October 2019 Favorites

I, infinite silence, will grant you words.

Videos

• The Key to Happiness in a Distracted World – Matt D’Avella interviewing Ryan Holiday on his new book Stillness Is the Key and Stoicism.
• Science Of Persuasion – This animated video describes the six universal Principles of Persuasion that have been scientifically proven to make you most effective.
• Amerikan Shokunin – This short film is about Ryan Neil who practices the art of Bonsai for nearly two decades. Shokunin (職人) is a Japanese word used to describe an individual that aspires to become a master in their particular craft or art form.
• The Seven Year Pilgrimage to Enlightenment – This short film explores the spiritual practice of Kaihōgyō (回峰行), a 1000-Day pilgrimage performed by the monks of Mount Hiei. Only 46 monks have completed the challenge since 1885.
• The Perilous Journey of a Truly Beautiful Soul – Hacksaw Ridge – Video essay about the flat arc character (one who already knows the truth at the beginning of the story) on the example of the movie Hacksaw Ridge.
• How to Find Silence in a Noisy World – A fantastic 360° video following the acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton to the last remaining places of true quietness. Make sure to use headphones and it’s best viewed on a mobile device.
• Introvertiert - ♫ Kopfstimme 🇩🇪 – Funny song about Introverts.
• Joe Rogan Experience #1368 - Edward Snowden – Interview of Edward Snowden. The first time I saw Joe Rogan just listening for nearly three hours.
• Pursuit – Mike Olbinski is a storm-chaser and Emmy-winning film-maker who creates fantastic time-lapse films like this.
• The Beauty Of … Blade Runner 2049, True Detective, Oblivion, Annihilation, Interstellar or Apocalypse Now – A YouTube channel, cutting short films out of mood and style of famous movies.
• Overheight Must Turn – A funny short documentary about a bridge nicknamed Can Opener because around 10 trucks per year get opened by this bridge. The bridge has its own website with a webcam and the owner makes some money with the crash art.

TV Shows

• Manhunt: Unabomber [1] [N] – A thrilling crime story about the FBI profiler who helped track down the terrorist Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber by analysis of his speech patterns.
• Archer [10] [N] – This season of Archer takes places in space and it is as brutal, offensive and funny as always. There is also a nice story twist at the end.
• Abstract: The Art of Design [2] [N] – After nearly 3 years of waiting one of my favorite documentaries is back, showing once again interesting designers and artists.
• Carmen Sandiego [2] [N] – The adventures of Carmen Sandiego, a globe-hopping master thief.
• Big Mouth [3] [N] – Teenage friends find their lives upended by the wonders and horrors of puberty.
• Goliath [3] [P] – The lawyer Billy McBride goes once a third time against big greedy companies, this time against big farmers in California’s Central Valley.
• Doom Patrol [1] [P] – A really interesting super-hero TV Show. Definitely one of the strangest I’ve seen so far. But in a good way.
• The Expanse [1] [P] – I started watching my favorite TV Show again to prepare for the 4th season in December.
• Mr. Robot [4] [P] – My favourite Hacker TV show is back with a new season. The Hacker Elliot continues his fight against an evil cabal that tries to control the world. And my inner Nerd is also pleased that every episode is named after an error protocol: 401 Unauthorized, 402 Payment Required, 403 Forbidden, 404 Not Found, etc.

Movies

• Hacksaw Ridge [N] – A moving film about the World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refused to kill people, and became the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
• El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie [N] – A good movie, showing what happened to Jesse Pinkman after the end of Breaking Bad.
• Joker – The movie is really as good as reviewed by critics. I really hope Joaquin Phoenix gets an Oscar for his superb acting skills.

Music & Podcast

• Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons
• Hacksaw Ridge (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• Gordon Hempton: Silence and the Presence of Everything – Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton collects sounds from around the world. Krista Tippett talks on her Podcast On Being with him about Silence. They also play fantastic sounds from around the world Gordon recorded.
• Sound Escapes – A seven-part Podcast on BirdNote with recordings of Gordon Hempton from fantastic nature locations around the world.
• The Art of Manliness Podcast #553: How to Become Indistractable – Brett McKay talks with Nir Eyal on his Podcast The Art of Manliness about distraction and attention.
• Ryan Taubert: Becoming Human

Books

• Stillness Is the Key (Amazon) – The new, fantastic book by Ryan Holiday about slowing down. In three chapters, with examples from Stoicism, Buddhism, Taoism and numerous historical examples he shows why slowing down is the secret weapon to achieve greatness.
• In Praise of Shadows (Amazon) – An essay from 1933 by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki on Japanese aesthetics.
• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles (Amazon) – I wanted to read the book of Steven Pressfield for a long time. It’s the bible on the struggle with creativity and personal ”resistance“ against creating meaningful things.
• bikablo® 2.0 (Neuland) – A practice book and dictionary for Visual Facilitation.
• The Divine Comedy (Amazon) – Finally I started reading the most important poetry of Italian literature by Dante Alighieri. The book stood on my shelf for nearly 15 years.
• The Laws of Human Nature (Amazon) – Robert Greene on understanding people’s drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves.

Articles

• The Problem with Sensitivity Readers – Ryan Holiday writes about free speech and censorship for authors in times of identity politics.
• Crave more stillness in your life? You can find it in beauty – Article by Ryan Holiday about stillness.
• The rise of ‘Japandi’ style – Article about a new, minimal design style blending Japanese and Scandinavian designs.
• How to Disappear: The Art of Listening to Silence in a Noisy World – Article on Brain Pickings by Maria Popova about Silence and the acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton.
• Asynchronous Communication: The Real Reason Remote Workers Are More Productive – An interesting article about asynchronous communication in Remote work.

Inspiration

• Japan’s Luxurious Floating Ryokan, guntū – Japan’s first design-forward floating hotel guntū. A little, stunning 19-room boat floating on the Seto Inland Sea. A masterpiece of Japanese design.
• Minimalist Doctors’ House With Courtyard And Koi Pond – A really beautiful, minimalist house in Bangkok.
• Oracle, how do I live forever? – Profound comic on The Oatmeal based on a tweet by James Miller.
• Bruno Simon – Probably the best portfolio website I’ve seen this year. You drive around his portfolio in a 3D car.
• Immersive Garden – Website of a Design and Development Studio.
• Official Website and Experience Website of Prior Holdings, a wedding service company.

Stuff & Things

• Duolingo Latin for English speakers [Beta] – Just for fun I started learning Latin again.
• Apple macOS Catalina – Good new version of Apple’s desktop OS. I really like having screen time everywhere.
• WebPonize – MacOS app which converts images to WebP.
• Can you draw a perfect circle? – Funny game in which you have to draw a perfect circle. My top value (on an iPad with the finger) is 96% accuracy.
• Free for developers – A big collection of services free for developers.

Places

• Schweizer Haus “Das Restaurant” (Google Maps) – I was at this restaurant with my family that is our favorite place to eat since I can think. You’ll never eat better BBQ duck anywhere else.

Quotes

This famous Tears in rain monologue, written and performed by Rutger Hauer is considered perhaps the greatest death soliloquy in cinematic history. In this scene Batty rescues his hunter from dying as his last, meaningful act and proves himself to be more human than the humans hunting him:

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

Sadly Rutger Hauer died in 2019, the same year his role Roy Batty died.

Everything has its wonders, even darkness, and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.

Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble.

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.

It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met.

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.

You live long enough, and you can watch everything you worked for become irrelevant.