I woke up in the middle of last night, apparently, and jotted down a number of things for the current story that I found in the morning when I woke up. Over the day I’ve been writing properly for the first time in a while and moved the story on to the next phase. The first part was about introducing the protagonist and getting them from A to B and establishing their reasons for being there. The second phase is what happens once they get into B and who they meet. I have some ideas that quite excite me about that, despite nervousness about my ability to get it on paper properly. My excitement about the next phase is tempered by not knowing yet how the characters are going to get out of the situation I put them in (or, indeed, if they get out. Mwah hah hah hah…)
***
I went for a walk round the block this evening for the first time in a few days after a period of icy pavements and pouring rain. It was nice to get outside into fresh air again, even if I felt the effects of a few days of idleness when I walked up the hill to the house. The last time I was out there was an owl calling in the woods; no owls tonight, but a pair of foxes barking and chasing each other around the streets. Even when I couldn’t see them, I could hear them, and observe the triggering of security lights wherever they went.
NB, this next bit edited as the situation changed immediately after I posted it
In the US, Jenna Ryan, who allegedly took her private jet from Texas to Washington to take part in the entry to the capitol and to ‘stop the steal’, said on TV that she doesn’t deserve a prison sentence and asked 45 to pardon her and others. I believe she also said she felt persecuted, which is not how you spell prosecuted.
In a family affair, one protester and his mum have both been arrested.
After some digging around, I found that the music that plays out over the closing credits is one of many bits of library music recorded by bassist/composer Johnny Hawksworth and called Admission Impossible. It’s pretty hot for library music.
Readers who’ve been here for a while may remember that one of the things I mentioned a lot in the first lockdown last spring was the silence. I wasn’t the only one, of course, and there was a lot of comment about the impact of the silence on birdsong. When I went out this morning to put away the bins, the thing that struck me was the noise. It was road noise from some difference away, but it reminded me of the sound of the airport.
***
The first order of business over breakfast was to watch WandaVision, the latest from Marvel. It has been heavily trailed and I was looking forward to it, but with a touch of reserve. My reserve is/was because Marvel, amongst others, is very, very slick in it’s promotion and everything is fantastic, right up until you actually watch it. Happily, the first two episodes of WandaVision, that parody/pastiche old sitcoms, are good: well-written and well-acted, notably by Elizabeth Olsen, who has a lot more to do here than she did in the Avengers movies which, on the whole, I didn’t like.
Keen observers of the site will note a relative lack of 1971 music posts for January. This is mostly because I’ve listened to a few things that I expected to be good, but haven’t enjoyed them and haven’t felt inclined to write about them. Sadly, Little Feat’s debut album falls into that category.
***
Music: the young people over on TicToc are getting excited about sea shanties. There’s no harm in that, and I’m always happy when people find a way into folk/traditional music, even if Wellerman isn’t a traditional shanty in the sense of a work song, but is a composed song from New Zealand somewhat in the style of a shanty. I’m also happy to see people pointing out that the influence of black seamen on the development of what we now know as sea shanties even though for most of us the association is with the white folk groups that kept them alive. Anyway, shanties never sink, they just dip below the horizon from time to time.
Predictably, the TicToc phenomenon has spawned a thread on Mudcat which is typically erudite, irritable and snippy.
Two videos tonight; first, Canada’s finest, the late Stan Rogers : Last of Barrett’s Privateers, one of his own songs, modelled on the sound of a shanty. Second, The Pogues : South Australia.
I made some more scones this morning, because that’s the way I roll. This afternoon was spent looking through the last 5000 or so words I’ve written and kicking them into some sort of shape. A lot of this involves taking the more florid sentences that come ‘in the moment’ and rewriting them on the principle of subject-verb-object. The great Elmore Leonard once listed his rules of writing which included his overriding rule: if it sounds like writing, rewrite it. It’s easier said than done, but it’s necessary and worth it in the long run. While doing this, I usually carry a mallet to crush adverbs, cruelly.
After supper I spent some time reading some of the indictments and arrest warrants of those charged with offences in Washington DC last week. It started off as a bit like a ‘spot the clown’ exercise, and I laughed at the guy who was identified, with some delight, by his ex-wife. But then you get to the guy with the multiple guns and ammunition and Molotov cocktails containing gasoline and melted Styrofoam which functions as napalm, sticking to the body of anyone it lands on, or the guy who is clearly seriously disturbed (and heavily armed). At that point the snickering stops.
I also spotted that one guy had the wit to delete his threatening social media posts on the evening of 6 January but, a footnote advises, by that time the FBI already had downloads.
Writing this, and thinking about tonight’s music choice, it struck me that a lot of what’s going on right now was at the heart of the recent novels of Thomas Pynchon, starting with Vineland in 1990 and running through Inherent Vice (2009) and Bleeding Edge (2013).
***
The leader of Labour in Scotland resigned today. His name was Richard Leonard. Other than that, neither I nor most others know anything about him, which was, in part, why a lot of people wanted him to go.
***
Music: in the books I mentioned, Pynchon explores the fracturing of America from the counter-culture of the sixties onwards (although fractures and demarcations of America are also core to Mason and Dixon (1997) which I regard as his masterpiece). Inherent Vice tacitly contrasts the stoned out but essentially harmless hippies with heavy-handed policing and the darkness of the Manson cult. Tonight’s music, a random selection from my shelf, because yes, I have this on vinyl, is from the heart of Californian counter-culture. Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies : You Can’t Ever Come Down.
The era was expertly parodied by the Folksmen in this out-take from the fabulous A Mighty Wind that forms the second video below. Weren’t your listening? Or are you just blind?
Just about the most exciting aspect of today was having an unexpected nap this afternoon, although making, and eating, vegan scones was a strong contender for runner up. Aside from looking out of the window trying to judge whether it would snow or rain, I can’t think of anything else that happened. I was looking forward to reading (Arthur Schnitzler, Dream Story, the book on which Kubrick’s Eye’s Wide Shut is loosely based) but the reading process was interrupted by the aforementioned nap.
And that’s it. I must add, that on the scale of things happening in the country, and the 1564 Covid deaths reported taking the UK total over 100,000, I’ll happily take Groundhog Day.
It is, by the way, exactly a year since the BBC reported the first death in Wuhan (New Scientist first reported on it in the edition dated 7 January 2020). Happy anniversary.
***
As I write, House Republicans are making every possible excuse they can to avoid any consequence befalling 45 for his actions. They are a disgrace, but you all knew that anyway. I dipped into the CNN coverage, but the GOP hypocrisy was too much for my stomach. I’ve seen a report that Moscow Mitch will delay the Senate part of the impeachment hearing until after Biden’s inauguration, thus ensuring that GOP senators don’t have to take a public position now. If true, that’s straight up cowardice and appeasement.
***
Music: A random album from my shelves. I remember first hearing this and spending ages trying to figure out how to play a version of it. I kind of got there in the end with a severely simplified rendition, but somewhere along the way I kinda figured out a hybrid of this and Stefan Grossman’s Ain’t No Way to Get Along that sounds really flash, but really is as lazy as I can make it.
We’re back to groundhog day. My plan was to write in the shed this evening, but the temperature is sub-zero again and the paving slabs up there are getting treacherous, so I write this from the warmth of the kitchen.
Not that there’s a lot to write a post about tonight. 45 is still in office, though no one seems to be clear who, exactly, is currently running America. 1243 Covid deaths were recorded in the UK yesterday. An outsourced provider of food to struggling families in the UK appears to have put profit ahead of the service they were supposed to be delivering and are getting upset that they’ve been called out for it, as have the government that gave them the contract.
***
Series three of American Gods has begun. Season one was a fun ride but a triumph of style over substance; season two was a mess, with less style and even less substance. I watched the start of season three with trepidation but was pleased to find that it seems to have found its feet. I rather think that’s because Neil Gaiman is back on the scene and has brought some story telling rigour to proceedings. There’s a way to go yet, but nice to have a programme to look forward to.
The Expanse is back but I haven’t looked in on it yet, and I still haven’t caught up with a couple of others. Things to keep me distracted through groundhog days to come.
***
Music: One of my favourite live bands (remember them?) Public Service Broadcasting. I have a happy memory of this blasting out at Barrowland in Glasgow in late 2017. That was the last gig I went to without carrying a set of ear protectors in my pocket. Everest
Recent Comments