I hope you’ll read this article somewhere on a beach (it’s actually where I am heading to right now as I write these lines) or somewhere sunny, where you can still pretend it’s the 1st of June all over again.
I’m not going to write any more introductory lines because I don’t want to get sentimental over the summer break, so here are the things, places and events I loved this past month. Enjoy!
ARTICLES
Why songs of summer sound the same
A brilliant and interactive piece from The New York Times (and seemingly fitting for this August article) shows in a well researched and superbly illustrated manner how the songs we hear today are less diverse in sound than in other decades. It’s a fantastic and interactive piece and something that maybe you would not read in a classic blocks-of-texts way. The piece also reminded me a bit of this fantastic article written by the Wall Street Journal in which they used an algorithm to show how the lyrics in the acclaimed Hamilton musical were created.
VIDEOS
How feng shui shaped Hong Kong’s skyline
I never noticed in pictures how some buildings in Hong Kong have this rectangular-shape cut out, so I was fascinated when I found out why. This video is part of a VOX series called Borders and it is absolutely fantastic, so you should definitely check it out, and if you are curious about Hong Kong, there is another VOX video you should watch if you would like to know more about their culture and aesthetics based on neon and more recently, LED lights.
Rom Cons: Problematic Movie Romance Lessons
By now you probably know I am obsessed with Screenprism and this video perfectly illustrates why they create amazing content. This time they take 10 messages that romantic comedies send and decode them, showing how unhealthy and unreal are some of these rom-com ideas and behaviours. They also recently published a video about Titanic which made me do a double take because it made me look at the movie in such a different way that I may have to rewatch it for the 26th time.
10 Letters we dropped from the alphabet
All I am saying is that you should prepare yourself to be mentally blown away by some of the fun (and real!) facts in this video. Also, suddenly a lot of things will make sense, such as restaurant names like “Ye old tavern” or the backstory to why w is pronounced double u. Austin is incredibly hilarious and informative at the same time, so it’s pretty hard not to like this video 🙂
What If English Were Phonetically Consistent?
Another language-related video (yes, I fell into that nerdy Youtube wormhole) transforms into hands-down one of the hardest pronunciation exercices I have ever heard. It makes you ask yourself lots of questions about how we passively take languages as they are without second guessing if their rules actually make sense.
BOOKS
Buyology by Martin Lindstrom
My second Martin Lindstrom book after Small Data (which I talked about in the July Recommendations article) was maybe even better. It was fun, pleasant to follow and very intriguing at times, especially when talking about neuromarketing. It contains one inaccuracy about how the Nike logo was created, so I can’t give it 5 out of 5 stars, but it is still a great read.
Cum să fii fericit în România – Humanitas Publishing House
I bought this book called How to be happy in Romania after seeing the amazing contributing authors list. I found it so relatable, funny, diverse and unexpected that it quickly won me over and I can only hope more collections of essays like this one get published.
PLACES
Museum of Communication – Bern, Switzerland
Interactive, highly entertaining, displaying a large collection of pieces, and suitable for both children and adults, while catering to the needs of each group, this museum seems to have it all. Most information sections in the museum are in Swiss German, French and English, so it’s perfect even for foreigners. I loved discovering new devices and pieces of history I have previously missed and I am sure I could have easily spent more time there.
Delicii and Dolci Coni
The last days I spent in Bucharest were marked by me trying to fit in my schedule as many ice cream stops as possible. These two shops were fantastic places I never went to before, and they triggered in me a newfound love for delicious mango ice cream. Dolci Coni also makes the best lemon and basil ice cream I ever had and a fabulous passion fruit sorbet, while Delicii has some of the funkiest flavours I have ever seen, such as Black Sesame or Sunflower Seeds, which were already gone by the time I arrived there. Next time 😉
EVENTS
While this was an event only held in Romania, I still felt the need to talk about it here, mainly because of the great idea behind it: organising brunches in small villages while activating the local communities to take part in the events by providing ingredients from their gardens, cooking, singing or dancing. I think it is a marvelous way to make some smaller places and communities in Romania more well known while also making sure that younger generations get to experience almost forgotten recipes, local dances and the idea of a rural closely knit community. The events are organized by My Secret Romania and they still have upcoming dates all the way till late September, so you can check out this link for the exact dates and locations.
I am a big fan of outdoor movies so when I heard about this event I was instantly curious. I went with my mom and before watching Haute Cuisine (a movie I also recommend, although the plot seems like it could have used more work) we got some mozzarella bites and some fajitas from the food trucks there and had an absolutely great time (after our bodies got numb from too many mosquito bites). Nonetheless it’s still one of my summer’s highlights 🙂
I hope your summer went just as well as you imagined and that you got as much rest as you needed.
I don’t know if I am ready yet to say goodbye to summer, but I do know it was a good one and I know I have so much to look forward to in September and onwards (including my 6 year blogging anniversary!!)
Laura
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