by naveen srivatsav
All in Reviews
The Future We Choose is written by Christiana Figueres (a personal hero who architected the foundations for the unprecedented Paris Agreement), and Tom Rivett-Carnac (founding partner at Global Optimism). The book calls for a wide-eyed far-sighted and big-hearted response to the climate crisis, wherein we confront the scale of the challenge not with denial or fatalism, but rather with uncommon resolve and creative imagination.
I’m just going to come out and say it - I unabashedly love this 2003 rendition of Peter Pan to bits. Everything from the casting and score, to the screenplay and special effects, comes together in a beautiful self-contained bundle of movie magic. Not a single frame or word is wasted, and yet is bursting at the seams with world-building and the hyper-detail of children’s imaginations. This adoration in itself was enough incentive to write this review, but my most recent viewing made me privy to entire layers of interpretation that I must’ve missed before. So let’s get into it!
I've been binge-watching Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I think is really funny. But when my wife asked me where the humour was, I couldn't really give her a clear answer. So in this essay, I'd like to explore that for a bit.
I assert that WW1984 is trying to tell an interesting postmodern fable: namely that the wisdom required to know oneself deeply, and the discipline to face the truth and the courage to follow through with the consequences, are all elements of the heroic path.
Yet another Netflix viral sensation has landed - I'm talking about the Korean psychological-thriller series Squid Game. With funding and creative freedom from Netflix, Squid Game pushes the boundaries of the “Battle Royale” genre, with a steady-handed maturity at handling its core themes even if it doesn’t surprise its viewers with sheer novelty.
I just had the pleasure of re-watching The Revenant, almost 5 years since its initial release. All those memories and impressions came flooding right back. A friend of mine once said that it wasn’t necessary to try hard at all to remember sublime poetry by heart even years after reading them, because the lines have been crafted to such perfection that it becomes impossible to imagine the thought-forms they embody in any other way, at least none quite so elegant.
I was pleasantly surprised at how good Sleeping Dogs really is. The quickest way to describe Sleeping Dogs is to say it’s a lot like Grand Theft Auto but set in Hong Kong, with a story about an undercover cop embedded in the local mafia. This description would be good enough for most gamers to figure out what to expect from the gameplay. But I think the comparison to Grand Theft Auto really is a disservice to Sleeping Dogs because United Front Studios has produced a game that is in many ways narratively superior to Grand Theft Auto.
The Outer Worlds by Obsidian Entertainment brings back the best elements of the genre of deep immersive role-playing games (RPGs), and then goes a bit further. Let's be honest, The Outer Worlds is better marketed as an interactive novel - very much in the same vein of Choose Your Own Adventure books from decades past. That said, I personally love and heartily recommend this immersive dieselpunk sim. Try it, you won't be disappointed.
My review for RYSE in one sentence: come for the spectacle on the surface, stay a while to reveal the fable within. And what a strange surprising fable it is - a tale illustrating the necessity of systems thinking. How? Read on and find out.
I recently watched a documentary called “Won’t You Be My Neighbour?”, whose subject is a certain Fred Rogers. What was surprising to me as a long-time fan of the man even though I’ve never seen the original programme myself, was the depth of the subject matter discussed in each episode and the philosophy that underpinned the core message. I’d like to explore these quietly radical aspects in this essay.
Atlanta is a TV series which eschews the steady pace of a narrative arc for irreverent non sequitur explorations of various themes within the thematic context of being black in America. Everything about Atlanta from the characters, locations, narratives and dialogues are not designed to entertain but rather to let you, the viewer, enter into its empty negative spaces. And that’s where you meet its unnamed uncredited main character…
Finally made time to sit through Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979). Definitely on the long side just short of 3 hours, and not necessarily because of the number of plot twists. I figured I might spend some time reflecting on the film since I think best when I write.