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Welcome to Somethings, your weekly dose of highlights, recommendations and notes from my notebook. If you would like to receive this in your inbox, subscribe now. If you want to support, do checkout the links in the Friends of Somethings Section.
On schedule this time, hopefully. The biweekly schedule gives me room to breathe that the previous schedule did not.
📕Something to read
Notes from Underground, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I have mentioned how Crime & Punishment has had a profound effect on me. I read the book 25 years ago and I still think about it regularly. Dostoevsky found his contemporary philosophies absurd. For which many labelled him a nihilist. An absurd claim itself. Notes is a very rambling concentration of his ideas. Also, a great insight into how us men think?
It is about an unnamed middle-aged protagonist’s thoughts. A clear stand-in for author, going through a mid-life crisis. He is dissatisfied with his station in life, and the mistakes he has made. The actual plot of the “novel” is barely a quarter of the book. Most of the text is train-of-thought like. Long paragraphs of wild proclamations about how the ‘hero’ is the smartest guy in the room.
🛠️ Somethings to Use
- LeechBlock NG: A browser extension for Firefox(tkAddLink) and Chrome, et al(tkAddLink). It has been a life saver. I have blocked all distracting websites during work hours. And unlike the Screen time blocking features in your devices, you can set it up to be impossible to bypass. You can have multiple set of rules for multiple websites.
- Journaling: Call it journaling, a diary, or just note taking. Just do it. Use pen & paper, the note taking app in your phone, the voice recorder, or stone & chisel. Keep a record of your day, how you feel, and what you did. You will understand a lot more about yourself.
📺 Somethings to watch
My Cousin Vinny
I just rewatched this comedy classic for what seems like the hundredth time. It is a perfect movie. Perfect pacing, perfect comic timing by the characters, and if you listen to lawyers, perfect depiction of the court room process. There is also a political undertone that you might miss.
Also young Marisa Tomei.
🎵 Somethings to Listen
Roofman
Two podcast episodes on one of the most unique criminals. A person that used roof maintenance access to rob McDonald’s Restaurants across the US. He gets caught, tries to slither out of it, goes to prison, escapes prison and lives under a false name for years. Recently a subject of a movie which I haven’t seen. I doubt it captures the craziness of the real story:
- Part 1: https://pca.st/5ykuyr20
- Part 2: https://pca.st/x30xihuu
Thank you for joining me this week. If you know some who might enjoy this, please forward this email to them. See you next week.
Mudassir Chapra