Impossibility is a kiss away from reality
I’m just going to leave these here while I wander around with a silly grin on my face
Sense8 is back
What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been
I’ve been catching up on TV since we got back from holiday. Of course, that doesn’t amount to a lot for me since I don’t watch that much TV, and I’m still not reconciled to the cancellation of Sense8, but still…
Dr Who: Moffat and Capaldi’s final series has knocked it out of the park so far. It reminds me a lot of what early ’70s Who could have been with better production techniques. One episode to go.
American Gods: I haven’t shared the general hyperbolic enthusiasm for this, although I do like it. I find it has tried so very, very hard to be stylish and to be Event Television; however the exaggerated style has, I feel, overwhelmed what substance there is. It’s like, as Carly Simon wrote, it has one eye in the mirror as it watches itself gavotte. But, and this is a very substantial but, it got a whole lot better when Emily Browning, as Laura Moon, got her own episode (Ep. 4, Git Gone) and then again, playing another character, Essie McGowan, in episode 7 A Prayer For Mad Sweeney. Browning steals every scene she appears in. Reflecting on the first 8 episodes I realised I had no interest in Shadow Moon or Mr. Wednesday or the rest of the pantheon, but I am fully engaged with Laura Moon and the Leprechaun who are the most, and best, realised characters in the show. I’ll keep watching when it comes back because of them.
Twin Peaks: Until this week I would have given a mixed review of Twin Peaks. I’ve enjoyed it, but also found it hard to tell whether or not it was just an elaborate piss-take on the part of Mark Frost and David Lynch, insofar as it has been so self-parodic. However then came episode 8, one of the most remarkable hours of television I have ever seen. It never felt any need to condescend to the viewer with anything so cheap as an explanation for what was happening. The episode is modernist, absurd, surreal, creepy as hell, horrific and utterly compelling. It absolutely sets the bar for TV from now on, in just a single episode, in the way American Gods’ “look at me” stylishness does not. It is a strange trip.
But not as much of a Long Strange Trip as Amazon’s 4 hour documentary about the Grateful Dead. There are many things to say about this, and one is that, like the excellent Anthem To Beauty, it is not necessary to like the Dead’s music to enjoy the documentary, even at 4 hours. The running thread through the documentary is Jerry Garcia, and I understand why he was the focus. I tend to think that that there are other, just as interesting, documentaries to be made about the Dead focusing on the other musicians, and also the general impact of their music in America in particular (I’ve lost count of the number of bluegrass versions I’ve heard of Friend of the Devil). Notwithstanding that, I enjoyed every minute of it.
Finally, I was going to close this post with a link to the Dead on YouTube, but I’ve just found out that Rosalie Sorrels died while we were away on holiday. This is the first thing I heard her sing.
Click, Whirrr…
I’m enjoying using my film cameras on holiday, though it hasn’t gone exactly as expected. My original idea was to use mostly 35mm, with medium format being used from time to time when a landscape required it.
In fact I have so completely fallen for the Pentax 645N that it has been my main camera for the whole holiday, almost exclusively with a 45mm lens and a graduated grey filter. I’ve used Kodak Ektar ISO100 film but will have to switch to my backup supply of Kodak Portra 400ASA soon. The other Pentax, the original 645, has been loaded with Rollei RPX400 Black and White film and has had more limited use.
My Canon AT1, also loaded with Ektar, has mainly been on standby for wildlife pics with a 500mm mirror lens, but photogenic wildlife has been notable by its absence so far.
Je suis Marxiste, tendance Groucho
The election then.
I posted nothing about it before it happened and I don’t plan to post much now, except to say I found the outcome hilarious.
Now, voting was quite easy for me this time round; I live in an SNP/LibDem marginal so my choice was clear: LibDem. I don’t especially like the LibDems, but there was a greater imperative at work.
For most of my life I’ve voted Labour; any exceptions to that have always been tactical. But I’m not interested in voting Labour while Jeremy Corbin and his cabal of Wolfie Smith wannabes is in charge. A tip of the hat to him, he did a lot better than many, including me, expected. But he still lost to the most inept Tory leader since Ian Duncan Smith, despite the Tory campaign imploding spectacularly.
Last July I posted about Theresa May; I said I didn’t like her but she was the least worst of those available and so I had my fingers crossed. I thought she, or the Tories at least, would be in office until 2025 or so with a very substantial majority. That last looks questionable now, but with a potential second General Election this year it may yet happen. Given her manifest unsuitability for the job, I doubt Mrs. May can survive in office, and I doubt a minority government sustained by the confidence and supply support of the DUP is stable. On the other hand, with Article 50 triggered, the last thing the Tories need is another leadership election, especially given the paucity of obvious successors.
Mrs. May clings to office in large part because of the performance of the Tories in Scotland under Ruth Davidson (who is unhappy about that DUP link). Add that to Labour gaining seats in Scotland, and the dreams of the SNP are on a shoogly peg. At least in public, the SNP can not admit this is because the majority of the electorate do not want another indy. referendum since independence is the SNP’s sole purpose. Given their mediocre performance in government, their general fitness for office is now in doubt too.
Oddly, I find the absurdity of the situation grounds for optimism as well as laughter: the make up of the House of Commons is such that no party will succeed in pushing an ideological position because no part has the support to carry it through. Maybe, just maybe, that means a period during which compromise positions will necessarily carry the day; proving, perhaps, that Nemesis has a sense of humour.
I think I’m in Love
Quick update from Skye: I think I’m in love with my Pentax 645N. I haven’t seen the pics yet, of course, but everything about it feels great. I love the weight of it, the balance, the bright screen, the fact that it just works.
I liked the 645; the 645N is different league in terms of usability.
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