10.20 | diet culture is just late stage capitalism screwing with us.
Nature is nothing but the inner voice of self-interest.
– Charles Baudelaire
✉️ letter #11
Oops! I missed a week. Did all seven of you miss me? :P
Well, this one is a meaty one, I promise. And it includes, of all things, a video I did! Watch and/or read my newest video here.
Basically, after a year or so of vacation vlogs and musings about ethical existence, I got monetized on Youtube off of a video I did on going on a 14-day fast. I'm proud of my 14-day fast and of all the info I managed to cram into that video, but it did make me feel hella icky that now so many subscribers were on my channel expecting... content about diets?
Because I didn't consider the fast a diet. Or at least, I really DON'T want to consider the fast a diet. I didn't do it to lose any permanent weight (I'm the same size now, 7 months later, as I was at the beginning and I'm fine with that). When I fast, it's more to reset myself mentally and to marvel at the wonders of the human body's adaptability.
But whoo boy people weren't taking it that way. So I had to address that.
Diet culture is just late stage capitalism screwing with us.
And don't you forget it. Anyway, on with the rest of the newsletter!
🌱 the ethical ideas newsreel
- Speaking of late stage capitalism screwing with us! Say this louder for the people in the back - philanthropy is a scam. I could go on and on about this, and maybe one day I will, but for now this read is a very very good takedown of this bullshit system of super rich people assuming they know what's in everybody's best interests.
- The Economist (of all places) mulls over what would happen if companies were forced to pay for the externalities - their environmental damage to the planet.
- In case you weren't aware of the stakes - Carbon Brief hitting you with this bummer: We just had the warmest-ever meteorological summer – June, July and August – in the global land-surface record.
- Okay, I hate ending on a bad note. So here's something kind of interesting: "To understand the richness of biodiversity across World Heritage marine sites, the UN scientific organization launched on Monday a project to protect and preserve biodiversity, based on the study of environmental DNA - cellular material released from living things into their surroundings."
🎵 song of my week
Lately, the song I’ve been putting on repeat over and over again has been – of all things -“Introduction et Rondo capriccioso” by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The piece debuted in 1867 and was tailormade for a virtuoso of the time, the Spanish violinist Pablo Sarasate.
That probably speaks to the notable Spanish flair present throughout the work alongside Saint-Saëns’ otherwise romantic Parisian cool – there’s something about the pacing, the lilting flourish of the main theme, and an insane violin solo that makes it infinitely elegant and dramatic and just so very just… listenable.
I’m not a music theorist or a classical expert so I can’t say much more about why exactly this works so well. Just know that it’s accompanied me on walks, on bike rides, on the drudgery of finessing up power point presentations... Somehow everything I do just seems a little more beguiling if I’m doing it to this piece.
✨enjoying: one final piece of pop culture fun
I haven’t, and probably won’t, watch Squid Game (despite cracking my knuckles and writing an article about it for RADII when it came out) – it’s reached that think piece saturation point by now where I get all the references even thought I haven’t sat through it, so I’m not sure it’s really worth my time sitting through (also I’m not a huge fan of gore).
But, in honor of this global pop culture phenomenon, I’m going to recommend a DIFFERENT Korean Netflix drama: Your Name.
The best way I can describe this show is that it’s like if The Departed met John Wick, and the main character happened to be a really kick ass Korean woman. Ji Woo is a high school kid who’s gangster dad is murdered in front of her on her birthday. When the police refuse to investigate, she ends up joining her dad’s gang, and going in undercover with the police to find the killer.
Twists and turns ensue, alongside very well-choreographed fighting – it reminds me a bit of the best parts of Daredevil S1. Sure, some of the acting is a little cartoonish (one of the gangsters feels like he walked in from Sony’s Yakuza franchise), but the lead is great, the main antagonist is great, and the story hasn’t sagged too much 6 episodes in.
This doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test really – There is only one other recurring woman character in the entire series (an assistant to the head Mafia boss) and Ji Woo and her never seem to meet. She spends the entire time as one woman in two worlds filled with men. But I suppose in the end, that also helps makes her loneliness seem more palpable.
And in any case, it was a great watch and infinitely better than any other K-Dramas I’ve come across recently.
Did you like it?
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