Internet Roundup: Rediscovery Week
This week we look at oldies but goodies, items that deserve to be rediscovered
This is the first of my weekly Friday internet roundups. The idea is to share with you what I have been watching, reading, and listening to from around the web. While I will make an effort to keep everything as new as possible, some of this will be new to me and not the world.
The theme this week is rediscovery. All these stories revolve around things that have been out of the public gaze for a while. Some are about the need for corruption to see daylight, some are about trends that are ready to break out, and others deal with old ideas with modern relevance.
Savior For Sale: Da Vinci's Lost Masterpiece?
This feature documentary film tells the story of the rediscovery of a controversial lost Leonardo Da Vinci painting which sold for $400 Million at auction. Titled “Savior of the World” this painting was dubbed the male Mona Lisa, but there are serious questions around its authenticity.
This documentary is more than just art history. The painting, discovered in a New Orleans estate sale, has been the trophy of Middle Eastern royals and Russian oligarchs. Come for the art, stay for the geopolitics.
The Russiagate Whitewash Era Begins, by Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi’s substack about the Russiagate coverup is behind a paywall, but it’s worth it. In this cheeky yet well researched opinion piece, Taibbi exposes the coverup of the Russia hoax by the very people who created it, Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media. We all know this was a hoax, but there is an aura of eery calm over the entire thing.
He raises an important question, why is no one being held accountable for sending the country down the wild goose chase of Trump-Russia collusion? Taibbi, who made his bones covering Russia post Soviet collapse, is the perfect writer to answer this question. He’s a liberal not afraid to call out his ideological peers.
How the Cartier Crash Became The Most Important Vintage Watch of 2021
For those of you who follow the watch world, this HODINKEE year in review piece is a breath of fresh from the never ending steel sports watch mania. I am a staunch believer that the dress watch deserves more airtime. The Cartier Crash literally came from a car crash. When a customer brought in their broken watch to Cartier in London the designers were so taken with it’s surrealist vibe they decided to create a functioning piece in its image.
Today, these watches go for close to a million dollars and are particularly popular in the hip hop community. It’s an important artifact in Britain’s transformation from the drab post war 50s into the swinging 60s.
Hannah Arendt on Anti-Racism as a Totalitarian Ideology
Hannah Arendt is one of the greatest voices against totalitarianism of the 20th century. While widely admired, her 1959 essay “Reflections on Little Rock” remains controversial. In the essay Arendt, an avid critic of racism and the Jim Crow South, makes the case that there are dangerous totalitarian impulses buried in the anti-racism movement.
Connor Grubaugh, in Tablet Magazine, says that these latent impulses are becoming manifest in the current dialogue on race in America. He makes the argument more clearly than I can summarize so it’s worth reading.
How Much Is The Original Bad Boys Movie 1994 Porsche 911 Turbo Worth To You?
Let’s end on a lighter note. If, like me, you grew up in the 90s, then there’s a good chance Jerry Brukheimer’s Bad Boys was your introduction to both Porsche and Miami. I think Will Smith’s character Mike Lowrey driving an all black 911 Turbo coupe is one the coolest automotive images in cinema history.
If you agree with me, and have deep pockets, the original car from the movie is going up for auction soon in Kissimmee Florida. The link above has more details plus a bunch of high resolution pics of the car to drool over. Also, the original Bad Boys film is worth a rewatch!