These are my thoughts and recommendations for my favorite art — books, shows, films, and albums — that I consumed in February 2021 (no spoilers). These are not art that came out in the aforementioned timeframe, but just art of any time period I consumed during the month.
Books (Non-Fiction)
Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data by Charles Wheelan (2013)
I have always really enjoyed mathematics and statistics, and I read this book to get an introductory refresher of the statistics concepts I had learned in undergrad. It reinvigorated my enjoyment for the material, and inspired me to understand statistics…
These are my thoughts and recommendations for my favorite art — books, shows, films, and albums — that I consumed in January 2021 (no spoilers). These are not art that came out in the aforementioned timeframe, but just art of any time period I consumed during the month.
Books (Non-Fiction)
Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel (2020)
I had always been a bit intimidated by financial management, like it was this big green monster lurking behind a door I was too scared to open. This book, recommended by my brother, totally opened that door for me and showed me that monster could…
Self-care is at the core of humanity. While it has become a prominent buzzword in recent years, the basic methods of self-care — breathing, hunting for food, and finding shelter — have been the basis for the prolonged existence of the human race. As we evolved, so did our ability to take care of ourselves, in both exponentially healthy and potentially toxic ways. As we explore and experiment, we find and gravitate to different methods to take care of our physical and mental health — exercise, drugs, food, sports, religion, therapy, alcohol, careers, art, friends, family. …
The passage of time is too surreal to be reality. The subtle and idiosyncratic changes to the skin on our body, the gradual molding and hardening of the creases on our brain, the cultural patterns and social mores that configure and break apart the identity of our society, and the indescribable auras that blossom and perish with each life stage all knock us off our feet as we try to conceptualize the mind-shattering and devastating experience of flux. …
We worship the youth. Whether it be worldwide fanaticism over the next teen pop star, adoration of university grad programmers over experienced tech workers, or the prevalence of plastic surgery to maintain an image of immortality, we as a society put youthfulness on a pedestal while simultaneously shaming the natural and wholesome process of aging. This ageism has been rampant in hip-hop, an art form that has long been seen as an exclusively young person’s game. …
Solitude has a stigma. Our society harshly judges a solo life in any capacity — from the simple decisions of attending a movie alone to the major life choices of not getting married. When we see people alone, we may think they are antisocial, defective, or even criminal in nature. This toxic judgement prevents us from deepening our relationship with ourselves and our brains. Without a sense of conviction in our solitude, we cannot be fully at peace with ourselves and our place in the world. It is only with a deeper sense of freedom in our solitary experiences that…
Emotions are not for the faint of heart. We live in a world that pushes eternal positivity and shames those who sometimes feel otherwise. Yet we can not enjoy the euphoria of new experiences, the passion of artistic interests, or the peace of exploring spiritual pursuits, without bracing for the negative emotions that exist on the other side of the psychological coin. We are all susceptible to this darkness — the anxiety that blindsides us and suffocates our mind, the depression that soaks the color out and turns off all the lights around us, the heartbreak that plunges us underwater…
The idea of being reborn is fundamental to almost all major religions. In Christianity, one is reborn and starts a new life once they repent for their sins and profess a life for Jesus Christ. In Hinduism, people are literally reincarnated after they die, an experience known as Samsara — the cycle of life and death; this cycle repeats until one reaches Moksha, eternal salvation and peace with God. In Buddhism, people reach the enlightened state of Nirvana and are internally reborn after years or decades of dedicated meditation. Even for the non-religious, this idea of starting anew is profoundly…
We search for meaning. The quest to make our life matter is fundamental to human nature. Despite the universality of this pursuit, it can materialize in so many different ways. We may feel like we matter when we provide for our family. We may feel like we matter when we work on projects we care about. We may feel like we matter when we indulge in our vices. We may feel like we matter when we earn money and accolades. More than anything, we feel like we matter when our actions align with our values.
But when we lose the…
Activism emerges in many forms. We may think it manifests solely as widespread protests and movements, as these have often been the most effective and noticeable avenues to promote change. Yet it can come in subtler, more introverted, and more avant-garde ways. If the internal fire exists to improve the world, the creativity of execution can explode in a myriad of routes — non-profits, technology companies, charity donations, lifestyle changes, and artistic endeavors. Kendrick Lamar takes the latter approach on the stunning opener from his debut album Section.80, …
