📚 Books & Movies
- The ending of this book is, perhaps, one of the most impressive endings I have ever read and far surpassed my expectations.
- More than usual, this book invited people to ask “what are you reading?” I am not sure if it’s the book cover, the title, or something unusual in how engaged I was in the book, but I noticed right away that people were curious about this one. It’s a good conversation starter, which makes me like it more.
- Wish: Ethan Hawke
- Predict: Michael B. Jordan
- Wish: Benicio Del Toro
- Predict: Stellan Skarsgaard
- Wish: Renate Reinsve
- Predict: Emma Stone
- Wish: Teyana Taylor
- Predict: Teyana Taylor
- Wish: Marty Supreme
- Predict: Marty Supreme
- Wish: Sentimental Value
- Predict: F1
- Wish: Sinners
- Predict: F1
- Wish: Sinners
- Predict: KPop Demon Hunters
- Wish: Ryan Coogler
- Predict: Ryan Coogler
- Wish: Sentimental Value
- Predict: Sentimental Value
- Wish: One Battle After Another
- Predict: Train Dreams
- Wish: One Battle After Another
- Predict: One Battle After Another
💬 Viriginia Woolf in her classic essay on How Should One Read A Book?:
If the moralists ask us how we can justify our love of reading, we can make use of some such excuse as this. But if we are honest, we know that no such excuse is needed. It is true that we get nothing whatsoever except pleasure from reading; it is true that the wisest of us is unable to say what that pleasure may be. But that pleasure—mysterious, unknown, useless as it is—is enough. That pleasure is so curious, so complex, so immensely fertilizing to the mind of anyone who enjoys it, and so wide in its effects, that it would not be in the least surprising to discover, on the day of judgment when secrets are revealed and the obscure is made plain, that the reason why we have grown from pigs to men and women, and come out from our caves, and dropped our bows and arrows, and sat round the fire and talked and drunk and made merry and given to the poor and helped the sick and made pavements and houses and erected some sort of shelter and society on the waste of the world, is nothing but this: we have loved reading.
📚 Finished reading: On Repentance and Repair by Danya Ruttenberg
The core subject of this book—broken relationships and how to mend them—is a critical topic for human flourishing and an increasingly lost practice. Pitched to me as an antidote to evangelicalism’s overemphasis on the injured party’s need to “forgive” and underemphasis on the injuring party’s pathway to repair; unfortunately, the book did not quite live up to my expectations. Ruttenberg’s heart is no doubt in the right place and her left-leaning views are roughly congruent with my own. However, her tendency to morally front-load her suggestions takes away from the credibility of her ideas, none of which would be novel to someone who has spent an even moderate amount of time living in communities where friction, apology, and inconvenience occurs with relative frequency. While I applaud this book for championing a worthy cause and good principles, I don’t see myself recommending it anytime soon, as it ultimately did not leave me as equipped as I had hoped.
🎥 Just watched Project Hail Mary.
Absolutely phenomenal. 👏 Visually, narratively, musically. It is going to hook a certain kind of youth onto the sci-fi genre for life. Plus, I am a sucker for a movie that is so unapologetically life-affirming. Do yourself a favor and see it ASAP if you can!
🎥 Just watched and enjoyed the new documentary, Marc By Sofia.
In the doc, Sofia Coppola follows and interviews her friend and legendary fashion designer, Marc Jacobs. As far as documentaries go, it’s a tame piece. There is no investigative element, no drama, no tea. As a result, critics have largely accused it of being anodyne. There is some truth in the accusations.
However, I found the documentary very worthwhile. Sofia’s friendship with Marc may not have created the space necessary for the cagey creative to divulge his innermost secrets, but it certainly allowed the man to be himself in his most natural environment: the atelier. Moreover, Sofia’s clout in this world allows her to stand in these spaces without insecurity, which made for a refreshingly ego-loss documentary. It was apparent that the often handheld camera was never steered by a gaze that was intimidated or in awe of the world of luxury fashion. Most importantly, Sofia never steals spotlight from her friend, who himself is winsomely charming when allowed to simply talk. As someone who is inspired by the creative process of fashion designers and intrigued by the interplay between beauty and commerce in the luxury world, it was everything I hoped for (even if it wasn’t life changing). The small tidbits of Marc and Sofia talking film, Broadway, fashion, music, and Liza Minelli brought a smile to my face everytime. New York really does have a way of bringing the right people together.
🎥 I also watched the horror film Undertone today, and while I normally skip making bad reviews, I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to use this video clip for a while. Pretty much sums it up. 🤣
🎥 Just watched Hamnet in the movie theatres. Deserves a full blog post, but want to get my thoughts off before Oscars. Here are my first thoughts:
Ezra Pound once wrote that “beauty is a brief gasp between two cliches.” Hamnet is a story that braves the perilous path of a very cliched time period, but finds the gasps with a frequency that can only be attributed to great artistry. The triumph of the picture is that it successfully earns the audience’s submersion into the dirty, odorous, and oppressive Elizabethan era. Most notably, and absolutely central to the main theme, is how the people from this time period live in constant proximity to death. Things are always dying—and dying near to us. Modern society is so sanitized and anything that might conjure a memento mori is banished without question. Hamnet, however, let’s the Grim Reaper play the lead and cast his very large shadow over every scene. By doing so, director Chloe Zhao earns the moments that, in my estimation, can only be described as hope-filled magic. The story is ultimately a revolving door—a continual turning over of heartbreak, hope, and heartbreak in rapid succession. If you have ever been touched by grief or healed by goodness, you’ll be familiar with the pattern.
Lastly, all the actors are brilliant (even Joe Alwyn). Paul Mescal has never performed better and the children actors conducted themselves like veterans. Jessie Buckley was on another level though. Her performance was both elegant and transcendent, and deserves to be given its flowers because, for the last 8-10 years, it’s become very popular to make films that somewhat disparage mothers. Thus, it lightened my soul to see such a believable depiction of a wild and free-spirited mother who is somehow bold, independent, intelligent, emotional, and whimsical while still being fiercely loyal, humble, and grounded. Well done.
I may feel differently about this tomorrow, but it is certainly how I feel about it today.
🎥 The Oscars are this weekend, so wanted to repost my predictions. I feel so-so about them, but no changing up now!
I will say that I was never crazy about Marty Supreme and even it’s best qualities have lessened in my mind since I first watched. I have yet to see Hamnet. OBAA is still my fav.
📚 These books are next in my reading queue. From Books Are Magic in BK Heights, as usual.
I confess that both titles come from an interview Ezra Klein did with Priya Parker. I’m normally chary about these types of recs, but I was so impressed with Priya that I decided to take a risk on it.
Finished reading: The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin 📚
A seminal work in anarchist theory. You simply can’t fault the heart and goodwill that imbues these pages. It is striking to me how strong the bond between hopefulness and revolution (as opposed to anger and rebellion) is prominent.
Much of the book, unfortunately is very dated. Predictions and commentary on many of the countries (and socialism in general) did not pan out well. However, I found the chapter on division of labor to be one of the best and most useful things I’ve read in a long time, reminding me why I am reading this genre in the first place. I feel armed and equipped with new insights that more than repay the price of reading. It is a necessary counteractive to the capitalist and commercial-driven education I get in my MBA.
Finished reading: Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte 📚
Rejection is an achievement of modern writing. It is an entirely contemporary work that still manages to be thoughtful, deep, and more than funny enough to leave you defenseless. That being said, it is also a deeply uncomfortable book, filled with characters that I know, that I hate, that I pity, and that I see myself in. It seems to me that most authors that try to tackle the consequences of terminal onliness fail by making the technology central. Tulathimutte keeps humanity at the core, even when traversing the strange, the cringe, the uncomfortable, the crude, and the perverse. I want to write a longer post about this book, but only after I talk about it with more people and process the experience that reading this book was. If you have read it, please hmu.
What I will say is this:
🎥 Re: Oscar predictions.
It’s important to note that Phoenician Scheme was not nominated for any awards. It really saddens me how Wes Anderson, one of our most positive & consistent artists, is taken for granted of late. Also, I have yet to see The Secret Agent, which may alter my predictions.
🎥 Oscar nominations for 2026 are out now. I released my favorite films of 2025 list a couple weeks ago, with a small addendum after seeing Sentimental Value. This is tough, but here is my wish and prediction list for some of the major categories:
Actor in a Leading Role:
Actor in a Supporting Role:
Actress in a Leading Role:
Actress in a Supporting Role:
Cinematography
Film Editing
Sound
Original Song
Directing:
Original Screenplay
Adapted Screenplay
Best Picture:
📚 Books for Q1:
📚 I love having friends who read because they make end-of-year roundups that become my going-to-read pile. From Pynchon to Faulkner to Tulathimute, here is a good list from a great friend: Xander Paul’s Roundup.
🎥 The folks at The Big Picture podcast argue in a recent episode that the movie of the century (so far) is The Social Network. I was skeptical at first, but the subject material alone makes it a good argument. I gotta ponder this one…
📚 Three gentle & insightful essays about resolutions, goals, and rhythms from Hayley Nahman:
I think the concepts really square with my experience and help temper the common excesses of productivity culture.
Watched: Sentimental Value 🎥
Well, this movie done messed up my whole “Best Of” films list for 2025. Easily taking the #3 or #4 spot. This film is true art. The best pure drama film I have seen in a long time. Watched on a flight to West Coast and it was still amazing.
🎥 Casey Neistat’s latest video about this young man with Cerebral Palsy running the NYC Marathon is so encouraging, heartwarming, and dignifying. It’s worth the 9-minute watch. Disclaimer: you may want to grab a tissue.
📚 My quick, low-stakes review on Scott Galloway’s latest book Notes on Being A Man // bradley-andrews.com
📚 An adorable and seasonally appropriate poem from my current read, Frank O’Hara’s Meditations in an Emergency:
