Time for some introspection: T Magazine's top picks of the week

Here’s what to watch, read, binge and listen to this week

Podcast: How to Build a Happy Life

In pursuit of a happy life at all times, our expectations could get a wee bit carried away. We often wonder if the ultimate, endless happiness depicted in movies and books is real and possible. Often despite building, planning and structuring based on wisdom and strategy, our plans just fall through. And when expectations and reality don’t meet, it is the end of the world for us.

In season 3 of How to Build a Happy Life podcast series, producer Rebecca Rashid helps us navigate the unexpected curves on the path to personal happiness with data-driven insights and a healthy dose of introspection.

Binge this week: Real Housewives of Dubai

Like its cousin, Real Housewives of Dubai, the reality limited series Dubai Bling is currently the blingiest show on Netflix. Unofficial narrator Zeina Khoury, the CEO of Highmark Real Estate, married of billionaire Fahad Siddiqui takes you in the world of gold, dazzling jewellery, palatial homes and beautiful exterior shots of Dubai’s landscapes, orchestrated fights and ridiculously shallow characters. The theme is money and the characters are swimming in it. Their first-world problems are difficult to digest when there are people out there struggling to survive. Please wear shades, get away from it all and enjoy the fake, farcy but blinding bling.

Read this week: Mantle

Recently named one of the World’s Top Leadership Gurus, Robin S. Sharma, author of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, inspires his audience through uncommonly original and useful insights that can make individuals perform their best, teams provide superb results and organisations become unbeatable. Julian Mantle, a superstar lawyer’s a hectic lifestyle that leads him to a near-fatal heart attack. Mantle is, therefore, forced to confront his life. In his quest for happiness and contentment, he embarks on a journey where he discovers a way to release the potential of his mind, body, and soul.

Listen this week: I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am

The 1970s influence on Arctic Monkeys becomes crystal clear in their latest track I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am as undertones of Elton John, David Bowie and a bit of Jimi Hendrix’s masterful guitar work cuts through. They seem to have found a real, quality groove to slot themselves into which is apparent in their continued 70s encroachment.

Turner’s hopes the lyrics will reflect on and send a chill up the spine. From imagery and Hendrix funk influence, or from smart wordplay? Check out for yourself.