Category Archives: Hedonism

The second Roaring 20s has already started but will also bring economic polarisation, a leading analyst has said.

Spiros Malandrakis, head of research alcoholic drinks, Euromonitor International, told The Spirits Business last December that he believed a second Roaring 20s would come about following the pandemic.

Speaking to The Spirits Business again last month, Malandrakis noted that this would be a decade-long period of hedonism but combined with the economic turmoil also experienced during the 1920s.

If anything, the Roaring 20s has already started in countries that have already reopened. But one thing to clarify is we are talking about a decade, not a year, not the next six months, Malandrakis said.

When I talk about the Roaring 20s, Im mostly referring to the psychology of embracing indulgence and hedonism, rather than everyone will be buying more premium spirits.

The 1920s was not only parties; it was a period of macro-economic upheaval, which well see now. It was a period of extremely polarised reactions with what people were buying, and society becoming more polarised the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

This undercurrent was also part of the Roaring 20s; lots of people lost jobs, the situation was quite precarious.

Malandrakis, does, however, remain hopeful about the recovery of the spirits sector.

My general outlook when it comes to all spirits is that we are definitely in a period of recovery, this is something we have seen in markets that managed to fully reopen in the last few months, he said. The on-trade proved to be much quicker to bounce back than people expected, in all markets where it could.

We are seeing new lockdowns and the appearance of new variants. But still, overall, the situation this year is definitely a massive improvement on 2020 in my mind.

There will, of course, be stops and starts, periods when it feels like two steps back and one forward, but in a way we are reaching the final stages of the nightmare.

Spirits are proving theyre resilient, and in the on-trade consumers are very willing to rush back into on-trade establishments whenever theyre able to.

Earlier this month, SB explored the state of the on-trade in four regions: Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Africa and the Middle East.

More:

Second Roaring 20s not just about hedonism, analyst warns The Spirits Business - News Nation USA

Lifestyle

13 Dec, 2021 12:51 AM2 minutes to read

Researches beleive that breakfast has a 'utilitarian goal', one single purpose such as speed or weight control. Photo / Getty Images

While we try to make our lunch entertaining and our dinner a delight that we vary and experiment with, when it comes to breakfast we tend to eat the same thing day after day.

Researchers believe that the reason for this is that breakfast has a "utilitarian goal", one single purpose, such as speed or weight control.

Meanwhile, we view lunch and dinner with hungry hedonism, meaning that we seek pleasure in the experience.

Dr Romain Cadario, of the Rotterdam School of Management, who led the study said: "[It] came about because my colleagues and I talked about always having the same breakfast, but how we didn't worry about it being boring or tedious.

"However we would not even consider having the same dinner for three or four nights in a row."

The study saw 1275 people in the US, aged 18 to 99, record what they ate for every meal. Their choices showed that the volunteers were more likely to eat the same thing for breakfast than lunch or dinner, but there was more variation at breakfast at the weekends.

A separate survey of 199 people found that the majority of those questioned would repeat the same breakfast for at least three days during the week.

With more breakfast variation being shown on the weekends it seems likely that time is a key factor is our repetitive morning habits. Choices like cereal and toast are quick, affordable and portable. We don't get excited by the idea of eating these simple repetitive breakfasts, but they serve an important role in keeping our mornings running smoothly.

12 Dec, 2021 04:00 PMQuick Read

12 Dec, 2021 12:00 AMQuick Read

10 Dec, 2021 01:15 AMQuick Read

9 Dec, 2021 11:25 PMQuick Read

Original post:

Why your morning toast is more about habit than pleasure - New Zealand Herald

Sir, Kindly allow me to thank George McNally (Letters, December 14th) for his sagacious hopes that Taoiseach Michel Martin stops using the absurd slogan A shared future, as no one knows what lies ahead for any of us in life.

What a relief. Ill not bother relating those scientific alarmist reports about climate change indicators to my grandchildrens futures so, or responding to medical sciences predictions for health outcomes, and get back to my usual Im all right m fin hedonism, as those chickens are unlikely to return to roost in the course of my span. Ill just leave the engine running in the interests of my oil shares, and keep on digging until I hear the shovel clang on the underside of Uluru. Pass the eggnog. Yours, etc,

DAMIEN FLINTER,

Headford,

Co Galway.

Sir, May I suggest that George McNally is somewhat erring when he takes Michel Martin to task for his use of the phrase A shared future. The argument proffered by Mr McNally, that none of us knows what lies ahead in life, doesnt abrogate the aspiration of a shared future. Ask any bride and groom, for instance, as they exchange their wedding vows if not knowing what the future holds undermines or diminishes their commitment to a shared future. Yours, etc,

MICHAEL GANNON,

Kilkenny.

Link:

Future tense - The Irish Times

The Astronauts When Youre Not So High (Grow Your Own)

12/DL

Out Now

The new Astronauts release lives up to the claim of being the band at their best. For fans of dubbed up punk rock, chemical beats and a festival vibe.

The perennial Mark Astronaut and his backing band are back. He is one of the performers who, over the years, has always been there. The Astronauts popularity appears to wax and wane but with a core of people who appreciate what they are up to. They almost have cult status and are beyond easy definition. One leg in the anarcho-punk camp and another in the free festival circuit, much like their early label mates The Mob and fellow travellers Zounds, they also incorporate elements of folk and psychedelia to create an ethereal sound. In a previous attempt to capture the enigma of The Astronauts, I said they evoke crusties with [Special] Brew in hand and festivals when they were counter cultural happenings.

Grow Your Own say this release is 23 minutes if The Astronauts at their best and Id have to concur. What Im hearing from the record as a whole is a reflective look at how the hedonism and hope of the last 3 decades went awry.

The opening track Heresy is, in my opinion, the outstanding song of the 4 featured on this 12 inch extra player. If I was till DJing this track would make it into the set for sure. The backing track is very much in the tradition of when punks dub it up and play reggae properly the experts being The Ruts. It also reminds me of the Angelic Upstarts track I Understand. Its upbeat, the bass and drums locking in to drive it forward. There are a few echo effects and overall has a flavour of 80s/90s dubby festival favourites AOS3, RDF and PAIN.

The heresies summed up are the loss of sharing common resources and community, meaningless rock-n-roll antics that are a disgrace to the scene, and the lies of Tony Blair betraying socialism in favour of war (both lateral and war on the poor). As the songs draws to a close, the snare rattles and there is a dub reprise featuring the dulcet tones of Chris Bowsher of RDF/Military Surplus/Faction.

Have It is dancey in a different way with drums emulating the repetitive beats of a rave sound system building during the vocal delivery. A groovy keyboard provides plenty bounce in the interlude between the words. Despite the fact that it seems to lament the dark side of what eventually happened to some of the fun loving rave generation, it is still a happy tune. A banging tune, a chemical beat. Weekends used to be so neat. Now you wonder what it all meant having it large in a field in Kent Its not all backward looking though, as the last line intones a glimmer of hope: And tomorrow could be better still

Listen to Heresy by The Astronauts

High is very much standard fare from The Astronauts. It ranges between subdued indie and roaring garage punk with little flourishes during the quiet parts and some great backing vocals. Maybe there is even a touch of Here and Now in there. Sex and drugs but no rocknroll the song paints a nightmarish picture of abusive behaviour. And there is a come down. Whatcha gonna do when youre not so high?.

Melissas Party starts on a floaty sound with a heavily echoey guitar (thats delay to you techy types) before a gently picked, clucking guitar accompanies softly intoned words. There is a crashing emphasis to line endings or key words with keyboards and cymbals. When the song picks up it has a pounding drive. Its the perfect song to showcase the full range of Marks poetic voice. The bass and drums slowly creeping around like some malicious entity invading the happy space. More nightmarish scenarios abound. Where all the cakes are coated in charlie and all the all the booze is laced with Strychnine, Melissas Party soon goes wrong as one of the participants stops breathing. And now the partys getting rowdy. Theyre going to sacrifice a junkie and dance until they all go crazy

Marks delivery, as ever, shifts from poetry to singing, from lament to exasperation to anger. This gear shift perhaps gives it more gravitas than a band who are angry all the time.

The striking cover art and insert looks like a watercolour but I gleaned from Facebook chatter that it is in fact from a clever photo taken by Steph of GYO/Anthrax/Hagar The Womb.

Available from Grow Your Own Records

~

Words by Nathan Brown. Check out hisLouder Than War Author Archive.

Excerpt from:

The Astronauts: When You're Not So High - EP review - Louder Than War

JIM HARRISONComplete PoemsEdited by Joseph Bednarik

A lot of people know Jim Harrisons fiction, and theres a lot of it to know before his death, in 2016, he published a dozen novels and nine collections of novellas. Still more people, who wouldnt recognize Harrisons name at all, have seen films for which he wrote the screenplays or source material: Revenge, Wolf, the hugely successful Legends of the Fall. But even the readers who know him may not know that Harrison began as a poet and remained one for the rest of his life. His first published book was a poetry collection, 1965s Plain Song; his last book of poems during his lifetime, 2016s Dead Mans Float, was published about two months before he died. In between he published a dozen or so other collections, adding up to a massive and bounteous body of work that would have made Harrison a significant American writer even if he had never published in any other genre.

From the beginning, Harrison wrote about two primary and intertwined themes: pleasure and death. The pleasures of Harrisons writings tend to the Hemingwayesque, and are set largely in his native Midwest: hunting, fishing, hiking and generally being outdoors; cooking, eating and drinking; sex, women and conversation. Sometimes the pleasures are more reflective, more mental than physical; in all the talk about women, for instance, one senses that for Harrison the talk was half the fun, and the wanting often mattered more, or was more satisfying, than the getting.

Other delights, particularly gastronomical ones, he enjoyed with abandon. Food and drink appear frequently in his poems. Sometimes they are metaphors: If you cant bow, youre dead meat. Youll break / like uncooked spaghetti. Or he will put a dissertation about rivers on hold to describe a recent meal, or insert into a long poem a detailed weeks eating log with items like

a lamb leg pasted with Dijonmustard, soy, garlic; Chinese pork ribs; menudojust for Benny & me as no one else would eat ithad to cook tripe five hours then mix with hominyand peppers with chorizo tacos on the side;copious fresh vegetables, Burgundy, Columbard, boozewith all of the above.

Or he will pause, as he does quite frequently, to worry that he is eating too much, drinking too much, that he is getting fat, is no longer desired by women, that he is growing old before his time.

Acknowledging pleasures costs, and its ultimate ephemerality, is the unavoidable flip side of Harrisons celebratory hedonism. To connect with the body, the source of pleasure, is to connect with death. The first poem in Harrisons first book concludes with an image of death, rendered in brute material terms with an emphasis on the visual: the dead, frayed bird, / the beautiful plumage, / the spoor of feathers / and slight, pink bones. The poems in the last book, Dead Mans Float, dwell obsessively on mortality. At my age you dont think about the future / because you dont have one. Because of death my phone book / is shrinking. So endlessly dolorous, this sweet death. Perhaps the bluntest and truest statement comes in a midbook, midcareer poem called Larsons Holstein Bull: Death steals everything except our stories.

View original post here:

Famed for Fiction, Jim Harrison Was Also a Poet of Prodigious Appetites - The New York Times

We know youve been waiting to farwell whatever the hell 2021 was by making up for months of lockdown in Sydney. Short of convincing one of your mates to sacrifice their house for a big blowout, the best parties are going to be out and about at some of the citys best venues. There are plenty of New Years Eve events going round Sydney at the moment, with tickets to many of them steadily running out as blokes scramble together some last-minute NYE plans.

To help, weve rounded up 6 New Years Eve parties in Sydney which we think will help you roll into 2022 the right way.

Caviar stations, raw bars, coal fired grills, and free-flowing magnums of Perrier-Jout. Yeah, its looking like Shell House have managed to throw together one of the best NYE parties around. The swish four-in-one mega venue has immediately become one of the most talked-about new Sydney bars of the year, so it would make sense that the prodigious team behind this venue go all out to make sure Shell House rushes in 2022 as Sydneys new hospitality heavyweight champion.

The team clearly arent out-of-touch either, managing to curate a live music program led by ARIA award-winner Genesis Owusu, flanked by the likes of Motorik Vibe Council, Cassette, and Dangerous Dan. Not a bad shout when you the boys are swinging between the dancefloor and The Clocktower Bars lush caviar and martini station.

Tickets: $750pp

RELATED: The 38 Best New Restaurants In Sydney

Few whisky bars in Australia command the same level of respect as The Doss House. Located in The Rocks, this suave and sophisticated drinking den is a hub of activity year-round, skewed towards that hardy prohibition-era atmosphere to capture a kind of old-world hedonism. The setting is perfect for a good, old-fashioned New Years Eve Prohibition party, turning a bar into a love letter from the 1920s.

Given its in The Rocks, youll have a nice little vantage point with views of the Bridge for Sydneys New Years Eve fireworks, which you should be well sloshed for given tickets include a 3-hour beverage pack of beer, wine, and house spirits from 9pm. Youll also get a drink on arrival, some bubbles at Midnight, and a bunch of sharing platters to help you soak up all that booze.

Tickets: From $145pp

Freshie favourite Harbord Hotel revealed their impressive refurbishment earlier this year, so this will be the first NYE they have and it looks like theyre out to make a big impact for locals. No doubt this place will be teeming with the typical Northern Beaches crowd, starting the night with a four-course dinner in the venues Balsa restaurant, where $115pp will net you the feast and a glass of Veuve on arrival. Fork out an extra $55 and youll get an additional 2-hour drinks package. Either way, youll also get access to the main bar for the NYE party, with DJ-producer Generik leading a line-up that also includes Sypress Sounds, Ned Kelly, Dr Mendez, and Bobby Fischer.

Tickets: From $115pp

One of the best bars in the world, Maybe Sammy, will be charging in 2022 with two different price packages for NYE. The first, $150pp, will get you 2 cocktails paired with a grazing menu and a glass of Taittinger to help make the fireworks taste a bit better. Bump that up to $320pp and youll get some caviar, Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, and cocktails from the top shelf.

Tickets: From $150pp

You already knew Cafe Sydney will be charging a premium for that perfect Sydney Harbour view. The lush rooftop restaurant will be decking out its private dining room and small terrace for NYE, planning a six-course dinner paired with premium Australian wines and Perrier Jout. The price? $980pp, making it one of the more punchy New Years Eve parties of the year.

Tickets: $980pp

If you want to stick to the other side of the bridge on New Years Eve hit up SoCal Neutral Bay. Youll only need to fork out $75pp for the generous menu of Mexican bites being planned, with a cocktail on arrival and the option to add on a 2-hour drinks package for $55pp.

Tickets: From $75pp

Read the rest here:

The Best New Year's Eve Events In Sydney To Give 2021 The Flick - Boss Hunting

DESIGN DISPATCH Our daily look at the world through the lens of design. BY THE EDITORS December 10, 2021

The Design Dispatch offers expertly written and essential news from the design world crafted by our dedicated team. Think of it as your cheat sheet for the day in design delivered to your inbox before youve had your coffee.Subscribe now.

Have a news story our readers need to see?Submit it here.

Theres perhaps no better time to indulge in the fusion of art and design than during Miami Art Week, which may explain why Stephan Weishaupt waited until then to debut his latest gallery concept. The founder of Avenue Road and Man of Parts has carved a niche with his vision of amassing a tight-knit group of collaborators that produce lovingly crafted furniture with clean lines, sculptural panache, and intriguing backstories that makes each an immediate classic. With his gallery concept, called 5oz in reference to the amount of champagne typically poured into a flute, Weishaupt now aims to bring that distinct point of view to presenting blue-chip art in relaxed, home-like settings that eschew the clinical white cube.

The appointment-only gallery and showroom unfolds across two sumptuous Miami Beach residencesone an Art Deco gem noted for terrazzo floors, fluted columns, and lush flora, and the other a Palm Springsinspired bungalow next door. Inside, the power of this fusion is clear. An architectural print by photographer Peter Steinhauer lends a welcome dose of drama to a vignette anchored by a pristine solid oak desk and console by Sebastian Herkner. Acrylic glass sheets by Regine Schumann, meanwhile, bathe the interior in a chromatic aura not unlike the Magic City glow after dusk. The effect, much like the gallerys name, is intoxicating.

As the world becomes attuned to a new order of workspaces centered around thoughtful design that sparks creativity and collaboration, NeueHouse is launching an all-access pass to its outposts in New York, Los Angeles, and soon Miami and Venice. The Salon membership also offers unlimited entry to its shared offices, designed by the Rockwell Group, with eight flexible work days each month alongside its events and programming.

On the heels of his noir debut with the Swiss watchmaker, the Japanese designer changes gears as he launches a second timepiece under the Hublot Classic Fusion range. The 100-piece limited-edition drop sports a scintillating watch face composed of 384 gemstones inset in the shape of a smiling flowera hallmark design of the artist that marks this partnership as a playful marriage of whimsical designs and luxury craftsmanship.

Following the July 11 protests, Cuban authorities arrested artists whose work was deemed a threat to national governance. Now, an open letter signed by art and cultures biggest names, including Meryl Streep, writer Paul Auster, and cartoonist Jules Feiffer, are calling on the government to release the detained creatives on the pretext of free artistic expression. Throwing artists in jail or exiling them from the country foreverin response to their art, words, and ideasis abusive and inhumane, reads the letter. Art should be free from censorship and repression, in Cuba and everywhere.

Through a prodigious career that spans 70 years and included partnerships with Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, Balkrishna Doshi has received the 2022 award by the Royal Institute of British Architects following his Pritzker Prize, making him the first Indian architect to secure both accolades. The founder of Vastu Shilpa Consultants is slated to receive the award during the 2022 ceremony for his efforts in advancing Indian architecture with capital projects like the Atira Guest House, the CEPT University, and the Amdavad ni Gufa art gallery.

In depicting how children interact with Afghanistans turbulent political climate, a poignant conversation following the militant takeover by the Taliban, Aziz Hazaras Bow Echo display at the Ukrainian art institution was named the winner of the Future Generation Art Prize 2021, a $100,000 award for young artists. Describing the work as a gesture of remembrance and mourning that doubles as an urgent call for attention to a perilous situation, the prize jury notes that the piece holds many paradoxes in a simple scene: the playfulness of childhood, the limitlessness of grief, the conquest of land and territory, and the precarity of the future.

The housing startup Nabr has revealed its first development in SoFA, San Joses arts and culture district. Founded by architect Bjarke Ingels, WeWork alum Roni Bahar, and the former head of Sidewalks Model Lab, Nicolas Chim, the company is based on a software platform that will allow residents to custom-design their living spaces and provide a seamless financing model that supposedly puts residents on a pathway to homeownership. Our goal is to pioneer a new sustainable urban lifestyle, says Ingels. At SoFA One, residents have access to a Scandinavian standard of quality of life, yet they are still in the hub of Silicon Valley, Americas greatest innovation ecosystem. Residents get the best of both worlds.

Mean Girls star Rajiv Surendra debuts a pottery collection with PlantShed.

Scientists excavate the tomb of two ancient Egyptians with golden tongues.

Now a college staple, Cup Noodles was intended as a cosmopolitan luxury.

Sanjay Puri shapes an Indian university building with sloping green terraces.

Read the original post:

Avenue Roads New Gallery Concept Nods to Hedonism, and Other News - Surface Magazine

Defected has announced that it will be returning to Brazil in the new year to host two nights of parties.

The first party on Friday April 1 will be held at So Paulos ARCA, which is situated in the centre of the city and has already hosted events from Circoloco, Solomun and Elrow.

The next day, Saturday April 2, the party heads over to the award-winning venue, Green Valley in Cambori.

Read this next: Review: The ecstatic, extravagant spectacle of Defected Croatia

Line-ups for both events are still to be announced but partygoers can expect massive headline DJs alongside Defecteds beloved residents for two nights of house hedonism across one of the worlds most vibrant dance scenes, according to Defected.

In June 2021, the Green Valley nightclub which some describe as a festival, was almost completely destroyed by a freak cyclone, so this party will be a momentous moment as it returns fully recovered.

Defected has hosted many other events in the past including this years Defected Croatia which was a six-day event that saw the likes of Armand Van Helden, Gorgon City, Honey Dijon, Moodymann, Purple Disco Machine and many more.

Read this next: Desande is the growing dance music movement taking over the Brazilian mainstream

To sign up for exclusive early access tickets click here and for more information on Defected events head to Defected.com/events.

Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter

Read the original:

Defected returns to Brazil for two parties in 2022 - Mixmag

In the year of COVID, everyone had to manage what to do with an abundance of free time from fighting the COVID-19 (pounds) to watching every TV series out there. Sure, working from home became popular, but admit itpeople finished their work early frequently. Again, they were faced with all that free time. What is there to do?

Working in the garden? Meh. Working out? Sure, but there is a risk of getting callous hands. Working for a raise? That could be a clever idea, but usually, one worth doing the following Monday. Heres an idea:

What used to imply hedonism and getting ess-faced now means faceplanting into a couch with a bowl of Cheetos and watching T.V. for about 19 hours straight. Binge-watching is the newest addiction, and people love it because its amusement. Think about it: a is the article in Latin meaning non or not, and muse means to think. Binge-watching doesnt require thinking.

Ready to sign up for that? Millions of people worldwide did this year, and here are the top 10 TV series to prove it. Despite the streamer or network, these Top 10 series created the most butt-marks in couches today.

The exciting part about this series featuring Jean Smart, the woman of this TV year (more on that later), is that some may know her from Designing Women or 24 or even Kim Possible (she was Dr. Ann Possible). Yet, as Deborah Vance, she is all those roles in one. She is the Queen of Vegas and a schlepping stand-up comic in residency who hires an up-and-comer Ava (played superbly by a real-life newcomer Hannah Einbinder) to spruce up her act.

The hijinks ensue, and Smart captures us all. You want to hate Vance as she challenges Ava Daniels on everything, but thats only because she is perpetually stuck in time believing her press. As we discover, she isnt stuckshe chooses to stay there for many reasons. If you like dramedies, this one should be necessary for your binge list.

Buy in. Suck it up. Ted Lasso is the warm hug people have been missing this winter. Jason Sudeikis is part Phil Jackson, part Bob Ross. Hes also part superhero because he saved AppleTV+. Period.

Ted is an affable coach from the South who takes his ball overseas for some English football lessons. His folksy and schmaltzy approach to coaching and counseling is mesmerizing. Sport is the backdrop. A study on life is what this series is truly about for the average viewer. Lassos happy-happy joy-joy fixation is endearing, specifically how he uses his backwoods witticisms to reach his players.

Season 2 of this TV series alone is worth a trial for this streamer. Watch them both, and folk may keep it to catch up on whatever else Tom Hanks is throwing down these days.

We are in the halcyon days of CBMs, but as many of them compete for the sizzle, Invincible gets right to the steak. If you go to a CBM solely for the pomp and circumstance, this will not be your jam. But, if you can watch an animated comic book series with as much giddiness as the latest Marvel or D.C. movie in IMAX, you will adore this Simon Racioppa depiction (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Fangbone) of Robert Kirkmans beloved Image comic.

And if that doesnt impress you, what about the impressive and bodacious voice acting talent of Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, and this newcomer named Mark Hamill. (Theres a future for this guy.) Its an animated series that makes you proud its animated. The plot twists, characterization, and tremendous build-up for Grand Regent Thragg and the surprising Omni-Man. Good on Image Comics for finally etching some room in the Marvel vs. D.C. tug-of-war.

This is the series you wish you knew about before now because you could have missed a gem. Devery Jacobs plays Elora, who is usually with her three partners-in-crime Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), Bear (DPharaoh Woon-A-Tai), and Cheese (Lane Factor). Together, these indigenous and mischievous teens bum around their Oklahoma reservation for whatever they can get their hands on through harmless crimes of opportunity.

Co-created by Sterlin Harjo andTaika Waititi, Reservation Dogs is a thought-provoking dramedy that tugs at your heartstrings while the world tugs at theirs. As they plot to steal enough money to get them out of the reservation en route to California, you root for these four. This is a welcomed, original TV series, and not at all what you think it will be once you begin watching it.

In a year when the world is waking up to the stark reality of bigotry, and racial injustice, the expanding swell of diversity in thought and perception should have embraced this series and made it something for the Library of Congress Archives. Yes, this is that good.

One problem: Everyone was so busy waking up, they slept right through this five-part, eye-opening, soul-rendering series. And each story is a separate movie, ripe with gripping plots, characterization, and a dynamic story.

Steve McQueen, Oscar-winning director of 12 Years a Slave and powerful voice of the Black community, created an anthology of historical tales of pride and civic duty from the Black diaspora. These stories span a few decades to establish an inexorable link that should be broken again.

How does this TV series show up in the middle of this austere list of socially conscious focus and headlining actors? Well, it earned that prestige (also, this is our listget your own). Kevin Feige must have sat down with some Disney Imagineers and passed around a fat one because a tale of two superheroes in the middle of a Leave It to Beaver sketch is crazy. If only that were all to this series.

As WandaVision take us on a journey of schmaltzy tropes, we learn much more, like new struggles, new heroes (Teyonah Paris plays Monica Rambeau and makes us yearn for Captain Marvel 2), and villain origins (Kathryn Hahn is Agatha Harknessand yes, she earns her show). What looks like an experiment becomes a stark reality of Marvels greatness.

The masses went to another series on Netflix, which will be discussed later, and missed one of the most riveting socioeconomic depictions of real life in the past decade. Alex (played marvelously by Margaret Qualley) flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with her daughter (Rylea Nevaeh Whittet), destined for anything better than the life she faces with dread every day.

Her Bohemian bipolar mother, her real-life mother, Andie MacDowell, is part inspiration and desperation. Alex must make it on her own, and she finds a job as a maid to make ends meet, both financially and emotionally. If Alexs abuser is not the enemy of this series, the U.S. government takes that role. Alexs plight is wrapped in so much red tape that its a wonder she doesnt die in the first season of suffocation.

The exploitation of poverty is on trial here and Alexs trek to triumph is the judge showing us that anyone can make it out of the hole they find themselves in, no matter what.

Shes a long way from being propped up as a hood ornament on the Titanic, but Kate Winslet is back, capturing audiences in a role most fans wouldnt considera detective in Mare of Easttown. In this premiere TV series, Mare (short for Marianne) is a tortured soul searching for an enigmatic murderer. Throughout the series, she must leap over the pitfalls of losing her son and a missing girl she still cant find.

Winslet iswell, Winslet. Shes awe-striking. Co-starring Julianne Nicholson and Jean Smart (See? Its her year), we see the distance a mother is willing to go for those she loves and what she believes. Through an obstacle course plot, we navigate through twists and turns as we learn everyone has secrets, and the closer you get to the truth, the farther away you are from an answer.

You have heard so much about this series and have already seen itmore than once. There is so much to unpack in this Korean masterclass story the allegory about caste systems, stances on how society should fight back, and the points of view on how the simplest of things are tools for evil.

This series is anything short of a marvel because it entertains and educates all at once. And, right when you are captivated enough in the story and engrossed in the commentary of what is going on, you find out the one truth YOU are the enemy. (If you have seen it, you know.)

Inequality is spreading like wildfire. Bigotry abounds with people judging you within seconds. And the violence is unapologetically gratuitous. It sounds a bit like life. Wait until you see this TV series.

When a historic series comes to air, people want to load up the disclaimers, protest, and anti-inflammatory rhetoric because the series may depict things that arent too kosher today. Yes, slavery would be one of those things, and everyone can shut up. Any tale about The Underground Railroad is not a story that needs to be watered down.

Fair warning: This is visceral TV. You will react. And as natural as this phenomenal series looks, it still comes short of the stark reality innocent people experienced for more than 400 years. Notwithstanding that, this is some of the most captivating television youll see in years. And next to Kunta Kinte being dog-whipped for not going by Massas name in the 70s, The Underground Railroad is about as raw and powerful as it gets on this harrowing subject matter.

From the rich cinematography and this stellar cast, there is no denying the undeniable skill and care Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk, Moonlight, The Last Black Man in San Francisco) puts into telling a story. And when you have one that has been shared with generations, it had to be near perfect. It was.

Bring the tissue and plan to sit in silence after the credits roll on. Youve been warned. TV:

Before we let you go, we have officially launched our merch store! Check out all of our amazing apparel when you clickhereandtype inGVN15at checkout for a 15% discount!

Make sure to check out our podcasts each week includingGeek Vibes Live,Top10with Tia,Wrestling Geeks Allianceand more! For major deals and money off onAmazon, make sure to use ouraffiliate link!

Since he saw Dune in the $1 movie theater as a kid, this guy has been a lover of geek culture. It wasnt until he became a professional copywriter, ghostwriter, and speechwriter that he began to write about it (a lot).

From the gravitas of the Sith, the genius of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, or the gluttony of todays comic fan, SPW digs intelligent debate about entertainment. Hes also addicted to listicles, storytelling, useless trivia, and the Oxford comma. And, he prefers his puns intended.

Like Loading...

Related

The rest is here:

The Top 10 Bingeable TV Series of 2021 - Geek Vibes Nation

Psalm 85 has long been linked to Advent. Saint Augustine makes clear why. Commenting on verse 7Show us thy steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us thy salvationthe African bishop explains that the word salvation simply means Christ: Grant us your Christ, let us know your Christ, let us see your Christ. Its a bold and direct identification: When the psalmist desires salvation, he is longing for Christ.

Lets take Augustines interpretive movesalvation equals Christas our starting point. How do we make sense of the rest of the psalm if Christ is the salvation for which we long?

The psalms context is national calamity, namely, exile to Babylon. The return in 539 b.c. yielded a new set of difficultiesenemies at the gate and harvests that failed. The Promised Land wasnt the paradisal salvation that people had longed for.

Two things stand out. First, the psalmist links these perduring troubles with sin (and their end with forgiveness of sin). Second, he links Judahs return to the return of God himself. The result is a poem that pines for salvations advent in Christ.

The first point is obnoxious to us. The psalmist views exile as the result of sin. The first three verses depict the returns from captivity as forgiveness of sin:

We could translate the first verse slightly more literally as thou didst return (shuv) the captivity of Jacob. In other words, God has returned his people from exilesomething directly tied to divine pardon. The implication is clear: Exile itself resulted from divine anger.

Back in the Promised Land, the psalmist asks God to relieve the difficult new situation and turn around his peoples plight. He makes this plea in the next section (85:47): Restore (shuv) us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us. Gods people may have returned from Babylon, but the new disasters are evidence of sin, while forgiveness would lead to a greater and deeper (re)turning to him.

The psalmists quid pro quo theologythe result, likely, of extended reflection upon books such as Deuteronomy and Jeremiahis disturbing to us. We dont typically share the poets confident attribution of calamity to sin. We tend to prefer Voltaires mockery of those who linked the 1755 Lisbon earthquake to divine judgment. Lisbon is in ruins, while in Paris they dance, exclaimed Voltaire. Surely, the Parisians werent any godlier than the inhabitants of Lisbon, were they?

The reflexive Voltairean response, also among Christians, is a curious one. Why are we loath to acknowledge a link between sin and disaster? Deuteronomic covenant theology is painfully direct in its application of covenant promises and curses to the turning (shuv) of Gods people. If you return (shuv), announces Jeremiah, I will restore (shuv) you (Jer. 15:19). Return from exile is predicated upon return from sin.

The same theology is at work in Psalm 85. The return from Babylon had signaled God turning (shuv) from his hot anger (Ps. 85:3), and the psalmist pleads for God to do so again: Wilt thou not revive us again (shuv), that thy people may rejoice in thee? (85:6). God will turn only ifthis last word signaling the dreaded Deuteronomic conditionGods people, too, will turn.

Admittedly, we should avoid simplistic one-to-one connections between sin and calamity. In John 9, the disciples ask, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesuss response plainly rejects his disciples assumption of a link between sin and blindness: It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. Jesuss disciples wrongly absolutize Deuteronomic theology. Disaster is not always the direct outcome of divine judgment; and especially where it concerns the suffering of others, we do well to keep watch over the door of our lips (cf. Ps. 141:3).

Still, Psalm 85 (and its Deuteronomic background) teach us at least this: There would be no calamity without sin. There would be no Lisbon earthquake, no Hurricane Katrina, and no coronavirus without sin. Whatever we may say about the connection between natural and moral evil in each of these cases, we cannot negate the link. Whenever the chattering classes get their dander up because of someone linking calamity and sin, this is a sure sign of a societal lapse into hedonism.

The beauty of Psalm 85as a psalm of Adventis that it not only makes Gods turning to us conditional upon our turning to him, but it also makes our turning to God conditional upon his turning to us. Turning as a purely natural human accomplishment would be an impossibility. The psalm, therefore, explains that our turning to God and Gods turning to us coincide. They are one and the same, for they occur in salvationwhich is to say with Augustine: They occur in the God-man, in Christ himself.

We see Gods turning in Christ nowhere more clearly than in the psalms last stanza:

Goodness comes from above as well as below. It is as if heaven itself turns down to the earth, while simultaneously, the earth turns up to the sky. The kiss of righteousness and peace is the Advent kiss of the hypostatic union of God and man.

Displacements and disasters cannot be rationally explained. But the psalmist does link our hardships to our moral failings and demands that we reflect upon them in view of the hardships we face.

Our response to calamities should mirror that of the psalmist: He centers it on turning, both human (repentance) and divine (forgiveness). He assures us that the two are one in the mystery of Adventin the divine-human Savior himself. In Advent we reignite our longing for God and man to turn to each other and so to obtain salvation.

Hans Boersma is the Saint Benedict Servants of Christ Professor in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary.

First Thingsdepends on its subscribers and supporters. Join the conversation and make a contribution today.

Clickhereto make a donation.

Clickhereto subscribe toFirst Things.

Originally posted here:

Turning from Calamity | Hans Boersma - First Things