In Praise of The Queen's Gambit

A couple months ago, I had the pleasure of screening a Netflix series you may have heard of called The Queen’s Gambit.  It was a great experience to see this series.  I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I believe it is one of the best series I have ever seen.

It stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Elizabeth (Beth), a chess grandmaster.  It traces her early orphan childhood, tells us how she came into the game and leads us through her young adult life up to and including her rise to the top of the chess world.  All the while, Beth battles her own inner demons and struggles with chemical dependencies of various sorts.  The story takes place from the 1950’s up through the 60’s and it is a masterful coming-of-age drama.

Taylor-Joy is fantastic in the lead and there are other great supporting cast members such as Bill Camp as Mr. Shaibel, the custodian at Girls Home who teaches Beth the fundamentals of the game, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster as a challenging competitor, mentor and friend to Beth.

There are many exciting sequences that turn the game of chess into a riveting, action-packed spectacle.  The period detail, as well, brings a lot of enjoyment to the viewing experience.

At the core of the series is Beth’s battle with drug and alcohol dependence.  Early in her orphanage days, she is given a daily regimen of drugs to help her sleep and lull her into a controllable state.  This sets the stage for a personal struggle with chemicals that will overtake her life.  Substances, for Beth, become a crutch, a way in which she can get into a state of focus in which she is better able to analyze the chessboard and all its potential moves and strategies.  I’m sure many people can relate to this predicament.  Whether it is someone who drinks a bit of alcohol to become more “social”, someone who does a line of coke to stay up and do more work, or an individual who must smoke a joint to enhance life, there are no doubt countless viewers who can relate to the idea of a “mother’s little helper” to get them through their dying day.  The real triumph of The Queen’s Gambit is in it’s depiction of a young woman who is able to forsake these crutches in the heat of the moment and find a way to plumb her own inner resources to find success.  This is the inspiring aspect of the series and offers a glimmer of hope for anyone who has had trouble facing up to bare-naked reality.  

There are moments of pure joy and kinetic excitement, musical montages that are so compelling that they push the series beyond the ordinary in to the realm of cultural phenomenon.  I especially liked the sequence in a later episode set to Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas”.  

The Queen’s Gambit is the Beatles of mini-series in that it combines artistic clout with popularity.  The Beatles were arguably both the best band musically and artistically,  and also the most popular band of their time, a rare combination.  The Queen’s Gambit, in its millions of views, influence, success, and creative power are similar to the Beatles in its reach, intelligence and artistry.  I’ll say it again:  it is one of the greatest series ever made and it is the best thing on Netflix right now.  

A Powerful Method for Tracking Your Habits

A few months ago, I downloaded an app called “Way of Life” - a habit tracker.  This app allows you to track any number of habits you wish by entering them in your daily to-do list and checking them off one by one as you accomplish them each day.  You can track good and bad habits.  

What I have found from tracking my habits through the Way of Life app is that when I track good habits, I feel more compelled to do them.  There is a real sense of accomplishment you get when you check off each habit every day, and they start to build up into a long chain.  This sense of accomplishment I think, is the driver to the desire to repeat the habits.  By tracking them through this app, you get a visual representation of your ongoing accomplishments.  Also, you don’t want to break the chain, once it starts to build up.  

Some of the habits I’ve been tracking are meditating, walking, reading, and, since I’m a film scholar, watching a good movie.  I find that I’m eager to tackle these kinds of habits each day and try to get them out of the way quickly.  Hence, my sense of accomplishment.  

The key to the tracking of habits is to make them relatively simple and easy to accomplish, but at the same time, positive and growth-oriented.  This act of habit-tracking has been instrumental in my current existence of being at home as a result of a pandemic lay-off at my job.  It has given me a sense of direction and daily goal-focus.  

The free version of the Way of Life app allows you to track a total of three habits.  With a small one time fee, you can track an unlimited number.  I’m not sure why tracking my habits has made them so much more important; it is not an actual law or demand that I must do each of them.  But somehow, it sets up an internal mechanism that compels you to return to it over and over again.  Perhaps not everyone can benefit from this, but I have found tremendous value from this app.  What is measured gets repeated.   

Combining Movie-Watching and Meditation

One thing that I’ve struggled with for a long time is my attention span.  My mind wanders a lot and I frequently lose concentration on things like reading and movie-watching.  I have trouble being in the present moment with mindfulness.  This is problematic for me because I place a lot of value on film studies and the absorption of a movie’s story-line and dialogue.  

Meditation is one way of combatting a short-attention span and loss of presence in the current moment.  Being present and mindful is the essence of a meditation practice.  I have been practicing meditation consistently for about four years now and have gotten tremendous value out of it.  I frequently use the technique of focusing on my breath or just trying to remain present.  I wondered if the practice of meditation could be combined with movie-watching for a more concentrated, mindful viewing experience.  I put this question to the test with a little experiment.  It should be noted that this is usually more appropriate for home movie-viewing as opposed to the theatre.  

Somewhat frustrated by my frequent mind-wandering during movies, I tried placing my meditation cushion in front of the television screen so I could sit upright in a lotus, cross-legged position for the course of the entire movie.  The results were great:  I was able to hold my attention for most of the movie’s running time and absorb a lot more information, story-line, and dialogue.  I sat there and tried to remain perfectly still throughout the whole process, bringing my full attention to all the events as they unfolded on screen.   It was very effective.   

There may be problems in this practice with discomfort.  My one leg frequently falls asleep when I remain motionless in this position for a long time.  I also find it hard to keep my back straight, but this is important to being more alert and concentrated.  The discomfort, with practice and time, will start to dissipate and you will get used to holding this position, as you would with normal meditation.  

I found that my enjoyment of films was also compounded.  By being fully mindful and absorbing so much, you get to appreciate films more and more.  This is especially relevant to films made in Hollywood’s Golden Age or art films, where dialogue is a lot more pronounced and there is less emphasis on action.  

So, if you’re like me and struggle holding your attention while watching movies, you might consider bringing the practice of meditation into your viewing experience.  You will absorb more information, comprehend complex plots, and more fully enjoy the movie.  

The Greatest Modern Rock Band

The Black Angels, from Austin, Texas, are probably my favourite modern rock band.  Their music has been described as a mixture of throw-back, psychedelic rock and the buzzing wall-of-sound that characterizes shoegazer rock music.  To date, they have released five studio albums and a number of EPs, all in my opinion of excellent quality.

The music of the Black Angels came into my life at a time of extreme turbulence and angst for me in the year 2006.  One of my favourite rock bands at the time, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, released a year-end list of their favourite albums of that year on their website.  Included in that list was “Passover”, the debut album from a band called the Black Angels.  With that title in mind (possibly scrawled on paper), I went to a local record store and was able to find a copy of the album in CD format.  With such track titles as “The Prodigal Sun” and “Sniper at the Gates of Heaven”, I was immediately intrigued and drawn into this dark world.  I would be transfixed upon listening and continuously played the album for a long time after that.

Dealing with themes such as insanity, warfare, and paranoia, the music and lyrical content seemed to gel with my troubled mindset at the time.  The music itself embodied everything I had come to appreciate about rock music from my earliest experiences of listening:  1960s psychedelic rock, bluesy, catchy guitar riffs, and melodic hooks that were extremely pleasing to the ear.

My favourite track on Passover is “Black Grease”.  Its opening guitar riff is intensely rhythmic with the ability to induce a shamanic trance.  It recalls the guitar chops of Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix.  The lyrical content of this song is craftily deceptive, trading the words “give” and “kill” to surprising variation of intent and tone.  The “grease” in the title perhaps reflects the greasy distortion of the incessant, driving guitar riff.  

Passover had a profound effect on my psyche and personal growth at the time.  It is one of the most jarring, electrifying, and shocking rock albums I have ever heard.

The band would go on to release four more studio albums up to the time of this writing.  Their most recent, Death Song, is every bit as powerful as their initial release.  The band is no stranger to consistency.  

I have seen the band several times live and their shows are spectacular and exciting.  As a person who can be introverted and paranoid at times, their music has always spoken to me in a profound way.  The fact that the band is relatively unknown is a crime.  Not only are they intense and heavy musically, but they combine that intensity and heaviness with a keen knowledge of song-craft and the ability to come up with extremely catchy melodies.

If you’re looking for a refreshment from the bland, cookie-cutter nature of current commercial music, dive into the musical career of the Black Angels and be prepared to go on a journey that shatters the boundaries of the light and dark side of your soul.  Warning:  it may change you forever.  

Your Mental Struggle is a Healing Process

Mental struggle is a universal ordeal for humanity.  If we don't personally struggle with an illness or problem, we probably know someone who does.  Culture paints the portrait of such struggles as debilitating, life-lasting conditions, permanent facts of existence.

What if, however, these very problems/illnesses/struggles can be the source of kindling for a profound mental transformation towards greater wholeness and health?

If we look at an illness such as psychosis or schizophrenia for example, these phenomena are non-existent in aboriginal or what some might call "primitive" cultures.  On the contrary, individuals experiencing such states are thought to be undergoing a process of initiation into becoming a shaman or healer.  Such members of society are taught by an experienced member of the culture how to negotiate the extreme psychological terrain that they are going through and to navigate the turbulent mental landscapes of their visions and hallucinations.  Consequently, these shamans-to-be become very important members fo the societies:  they are healers.

If we take these aboriginal ideas surrounding mental health into consideration from a Western perspective, it could transform how we treat mentally ill individuals and our opinions and prejudices against them.

The idea of mental illness as a healing process is not a new or original idea.  Such thinkers, writers, and psychiatrists as R.D. Laing and John Weir Perry have expressed the idea in similar terms more than 40 years ago.  Furhermore, it doesn't have to just be applied to specific mental conditions such as psychosis, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.  Any mental struggle should be considered as a healing process:  an addiction that is faced head-on may lead to greater mental strength and self-knowledge; depression that is confronted and healed could lead to an overall greater sense of well-being and happiness.

The healing process however, does require work.  You have to work on yourself, develop greater self-awareness, and learn all you can about your struggle by any means necessary.  This could mean reading, cultivating a meditation practice, or pursuing a new hobby or vocation.  Action is the key, not sitting around feeling sorry for yourself.  

You can use your experience with the struggle to help and guide other, much like a shaman.  You can be a healer.  Too often, those with a diagnosis of a mental issue resign themselves to a life of mediocrity, thinking they can never be a productive member of society or make a meaningful, creative contribution.  This is a falsehood.  We need such individuals more than ever to steer us through the wilderness of mental strife and guide the world to greater wholeness and harmony.  These individuals' experiences can be a guiding light to others especially in terms of how they are able to face and overcome their troubles. 

Patience in these struggles is crucial.  The journey to health and healing can be a long, laborious process.  Some face greater challenges than others on the path.  One important factor in the journey is having a safe, supportive network of family and healthcare providers, and a stable environment.  Unfortunately, this is not the reality for many people going through theses struggles.  If everyone had the opportunity and peace available to a lucky few, there would be far more healers around who could offer their knowledge and assistance.  

The Rat Park study from a few decades ago comes to mind here.  Laboratory rats who were given a stimulating environment were less likely to become addicted to drugs than rats that were kept in a confined, boring, or highly stressful environment.  This study, when applied to humanity shows that having an interesting, engaging, and enriching environment is crucial in whether a person is more or less likely to struggle with addiction and other mental health issues.  

Everyone has the spark of greatness and genius within.  If you are struggling with a mental problem, don't think your current reality is permanent.  Change is the only constant of life.  Face your demons head-on.  Embrace the pain.  By doing so, you are on the road to wholeness and health.  What currently is, doesn't always have to be the case.  Maybe you are a healer - you can help others.  Your struggles are a great teacher, not only to yourself, but others.  Embrace your pain and illness and struggle and emerge as a guiding light.