June moments
Birds of prey, antiques, and books!
Hello,
Welcome to June Moments - this is a monthly round-up of stuff that has caught my eye.
It has felt like a bit of a busy month in different ways and so there are less photos than usual, which is frustrating (a sure sign that I want to ensure that I make more time for it going forward).
And I’d love to know what you have been up to this past month so please get in touch in the comments, or in the Chat!
One afternoon I walked out onto my balcony and spotted this black kite riding the uplifts in between the tower blocks. It was a lucky shot as it flew towards Victoria harbour shortly after.
Earlier this month, I decided to rewatch Her that stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore Twombly, and Scarlett Johansson as his artificially intelligent virtual assistant (or the voice of). This film came out in 2013, and I am struck by how prescient the film was in terms of the use of AI when it comes to automating certain tasks. However, my decision to rewatch the film actually came from Johansson’s recent decision to call-out (and potentially file a law-suit against the owners of) OpenAI who had created a chatbot who’s voice was eerily similar to her own. (This link is behind a paywall, but there are plenty of articles about this story across other news websites).
Also, given the themes of the film related to morality/ethics, love, and technology, I don’t think that it is any coincidence that Theodore’s job involves writing (love) letters on behalf of other people.
A friend took me to a store in Sheung Wan as she was looking for a new tea set. After chatting to a woman inside, she informed us that nothing was for sale. A little weird, I thought seeing as there was an ‘Open’ sign on the door. Anyway, we found out that the space was for the owner (who was not present) to showcase items that they had acquired from their travels. I didn’t want to impose too much by taking a bunch of photos, but I loved this little stool holding the giant glass vase.
This book has been on my ‘READ ME!’ list for years, and I finally borrowed it from the library.
Throughout, I kept being reminded of the 1999 film adaptation (mainly for the stunning Italian scenery) and after finishing it, I felt that Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf and Matt Damon as Tom Ripley were convincing in their representation of the characters. But I am undecided about whether to commit to eight hours for the recent Netflix adaptation.
Has anyone watched it and would recommend?
Along with The Talented Mr Ripley, I also picked up Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty (the same author who wrote A Novel in a Year), and Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Manville (who also Moby-Dick, another book on my to read list).
And if you have any book recommendations please send them my way!
Take care,
Sarah
Finally, if you would like to see this newsletter in your inbox on a regular basis, then please consider subscribing to TBOI by adding your email address to the link below. Also, if you like what you see here, it helps tremendously when you give the heart a squeeze, share the piece with one of your mates, or leave a comment (I read and reply to all - a great joy!). Thank you 😉
I read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles during the pandemic (LOVED IT), and recently watched the miniseries with Ewan McGregor, which was also excellent. As far as books, I'm on the second Kingbridge series by Ken Follett. They read like a series (and I think they've been made into ones) and 1200 pages later, I'm hooked! xo
That "store" is freaking bizarre. Why would someone do that? Maybe they should relabel it a museum.