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Benedict Cumberbatch reads Kurt Vonnegut's ultra-timely letter to people living in 2088

Cumberbatch's delivery and Vonnegut's words are a match made in literary heaven.

Kurt Vonnegut by Bernard Gotfryd (1965)/Wikipedia, UKinUSA/Wikipedia

Kurt Vonnegut (left), Benedict Cumberbatch right)

Back in 1988, writer Kurt Vonnegut was tasked with writing a letter to the planetary citizens of Earth in 2088 as part of Volkswagen’s TIME magazine ad campaign. And that he did, using his signature blend of dark humor, simple, conversational tone, and a poignant, enduring wisdom that’s almost medicinal—difficult to swallow, but oh so necessary.

In the letter, after quoting Shakespeare, St. John the Divine, and the well known Serenity prayer used in Alcoholic Anonymous groups, Vonnegut then dived into more somber matters—how “violent and heartless nature can be.” He argued that “Nature was no conservationist. It needed no help from us in taking the planet apart and putting it back together some different way, not necessarily improving it from the viewpoint of living things.” Therefore, it is ultimately humanity’s responsibility to ensure our well being remains preserved.

To work with “Nature’s stern but reasonable surrender terms,” Vonnegut advised the following:

1. Reduce and stabilize your population.

2. Stop poisoning the air, the water, and the topsoil.

3. Stop preparing for war and start dealing with your real problems.

4. Teach your kids, and yourselves, too, while you’re at it, how to inhabit a small planet without helping to kill it.

5. Stop thinking science can fix anything if you give it a trillion dollars.

6. Stop thinking your grandchildren will be OK no matter how wasteful or destructive you may be, since they can go to a nice new planet on a spaceship. That is really mean, and stupid.

7. And so on. Or else.

Vonnegut concluded with an eerily accurate depiction not of life 2088, but as we are experiencing it now. “Nobody will have to leave home to go to work or school, or even stop watching television. Everybody will sit around all day punching the keys of computer terminals connected to everything there is.”

If these words feel impactful (not to mention utterly relevant) just reading them now, wait til you hear them delivered by actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who even went the extra mile using an American accent, below:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

This video was part of the Letters Live series, which often has actors doing live staged reading of interesting, funny, or dramatic letters excavated from libraries, museums and other archives. Cumberbatch, one of the co-producers of Letters Live, is also a regular reader. But there’s about the combo between Vonnegut’s timeless words and Cumberbatch’s impeccable delivery that makes this one particularly special.

Down in the comments, viewers expressed similar sentiments.

“KV’s letter should be broadcast on every corporate media available. His truth holds. Thank you Benedict Cumberbatch for your flawless reading!”

“Kurt Vonnegut, always having the right of it. Benedict Cumberbatch, always reiterating the message perfectly.”

“Touche' very appropriate timing for this much needed reflection! My dear Mr. Cumberbatch, you are an eloquent speaker.”

“Well said, and well read.”

“Wow that completely blew my mind and totally relevant today more than ever!!!! CHEERS!”

“Ok, at the end that got frighteningly accurate.”

Vonnegut always had a gift for biting satire and sharp insight into the darker aspects of humanity. And clearly, considering we are living out so many of his predictions much earlier than 2088, his words bear repeating.

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Trevor Noah and Roger Federer board the 'wrong train' in perhaps the greatest tourism ad ever

It's clever, funny, and incredibly effective.

MySwitzerland/YouTube

Roger Federer and Trevor Noah filming a Swiss tourism ad

What do you get when you combine comedian Trevor Noah, tennis legend Roger Federer, and the world famous clock-making, chocolate-brewing, Alpine-skiing symbol of neutrality, Switzerland?

Apparently, a delightfully charming train ride through the Swiss countryside and perhaps the greatest tourism ad ever made.

Both Noah and Federer shared a tourism ad they collaborated on for the Grand Train Tour of Switzerland, and people are loving it. It's one of those ads that people don't care is an ad because it doesn't really feel like an ad and it's so enjoyable to watch. (It's also incredibly effective—like, give us alllll the train rides through Switzerland, please.)

The ad plays like a mini-documentary of Noah and Federer filming a Swiss tourism ad gone wrong. The two men—both of whom are half-Swiss in real life—appear to hop on the wrong train while arguing about whether or not the ad they are filming is funny (or whether it even should be).

What follows is a tale involving Swiss punctuality, hospitality, and stunning natural beauty, all wrapped up in wholesome hilarity.

Check it out:

Thousands of commenters have chimed in with how enjoyable and effective they found the ad:

"This clip is brilliant and I am definitely going to travel on that train in Switzerland in the near future. Excellent work," wrote one commenter.

"Usually, I hate tourism ads because they're always so clichéd and unoriginal, but this one hooked me from the beginning," shared another. "Switzerland is such a beautiful country, and this ad singlehandedly convinced me so. Looking forward to this train ride sometime in the future! :)"

"This is criminally short!" wrote another. "I wish for a full hour! I can’t seem to get enough of them."

Noah and Federer shared their experience making the video with Financial Times, and their "behind the scenes" stories are as delightful as the ad itself.

Federer, who is an official Switzerland Tourism Ambassador, shared how much he has enjoyed making Swiss tourism ads with Robert DeNiro, Anne Hathaway, and of course, Trevor Noah. He said the shoot with Noah brought him back to his own childhood.

"I was always on trains, leaving home, looking out of the window, seeing the trees and the fields go by and thinking, 'Will I be a good tennis player? Will I not? Will I win, will I not?'" he said.

Several parts of the ad point to how strict the Swiss are about being on time, and Noah shared that there were a few instances while filming when a train really did almost take off with them inside.

"They weren't even going to hold it for us," he said. "We were like, 'Oh, we're making an ad,' and then they were like, 'Yeah, and the train has a schedule.'"

"We were laughing," Noah said, imagining what would have happened if a train really had left with them on it. "Like, would that become the meta joke? Does that become the joke in the joke?"

If you enjoyed the train tour ad, take a few minutes to see Noah and Federer share how it came to be and how much fun they had making it.

This article originally appeared last year.

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Legendary writer Kurt Vonnegut cleverly explains how to write the 3 stories everyone loves

Notice anything similar?

via David Comburg/YouTube

Kurt Vonnegut explains the shapes of stories.

To be a great fiction writer requires understanding basic story structures and being clever enough to disguise them so your audience doesn’t know they’re watching or reading something they’ve seen before. Academics suggest that there are only a finite number of plots and structures, but that number varies based on who’s doing the talking.

Writer Kurt Vonnegut, best known for his satirical works on American politics and culture, including “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “Sirens of Titan,” was obsessed with the shapes of stories and summed up his views in one powerful sentence: “The fundamental idea is that stories have shapes which can be drawn on graph paper and that the shape of a given society’s stories is at least as interesting as the shape of its pots or spearheads.”

In the video below, Vonnegut explains why the shapes of three different types of stories, from “person gets into trouble” to “boy meets girl” to “Cinderella,” can all be summed up on two axes: the Y represents good and bad fortune, the X represents the beginning and end of a story.

The first question is where the main character or protagonist starts their journey. Are they in a state of good or bad fortune, and how does that change from beginning to end?

“Somebody gets into trouble, then gets out of it again. People love that story. They never get tired of it,” Vonnegut says with a smirk.

The video is an intriguing look into the mind of a highly original writer and gives excellent insights into the basics of storytelling.

This article originally appeared last year.

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Nicole Kidman shares the unconventional marriage rule she has with husband Keith Urban

They've had this communication rule since the very beginning of their 18 year relationship.

Wikipedia

Keith Urban (left) Nicole Kidman (right)

Long before Nicole Kidman began her long-term relationship with AMC theaters, she was committed to husband and country singer Keith Urban. The two have happily been together since 2006—which is a good run for any modern day marriage, but most certainly a Hollywood one.

And perhaps their nearly decades-long success can be partially attributed to one surprising communication rule: no texting. While appearing on the Something To Talk About podcast in 2023, Kidman shared that she was the one who initiated the unconventional agreement.

"We never text each other, can you believe that? We started out that way – I was like, 'If you want to get a hold of me, call me…"I wasn't really a texter.,” the “Moulin Rouge” actress shared.

She added that while Urban did attempt texting her a few items early on, he eventually switched when Kidman wasn’t very responsive. And now, 18 years later, they only call each other.

“We just do voice to voice or skin to skin, as we always say. We talk all the time and we FaceTime but we just don’t text because I feel like texting can be misrepresentative at times…I don’t want that between my lover and I,” she told Parade

.

There are, of course, some pros and cons to calling over texting. Research has shown that people who call feelmore connected to one another vs. texting, with the voice being an integral component of bonding. As our society becomes increasingly more distant and lonely, finding those moments might be more important than ever.

At the same time, calling can invoke a lot more anxiety compared to texting, which could lead someone to not communicating at all. Also, I don’t know about you, but the thought of having to call my partner for mundane things like “don’t forget the eggs” would drive me crazy.

But regardless of whether or not you adopt Kidman and Urban’s no-texting rule, perhaps the bigger takeaway is that relationship longevity depends on being able to establish your own rules. One that feels good and that each partner is able to stick to. Especially when it comes to communication.

As Urban himself told E! News at the CMT Music Awards, "I have no advice for anybody,You guys figure out whatever works for you…We're figuring it out. You figure it out. Everybody's different. There's no one size fits all."

Luckily, there are many ways to have good text hygiene, without having to do away with it completely. Very Well Mind suggests to avoid texting too many questions, and to be respectful of your partner's schedule (probably best to not text them while they’re sleeping just to say “hey,” for example). Nor should texting be used to argue or deal with conflict. Lastly, probably save the lengthy, in-depth conversations for a phone call. Fifteen heart emojis are totally fine though.


This article originally appeared in April.

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