Hi Skeleton Crew,
Sorry ’bout missin’ yesterday’s newsletter! I’ll make sure to send youse guys a make-up email on Saturday.
Oh, an’ I’ll try ’n’ remember to include some kinda secret theme on Saturday, so that ya can still get yer Wacky Wordplay Wednesday fix ... just, on Saturday instead a’ Wednesday.
So keep on the lookout for that!
Answers to Last Time
The cycle a’ death an’ rebirth in Buddhism is known as Saṃsāra.
Steve Biko was the South African anti-apartheid activist who Peter Gabriel wrote that song about.
Today’s Questions
Question 1
While we’re in South Africa, can ya tell me the name a’ the type a’ leather walking shoe that prob’ly traces its origins back to traditional Khoisan footwear, an’ which takes its modern name from the Afrikaans for “field shoe”? Ya can gimme either the full name or the colloquial short version that ya sometimes see people usin’: for example, after Brother in the name a’ the fashion company founded by designer/activist Aurora James.
Question 2
If ya spell “Saṃsāra” without the diacritics an’ put it in italics, ya get Samsara, which is a movie from 2011 that was directed by a fella named Ron Fricke.1
Samsara’s a movie without much of a plot per se ... it’s more ’bout what I guess the kids today’d call “vibes”, with lotsa beautiful imagery an’ an instrumental score. An’ to that extent, it’s kinda similar to what 1982 movie that Mr. Fricke served as the cinematographer for?
This movie I’m askin’ ’bout is pretty famous for its imagery, which gets endlessly referenced an’ parodied—but it’s maybe even more famous for its Philip Glass soundtrack, which includes tracks on it like “Cloudscape”, “The Grid”, ’n’ “Pruit Igoe”.
OK then
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
An’ which eagle-eyed readers might notice got referenced in the subtitle a’ the last email. Who even writes those subtitles? It’s not me!!