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‘Everybody wants to be somebody. But remember: be somebody that’s nice.’
In the 1980s, Larry Woods was extraordinarily rich, unapologetically extravagant and intractably self-involved – or as he now puts it, ‘a real asshole’. Following an epiphany after a small yet eye-opening interaction with a kindly fruit-shop owner, Woods transformed himself into a man of modest means, but rich in compassion and cheer. Going by the moniker ‘Mister Sunshine’, Woods is a beloved figure on the streets of Auckland in New Zealand, where he shines shoes and lives by a creed to do good and spread kindness at every turn.
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Personality
A ‘little thief’ turned career criminal recounts a life on the wrong side of the law
5 minutes
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Values and beliefs
Why a single tree, uprooted in a typhoon, means so much to one man in Hanoi
7 minutes
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Consciousness and altered states
‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality
7 minutes
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Meaning and the good life
Leading 1950s thinkers on the search for happiness in trying times
29 minutes
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Virtues and vices
Why Bennie tried to disappear, and what happened when he was found decades later
16 minutes
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Home
How an artist transformed a dilapidated hunting lodge into a house made of dreams
8 minutes
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Animals and humans
The wild tale of a young animal keeper, an angry tiger and a torn circle net
10 minutes
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Art
A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size
5 minutes
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Personality
A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded
14 minutes