Friday's Five ✋ #221
Happy Friday, happy Holidays, and merry belated Christmas! ☀️
It’s that time of the year and I’m enjoying it. So much that I didn’t send out a Friday’s Five last Friday, the first Friday since starting the newsletter. I spent the holidays in Belgium to celebrate, spend quality time, food, and wine with my family in Brussels and in my home town.
What I’m reading 📖
Damon Galmut’s ‘The Promise’ won the Booker Prize 2021 and charts the decline of a white family during South Africa’s transition out of apartheid. I’m about a third way through the book and love Galmut’s writing and the story that is slowly developing.
What I’m listening to 🎧
‘The Watch’ is a late podcast find for me this year and I’ve grown to really enjoy it. If you’re into movie and television, this is a great podcast hosted by Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald in which they dissect the shows and feature films of the moment. Some episodes I recently enjoyed: The Best TV Shows of 2021, this interview with the creator of ‘Succession’ Jesse Armstrong, and why they love ‘Station Eleven’ which I will write more about next week.
What I’m watching 📺
OxyContin, the Sackler family, and the opioid crisis in the United States have been present in the news for a long time now. It’s an infuriating reality that has been widely covered in books, the media, and television. ‘Dopesick’ is an 8-part Hulu mini series that dissects the entire story from the late 90ies until today. It’s incredibly well cast, played, and produced. I highly recommend it. Watch the trailer.
What I’m thinking about 🧠
The Saturday before Christmas I visited Bozar in Brussels, an impressive cultural centre designed by Victor Horta in the art deco style. Bozar currently features an exhibition by David Hockney on loan by the Tate Museum and his collection ‘The Beginning of Spring’ painted entirely on an iPad. What I loved about it is that he traveled to a place in Normandy to make a painting every day during the season’s change from winter to spring. What a great way to train your daily awareness and observation.
What else?! 💯
Last week we released the final Role Models episode for the year and just like we started the year, Isa and I are ending it. With a reflective conversation between us two to look back at the year, share what we’ve experienced personally and professionally, and some learnings from this year.
Thanks for reading, see you on the other side, and have a great weekend!
David