Five Bullets 9.23.22
This week: Hemingway, Serial, and Octopus' dreams.
Happy Friday everyone! Welcome back to Circles In Space, where each Friday I share five things I found interesting. This week’s topics:
Fall is back! I love summer trips to the beach and the warm weather, but fall is more my style. The weather is cooler, the days are getting shorter and the trees will soon be changing colors. I can best sense the passing of time by reflecting on the changing seasons and so, the end of summer and start of fall is worth celebrating. I usually find myself reading more Edgar Allen Poe this time of year.
Adnan Sayed, convicted for Hae Min Lee’s murder in 1999, was released on Monday after being incarcerated for 23 years. Sayed was the subject of the first season of hit podcast Serial (2014) which brought the case’s multitude of inconsistencies to millions of listeners. I remember poring over every detail, interested in not only Sayed’s case but also the endemic problems of our criminal justice system. The conviction was vacated by a Baltimore judge due to the prosecution’s withholding of evidence during trial. Sarah Koenig, host of Serial, recorded an update which gets listeners up to speed.
M*A*S*H turns 50 this September. Airing in 1972, this TV show about a Korean War Mobile Army Surgical Hospital ran for 11 seasons. 160 million people watched the series finale in 1983. I watched endless reruns of the show and made a pilgrimage to the filming location in Malibu Creek State Park. I love the writing and acting - it’s ridiculous and funny one moment and dead-serious the next. I learned that the show aired without a laugh track in other countries, which makes the show’s comedic satire more surreal.
In 1939, writer Ernest Hemingway left a cache of writings, photos, letters and other ephemera at Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Key West, Florida. Hemingway never returned for the items, which are now archived in a new collection at Penn State University. Included among the items are journal entries, photographs of Hemingway throughout his life, a Red Cross uniform, and a notebook with the first short story Hemingway wrote at age 10. The objects and writings will help give researchers and the public a better understanding of the man and his work.
Enjoy this clip of an octopus changing colors while dreaming. Octopus: Making Contact chronicles Dr. David Sheer’s research as he raises and studies an octopus. Sheer narrates the clip, explaining why the octopus is changing colors while sleeping: it’s dreaming of hunting. The clip is stunning, otherworldly and shows we have much to learn about the animal kingdom.
Got something to share? Leave me a comment! I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting things to dive into.
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That's all for this week! As always, thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
Until next time,
KW
I can't believe that octopus! Wow.