Look through all the Netflix shows and movies, scroll through your Kindle, search all you want: there always comes a time when you can’t find anything good to watch or read. And you give up. You decide to listen to music, but even your own playlists have started to sound ho-hum. It happens to all of us.
So here is a quick little selection of things that deserve to be seen, read, and listened to. Unsolicited advice, sometimes haphazard and perhaps questionable, but valid for one fundamental reason: they’ve left an impression on us. And, who knows? They may leave one on you too.
The technique and creativity of true innovators
Strictly unsolicited advice about things we’ve seen, heard, read or listened to since the start of 2023. Creative challenges that have led to unconventional techniques. Original ideas that have evolved into something amazing.
For those looking for inspiration, here is our short and practical list of things that deserve a “Wow!”.
MOVIE
Everything Everywhere All at Once
2022
Elusive and powerful. A drama-adventure slash science-fiction comedy with existential urges that kept us on the edge of our seat minute after minute as it transported us from a laundromat to the Alphaverse. Written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (pseudonym: Daniels) this jewel of a film seems to say that, if life has no meaning, then every moment is surely significant. Released last year, the film returns to the cinema in February 2023 thanks to its recent victory at the Golden Globes, Oscar nominations and other awards. A must-see!
GRAPHIC NOVEL
Asterios Polyp
2009
A professor, a fire, the choices of a lifetime in question. David Mazzucchelli’s first graphic novel is a masterpiece. The story begins when a lightning strike pierces the night on Asterios Polyp’s 50th birthday. From then on, it’s a journey toward destiny. To be devoured.
TV SERIES
Kaleidoscope
2023
Even if the plot is nothing extraordinary, this experiment produced by Netflix merits watching. It’s the first series consisting of eight episodes that can be viewed in random order. The title of each one is a color and, just like in a kaleidoscope, the colors can be combined every which way. Creativity for the viewer (there are 5,040 possible ways to discover the story!) and a remarkable technical-stylistic exercise. To study.
VIDEOGAME
The Last of Us
2013
While awaiting the release of the entire HBO TV series (January and February 2023), we highly recommend the original videogame: one of the best of all time (and one of the most awarded too). Plot, music, design: everything about its release in 2013 was a revelation. And everything remains, even today, practically unsurpassed. To play or re-play.
BOOK
The Extended Mind
2022
Rather than using your head to find creative solutions, at times, it might be more useful to use your body. Or at least, this is the advice of Annie Murphy Paul, a renowned science writer whose book explains how, to think better, sometimes you need to use your brain less. A must-read.
Translated by ROI Edizioni.