[Editor’s Note: We are out sick today due to some unforeseen medical issues . . . and an unexpected 12-hour visit to the emergency room! But don't worry, we're both fine. Just wiped out.
Which is why we thought today would be a good excuse to plunge into our archive, choose one of our favorite early podcasts, and send it to our sound engineer (we didn’t have a sound engineer back then) to give it a remaster! The new version sounds great!
This is the fifth podcast we ever recorded (next week we’ll be celebrating our 75th podcast!), and we thought it was worth sharing again. However, since we weren’t asking dinner party questions back then, we want more people to answer our Dinner Party Question from last week!]
So here is this week's question for the table:
From Socrates to Bayard Rustin, Artemisia Gentileschi to Billy Porter, on last week's podcast we discussed several heroic nonconformists, who stayed true to themselves, defied convention, and challenged the status quo. As Bayard Rustin famously said: “We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.”
So, our question for the table this week is:
Who's one of YOUR favorite angelic troublemakers?
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Rosa Parks? John Lennon? Nina Simone? Lenny Bruce? Sinéad O'Connor? RuPaul?
Tell us your choice in the comments and we’ll share some of your responses on next week’s podcast!
Lastly, are you looking for inspiration? Need some holiday gift ideas? Check out Monday’s post, which includes our reading, listening and looking highlights from 2023, all from the past year of Aesthetic Arrest podcasts:
“The aesthetic experience is a simple beholding of the object . . . you experience a radiance. You are held in aesthetic arrest.” - Joseph Campbell
Aesthetic Arrest is our weekly dip into the Epicurean pleasures we’ve been enjoying lately. Here we go!
Ryan Wildstar’s Recommendations:
Reading: Beautiful Star by Yukio Mishima
“Beauty is something that burns the hand when you touch it.” - Yukio Mishima, from Forbidden Colors
Listening: Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba by Somi
For more new music recommendations, check out: Our Favorite Albums of 2022 (So far!)
Looking: The Photography of Eikoh Hosoe
The school of flesh: erotic portraits of Yukio Mishima – in pictures
Click here to watch a short video/slideshow: Discovering Japan through Eikoh Hosoe's Lens: The Life and Legacy of a Japanese Icon
Viewing: Butoh (founded by Tatsumi Hijikata): Oguri in Los Angeles & Sankai Juku in Paris
Tasting: Jacques Pépin Cooking at Home — Homemade Cheese Spread (aka La Cachaille)
Ryan Elston’s Recommendations:
Reading: Gold by Rumi (translated by Haleh Liza Gafori)
Listening: In the Footsteps of Rumi by Ghalia Benali & Constantinople
For more new music recommendations, check out: Our Favorite Albums of 2022 (So far!)
Looking: The Art of Salma Arastu
Viewing: Dark Winds (AMC+) — based on the Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee books by Tony Hillerman
Tasting: Sushi from SushiCo (Skopje, North Macedonia)
That’s it for this week! What are your reading, listening, looking, viewing and/or tasting recommendations?
From the Archive: Aesthetic Arrest REMASTERED! Rumi, Somi, Sushi & Mishima