Cholos Try
The internet has helped us reveal a lot of really weird stuff about ourselves, stuff like the fact that we love to watch other people play video games and take products our of boxes. Another thing we love apparently is watching people try new foods for the first time. This seems to make up 96% of Buzzfeed’s video content. But the best videos of people trying out food – by far – is Cholos Try. Go through them all. You won’t regret it.
The School of Life YouTube Channel
Pop philosopher Alain De Botton set up The School of Life as a way to extend the work he does in mega-popular books like the Art of Travel to a real-life self-help-y space. This project comes with an actually very entertaining YouTube channel that offers very helpful primers on subjects we should all be thinking about. I recommend subscribing for regular updates.
47Soul - Shamstep
I saw two of the artists from 47SOUL during a set at Wickerpark Festival in Batroun a couple of years ago and it was mindblowing. The extended band is an electro-mijwez, shamstep, choubi ensemble whose members are rooted in Bilad Al-Sham, spanning the divides from Amman to the Galilee, the Golan Heights to Ramallah. Their sound combines the electric Arabic debka sound through underground music scenes. And it's amazing.
From their site: “Overcoming physical and logistical challenges, they came together to play electronic Palestinian street music. 47SOUL writes and performs to speak about freedom of movement, whether that’s sparking new dance styles or singing about breaking down border check points. [The] sound is rooted in Arabic Dabke, the celebration dance music from the Bilad Al-Sham area; the name for the land that spans Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan. 47SOUL hypes it up with analog synthesizers, drum machines, epic guitar lines, and tripped-out English and Arabic verses from the four singers. The electronic and urban influence in their music takes them far out of the ‘world music’ context and places them in the genre of a new generation of international electronic/hip hop acts that are reinventing the old for the future. This new sound of 47SOUL is called ShamStep."
This Trailer for the first Tamil Zombie Film
Zombies are a creation of Haitian folklore, but they’ve found universal appeal through American and UK cinema and TV over the years. And the last decade has seen a massive revival in their role in popular culture. Even Bollywood started tucking into the monumentally popular genre in 2013. Now Kollywood, the Tamil-language equivalent, is trying to get itself a chunk of the Walking Dead crowd with Miruthan. The trailer is pretty bonkers. I’ll just leave it here for your viewing pleasure.
Parks And Recreation
Somehow I managed to miss this massive pop culture phenomenon. I mean, I knew Parks and Rec existed, and I knew the memes (Treat Yo’self!) and I knew about Ron Swanson. But I’d never actually ever watched an episode. And now that I have I can’t stop. And there’s something beautiful of knowing I have 7 seasons of the show to look forward to. If you’ve never watched it, do. And if there’s a cozy, hilarious show that isn’t Parks and Rec that you’ve always wanted to get around to but never have, do it. It's cold and grey outside and it'll make you happy.