Issue 14: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Currently on sunshine, showtime, maps, and dads.
📝 Reviewing: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Charlie Kaufman could not have known about the seismic impact of social media in years to come. How we now lurk on our former lovers’ profiles, view their photos, analyse their posts and remove images – metaphorically wiping the slate clean and willingly deleting our past. (Source)
Brilliantly written by Charlie Kaufman and creatively directed by Michel Gondry, this week marks the 20th anniversary of the release of ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.’ This sci-fi romance delves deep into the labyrinth of love, memory, and the moral quandaries of using technology to tamper with the human experience.
Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey deliver performances that resonate with raw emotion, supported by a stellar ensemble including Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, and Tom Wilkinson. But what makes the film about memory memorable after two decades, are its striking visuals, haunting score, practical effects, and the non-linear dance between the past and present.
2004 also brought the release of ‘Garden State,’ ‘Saw,’ ‘Primer,’ ‘Napoleon Dynamite,’ ‘Donnie Darko,’ ‘Before Sunset,’ and ‘The Notebook’ each leaving an impressionable mark on 17-year-old me, teaching me what an art form film can be. But none quite captured the essence of art, potential, love, and loss like ‘Eternal Sunshine.’ Twenty years later, it continues to pose the question: Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ is available to stream on Peacock.
📺 Watching: This American Life (2007)
Did you know that ‘This American Life’ had two seasons of a television series? Indeed, the beloved podcast made its way to the big screen courtesy of Showtime. Following the same format of "each week we choose a theme and put together different kinds of stories on that theme," and still hosted by Ira Glass, the series offers a fascinating expansion of their real stories about real people, but with new insight only achievable through TV.
Standout episodes include a feature on the flash mob group Improv Everywhere (S1E1) and an exploration of a famous hot dog stand in Chicago (S1E6). The clip below explores the implications of ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ in the real world. Both seasons of ‘This American Life’ are available to purchase on iTunes.
🎲 Playing: GeoGuessr
GeoGuessr is an online geography game where players are placed in a random location around the world using Google Street View images. The objective is to guess the location as accurately as possible by exploring the surroundings and identifying clues such as landmarks, signs, vegetation, architecture, and other geographical features.
What I originally thought was a simple game to waste time on the internet, I learned that GeoGuessr has grown to 50 million players across 140 countries. This player base is so large that Geoguessr has emerged as a new competitive e-sport. YouTube’s algorithm thought I’d be interested in watching the Grand Finals, and to my surprise, yes I was indeed extremely interested. I can not believe how wildly exciting these matches are. The intensity of these matches reignited my passion for the game, reminding me of its dual role as both entertainment and an educational tool for exploring the diverse landscapes of our world. The final match of the 2023 Grand Finals is available to watch below.
🎧 Listening To: Dungeons & Daddies
Using the dice-rolling framework of the classic tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, ‘Dungeons & Daddies’ tells the story of four everyday suburban dads who find themselves thrust from our mundane reality into a world of magic and fantasy, all in pursuit of their lost sons.
The podcast combines elements of role-playing, storytelling, and humor as the dads embark on their quest, encountering various fantastical creatures, challenges, and absurd situations along the way. The result is an entertaining adventure that offers a fresh twist on traditional D&D storytelling. It was so entertaining, that my friends and I decided to take up D&D in an attempt to recreate the hilarious situations and memorable moments this group achieves. But even if you don’t have an interest in D&D, tuning in is a rowdy, memorable, and entertaining ride. Two seasons of ‘Dungeons & Daddies’ are available to stream on Spotify.
Thanks for being here.
— Justin