Fujifilm, Pandan Coconuts, and El Bosco [January 24]
Recommendations from Me
I recommend buying a small, mirrorless, digital camera and taking it everywhere you go. I bought my Fujifilm X-E3, and a 27mm f/2.8 pancake lens secondhand in 2022, and they have brought me endless joy.
Chen Kaige’s film Farewell My Concubine is a love letter to the Peking Opera, a record of the darkest periods of Chinese history, and a queer masterpiece.
My wonderful friend Lucy first introduced me to Philippe Genty’s theatre in 2020. I have returned to this mesmerising video many times since.
Pandan coconuts are the BEST — so intensely rich and satisfying. I haven’t seen this variety of coconut outside of South East Asia, but you can buy pandan coconut water from some corner shops in the UK (i.e. this brand).
I recently rediscovered El Bosco’s (...enigmatic) 15th century painting El jardin de las delicias in the Museo del Prado. I recommend exploring the details of the painting on the museum’s website.
Recommendations from Others
Mick 2024
‘Make it your personal quest to find the version of a thing you like. My quest is to find the world’s best chocolate cake.'
Yilin 2024
'Emily by Joanna Newsom is a good way to learn the difference between meteors and meteorites.'
Yuan Hsin’s mum 2023
‘Beautiful orchids: cattleya, butterfly, vanda coerulea, dendrobium, snake, cynbidium sinese, oncidium.’
Ben 2024
‘I recommend the Crab Museum in Margate, and the documentary Fire of Love about true love and volcanoes.’
Juan 2024
‘A good times, easy listening album — All of Me by Masayoshi Takanaka'
