So you want a cool desk calendar…
To kick off your new year in style! Happily, our subscribers/supporters have put together an excellent list of suggestions:
- Work de Art (Sandra Alexander)
- The Ink Bucket (Chahna Tank)
- Carousel (Oishani)
- Alicia Souza (Inderpreet Uppal)
- Bhuli Art (Mayuri Kunigiri)
- Vimal Chandran (Indrani Chakraverty)
- Nori Art (Khyati Dodhia)
- All Good Things (Mithil Oswal)
A related plug: Pick up Shruti Taneja’s lovely heirloom recipe journal—perfect to jot down ma and grandma’s culinary wisdom and preserve it for posterity—over at Nivaala.
So you want to watch something…
Wanda Vision: This is the first spinoff of the Avengers films, which ended with the death of Thanos. It follows Scarlet Witch, aka Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), and Vision (Paul Bettany) as they live an idealized suburban life together. A slight problem: Thanos killed Vision… so what the hell is going on? You will have to watch to find out. FYI: Producer Kevin Feige describes it as “half ’60s sitcom, half MCU spectacular inspired by The Dick van Dyke Show.” Bustle has more context, while Mashable rounds up the reviews. Releasing today on Disney+Hotstar Premium.
Tandav: is the hotly anticipated political thriller starring Saif Ali Khan—playing the reluctant political heir who is forced to step up due to the unexpected death of the Prime Minister, i.e. his father. We plan to binge-watch the nine-part series which drops today on Amazon Prime. Also read: Scroll’s interview with the director Ali Abbas Zafar.
Tiger: This two-part documentary was supposed to reveal WTF happened to Tiger Woods, golf’s first truly global mega-star. But reviews indicate that it may be strictly for fans of the sport since it does very little to illuminate his personal life—which isn’t surprising since his participation in the doc is minimal. See reviews over at Washington Post, CNN, and Hollywood Reporter. The first is already available on Disney+Hotstar Premium.
One Night in Miami: Regina King’s directorial debut has the most delicious premise: Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke get together in a hotel room for one night. What follows is an intense and finely scripted conversation about race, power and celebrity. We had goosebumps watching the trailer! Check out the reviews over at New York Times, Observer and BBC News. It drops today on Amazon Prime.
Bling Empire: Can you pass on a reality show series that promises an LA version of Crazy Rich Asians? This one features an insanely wealthy all-Asian cast, many of whom have connections to fashion and entertainment. WWD calls it “fashion’s next reality show crush.” Vogue profiles its biggest star (and next Kimmie K?) supermodel Jamie Xie.
A list of good reads
- Navin Kabra decodes our delusions about our ‘middle class’ status—and shows how blind we are to the extent of inequality in our country.
- Inside Hook explains why you should never lift weights in running shoes.
- Prem Panicker writes with signature beauty and grace on watching cricket in the time of mourning.
- National Geographic offers a fascinating deep dive into human rituals—why and how we create them.
- Did you know that the Saudi Crown Prince is trying to build a 105-mile city called The Line? We didn’t either until we read Mashable’s entertaining takedown of this royal derangement.
- Also in Mashable, A wonderful piece that will make you nod along: ‘An Open Letter To The Most Disappointing Algorithms In My Life.’
- Mint has an informative piece on the future of plant meat products in India.
- Practical Ethics explains why Sherlock Holmes isn’t a patch on that other Brit detective, Father Brown.
- Long before Sushant Singh Rajput, there was Guru Dutt. Yasser Usman in Times of India looks at the unmaking of a genius director.
Also highly recommended: This podcast episode of the Sandip Roy Show where he talks to Rakesh Khanna who talks about his ‘A-Z guide of Ghosts, Monsters and Demons of India’. Yup, it’s every bit as fun as it sounds. Episode here or listen to a snippet here.
