The year according to Mint Lounge

Sports

“As the two old stagers progressed through the draw at Flinders Park in Melbourne, the prevailing emotion was disbelief. Surely, they couldn’t. It had been nearly six years since they last met in a Grand Slam final, Paris, in 2011, and you had to rewind to the highlights reel of the summer of 2008 for their most titanic tussle, on the Wimbledon grass. When they did make it to the final, eight years after they had last faced off for the Australian title, incredulity made way for nostalgia. But the two men themselves were in no mood for sentiment or self-congratulation." Read more

A still from ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’.

Film

“In Avinash Das’ Anaarkali Of Aarah, Hiraman (Ishtiyak Khan) recognizes stage singer Anaarkali (Swara Bhaskar) in a dhaba (eatery) and shows her the first real kindness she’s seen in a long time. He shoos off a few insistent fans, introduces himself, insists that she eat something. I’m not hungry, she lies. His reply is weird and beautiful: “Hamaare liye na sahi, desh ke liye kha lijiye (if not for my sake, have something for the sake of the country)." Read more

A few of the best books of 2017.

Books

“Greek tragedy—Sophocles’ Antigone—meets the “war on terror" in Shamsie’s latest. Long before it was longlisted for the Booker, Peter Carey reviewed it as ‘recommended reading for prime ministers and presidents everywhere.’" Read more

A still from ‘The Deuce’.

TV

“What if Stanley Kubrick ever made a show about mutants? We’ll never know just how the master who terrorised us with a glass of milk would have dealt with the Marvel universe, but there is many a trace of Kubrick in this gloriously trippy and bonkers show. Noah Hawley, creator of the marvellous Fargo, crafted this visually sensational show about a young man in a sanitarium—or is it about a sanitarium inside a young man? Whatever it is, the girl he loves is called Syd Barrett, and the soundtrack has appropriate amounts of Pink Floyd." Read more

With harmful content being posted and shared, things went a bit out of hand for Facebook.

Technology

“Fidget spinners were to 2017 what selfie sticks were to 2016. You are probably sick of the sight of these weirdly shaped toys (for lack of a better word) that everyone seems to be obsessed with. But this time-waster, for some a stress-buster, did make waves worldwide, and factories in China made hay while the sun shone." Read more