of our humanity in a nuanced manner. Tim Ferriss gave this a strong plug in his recent newsletter and I have learned to trust Tim’s recommendations implicitly. And Motherless Brooklyn did not disappoint. Great acting from a great line up, beautiful photography, a wonderful score and a compelling story line.
There many political parallels in Motherless Brooklyn to the amoral, essentially sociopathic con games and power games being perpetrated on us by the current regime in this country.
Side note: this appears to be one of those movies that sharply divides the audience. Reading some of the reviews I wondered whether we both saw the same film. If you are on the fence after reading some of the naysayers’ opinions, I invite you to ignore them… 🙂
What I’m listening to—
On Love by Alain de Botton
I fortunately noticed and acted on a post by my illustrator colleague Judit Tondora about Alain De Botton’s talk On Love at the Sydney Opera House. I am linking above to his novel of the same name but if you want to listen to his talk you can find it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/v-iUHlVazKk
He is deep, he is insightful, he is challenging, he is humorous and his propositions are well worth considering, even if you don’t agree necessarily with his conclusions. He wrote On Love twenty years ago and came out with a second novel The Course of Love two years ago. After listening to his talk I have ordered both of those novels.
What I am putting into my body —
Chlorella
Okay, Chlorella — and its kissing cousin Spirulina — has been around forever and a day. However, with the increasing toxicity of our environment and the growing evidence of the dangers of heavy metal poisoning, I’ve begun to add this back into my diet.
A friend of mine was given three months to live by the Mayo Clinic. She attributes her full recovery to a complex course of chelation therapy. While I am not feeling the urge to jump in to such an ambitious program, I am ready to stack the deck in my favor by trusting that chlorella’s reputed ability to bind with heavy metals will lessen that insidious load in my own body.
Want some quick background? Dr Axe has a credible piece discussing the seven major benefits of including chlorella in your daily regimen: https://draxe.com/nutrition/7-proven-chlorella-benefits-side-effects/
Thoughts, comments, wishes, suggestions? Hit me up by email at johnrducane@gmail.com