Here are my enthusiasms this week! Whether you admire, adore or admonish, please let me know in the comments section. At the end, I’ll tell you how you can get one of your enthusiasms featured in this article.
1) One of the greatest directors of all time
Quentin Tarantino is at the top of the list. When he’s got a new film coming out, I get super-excited and am (not quite literally, but almost) counting the days until it hits the cinema. His next one, The Hateful Eight, is a bounty-hunter extravaganza, and I am beyond excited! Brace yourself for crackling dialogue and pistols before dawn. Here’s the trailer.
2) A wonderful story
Haroun And The Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie is incredibly beautiful and well-written. In theory, it’s a children’s book, but I’ve loved it since the first time I read it at age 27. Rushdie is a master story-teller and incredible with language (as is Tarantino, by the way). Delightful!
3) A TED Talk I love
Richard Dawkins’ talk “Why The Universe Seems So Strange” is mind-bendingly wonderful. Give yourself an 18-minute gift and reflect on the implications of what he’s saying. Perhaps ironically, while Dawkins is a radical atheist, what he’s saying in this talk points in the direction of what I think of as the spiritual domain…
4) An app I use most days
The Lumosity app and website uses brain-training games to improve your cognitive abilities and performance. I’m fascinated with the power of games to enhance learning, and Lumosity makes it simple and fun.
5) One of the best TV series ever
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, was hugely influential, and one of the only series I’ve ever watched more than once (my daughters love it too). Among other things, Whedon appears to be an adept at “sleight of mouth”, so much of the dialogue is truly marvellous. Get the box-set or watch the whole thing on Netflix.
That’s all for this week. If you have questions, suggestions or want to let me know what you’re enthusiastic about, just tweet one of yours and put my twitter name @jamiesmartcom and the #Enthusiasms hashtag in there so I can find it. If I’m enthusiastic about something you’re enthusiastic about, it might just get featured in a future TTE.
Big love
Jamie