Watches, Stories, & Gear: The World’s Largest Cruise Ship, Denzel Washington and Spike Lee Reunite, and Behind the Scenes with Atelier Wen

“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of our favorite content, watch or otherwise, from around the internet. Here, we support other creators, explore interesting content that inspires us, and put a spotlight on causes we believe in. Oh, and any gear we happen to be digging on this week. We love gear.

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Heavy Metal Costs Elon Musk Billions

In what has to be one of the early candidates for headline of the year, Futurism’s The Byte imprint has a fairly wild story about how a heavy metal drummer and Tesla stockholder successfully sued the billionaire, putting a limit on what is essentially limitless wealth. The drummer, Richard Tornetta, formerly of the thrash metal band Dawn of Correction, was part of a lawsuit alleging that Musk misled investors regarding his own compensation. The suit has been tied up in courts for years, but was recently decided in Tornetta’s favor, proving once again that metal is an inherent good in a world of unencumbered wealth. 

Could Adam Neumann Really Buy Back WeWork?

Slate’s Alex Kirshner reports this week on a strange story involving another billionaire. Adam Neumann, the founder and former CEO of WeWork, whose story was memorably dramatized in the WeCrashed limited series starring Jared Leto as the founder, is apparently interested in buying back his old company out of bankruptcy. A bankruptcy many would argue he was responsible for – the company was once valued at over $40 billion, but by the time he took it public it was worth only about $9 billion, largely a result of Neumann’s antics. The problem, though, is that WeWork’s current management is resisting the move. Neumann was able to extract quite a fortune for himself before being ousted from his own company, so it’s understandable if his presence isn’t exactly welcome. 

On Board the Icon of the Sea

Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, set sail for the first time recently, with a mind boggling 5,000 passengers on board. One of those first passengers was New York Times reporter Ceylan Yeginsu, who filed this report from the ship. It’s truly a floating city, filled with water rides, luxury amenities, and all kinds of stuff you just wouldn’t expect to find on a cruise ship. According to Yeginsu, though, what was most surprising about her experience is that there was actually an opportunity to relax, which is the whole point of a vacation anyway, right? 

Denzel Washington and Spike Lee to Reunite for a Kurosawa Remake 

In what is perhaps the most interesting news on the movie front this week, we got word that Spike Lee will be reuniting with frequent collaborator Denzel Washington for a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s classic kidnapping drama High & Low. The film, which will be produced at A24, is the first time the pair have worked together since Inside Man, a gritty, 70s style crime thriller that has become a cult classic. The thought of these two working another intense thriller in the same vein is truly enticing, and if you’ve seen the original High & Low, which concerns an executive’s moral dilemma in a ransom situation for a kidnapping gone wrong, you know that this new version could have a really interesting contemporary frame of reference. More info at IndieWire here.

Christopher Nolan Interviews Benny Safdie and Nathan Fielder

If you saw “The Curse,” the Showtime limited series created by and starring Benny Safdie and Nathan Fielder (and Emma Stone, in a wild performance), you know that it’s one of the weirdest and most offbeat things to make it to television, well, maybe ever. It’s certainly not for everyone, and goes way beyond “cringe comedy” that Fielder has made a name for himself with in recent years. So it’s a little funny that such a strange show would be the topic of a forum hosted by Christopher Nolan, who is, I think it’s fair to say, firmly in the mainstream. But as you’ll see in this YouTube clip of Nolan interviewing the guys behind “The Curse,” he seems to be a genuine fan. This is also one of the few instances where you’ll see Fielder truly as himself, not playing a character, which in its own way is a little disconcerting if you know his comedy.

Atelier Wen Debuts a New Video Series

Atelier Wen is one of our favorite new independent brands. They’ve really hit on something special with their Perception collection, a line of beautifully crafted integrated bracelet sports watches with gorgeous guilloche dials made the 0ld fashioned way. Craftsmanship is incredibly important to the brand, and they’re highlighting that in a new video series that just debuted. Inside the Atelier finds the brand’s founders peeling back the curtain, visiting their suppliers and the artisans responsible for making their watch components. You may have seen documentaries that take a similar approach with Swiss luxury brands, but this series has a very different feel and really digs into the rich history of craft in China, where Atelier Wen’s watches are made. It will almost certainly make you think differently about what a Chinese made watch can be.