Read. Watch. Listen. introduces you to the personal side of our faculty, staff and alumni. Participants are asked to answer three simple questions about their reading, viewing and listening habits – what one book or newspaper/magazine article is grabbing your attention; what one movie or television show has caught your eye; and what album/song, podcast or radio show are you lending an ear to.
Wes Kinghorn is a Geography professor and Postdoctoral Scholar in Public History.
Today, he takes a turn on Read. Watch. Listen.
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Read.
It won’t surprise anyone in my Geography of Tourism course (or anyone who knows me really) that this one is set in New Orleans, my favorite place on earth. My life has finally calmed enough that I can read for pleasure again, and to begin I went back to A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. My lifelong favorite character of fiction has always been Alice (of Wonderland fame), for her ability to navigate a mad world by being the only one seeing it clearly. Love him or hate him, Ignatius J. Reilly is sort of the opposite – a creative, peculiar man seeing the madness in the real world through his own odd perspective. For what it’s worth, I’m in the ‘love him’ camp.
Watch.
No surprise again. Just a few nights ago I watched the Once More, with Feeling musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (going way back for this one). The whole series was ground-breaking for its literal treatment of the demons that hit you in your youth, and the reversal of the then-too-common damsel in distress trope. I used to see myself in Buffy, Willow and Xander. It’s fun to watch it now as more of a Giles.
Listen.
I am a big Bond Fan. I own every one of the 26 films. I drink Vesper martinis. And Daniel Craig is by far my favorite Bond (not just because we’re the same age). So I don’t say lightly that the Billie Eilish theme No Time to Die is in my opinion the best one in the series. Controversial, I know. I also believe that Gillian Anderson should be the next Bond, but that’s a debate for another day.
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If you have a suggestion for someone you would like to see in Read. Watch. Listen., or would like to participate yourself, drop a line to inside.western@uwo.ca.
