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Happy Tuesday All,
And welcome to the Christmas & NYE edition of Cultural Reads.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a fantastic end of the year and
thank you for being part of this cultural journey.
Get ready for 2023 with the best books from Kenya, music from Pakistan, and a new site with more country info than ever.
If you would like to support the project other than being a reader, you can share Cultural Reads with a friend or consider buying me a coffee ☕
Now, let’s go to this week’s newsletter with New Year’s Resolutions, Best Movies 2022, Music from Haiti, Chinese Food, Japanese Thriller & Indonesian Documentary
Street musicians are an integrated part of Jakarta’s society.
But despite their presence in the local buses, outside, they’re largely ignored.
That is until they became superheroes in Daniel Ziv’s documentary Jalanan.
The documentary won several prizes, including the best documentary in Busan (Asia’s most significant film festival).
You can watch the film on Vimeo.
Mastering New Year’s resolutions unlock a happier life.
Unfortunately, we don’t get taught how to do this.
We set goals to lose weight and give up before it’s February.
For the past 4 years, I have been using a different technique of setting resolutions suggested by Tim Ferris.
Here are 5 steps that will help you do it right.
Check out the best 10 foreign movies I watched in 2022.
It covers anything from new releases to the most popular films featured in this newsletter.
Let’s end this year with a banger!
Lakou Mizik is an explosive sound of Haitian roots combined with modern dance music.
After the devastating Haiti earthquake, the band started to show the world their country was more than negative headlines.
I love the songs Ogou and Lamize Pa Dous.
Food-wise, China can be divided into eight areas.
Food documentaries are a great way to learn more about the food, the region, and the culture.
Watch the national food documentary with English subs or these two independent Youtube productions.
Thanks, Yixin, for the tip!
K is in love with the aspiring author Sumire.
Sumire, however, falls head over heels for the older lady Miu and the two book a holiday to Greece.
One night, K gets a call with an urgent request to fly to Greece as Sumire has suddenly disappeared.
Sputnik Sweetheart is much more than a thrilling story, though.
I like how Julie Myerson’s described it in The Guardian:
“I don’t really know what Murakami’s startling new novel is about. But it has touched me deeper and pushed me further than anything I’ve read in a long time.”
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Top 5 Regrets of the Dying – Bronnie Ware
