You Are What You Watch

This week I deep dive on the cultural ties between Hollywood and reality, an underdog story in men’s basketball,?and more mind-expanding content recommendations.

South Carolina Salkehatchie Men’s Basketball

I just came across this story from NY Times. South Carolina Salkehatchie’s men’s basketball program is physically basically the equivalent of Average Joe’s gym from the movie Dodgeball. They had a locker room with no shower or toilet and practice gym that wasn’t even regulation length. The new head coach Matt Lynch is the first openly gay head coach in major men’s sports at both the collegiate and pro levels. He’s made no guarantees around winning—but he’s got gumption and talent to build this program from the bottom up. Give this article a read just in time for an inspiring story about overcoming the odds.

This week’s picks

• You are what you watch 99% Invisible
• When the sun erupts NPR Short Wave
• Understanding the aging brain On Point
• A controversial idea at the heart of Bidenomics NPR Planet Money
• Is your organization a little culty? with NXIVM whistleblower Sarah Edmondson ReThinking with Adam Grant
• Break the cycle: how to heal intergenerational trauma and restoring well-being Everyday Better with Leah Smart
• The case for banning… millionaires? The Weeds
• This Man Turned the Worst Job in College Basketball Into a Slam Dunk NY Times

Deep Dive

You are what you watch 99% Invisible

I often watch movies and shows and wonder how closely they resemble their real life counterparts—or, if it’s sci-fi, if the tech shown in the content will materialize one day.

This podcast episode features author Walt Hickey who wrote You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything.

I love learning the behind the scenes on how and why things are made. In this podcast episode, Walt shares several stories from his book that illustrate several well known examples— how and why they were made.

For instance, Walt tells the story of how the movie Top Gun was made as a collaboration between Hollywood and the US Navy. In order to make the movie magic happen, the film reached out to the US Navy to make a deal—they get to have a say in the script in exchange for using US Navy equipment. The rest is history— Top Gun enjoys incredible commercial success and the US Navy plus the military at-large gets a facelift and positive interest.

Walt also shares how 90’s movies exploring the ideas of asteroid impact on Earth helped increase public awareness of the cosmic possibility and also led to greater funding and research for NASA to specifically study these possibilities.

If you enjoy pop culture and also learning how and why things are made, you’re going to enjoy listening to this podcast episode.