Conduits of Conversation

Here you might find a few things to give life to your week. What have you found this week that we should add to this list? Tweet us or email us to let us know, and we might feature your find here next week.

Kelsey

Did you see Pharrell cry at NYU that one time? Then you have probably already listened to “Alaska” by Maggie Rogers. Now it’s time to queue up Maggie’s more recent drop, “Dog Years.” Ask your friends if they’re into it. If they aren’t, ask yourself why y’all are friends. 

Maybe Anthony Bourdain’s got the right idea when it comes to resolutions—what do you think? Warning: Bourdain is as liberal with the F-word as Paula Deen is with butter.

Go see Hidden Figures. Get a group to go see Hidden Figures and then go to dinner and channel Bronwyn Lea.

Andy Crouch joins Tyler Burns and Jemar Tisby for an episode of RAA Network’s podcast, Pass the Mic. It’s basically an hour full of quotes you want someone to make an art print of for your office wall. Yes, it’s an hour. A very worthwhile hour. 

Jon

The latest issue of Christianity Today was quite good, in my estimation. 

I just finished the book Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer. It was weird, but good. In any case, I can’t stop thinking about it, which makes me think it was a pretty good novel.

The next one on my list is probably something by Joyce Carol Oates. I haven’t read anything by her yet. (I know. I’m sorry, people).

I am anxiously awaiting time to enter into my schedule so I can see two movies. The first is Silence. It looks amazing. And got amazing reviews. The second is Paterson. Partially because I love poetry, and partially because the town of Paterson is about two towns away from where I live, and partially because the movie just looks so freaking good.

And lastly, there is this show called The Last Alaskans. Ugh. 

Brandon

I watched this old TED Talk, “The Transformative Power of Classical Music,” by a guy named Benjamin Zander, and I was hooked. Then I watched some of his Masterclass series, and I couldn’t get over how inspiring he was, how great a teacher he seemed to be. Anyone will fall in love with classical music after watching him.

Another series I loved this week was Cooked on Netflix. Just the first two episodes, “Fire” and “Water,” mesmerized me. Journalist Michael Pollan picks apart our western habits of bad food, trying to get all of us to go back to a simpler, healthier diet. That sounds kinda lame, but it was pure art.

I heard a quote from Brain Pickings founder Maria Popova that said, “Critical thinking without hope is cynicism. Hope without critical thinking is naïveté.” That got me thinking. What is the relationship between hope and cynicism? How do you navigate a healthy view of life while also seeing its horrors?