Why you should care about sleep

Apologies for the lack of content — I did not watch anything or finish a book last week. For the sake of maintaining the integrity of my writing, I did not wish to lie.

A book that I finished this week was Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. I needed to sleep so I am leaving you in the hands of someone smarter and more eloquent than myself. Here is Bill Gates’ review so that I can get my recommended 8 hours.

I also watched one film at the cinema this week!

Minari directed by Lee Isaac Chung is a tender and empathetic portrayal of a Korean-American family chasing the American Dream. The power of the film stems from the little details. You can feel it in the way Grandma brings ingredients from Korea, the growing dissonance between the Korean and American identity of the children, the father’s staunch pursuit of creating success. As someone who doesn’t remember a lot of my own childhood, I had a flashback as I saw my own experiences played back on screen. Ultimately, Minari is intimate and brimming with innocence, joy, love, and sadness.

Minari received the Golden Globe award for best foreign language film. This sounds like a huge success story (it isn’t). Unfortunately, the label of this award is reflective of the attitude held towards the Asian American Dream; foreign. Under Golden Globe rules, films must have “50% or more English dialogue” to contend for the best motion picture prizes in drama or musical/comedy. This would be understandable in the case where this rule was applied universally. However, in the past, a French silent film was nominated and won the award while other foreign European films are regularly nominated for these top prizes. How can a film directed by an American, produced in America about the American dream not qualify? Considering the context of heightened violence against Asians, labelling the film foreign is alienating. Although often perceived as a “privileged minority”, Minari provides clear evidence that this perceived notion of privilege does not invalidate the alienation faced by individuals and as a society.

Rant over.

Once again,

Thanks for reading!