87. Letter from Porto
Iâm writing this newsletter on my phone from my Airbnb in Porto, where autumn is being held off for a while by the warm sun that draws us to terraces and caipirinhas. In a cathedral, I was finally impressed by ChatGPT once again. A photo of random biblical scenes on the wall turned the language model into a cultural guide.
We were looking at the baptism of Jesus Christ in the River Jordan, ChatGPT knew. âThis scene is a popular motif in churches because it marks the beginning of Jesusâ public ministry and underlines the importance of baptism in Christianity.â
Our robot guide even explained the basin that happened to be visible at the bottom of the photo. âThe bowl or basin beneath the relief scene appears to be a baptismal font, which reinforces the symbolism: it is a place where believers can receive the sacrament of baptism, just as Jesus did.â
Not bad, is it? I also had some murals with Latin texts translated and placed in context. These works are as famous and compelling as masterpieces in a museum, yet AI picks up on the religious symbolism that would otherwise have escaped me.
II.
Netflix features the documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin. Itâs about a Norwegian boy with a terminal muscle disease, who is increasingly unable to move his body and spends ever longer hours at his computer playing the online game World of Warcraft. His parents give him space, but it gnaws at them: he will never know what it is like to fall in love, to make friends and to be meaningful in the lives of others.
After Mats Steen dies at the age of 25, his family posts a farewell message on his blog. They then receive a flood of emails in reply. All from people Mats had got to know through World of Warcraft. For that was where he led a social life, helped others and even fell in love with a Dutch student he never met in real life.
The film reconstructs his secret life using preserved logs of his chat messages. This is beautifully done with lively animations within the blocky World of Warcraft graphics. In the game, Mats was known as Ibelin, a detective and womaniser. There, he wasnât confined to his wheelchair; he could go wherever he wanted. His illness didnât stop him from making friends, though for a long time he didnât tell anyone that his condition was steadily deteriorating.
For anyone who has ever been part of an online community, the story will sound familiar. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin shows the best side of the internet. It brings like-minded people from all over the world together. Whoever you are and wherever you come from, online there is a group of enthusiasts for every niche. It can be just as meaningful as the offline world. Try not to shed a tear when you watch this film.
---III.
Jaws, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The list of films that composer John Williams has elevated to new heights with his music goes on and on. Now that the man himself is in his nineties, he finally deserves his own documentary, Disney must have thought. Itâs now available online on Disney+: Music by John Williams.
Expect a brief overview and celebration of his work, with highlights picked out. Williams talks, for instance, about the five famous notes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in which aliens visit Earth. âI think thereâs something spiritual about it,â he says of the sounds. With the final note that doesnât conclude anything, but rather opens it up. âItâs like a sentence that ends with the words âorâ, âandâ or âbutâ.â
The magic of music is inexplicable. Williams still finds it difficult to talk about the death of his first wife (in 1974), but after her passing he did write a violin concerto for her. What he cannot put into words, he expresses with his hands. Itâs so beautiful to see: 92-year-old Williams sitting down at his piano and playing the most beautiful pieces as if he were not even half his age.
Itâs also lovely that his bromance with Steven Spielberg comes through clearly. Without each other, they might never have become so successful. Spielberg recalls the music for Raiders of the Lost Ark at the moment Indiana Jones falls into the pit of snakes. âJohnny gave individual snakes their own music,â he says. Thatâs not even meant as a joke, and is perhaps the best attempt in this film to explain Williamsâ genius.
---PS.
Weâre still waiting for a new video essay from Tim Rogers. Itâs been two years since his fantastic video on the Japanese game Boku no Natsuyasumi was released. He recently listed 36 of his favourite Xbox 360 games, which is also a treat, but please, Tim, give us a new Action Button review.
---If you were lucky enough to leaf through Richard Scarryâs books in your youth, youâll love this essay by Chris Ware on the marvellous, illustrated animal world.
âThe more one looks at his work, the more one sees how the European daily grocery trip, the walk to a nearby shop or tradesmanâs guild, the tiny apple car fit for a worm are not part of the blowout-all-in-for-oneself-oil-fuelled-free-for-all toward which America was barreling in the late 1960s.â
https://yalereview.org/article/chris-ware-richard-scarry (Hyperlinks donât work via the mobile browser version of Substack. It may still be summer in Porto, but weâre making do.)
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