I want to take Fridays to gather a few of my favorite things I’ve discovered this week. It’s all new to me, some of it may be old news to the rest of you.
Movie: THE BLACK PHONE (2021). This one is a good time. Based on a story by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King), THE BLACK PHONE follows a young protagonist named Finney (Mason Thames) as he attempts to escape a child-murderer (Ethan Hawke). Scott Derrickson’s directing fits the story. He’s able to shoot dream sequences that actually work, a huge accomplishment in my book. The performances were fantastic, especially from the child actors, and the soundtrack was pitch-perfect, including the best use of Pink Floyd’s “On the Run” that I’ve seen. The real standout performance, though, comes from Madeleine McGraw as Finney’s sister, Gwen.
Music: Loveless (1991) by My Bloody Valentine. MBV’s second studio album, Loveless is an experience. It’s noisy, dreamy, and intense. I’ve known of the album’s importance for a long time, and found My Bloody Valentine in my Spotify mixes off and on. I came across it again on a playlist last week and told my wife: “We need to get this one on vinyl.” Literally the next day at a flea market, there it was. Bringing it home and listening all the way through for the first time was a treat.
Youtube: Huberman on Dopamine. Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist at Stanford, focusing on neuroplasticity and related topics. This video is long, but it was eye-opening to me to see how important dopamine is for efficiency and motivation, and how many of our day-to-day activities (like doomscrolling on Twitter) lower our baseline dopamine levels. Huberman gives some tools you can use to restore your dopamine baseline, create sustainable habits, and avoid burnout. For those who may not want to sit through a two-hour lecture, the topics are indexed in the description, so you can skip around.
That’s it for this week!
Jacob N. Given 