The Bullet List #25 — I Seriously Don't Watch Movies Anymore. At All. Edition

I'll be sharing these recommendation lists on here (again) and on TinyLetter. So you pick which way makes more sense to keep receiving them. If you want to subscribe, have a look here.

YouTube Channels

Binging with Babish: For someone who doesn’t really cook anything that would be universally recognized as edible, I sure do love a good YouTube food channel. Babish brings together my obsession with YouTube junk food shows and pop culture: he makes recipes based on food that shows up in films and TV! Where should you start? I'd take a chunk out of the Ross' Thanksgiving Sandwich (link above) from Friends or nibble at Chef’s Chocolate Salty Balls.

Cold Cuts: the latest project by Lebanon’s very own Mo Abdouni, founder of the irresistibly fun FIMP magazine (they had the best launch events) back in the day. This is his new video platform and his first couple of films — a doc about a Beirut drag queen (link above) and a music video for a German-Yemeni Berlin-based band — have quite rightly been lauded in Elle UK and Reorient.

Books

Raymond Chandler: I’ve been on a bit of a crime fiction binge of late, partly because it is my favorite genre and partly because I’m finally trying to write some myself, and figured I’d go back to one of the stalwarts. I tucked into the Big Sleep, which is excellent, if “problematic” (that word itself is becoming quite problematic). There’s no doubt he’s a master of the genre, but I could have done with a little less slapping of 'hysterical' female protagonists who appear to have their legs poking out of their dresses for most of the plot. It made me realize I should probably tuck into something a bit more contemporary, and potentially from another part of the world.

That’s where Parker Bilal comes in. Bilal is the pseudonym of British-Sudanese author Jamal Mahjoub, and his crime fiction series follows the investigations of Makana, a former Sudanese cop, now a refugee in Cairo, working as a low-rent private investigator. I love what I've read so far.

Reading Lists

Crime Writers of Color: My search for writers who aren’t white and male (again, nothing wrong with being white and male, far from it, it’s just that it doesn’t require much searching to find their output), took me to Twitter. I got a ton of very helpful recommendations there, which I put together in this helpful little reading list.

Documentary

Bowling for Columbine: Somehow my wife, who is a monumental Marilyn Manson fan, had never seen this Micheal Moore joint. So I wanted to show her the scene in which Manson is the most rational and intelligent human being in the film (which isn’t surprising if you know anything about him), and we ended up watching the whole thing, and somehow it seems like something that feels very relevant even today. It even got us into a rewatching a whole bunch of late 90s Louis Theroux documentaries which kind of predicted that America was about to lose its mind (more on that in a bit).

Music

Ryo Fukui - Scenery A regular at the Slowboat jazz bar in Sapporo, he taught himself to play piano aged 22 and released this beauty a mere six years later.

Rapp Snitch Kniches - MF Doom Love this track by prolific and slightly eccentric British rapper of Trinidadian-Zimbabwean origin MF Doom (Daniel Dumile).

The Bunny Tylers - Mothers Make Murderers Hypnotic track by Beirut drone/ambient duo The Bunny Tylers. The band is made up of Charbel Haber (of Scrambled Eggs and solo career fame) and Fadi Tabbal (of The Incompetents, and pretty much the producer behind everyone who plays alternative music in Beirut).

Articles

The Rise and Fall of the Sellout There is a rich tradition of calling artists who chose to not do exactly what you want them to do sellouts, but in this great Slate take (that digs into the terms origins on the left, and in jazz) Nicolay argues the word is on its way out of the musical lexicon.

The Lost Cause Rides Again: Don’t Give HBO’s Confederate the Benefit of the Doubt This impassioned piece by Ta-Nehisi Coates was written a couple of weeks before the deadly actions of white supremacists in Charlottesville. It argues that HBO’s green-lighting of an alternate history series where the South won the Civil War is tone deaf because it doesn't take into account the black contemporary experience in which it's not that clear that South actually lost and alternate histories don't seem so necessary because people of color in the South live that 'what if' every day. In light of the horrors of the past few weeks, it’s tough to see how this show pitches itself now and how it gets made at all.

How America Lost Its Mind Brilliantly written & sprawling essay on the origins of America’s gradual unmooring from reality, going all the way back to the 50s and 60s. If you wonder how millions of American's can watch InfoWars, read this.

TV Shows

Real Detective: Think Discovery ID true crime shows but with well-produced and acted reconstructions, no ad breaks and the most heart-wrenching interviews with real detectives you can think of.

Atypical: I cannot emphasize how brutally emotional, fun, well-written and raw this Netflix family drama about an 18 year old with autism, and the family around him, is. It is also brilliant acted, with star turns from Michael Rapaport, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Keir Gilchrist, Bridgette Lundy-Paine and the hilarious Nik Dodani.

Podcasts

Episode of 99% Invisible Ever wonder who comes up with emojis? Who do they pitch them to and who decides if it makes it onto your phone. Why does the little pile of poop look a bit weirder on Facebook than it does on WhatsApp? Well this predictably excellent episode of 99% Invisible has all the answers.

Instagram Accounts

Anyone who knows me or who follows me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, knows I'm a total sucker for bleak neon-lit landscapes at dusk and old cars in front of empty cafes. Think a mix of a Hopper painting meets Blade Runner meets a muscle car meet-up. Well Patrick Joust from Baltimore and Chris Malloy from Calgary are two of my favorite photographers who manage to capture that beautiful combination.

Films

I think I’m going to drop this section because I really don’t watch films at all anymore. Working on a blog post about why I think that is (spoiler: all the good writers have run off to TV and everyone with a smartphone in a theater is an asshole).

What To Expect When You Follow Me On Social Media

If you're reading this you've probably just followed me or are about to follow me on some form of social media platform. Now, I don't really have a ton of followers or anything, but I've recently seen some of the people I follow write up a post about the kind of stuff you can expect from them, and I find it refreshing and useful. It allows me to declutter my feed or choose to give them more weight in it. 

First thing you should know is that I'm interested in a range of things, I'm a bit of a dilettante, and have some form of ADHD. The core of what interests me revolves around the media & publishing industries, new books/films/music/shows that are out, multiculturalism & identity, and social & political affairs in the two places I call home — Britain and Lebanon. So within one day on Twitter I could post about a new hire at Spotify and what it means for their distribution strategy, a new show on Netflix and how I'm currently bingeing it, my obsession with Arab Noir Fiction, a piece by Riz Ahmed on representation in pop culture and something about Lebanese politics or how Brexit will be a disaster. I know that seems like a pretty broad palette, so consider this a fair warning that some stuff might be annoying,

I'll also post stuff about my own projects and those of my friends. I work at Keeward and Bookwitty on publishing, media and creative ecosystems, so chances are there'll be a healthy dose of self-promotion on that front. I also like to push my friends' projects, specifically absolutely anything my incredibly talented wife does, but also other friends who happen to be in music, film, TV, fashion and so on. I try to make sure it's always a bit relevant. 

I also do some writing whenever I can find time, so I'll share links to articles I've published and probably keep updating you on the progress of my second book (although it has stagnated for years, so now that it's moving forward again I don't want to jinx it by not shutting up about it). I'll also occasionally post shorter pieces that are observations or anecdotes from London, Beirut or the places I'm lucky enough to travel to. 

There, I hope that make sense. And I hope you'll feel this makes you want to connect and exchange ideas. 

See you out there. 

Recommended Video: The Man Who Cultivates Lebanon’s Wild Herb

Absolutely beautiful film by Nay Aoun.

"Mohammad Ali Neimeh's — better known as Abu Kassem — life revolves around Za’atar, Lebanon wild thyme plant. During the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon, he needed to change the way thyme was grown, out of fear he would be shot or shelled trying to get to his plants in the wild. The changes that he implemented have seen huge changes in the way that thyme is now grown in Lebanon. This is his story."

Nay has also produced and directed two other films about the slower, more meditative — and disappearing — side of Lebanon. The Backgammon Artisans (https://vimeo.com/208229697) and Keeping It In The Family: 100 Years of Dibs Kharroub (https://vimeo.com/196710217). 

What I really love about Nay's films is that they don't traffic in Lebanese nostalgia-porn, although the subjects would easily lend themselves to that. They tell human stories, and the truly affecting parts of them are about relationships and resilience and just putting up with life for ages. Truly beautiful.

The Bullet List Now Lives on TinyLetter

I have toyed around with different ways of sharing the bits and pieces of pop culture that I find. I'll often post them on Facebook & Twitter, I tried doing The Bullet Lists here on my site and on Bookwitty. But after subscribing to a few excellent TinyLetter newsletters I realized that would be a good home for the kind of recommendations I make. 

You can find the first three newsletters here, or if you trust me (your shouldn't) you can go straight here to subscribe. 

The Bullet List #16: Nora Ephron, Jon Stewart and Edward Snowden

Just three quick recommendations this week.

First off, if you have missed Jon Stewart — and I'm sure you have — you need to watch this hour and sixteen minutes where he comments on everything from Trump to Clinton in conversation with David Axelrod. He's cool, detached, resigned to some extent but passionate as ever about the subjects. His time on his New Jersey farm has served him well in terms of serenity. He speaks at length about his political activism (which has largely been executed away from the public eye). 

Secondly, check out this half-hour episode of VICE on HBO featuring Edward Snowden talking about the state of the surveillance industry. It is absolutely chilling (even if you've heard him speak about it before in CitizenFour or in interviews such as the one with John Oliver). It'll leave you itching to throw away every electronic device you own. 

And finally, and possibly most importantly, please seek out 'Everything is Copy' a moving portrait of Nora Ephron directed by her son Jacob Bernstein. I'm ashamed to say I didn't know much about her beyond the fact that she basically created the romantic comedy genre at the movies and passed away in 2012. This portrait of Ephron, told through the voices of those who knew her best (friends, family, ex-husbands), reveals a titan of creativity, an aggressively public person who revolutionized the essayistic form and ended her life with a final act of defiance, choosing a very private death. She is absolutely spell-binding to watch in interviews, I don't think I have ever listened to someone as captivating. Please seek out this great documentary. 

The Bullet List #15: A Few LongfoRm Pieces

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener

Let me just start by saying that this is a truly phenomenal piece of writing.  Anna Wiener, who has written for The Atlantic, New Republic, The Paris Review and Vice, is a beautiful voice in the current prose landscape. Her n+1 week that has been doing the rounds since it was published online has earned comparisons to Bret Easton Ellis. 'Uncanny Valley' is ostensibly a memoir piece about working in the man-child-on-steroids universe of a Silicon Valley startup but it ends up saying a lot about where we are as a society. If you read one thing this week, make it this. 

Vermilion Daze by Estebraq Ahmad

The Common, published out of Amherst College, has just put out its eleventh issue is and it features a lot of great writing by Arab authors in translation. I picked out a piece by Kuwait's Estabraq Ahmad who is a graduate of the University of Iowa International Writing Program. Her short story collections include The Darkness of the Light, for which she won the Laila al-Othman Prize; Throwing Winter High, for which she was won a state encouragement award; The Things Standing in Room 9; and Give Me 9 Words. She is the producer of the radio show The Cultural Café.

When Wellness Is A Dirty Word by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Yes, fitness clubs can be dehumanizing orgies of exhibitionism and self-regard. But intellectual scorn for exercise misunderstands why we work out. 

"If the thinking classes were once skeptical of these wellness pursuits as woo-woo and anti-intellectual, their marginal status during the 1960s and ’70s at least bestowed a measure of countercultural legitimacy. Then, in the 1980s and ’90s, the language of well-being was commercialized by a booming fascination with fitness and an array of products and experiences to satisfy it. Cue Christopher Lasch’s persuasive admonition that affluent America was devolving into a sinkhole of narcissistic navel-gazing (sculpt those abs!).

Now that luxury mind-body spas and juice bars are familiar totems of gentrification, and Fortune 500 corporations roll out "McMindfulness" seminars and on-site wellness centers, engaging in such practices can feel like an endorsement of a superficial, bourgeois mainstream — a mainstream against which many intellectuals define themselves."

The Lonely City by Olivia Laing (Review by Rachel Syme)

From New York to London to Tokyo, anyone who has lived in a large metropolis can attest to the eerie and inexplicable feeling of experiencing utter loneliness in the midst of some of the most populated and vibrant urban centers in the world. Rachel Syme's great review of Olivia Laing's 'The Lonely City' is an interesting place to start thinking about what is at the origin of this odd feeling. 

Tip for Reading Longform Articles: If you've got a Kindle, get an Instapaper account, put a "Send to Kindle" bookmark in your bookmark bar and every time you're on something that's a bit long-ish to read on a phone or desktop click the bookmark. You'll automatically get the article in your Kindle library in the right format. You'll find yourself reading more stuff in no time. 

The Bullet List #14: Daredevil, Nerdwriter, radiooooo and Eye in The Sky

Daredevil

If you've been a sentient being at some point since 2008, it is pretty much impossible to not have crossed paths with the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point in your audiovisual life. I've never been a massive fan of comic books, aside from a stint in the mid-nineties when I collected them from a store in Westboro Ottawa, but Marvel have been doing a great job of pulling in the skeptics. While I've never connected with the films (I've seen bits of pieces of the Iron Mans, fell asleep in Avengers, have no idea why Thor even exists or what accent Hemsworth is trying to do, but loved Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy), I've fallen hard for the franchises Netflix output. Jessica Jones got me hooked, more for its noir pedigree than its superhero stuff, and now I'm popping episodes of Daredevil like its Advil and I'm 33 and hungover (which, incidentally, I might just be). The world-building is truly something phenomenal, and while it is certainly dark and excessively violent, there is something very soft at the center of the show. I'm now on the second season, and four episodes in it is looking amazing. Oh and Jon Bernthal as The Punisher is one of the best bits of casting on TV in about a decade. 

Nerdwriter

Given that I essentially consume all my "TV" culture through Netflix, BBC iPlayer and YouTube at this point, I've decided to go on a subscription binge, to make sure my feed includes something more substantial that Buzzfeed "Old People Try Pepsi From Japan" videos and Jimmy Kimmel pranks. One channel I've recently started following is the excellent Nerdwriter.  Created and run by Evan Puschak, The Nerdwriter is a weekly web series that aims to cultivate worldview. Puschak, a former film student, covers a wide variety of topics through the prism of pop culture, from The Diderot Effect to Free Will and Reddit to Kintsugi. His series “Understanding Art” takes deep dives into specific cultural artifacts, my favourites being the ones that have to do with films. 

Radiooooo.com

Whether you get it through Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music or any other of the hundreds of platforms, music discovery is something we all do with various degrees of passivity or activity. In comes Radioooo, with its silly name and fun interface. The premise is easy: select a country, select a decade and start enjoying some hitherto unknown tunes. There's something about it that reminds me of using Encarta '95. A sort of limited guided exploration that we've lost with the web and its endless rabbit holes. 

Eye In The Sky

Ostensibly about a single drone strike in Kenya involving Al Shabab militants, this film is actually a very important look at the wider state of contemporary warfare. Featuring chinless bureaucrats and politicians (who wouldn't be out of place on The Thick of It), bellicose and detached military brass, plenty of collateral damage in distant countries, it forces a long hard look at the way war is waged. I'm not sure how much of it is factually accurate, in terms of both the technology and the legal nitpicking that goes on in order to estimate how many kids are OK as collateral damage, but even if that accuracy is 45% (a number you'll understand the significance of if you want it) it is still a terrifying insight into the events behind the column inches in The Guardian that we try to make sense of. It is solidly acted, with the always brilliant Helen Mirren at its heartless core and the sorely missed Alan Rickman bringing a rickmanesque quality to proceedings. 

The Bullet List #13: Pop Culture Recommendations for The Week Ahead

Capital

Based on John Lanchester's  eponymous novel, this three-part BBC mini-series from the makers of Broadchurch is a masterful look at early 21st century London. The story — ostensibly about a series of mysterious postcards the residents of Pepys Road start receiving — takes on a lot: from gentrification and rising property prices, to the state of contemporary art, to issues around Islamaphobia, to upper middle class performance anxiety, to the expansion of the working classes with arrivals from Zimbabwe, Poland and Hungary. It's a lot of narrative to shove into one street in South London suburbia, but it works somehow. Toby Jones is masterful as a vile banker falling apart at the seams, as is Gemma Jones as Petunia Howe, one of the streets sole surviving residents from the financially modest 60s. 

Billions

Staying with themes of financial excess, Showtime's Billions is a treat.  In an age of prestige television where every show is positioning itself as worthy of some sort of deeper analysis, this show is gloriously soapy and revels in that soapiness. My friend Karim Safieddine (founder of video on demand platform Cinemoz) was the first to bring this to my attention, pointing out rightly that this is a show that has no aspirations to enter the canon or become a staple of high-brow popular culture. It just wants to entertain the hell out of you. Damien Lewis is very Damien Lewis-y as slimey hedge fund 9-11-profiteer Bobby Axelrod.  His nememis Chuck Rhoades is played gleefully by Paul Giamatti chewing up the scenery.  

American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson

Anyone who was alive and had access to a TV in 1994 remembers everything about the OJ Simpson trial. It was such an all-American story involving murder, Los Angeles, a fallen NFL hero, a Ford Bronco, televised courtroom hearings, and a tense racial narrative. Two decades later, the case is the subject of an anthology series on FX. The casting choices feel odd initially. Travolta's eyebrows are distracting, Cuba Gooding Jr seems to be overacting as OJ, and David Schwimmer plays a perpetually-confused Robert Kardashian. Everyone looks a bit familiar and not familiar at all, so there's an uncanny valley quality to the first episode. But as you go along, that kind of blends into the background and you're left with a well-told story that is revisited with an attention to contemporary context in the aftermath of Fergusson. The celebrity culture stuff is occasionally on the nose (such as with Kardashian's lunchtime chat with his daughters Kim and Khloe — yes, the ones you're thinking of) but overall it's an engrossing courtroom drama.  

Big Black Delta

Big Black Delta is the solo project of Mellowdrone vocalist/bassist Jonathan Bates. Bates launched the project in 2010 after becoming frustrated with the logistics of a band. His self-titled debut album, Big Black Delta was released on his own label and inspired by the Blade Runner and Solaris soundtracks apparently.