Hello! Today, an old British film, a new book translated from Chinese, podcast episodes about LotR, finally learning the truth about Spotify and travel influencers being bad in new exciting ways that go beyond the usual trifecta of gentrification – climate change – monetisation of experience. Enjoy!

Article: Travel influencers, meet authoritarian regimes by Krithika Varagur, published by Rest of World in October 2020
This article touches on a topic that sits at the rare and precious cross-section of my personal, professional and academic interests. That something is cultural diplomacy – perhaps the only thing that could tie together 19th century Philhellenism, translation politics and travel influencers. Why do governments pump money into promoting their countries abroad via literature, music, travel influencers? The answer, as usual, is more money. Krithika Varagur focuses on another aspect: the social prestige influencers confer on regimes that suppress everything from freedom of speech to bodily autonomy.

Film: Brief Encounter (1945), directed by David Lean
I have watched a lot of films over the past few weeks, but I’ve only managed to stay awake during this one. Anything that is longer than 40 minutes and doesn’t include an angel in a trenchcoat just sends me to sleep, which is less to do with the films and more about feeling safe and warm in a blanket pile. I had never seen Brief Encounter, a classic film about two married people who meet in a train station and fall in love, but it would have been impossible for me to fall asleep; the setting in the North of England, the narration, the framing of the story all drew me in, the wet wintry train station made me nostalgic, how generously everyone is portrayed made me feel hopeful. I am a cynicism-free zone, and this is the right film for me. It also includes one of the most intense meet-cutes I have ever seen: touching. a. stranger's. eye!!!
Note: This Human World, the Vienna human rights film festival, is currently streaming online.Their programme is great; films are available for 48 hours after they premiere. Available in Austria only, I’m afraid, but maybe you’ll be inspired to seek out some of the films anyway?

Book: Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge, translated by Jeremy Tiang
“Every person here was a stranger, and the beasts were unfamiliar too.”
As it turns out, 2020 was the real year of “realising stuff”, and what better book to accompany you on that journey than a hybrid detective story/bestiary/self-inquiry where the true mystery is that of your own identity? A woman in her mid-30s who seems to define herself by her failures (ding ding ding!) writes about her hometown’s beasts, most of whom are near-human and live in a state of greater or smaller oppression. She gets drawn into all sorts of tragicomic adventures, but as the dead pile up all around her, she comes a step closer to solving the question of who she really is. Like the real world, the world she occupies is cruel and absurd, but it is also comical and full of curiosities. Sad, oblique, weirdly fun: the 2020 experience.
Note: This was published by Tilted Axis Press, but I'm recommending it because I love it. 

Learning: How Musicians Are Fighting for Streaming Pay During the Pandemic and The Success Of Streaming Has Been Great For Some, But Is There A Better Way?
In the category of “learning things I should have already known!”, I was prompted by a friend to look up the payment structures of Spotify (ironically the same friend who introduced me to Spotify at some point in the later 00s). It will not surprise you that I didn’t like what I found! It really is “the Amazon of music”, so I have switched to Bandcamp and am only listening to "basement pop", "folk punk" and ambient from now on.

Other: Revisiting the LoTR films (parts one, two, three) by Overinvested Podcast
As previously mentioned here, I have watched the Lord of the Rings films so many times that it has very likely shaped my vocabulary and my brain structure. Every other day I think of Frodo on Mount Doom telling Sam, “I can't recall the taste of food... nor the sound of water... nor the touch of grass.” (But instead it’s me on my couch telling my boyfriend that I can’t remember what it’s like to hug a friend… or edit a brilliant essay… or see art in real life…) My brothers and I used to watch the specials on the extended edition DVDs *a lot*, so I didn't expect there to be anything new & nerdy for me to learn about the films, but I was wrong! These three podcast episodes cover various aspects, including Tolkien's backgrounds, costume and set design, issues of race and racism, the fact that the final film won 11 Oscars (???). Enjoyable!