‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’, overcoming a musical slump, and how can we lead a meaningful life?
This week’s book giveaway is Make it Meaningful by Debbie Haski-Leventhal
I’d like to start off today’s newsletter by saying thank you to the kind soul who pledged $8/month if I decided to turn on paid subscriptions. I don’t have any plans to do that in the near future, but I really, really appreciate the vote of confidence. It was such a nice email to receive while I was away.
I’ve been putting in some hard yards trying to get this novel I’ve kicked around in my head for an eternity written. Now I remember why I’ve shied away from grappling with such a big task for so long, though. It’s hard. Problems crop up almost before you’ve even begun. The way you solve these problems often leads to other problems. But if I can do this mammoth, thrilling, murky task, it could lead to something great.
Time will tell. Pray for me/send red lollies. Wishing you well in whatever you’re grappling with this week.
News
1. Sometimes I’m like ‘screw you, technology, for taking our jobs, making us fearful of excessive surveillance, and generally acting like a Terminator movie come to life’. And then there are stories like this: ‘3D bioprinting inside the human body could be possible thanks to new soft robot’. It requires no or only a tiny incision, can maoeuvre into hard-to-reach places, cut away any cancerous material, print new cells, and vamoose out of your body with minimal risk of infection. And it could be used by doctors in as little as five years from now. I’m in awe.
2. On the ABC site, a writer asks ‘Why do we stop exploring new music as we get older?’. Indeed. I’ve heard people my age say all music these days is crap. Really? You don’t have to leap into the wonderful vortex that is K-pop fandom, as I’ve accidentally done since 2020, but there’s plenty of fresh tunes of all flavours coming out every day. New genres emerge. And as much as I truly adore the ‘80s in all its big-haired, Lycra-wearing glory, there are only so many times I can listen to ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ without wanting to hang up my legwarmers, walk into the ocean, and never return (sorry, Cyndi). The article posits several possible science-backed reasons for this stagnation and lists ways to overcome it. Helpful stuff.
3. Kate Emery in The West Australian reflected on the storm this week over the publisher of Roald Dahl’s books producing modernised versions with the offensive bits rewritten. My thoughts on this are that mere depiction of offensive sentiments does not mean we condone those sentiments. A book can depict drugs and not be promoting drug use. Or racism. Or sexism. Or whatever topic you choose. It depends how the book handles that topic, of course. Even when it is outright offensive, do we really want to erase the fact that people ever wrote in this way? I’m much more down with books carrying outdated views still being published as they were originally written, but containing some sort of foreword that notes the offensive language and how community attitudes have changed. Outright banning these books or watering down the language doesn’t quite sit right with me. But I think it’s important to have these conversations where we debate these issues.
Reviews
1. Brand-spanking-new research indicates having more of a sense of purpose in life lowers your risk of death, perhaps especially for women, which is a cracking reason to give Make it Meaningful by Debbie Haski-Leventhal a go. The author grew up in a cult based on Judaism and left at eighteen after realising that the thirst for money and power of the group’s leaders was causing much misery to its followers. As I read this book – a clever blend of memoir and self-help – I was thinking ‘I’m either the worst possible person to read this or exactly who needs to hear its messages’. Let me explain. Much of what makes life meaningful according to Haski-Leventhal is helping others, whether that’s a random person on the street, our local community, volunteering at an animal shelter, or the CEO of a big company shifting the corporate goalposts from purely maximising shareholder profits to saving the planet alongside making money. In principle, I agree with this all day long. I used to be the type of person she describes in the book – someone with ‘shining eyes’ who is passionate about making the world a better place. I studied human rights subjects at law school and sought out work in public service in an area where I could see we were making a difference to people, if only in a small way. However, I left that job several years ago, and in the lead-up to the pandemic, my view of having a giving approach to life soured. I saw just how much I’d been manipulated and taken advantage of in the past by people (not at the public service job) because I was so eager to please. I decided to focus on pleasing myself for a while. For pretty much the first time in my life, I put myself first. I’d earned it. And I still feel like that’s fair. I need to keep that attitude, to a certain extent, of putting my own oxygen mask on before I help others. It’s not like I’m kicking people in the street as I pass them by or ignoring people who need assistance, but I certainly haven’t gone out of my way to embark on any big philanthropic projects. And I’m starting to feel like my time of slacking off in that regard should come to an end. I need to restore the shine in my eyes. I feel I might be able to do this again without burning out and feeling used. And reading this book has given me the inspo to start thinking along those lines again. Well worth a read (and an entry into this week’s giveaway, if you’d like the chance to win a free copy).
2. We saw Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on the weekend. I’d been spying some fairly hairy reviews saying the visuals are derivative of Star Wars and there’s only a light dusting of a plot, but let’s be honest: I see Paul Rudd and I click. Now that Betty White is no longer walking the earth (miss you, Betty, you absolute legend), surely Rudd is the most likeable actor on the planet? A serious contender at least. And yeah, I can see where people are coming from with their criticisms and the jokes don’t all land perfectly, but this is still a rollicking good time. Maybe watch it in Gold Class – you won’t mind if you miss a minute or two while your thick shake is being delivered.
Giveaway
The book giveaway this week is Make it Meaningful by Debbie Haski-Leventhal (a fresh copy – not the same one I read and reviewed). Pop your name and email address in here to enter.
Playlist of the Week
It’s the friggin’ apocalypse, but that’s cool:
1. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It – R.E.M.
2. I Feel It Coming – The Weeknd, Daft Punk
3. Apocalypse Dreams – Tame Impala
4. Panic – 2011 Remaster – The Smiths
5. I Think We’re Alone Now – Tiffany
6. Oblivion – Grimes
7. Run Boy Run – Woodkid
8. Hard Times – Paramore
9. Mr. Brightside – The Killers
10. My Way – Frank Sinatra
11. CROOKED – G-DRAGON
12. Saturday Night – Bay City Rollers
13. Just Tonight – The Pretty Reckless
14. People – Agust D
15. I Will Survive – Scary Pockets, Mario Jose