Best Of

Just watched this...I like his docos... Not sure how long this one will stay on YouTube though.
The Settlers (Louis Theroux, BBC, 2025)

Theroux's hallmark interviewing style—marked by a seemingly naive yet probing approach, encourages subjects to reveal their beliefs candidly. In The Settlers, this technique exposes the ideologies of prominent figures like Daniella Weiss, a veteran settler leader who discusses plans to reoccupy Gaza and claims support from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Theroux also engages with Palestinian activist Issa Amro, navigating the complexities and daily hardships faced under Israeli control.

Idiot is the least of what he is.

The whole movie of ‘Narcissus and Goldmund’ is on YouTube if you want to watch it, although it is in German and there are only (really bad) auto translate subtitles available. It’s just about enough to make the movie intelligible. I really enjoyed it, it was one of the best movies I have seen the last few years.

The plot is from Herman Hesse’s novel of the same name, about whether to live a cloistered monk’s life or whether to go out and enjoy loving and living outside. The movie tells Goldmund’s story in flashbacks, little vignettes which show his love life and life as an artist, alongside the present day of his time returning to Narcissus’ cloister.

A shame that it’s not available on blu-ray anywhere and has disappeared from the streaming services, I liked it very much.

I think even before I started paying attention this sort of approach never really worked for me. I'd listen to motivational speakers and rather than being inspired I'd feel like they were emotionally manipulating me. Rather than convincing me of their idea, they were sort of lying through pathos. And most poetry kind of seems the same way to me.

I still think hyperbolic communication is objectively problematic. I'm just saying it impacts me deeply in large part because of my preexisting disposition.