Month of Summaries, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and Hacking vs Optimising
weekly recommendations + learnings + featured blog posts + reviews
I like to call December the month of summaries – it is the month when you start noticing all these top 10 of the year of some category or other, on different publications and platforms, someone would be summarising the events of the year and how would we look back at this particular year. Your music and video platforms tell you what you listened to. It’s all about the summaries.
Amongst all the external listicles and summarised versions, there’s also some space for internal reflections (towards the year) – what were your areas of growth, where did you make your mistakes, what did you do for the very first time, what went right and what didn’t – this month allows us a chance, not just for external speculation, but internal too. Where movies of the year are being summarised, why not review your year too… an opportunity to not plan for the future, but reflect upon the past.
It doesn’t need to be all serious, we can always maintain a balance of internal reviews as well as external ones – I personally like to do a review of my year, what improved from last year and what difference am I able to see – as well as externally, do a summary of the best films, songs, podcasts etc of the year.
While we spend time thinking of the new year’s resolutions, why not take out some time to do a review of the year and get a different perspective of the year like you probably hadn’t before?
Edition 142 of The Last 7 Days (21.11 - 27.11)
my weekly recommendations of What To Read, What To Listen to, and What To Watch.
What To Read:
‘Goblin Mode’: A State of Not Caring What Other People Think. Read more here.
MrBeast Is Writing A New Consumer Playbook. Check it out here.
There are 2 types of envy, say psychologists—here’s the ‘healthy’ one that can make you more successful. Read here.
Marvel Has Found an Answer to So-Called “Fatigue”. Read more here.
William Shatner on his Blue Origin flight to space: “It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered.” Check it out here.
What To Listen:
On Lex Fridman podcast, Chamath Palihapitiya, venture capitalist, engineer, CEO of Social Capital, and co-host of the All-In Podcast, talks about his childhood and forgiveness, the early jobs and Facebook, energy and cloud computing, and much more. Listen to it here.
In this episode of The Ranveer Show, Medha Bhaskaran, an author, goes into the depths of the Mughal empire, before the Shivaji Maharaj era, and what was the country’s socio-economic status back then, what was the reality of the kings and the emperors who ruled our land mass. (Part 1) Check it out here.
In this ep of The Ranveer Show, part 2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj trilogy, Medha Bhaskaran focuses more on Shirvai’s early life, his early ascent to power, and his legendary philosophies. What was the beginning of his story? How did the Maratha empire begin, and what were its foundation stones of it? Listen here.
In part 3 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Medha Bhaskaran speaks about the final vision of Shivaji Maharaj, his legacy and so much more. Check it out here.
On Happy Sad Confused podcast, Chris Hemsworthjoins Josh to talk about his latest series, Limitless, plus the future of THOR, why he’s skeptical of a STAR TREK return, and his experience on FURIOSA, and more. Listen to it here.
What To Watch:
Sebastian Vettel – One Last Time. The final chapter of a remarkable story. Check it out here.
In this Film Companion Exclusive, Rishab Shetty who wrote, directed, and acted in the Kannada film, Kantara speaks to Anupama Chopra about always knowing the film would have a universal appeal, the ‘energy’ that drove him on set to complete the project and how he plans to celebrate the stupendous success of the film. Watch it here.
Vishal Verma on Film Companion Local analyses and breaks down the climax of Kantara, to get a better understanding of the film. Watch here.
Movie Recommendation (1) of the Week – Kantara (It involves culture of Kambla and Bhootha Kola. A human and nature conflict where Shiva is a rebel who defends his village and nature.) Now streaming on Amazon Prime here.
Movie Recommendation (2) of the Week – Chup: Revenge of the Artist (A psychopath killer, targeting film critics. The film is a fast-paced thriller that raises many questions of the ethics of criticism.) Now streaming on Zee5 here.
You can check out the previous editions of The Last 7 Days – here.
Edition 87 (20.11 - 26.11)
The concept of ‘My Weekly Learnings’ is to share highlights and/or content pieces that caught my eye this week and provided more value than I could imagine.
No matter what you do for work, no matter how you live your life, no matter what your stances are—there will be some crowds who respect you for it and others who don’t.
If you live true to your values, you’ll win the respect of the people you respect. That’s all that matters.
On the other hand, if you live by someone else’s values instead of your own, you’ll end up losing the respect of the people you respect and winning over the wrong people. [Tim Urban]
Chances are, your natural born talents are different than the ones you wish you had because people undervalue what comes naturally to them.
When you’re a kid, people ask what you want to be when you grow up and the possibilities are endless.
But in adulthood, you need to work with the grain of your talents and surrender to what you’re naturally good at. Like dry concrete, you have to work with what you’ve got.
The biggest gains from mentorship come from having somebody you admire say: “You’re really good at this!”
In an instant, you can come to appreciate the same talents you took for granted two minutes before. But the praise has to come from a high-status person. [David Perell]
How long is “never”?
It changes. It changes as we age, and it changes depending on the situation.
A second-grader might think that a boring class is never going to end.
A bad cold might feel endless, unless we have the perspective of someone who has experienced a chronic problem.
Some things actually deserve “never.” But most of what we’re worried about probably would be better categorized as “eventually.” [Seth Godin]
The most useful way to reduce risk is patience.
A lot of risk comes from trying to speed things up.
A lack of patience changes the outcome. [Shane Parrish]
Truth-seeking burns energy.
People like conserving energy.
Thus the sport that’s played the most: jumping to conclusions. [Kunal Shah]
What I Wrote This Week:
1. Hacking vs Optimising
If you have scrolled through any of the social platforms, you’d have come across the term, “hacks” or “hacking” with special respect to the mind or the body, or going deeper, the mood/ the emotions.
“5 Hacks to Change your Mood immediately”
“10 Hacks to Improve Your Life”
“3 Hacks to Start Becoming Happy Today”
and so on, the never-ending list.
The term, Hacks is not only a clickbait, but a shortcut to cut short your efforts, thereby immediately attracting your eyes, and popping up a thought within you, that this immediate hack will bring me an immediate result and that quickness is exactly what you wanted in the first place.
Spoiler alert: Read more here.
2. A sense of belonging, fulfillment and recognition
Remove all the layers, all the reasons, all the justifications, everything that is external…
Now when you look at yourself like every other individual, you will realize that everything that you do, every action towards yourself or towards someone in particular or for people in general…
Everything is done with either a sense of belonging, fulfillment, or recognition.
Think about it, either you join a cause or a trend or create one so you can belong in that particular community.
Meeting all of your needs and wants, irrespective of its increase from time to time, all you’re looking for is a sense of fulfillment.
Then comes along recognition, which one seeks on a personal as well a professional front, in the tiniest of tasks they did for someone or the biggest of purpose that they were serving.
When you look at everything from those lenses, you can then ask yourself, whether what you were doing or planning meets your expectations or not, and moreover, whether you’re wanting to seek that particular aspect (belonging, fulfillment, or recognition) or not.
RTHReviews
1. Last Film Show
A powerful film with such a strong emotional appeal and with innocence at its heart is what the Last Film Show/ Chhello Show is. At some point, you’ll start relating to the storyline and there on would be your connecting factor to the film.
(Here’s the official synopsis: When the magic of movies conquers nine-year-old Samay’s heart, he moves heaven and Earth in pursuit of his 35mm dreams. However, he is unaware of heartbreaking times that await him.)
A story which is so pure and down-to-earth, and speaks of the power and beauty of cinema that enamours us from childhood to fall in love with films and how. There are times when a few of the scenes simply melt your heart, which not only shows the brilliance of the writing but also how authentically and engagingly the cast has performed.
Speaking of which, the young kid who is the central character of the film, Bhavin Rabari is perfect in the role, his output of emotions is felt across the screen. But, it’s the entire cast really, where each individual leaves their mark and makes that story even stronger.
The Last Film Show is one for all cinema lovers, it’s a film which tells you why you love watching films and why you will continue to as well. I’m glad it’s chosen as India’s selection for the Oscars 2023 and hopefully, there are more eyes on the film because of that. (P.S. watch it in the original language to get the feel of the dialogues and emotions)
Happy December! :)