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A Bullshit Mayor
In his essay/book On Bullshit, Harry Frankfurt suggests that one of the reasons that there is so much bullshit around today is because of democracy. Spreading power and responsibility around encourages, or even makes it necessary, for people to hold opinions on things they know little about.
I feel like that about the Mayoral elections in Bristol, ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
On the way to work I saw a dead blackbird. Pale brown, it was lying neatly on the pavement with its eyes closed. It looked like it had been flying along and just closed and gone down ( Read more... ) -
Quick Film Reviews #29
I haven't done one of these for ages now.
In the Mood for Love I hadn't noticed before how distinctive the pacing of In the Mood for Love is. The plot is driven by short, sometimes fast-paced sections of dialogue. These are then followed by long shots in which nothing much happens. Those beautifully composed, colour saturated, lingering, often ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
walking to work, I can't stop staring at the road, resurfaced overnight
in the rain the fresh layer of tarmac glistens
a wet black scab on the worn old road
healing over the hurt of the years of traffic
a new road for new cars and people
between the familiar fronts of cafés and shabby shops -
Quick Film Reviews #28
Restrepo
Lovefilm went on a bit of an Afghanistan binge and sent me Restrepo right after Armadillo. Restrepo was actually filmed some years before, but the tactics and attitudes seem just the same as Armadillo. The same massive use of firepower, the fruitless searches, wary villagers, and civil projects that go nowhere. Oh, and the sound of an A ( Read more... ) -
Quick Film Reviews #27
Still applying the Bechdel test to films: a pass is if they feature two female characters, with names, who talk to each other about something other than a man.
Animal Kingdom Probably not what you'd expect from a film about an Australian crime family, Animal Kingdom consists mostly of the stomach-churning feeling you get when you're stuck in a bad ( Read more... ) -
Quick Film Reviews #26
Damn, it's been a long time since I wrote one of these. Not so quick after all ( Read more... ) -
Books: The Gum Thief
Continuing my attempts to write something about every book I read. Not as a "review" as such, but to encourage me to think a bit more about about them. It looks like I can read books faster than I can write about them, as I have a backlog ( Read more... ) -
Disablist
"This plan is so good it's retarded"
The other week there was a post on the f-word blog apologising for a previous post which had used "disablist" language. Disablist language is a fairly new concept to me, though the principle's familiar. It's language that implies that disabled people are worse than other people ( Read more... ) -
Books: The Fatal Eggs
Do you want to read some early Soviet sci-fi? Of course you do.
A scientist's discovery of a ray that increases the growth and reproduction rate of animals leads to disaster when it is unwisely taken out of the laboratory in an attempt to feed the country. The Fatal Eggs is obviously a satirical metaphor for the experience of Russia, but I don't ( Read more... )