Hump day recommendations, Jan. 15, 2025

Read: A band of brothers, literally. In the early 1960s, two Dutch-Indonesian kids in Amsterdam boarded a boat bound for the US with their parents, a few suitcases, and an upright piano. They settled in Pasadena, California, and started playing music, first with their dad, who was an alcoholic jazzman, and then with their friends and classmates. They became one of the most spectacular and influential rock bands of all time. Alex Van Halen’s book “Brothers,” is a rollicking and insightful memoir of how he and his late brother Eddie (an absolute god among guitarists), reshaped rock music in the late 1970s (the last days before “video killed the radio star”) but also paid a steep price for it. – Alex

Watch: “Mosul” Set amid the battle to retake the ancient Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State terrorists who overran it, this masterpiece of war cinema follows Kawa, a young Kurdish police officer recruited to the Nineveh SWAT team, as they attempt to rescue a family from the warlord who enslaved them. The pervasive sense of fear and aggression are masterfully interspersed with emotional sequences displaying the deep toll that decades of war have taken on ordinary Iraqi families, with Kawa’s loss of innocence parallelling his entire generation’s experience. – Matt

Watch and listen:Weapon of Choice.” Christopher Walken is just not like you and me. Don’t believe me? Set aside three minutes and 52 seconds to watch him take inspiration from Fatboy Slim. – Willis

Watch: A heart break. If you’re a fan of Rosalind Eleazar from “Slow Horses,” be sure to check out the “Missing You” series on Netflix. Inspector Kat Donovan is left heartbroken by the murder of her father — and then by the disappearance of her fiancé. Years later, she’s still struggling to move forward as she begins to unravel the truth behind both mysteries. – Tracy

Go see: “Six” on Broadway or on tour. It’s a hilarious, modern take on the fates of the six wives of Henry VIII that turns historical drama into an electrifying girly-pop concert. – Riley

More from GZERO Media

Quote card of Greg Ebel, CEO, Enbridge | Energized: The Future of Energy

Getting access to energy, whether it's renewables, oil and gas, or other sources, is increasingly challenging because of long lead times to get things built in the US and elsewhere, says Greg Ebel, Enbridge's CEO, on the latest "Energized: The Future of Energy" podcast episode. And it's not just problems with access. “There is an energy emergency, if we're not careful, when it comes to price,” says Ebel. “There's definitely an energy emergency when it comes to having a resilient grid, whether it's a pipeline grid, an electric grid. That's something I think people have to take seriously.” Ebel believes that finding "the intersection of rhetoric, policy, and capital" can lead to affordability and profitability for the energy transition. His discussion with host JJ Ramberg and Arjun Murti, founder of the energy transition newsletter Super-Spiked, addresses where North America stands in the global energy transition, the implication of the revised energy policies by President Trump, and the potential consequences of tariffs and trade tension on the energy sector. “Energized: The Future of Energy” is a podcast series produced by GZERO Media's Blue Circle Studios in partnership with Enbridge. Listen to this episode at gzeromedia.com/energized, or on Apple, Spotify,Goodpods, or wherever you get your podcasts.

An armored vehicle of Nigerian Security Forces drives by newly built homes, ahead of the community re-opening ceremony which was destroyed by Boko Haram armed militants in 2015, in Ngarannam, Borno State, Nigeria, October 21, 2022.
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A member of the Syrian security forces gestures next to a vehicle at the entrance of the Druze town of Jaramana, following deadly clashes sparked by a purported recording of a Druze man cursing the Prophet Mohammad, which angered Sunni gunmen southeast of Damascus, Syria, on April 29, 2025.
REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar

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REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands as they attend a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

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