Category: Podcasts

Hope 🕊️

Hope is often ridiculed as a pipe dream, but it does not require us to reject the reality of suffering. Featuring the Main Theme from the film Cinema Paradiso composed by Ennio Morricone.

Music Notes

This episode features guitarist Adriano de Sal’s arrangement of Ennio Morricone’s Main Theme from the film Cinema Paradiso (1989), directed by Guiseppe Tornatore. The film follows a fictional filmmaker, affectionately known as “Toto” during his boyhood, as he reminisces about growing up in a small Sicilian town in the years following World War II. For Toto, the local cinema hall was a place of hope and wonder, especially after the death of his father in the war.

Justin’s Video Performance

Radhika’s book recommendations:

1. Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl was a jewish Viennese psychiatrist and in this book, he writes about his experiences at Auschwitz, Dachau and other concentration camps during the Nazi occupation in Austria. He speaks of what gave him strength and the “will to meaning” that kept him going despite the emotional pain and physical tortures he suffered. An apt book to give hope, especially for the Pandemic era.

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2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

A thought provoking book situated in 1946, just after World war II, where the protagonist, a writer, suffering from writer’s block, enters into a correspondence with a total stranger as well as other members of the extraordinary Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It throws a light on human nature – the good, the bad and the ugly, but leaves you with hope.

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3. The Humans by Matt Haig

An Interesting tale on human nature from the perspective of an alien who visits earth. Although the book is a bit “preachy,” it is an interesting take on how there is hope for humans afterall.

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Podcasts

Love ❤️

What is unconditional love and how can it make us brave and unflinching? Featuring the Love Theme from the film Cinema Paradiso composed by Andrea Morricone.

Notes on Music

This is the second episode featuring music from the film Cinema Paradiso (1989), directed by Guiseppe Tornatore. Ennio Morricone’s son Andrea composed the film’s Love Theme, which serves perhaps as the film’s most memorable melody. Love is an abiding theme of the film overall, whether expressed through the love of movies, the love of boy for girl, or the love shared between the child protagonist and his projectionist mentor, Alfredo. Arranged for guitar by Adriano de Sal.

Justin’s Video Performance

Radhika’s book recommendations:

Charlotte’s Web by EB White

A humorous story of a pig, a spider, a little girl and their unconditional love for each other.

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Writers and Lovers by Lily King

This is the story of Casey Peabody, a 31-year old struggling waitress who wants to be a writer. She shows a persistence to continue writing her novel, in the face of immense obstacles, including failed loves and premature losses.

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Podcasts

Flow 🌊

Flow is a state of letting go of all your worries and experiencing timelessness. Featuring the Prelude from Suite Venezolana composed by Antonio Lauro.

Notes on Music

Venezualian musician Antonio Lauro (1917–1986) wrote this prelude around 1952 as a homage to popular music guitarists of his home country. Titled “Registro,” the piece evokes the virtuosic and improvisatory style by which these guitarists would assess or “register” their instruments before actually beginning a piece.

Justin’s Video Performance

Radhika’s book recommendations:

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

As mentioned in the podcast, this books gives insights into the flow state where a person is so immersed in an activity that he loses track of time and space!

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