Lessons for the Living from the Brink of Death

How to take life one ephemeral dinner party at a time, or why hope is a gift of the hopeless.

Lessons for the Living is a poignant documentary by Lily Henderson exploring the unique subculture of hospice volunteers as they contemplate their own philosophies of life and death. This grounding excerpt from the film follows Kathleen, who is both a hospice volunteer and a hospice patient. She has been preparing for her own death for over a decade, but has managed to master that art of living from sheer presence — a powerful lesson, indeed, for the rest of us.

I’ve talked to people who say they feel sorry for me for not having any hope. I say, hope is a thief. I am living today as fully as I am able.”

Kathleen has since passed away.

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1951 Black-and-White Animation on How Different Drugs Work

From poppies to paupers, or what Cold War politics have to do with the social psychology of addiction.

Last month, we were entertained by a 1970s “documentary” that explained the dangers of drugs in LEGO. Today, we turn to Drug Addiction, produced by Encyclopedia Britannica’s film division in 1951. Though most of it follows the classic “slippery-slope” narrative of Cold-War-era anti-drug propaganda, it also features this stunning two-minute black-and-white animation on how heroin, opium, marijuana and cocaine are derived and how they work.

Watch or download the full film, courtesy of the Internet Archive:

via The Atlantic

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Pump Up The Volume: A History of House Music

From John Travolta to Eurotrash, or what Chicago’s basements have to do with Moscow’s nightlife.

Few movements in music have gained as much critical mass as house music. Pump Up The Volume: A History of House Music is a fantastic 2001 documentary about one of the biggest music groundswells in history, which began in basements and ended up at the forefront of pop culture. Available on YouTube in 13 parts and gathered in this playlist for your viewing pleasure, the film traces house music from its early days as New York disco to its engulfing takeover of Europe’s dance scene through fascinating interviews with the people who propelled the movement and rare footage of the clubs where it came of age.

From the very beginning, it was really the gay and black people that kept dance music alive. Disco, dance music, was really danceable R&B music that we were dancing to, and it wasn’t until Saturday Night Fever came along that it exploded and every goomba in the suburbs started dancing.” ~ Mel Cheren, West End Records

A long-out-of-print but excellent companion book can be found with some poking around Amazon.

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