Lately #5: Netflix's Eric, Amber's trolls & Tom Hanks in slow-mo
Five things to entertain you, and one piece of advice.
We’re back for another Lately catch-up!
On a Sunday, one of us (Yara or Gillian) – or a guest writer – shares some of our favourite recent stories and finds that have been setting our brains alight. Give yourself a few minutes to sit back and scroll, and please do share what you’re watching and listening to in comments.
Enjoy the read, Yara
Something we should all be watching…
I recently watched Netflix’s latest release Eric starring Benedict Cumberbatch and I’m still trying to gather my thoughts - who’s watched? You think you know what the show is about but it keeps taking unexpected turns (the first shocking twist comes early at the end of episode 1!).
On the surface Eric is a crime drama set in 1980s New York that follows a father’s quest to find his missing son; in the process he has to banish his own demons. It’s often difficult to watch as he gradually becomes more unhinged (but we watch because it’s Benedict after all, and he is entirely absorbing!).
The story becomes about much more than a missing boy, making you think about not only personal responsibility but also about a community’s responsibility to the most vulnerable among us.
There is so much nostalgia woven in through the New York scenes (hello Cagney & Lacey and Kramer Vs. Kramer), and in the 80s soundtrack.
I’ve added this song to my playlist and it’s on repeat! Come kitchen-dance with me…
A podcast you’ll want to share…
I wasn’t immune to getting caught up with every intricate, scandalous detail of the Depp vs. Heard trial - but really, who was? The reason I ask is because this podcast from Tortoise Media opened my eyes to how my own thoughts were likely moulded without me even realising it.
Investigative journalist Alexi Mostrous (of brilliant podcast Sweet Bobby fame), traces how much of the online hate against Amber Heard was manufactured through online trolls and bots. The big question being - who paid for them? (It wasn’t who you might think.)
It’s an important eye-opener in a year where millions of people will be going to the polls, as it reveals how these bots can be used beyond celebrity trials to sway elections.
And if you’re wondering whether misinformation swayed the verdict against Amber - shockingly, the jury were not subject to a media ban during the trial….
A memorable backstory read…
Today, a book backstory that Gillian sent me - a February article from the New Yorker From Homer to Gaza, the History of Books in Wartime. It’s a long read but well worth your time.
It covers a new book by historian Andrew Pettegree, The Book at War (about the role of books as deadly weapons and arguments for peace), and touches on so many fascinating stories including disgruntled monks transcribing onto hairy parchment, “sexy novels” dropped by parachute to soldiers in World War II, a Guantanamo library and the surprising books being checked out, and Hitler’s 16,000 book library.
An excerpt that we’ve both been thinking about from near the end:
“…maybe the most important books about war, the books that would change things once and for all, are the ones that didn’t get written. The novels and essays of Anne Frank. The late poetry of Osip Mandelstam. The mature poetry of Wilfred Owen, who was killed in action at the age of twenty-five, a week before the end of the First World War. Ghassan Kanafani’s furious yet real hopes for peace: what form would they have taken? And all the works by those who never even began. Maybe these are the books we need, filled with the answers we don’t have.”
Something that will surprise you…
Here’s a connection you didn’t expect … did you know that Sleepless in Seattle was inspired by Goodfellas? Well, a key scene in it was…
This came from a moment Gillian found in a Nora Ephron interview. Nora was captured by a moment in Goodfellas that lingers on a look from Robert De Niro, and found out that it used very subtle slow motion; she used the same director trick in Sleepless in Seattle to emphasise when Tom Hanks first sees Meg Ryan in the airport!
Watch here from 17:50 to hear it in Nora’s words:
Something for a brain break…
Back to Eric for this one as director Lucy Forbes shared some behind-the-scenes pictures and footage on her Instagram. We loved this peek at the choreography rehearsal of a dance scene that takes place in film.
Click through and scroll to Slide 2 - it’s worth it!
One piece of advice:
And now that you’ve read this far, a few simple words from writer and comedian John Cleese on creative inspiration:
“We don’t know where we get our ideas from. What we do know is that we don’t get them from our laptops.”
John Cleese
That’s your Sunday cue…
Putting Eric on the cue…so many good suggestions. Thank you!