Live Beyond Fear 🌋
Hello and welcome to Shuffle Sundays! This week we’ll climb one of the most famous rocks in the world, ride our bikes downhill, listen to one of my favorite albums of all time, learn the history of video games, and much more.
My name is Leo Mascaro and you are receiving this email because you signed up for Shuffle Sundays, a weekly curated list of content I thought was worth sharing with more people. If this email was forwarded to you, click here and subscribe!
🎬 • Free Solo, by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
{something to watch • documentary, 100 min}
How often do you watch a movie at home and think “I wish I had seen this in the theaters!”? This was exactly what happened to me after watching Free Solo, the celebrated documentary on Alex Honnold, who attempt to become the first person to ever free solo El Capitan (the famous rock located at Yosemite National Park, in the US). In case you’re not familiar (I wasn’t either), “free solo” is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers climb alone and without any ropes. The whole idea sounds so crazy, that the best thing you can do is hit play without knowing much about it. The cinematography is absolutely spectacular, as you would imagine, and it made me regret not having watched it in IMAX.
🕹 • Lonely Mountains: Downhill, by Megagon Industries
{something to play • video game}
If you thought that my videogame recommendation on the last issue was too violent (I don’t blame you), Lonely Mountains: Downhill is the extreme opposite of that. Here all you have to do is take your bike and ride down through different mountain landscapes. Keeping things within the same theme of the documentary above, here again, you’re alone with your bike and can choose your own pace. If you are attached to beautifully realistic graphics, this game may not be for you. But if you can get used to the polygonal and more simplistic (at times) look, Lonely Mountains: Downhill will grab your attention pretty quickly. The experience of playing this game with a good pair of headphones can be almost meditative, and that’s one of the things that keep me going back to play more. Don’t let the soundtrack in the trailer fool you!
🎙 • Bloco do Eu Sozinho, by Los Hermanos 🇧🇷
{something to listen to • album, 49 min}
I can’t believe that this record just turned 20 years this week! As soon as I learned that I decided to revisit and listen to it back to back, and wow, it’s incredible how fresh it still sounds after all these years. Los Hermanos is one of my favorite Brazilian bands and this was the record that not only defined a whole generation of people but also opened up a lot of people’s minds to start paying attention to other music genres and artists. It’s a perfect mixture of pop-rock with samba, bossa nova, ska, and even hardcore (which was more explicit on their previous self-titled album). Bloco do Eu Sozinho transformed the band from one-hit wonders into one of the most worshiped bands to date, and even though they only released 4 studio albums, they’re still out there selling out stadiums full of devoted fans ready to sing every single letter from every single song in the set-list.
📺 • High Score, by France Costrel
{something to watch • doc/tv series, 1 season}
If you enjoy video games, documentaries, and tv series, you’re in for a real treat! High Score narrates the history of some of the most classic video games ever created, featuring interviews with key people from the industry, lots of interesting anecdotes, and behind the scenes stories. It’s so well done and captivating that 6 episodes feel way too short for something like this. Really hope that a second season is on the plans!
🎙 • Coming Back For Me, by Jenny Kern
{something to listen • single, 3 min}
Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Jenny Kern is back with a beautiful new single called Coming Back For Me. If you're not familiar with her music, please do yourself a favor and also listen to her 2019 self-titled EP.
💽 • Some new music released this past week
{new music releases}
A week with a lot of new albums released, I'm particularly interested in checking the new ones from Shame, Marrakesh, Buck Meek, Patricia Brennan, dvsn, and You Me At Six. Also great new tracks from Antônio Neves, Hayley Williams (covering Massive Attack), Foo Fighters, Orla Gartland, The Spill Canvas, and Lake Street Dive.
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