Immortal Beloved
I can’t hear them, but I know that they are making a hash of it.
Hi again, I’m Steve Makofsky and this is a semi-whenever list of interesting articles, podcasts and videos that I come across during the week. Hopfully you’ll enjoy it, have something new to think about, and share it with your friends. In case you forgot, this is in your inbox because you asked me to send it to you. You can easily unsubscribe by clicking the link at the bottom of this email.
Wanting to take a break from the heaviness of 2020, I decided to start rewatching a few of the films that really had an impact on me that I haven’t seen in a while. This week it was the 1994 classic “Immortal Beloved”, a biopic of Ludwig van Beethoven, who is played by Gary Oldman (in arguably one of his best performances).
The story centers around a letter that is found after Beethoven’s death addressed to his "immortal beloved", and weaves together some incredibly beautiful scenes towards the discovery of the identity of this mysterious person through an exploration of his life and music. With the backdrop of his famous compositions, the film explores Beethoven’s compulsive nature, his relationships with people, his eventual hearing loss and final descent into emotional instability.
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This weeks "Deep Links"
What happens when the company you work for (and in the case of the article, they reference Facebook) crosses your own ethical line - More
By asking yourself a simple question, “What do I have to do to make this the best thing that happened to me?” is an incredibly powerful tool to reframe life’s events and cause transformation - More
You may have seen the disgusting incident when some guy on a bike with sunglasses attacked an adult and some children that were posting fliers near the Capital Crescent Trail. It was horrible and shocking; but imagine the nightmare for Peter Weinberg, who was mistaken by folks online as the biker (it wasn’t him). Read what it’s like to get doxed - More
File under “oopsie” - the time when Pepsi had a typo on winning bottle caps and caused riots across the Philippines - More
A psychological study of why people and personality traits that stain the Internet with “trolling” - More
Apparently your heartbeat has unique waveforms that are created from the expansion/contraction of the heart that are unique enough to identify you. ECG readings are more accurate than fingerprints that can identify you - More
Using loneliness as a connection in “The Art of Being Alone” - More
A look at security efforts at Microsoft, and the work of Bret Arsenault - More
You guessed it - there’s now a patent for social-distancing selfies - More
Viewing your mental health as a wallet; knowing what empties it and strategies to invest in to have big returns - More
Given everything going on in the world today, I found this to be an incredibly thought-provoking essay from a former police officer entitled “Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop” - More
Understanding Loki through various classic mythologies (not the Marvel one), and what we can learn from him - More
End Thoughts
If you hear a marching band, is your soul exalted? No, you march. If you hear a waltz, you dance. If you hear a mass, you take communion. It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer. The listener has no choice. It is like hypnotism.