Politics feels pretty dystopian these days. I’m trying to keep hope alive, but it’s hard. I’m not going to lie.
My next letter is going to talk about the California wildfires before making an environmental case for increased public funding for cultivated-meat research. If you’d like to send out your own letters, take a look at this: https://slaughterfreeamerica.substack.com/p/how-to-write-letters-to-newspapers-6eb
Anyway, let’s do (Cell) Culture Talk. Here’s what I’ve been watching lately.
Movie — Wicked: Part I. That was great. I haven’t read the novel or seen the stage adaptation, but I really enjoyed this film version. Directed by Jon M. Chu, it stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in a musical reimagining of The Wizard of Oz. The songs and animal-rights themes are wonderful.
Movie — GoldenEra. I have a lot of fond memories of playing GoldenEye with my friends as a kid. While clearly a labor of love, this documentary about the making of the game and its cultural impact often feels like an amateur production. I say that having written a number of books described similarly!
Sports — Knicks beat 76ers, 125-119. Scoring 38 points, Jalen Brunson led New York to an overtime victory. The big news here, however, might be that Karl-Anthony Towns, who didn’t suit up, chipped a bone in his thumb the other night. He plans to play through the injury, but obviously it could effect him.
Sports — Knicks lose to Timberwolves, 116-99. As New York continues to struggle against good teams, their record, built on wins against the league’s bottom dwellers, looks increasingly deceiving. It was nice to see Julius Randle, who played for the first time at Madison Square Garden since being traded.
Sports — Knicks beat Hawks, 119-110. It’s always fun to wipe the smirk off the face of New York nemesis Trae Young. The Hawks have been overachieving this season, getting wins not only against the Knicks, but the Celtics and Cavaliers as well. Towns was back in the lineup. Brunson notched 34 points.
Meditation passage — Lord, Where Shall I Find You? by Judah Halevy. I’ve almost got this one down. The author was a Sephardic Jewish poet who lived from approximately 1075 to 1141. As is almost always the case with Eknath Easwaran’s selections, there’s a strong emphasis on panentheism.