Weekly Newsletter 02

The four C's: Celebrating Chinese and Catalan Cultures and more cool cositas

Hello dear friends,

I hope you are well and had a great week. This past week went by in a blur and yet I have quite a lot to write about.

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Weekly update 01

Happy lunar new year! My highlight of the week was celebrating Lunar New Year with some amazing hotpot and people which made the evening one of the most wholesome I have had in a long time. I got to learn how to tie a Chinese knot for good luck and if you are born in the year of the Dragon this is your year and you should probably wear something red for good luck, like a red scarf or red socks or a red coat if you want to bring back Pretty Little Liars. And, the highlight of this evening was also a golden torro loaded with meat, who would’ve thought and who could ever forget about it now.

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The 90s challenge

What is it like living in the technological world of the 90s for more than a week?

1 I enjoy it. I’ve been gaining awareness of how I spend my time and resolve things quicker that I would otherwise postpone or forget about in procrastination.

2 I am realising that this challenge is not a question of digital detox but a question of consumption detox. It has been much easier to quit social media than it is to not consume media. I usually waste a lot of time on Instagram but with social media gone you are broken down to the core of what underlies the digital addiction: We are all born-and-raised consumers. Yes, it’s capitalism but it’s also the wiring of our brains which made us create societies of sensation.

3 I am now watching a lot of live TV, as this is the 90s appropriate alternative, and it made me realise that I was completely unaware of the lack of neutrality inherent to social media. For the first time in months, I am exposed to the least individualised, least personalised consumption of media. I cannot choose what to watch or when to watch it - I am only able to see what is live and choose one of a few channels. The same goes for music, there is no song that I can listen to when I want to. All these ideas surrounding educational aspects of social media is only true in its beginning stage, when an algorithm forms around you, and if we believe that learning under a confirmation bias is still learning. Right now to me it feels wrong, polarised, separated and unaware. Watching TV the past week I gained knowledge on topics outside my view and felt fewer polarisation and heated emotion consuming these topics. It kind of feels like, what I wanna call, “bridge knowledge” because it would help me in conversation with people diverting from me which makes an insightful, intelligent person. I would call social media education “ego knowledge” because on social media you learn about yourself is centralised to the content. For example, all the popular “psychology” content directly links to a deep sense of self, massified and urging users to grapple with their self producing ego-centrism or self-conflict.

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Weekly update 02

This week I went to another trip in Catalunya to the small medieval-old town “Montblanc” (yes, just like the big mountain). It was cold for the first time in months and with a lot of freezing we also went to a Catalan vineyard and wine tasting. The trip came with a revolting end because the wine seemed to infinity-pour for some. So, we were stuck in a bus with people continuously vomiting throughout the two-hour return and a smell that made you want to throw up too.

Nonetheless, I attached some pictures from out trip. Although this bus ride is still haunting me, I have to say it was a great day, but it is completely overshadowed by the ride home and the cold I felt down to my bones. So, let me remember that we had great Catalan food (Calçotadas, Pan amb tomate and coca cake) and got to explore another beautiful town, while escaping the city for a little bit.

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Weekly recommendation 01 - Poor Things movie

As I am experiencing part of my world anew with the 90s challenge, this movie takes experiencing life to a whole new level and does so in a bizarre, almost comical way which makes you feel disgust, joy, wonder, confusion and the (un-)seriousness of life. I was put off by the first minutes of the movie but then it completely captured me and I was not able to hold back chuckle and emotion. I will have to rewatch for at least the smart commentary, that goes unnoticed within all the trouble and excitement of the storyline, and the character development of the protagonist played by Emma Stone. Go watch it and let me know what you think, because I have heard mixed reviews.

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Weekly recommendation 02 - Retour á Reims book

I can warmly recommend Didier Eribon’s book “Retour á Reims”. It offers an understanding to how and why (economic/social) class matters and seems truer than the portrayed ideas floating around of it. It is intellectual but supported by a recollection of experiences that no intellectual opinion could produce independently and you will come to understand a historic angle that provides necessary understanding to Zellenials that - me included - more often than not think that their struggles are generational, when they are actually embedded in a cyclical routine that we are too young to have seen in repitition. Maybe Eribon was a pioneer or you will realise that the gay and/or the class fight was fought before but time has not equalled liberation only a different version of normality that mimics progress and diverts the fight of liberation from true liberty that still needs achieving.

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Weekly recommendation 03 - Live TV

Go and watch some good old TV. It’s cringy, it’s weirdly informative, and it’ll get you out of your box. There is the choice of the channel but my recommendation is to succumb to the modesty of randomness and refrain from your usual choice.

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Thank you for reading!

This weekly edition definitely has a lot to read and some deep thoughts but I didn’t want to spare you with updates and recommendations and I am not mad if you skipped over parts. See you back next week :)