Candles are what women turn to when their partners never get them flowers.
17 December 2010
A flash of insight.
Fact about women No.37:
Candles are what women turn to when their partners never get them flowers.
Candles are what women turn to when their partners never get them flowers.
10 December 2010
Panic on the streets of London
I'm not a Take That fan, but it is difficult not to like them isn't it. And who isn't a little warmed to see and hear Robbie back for good? Anyway, a song for our time, or week, at least?
It's got to make you wonder if the riots in London last night, and all the back and forth about the vote on changes to the funding of universities, is all a clever marketing ploy for Take That's next single. Hats off if it is.
Student protests, or a collection of frustrated people, with multiple agendas, along with those simply looking for a ruck, capitalising on the opportunity afforded by the student protests? Let's also mention here the Nobel prize winning, pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, who is criminalised in his native China. Let's mention too the consideration of calls for those in charge of wikileaks to be treated as terrorists, and the moves to crush it under massive government and corporate pressure. (Incidentally, a petition against the extra-judicial campaign of intimidation wikileaks is facing can be found and signed here)
When governments don't listen to what the people clearly want, and when they act in ways which at least appear to quash central tenants of democratic society; things like freedom of speech and freedom of the press for example, one has to wonder how much their lofty and noble sounding rhetoric concerning democracy actually affects the on-the-ground practises they employ in running a country. Maybe the bands people travel in and the banners they work under never capture accurately the diverse ideologies contained within any given 'movement'.
"Since some nations are more powerful than others, they will at times prevent anarchy by effective imperialism, which in our industrial period has become more covert than overt. But the peace is gained by force and is always an uneasy and unjust one. As powerful classes organise a nation, so powerful nations organise a crude society of nations. In each case the peace is a tentative one because the peace is unjust. It has been achieved only partially by a mutual accommodation of conflicting interests and certainly not by a rational and moral adjustment of rights. It will last only until those, who feel themselves too weak to challenge strength, will become, or will feel themselves, powerful enough to do so." Reinhold Niebuhr.
In short, there'll be trouble when the kidz come out.
Pax Romana (the Peace of Rome) never does what it says on the tin, and i, again, find myself led back to Christ and his call away from a clamour for power, and towards an embracing of humility in the loving of our neighbour as ourselves. Here, in our acknowledgement of ourselves as one with 'the other', is the only way to a true peace.
Also, what were Charles and Camilla thinking!? "Oh, let's go for a drive and check out the riots ourselves!". The commoners are revolting.
...nope, none of the above, it was panic on the streets of London.
It's got to make you wonder if the riots in London last night, and all the back and forth about the vote on changes to the funding of universities, is all a clever marketing ploy for Take That's next single. Hats off if it is.
Student protests, or a collection of frustrated people, with multiple agendas, along with those simply looking for a ruck, capitalising on the opportunity afforded by the student protests? Let's also mention here the Nobel prize winning, pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, who is criminalised in his native China. Let's mention too the consideration of calls for those in charge of wikileaks to be treated as terrorists, and the moves to crush it under massive government and corporate pressure. (Incidentally, a petition against the extra-judicial campaign of intimidation wikileaks is facing can be found and signed here)
When governments don't listen to what the people clearly want, and when they act in ways which at least appear to quash central tenants of democratic society; things like freedom of speech and freedom of the press for example, one has to wonder how much their lofty and noble sounding rhetoric concerning democracy actually affects the on-the-ground practises they employ in running a country. Maybe the bands people travel in and the banners they work under never capture accurately the diverse ideologies contained within any given 'movement'.
"Since some nations are more powerful than others, they will at times prevent anarchy by effective imperialism, which in our industrial period has become more covert than overt. But the peace is gained by force and is always an uneasy and unjust one. As powerful classes organise a nation, so powerful nations organise a crude society of nations. In each case the peace is a tentative one because the peace is unjust. It has been achieved only partially by a mutual accommodation of conflicting interests and certainly not by a rational and moral adjustment of rights. It will last only until those, who feel themselves too weak to challenge strength, will become, or will feel themselves, powerful enough to do so." Reinhold Niebuhr.
In short, there'll be trouble when the kidz come out.
Pax Romana (the Peace of Rome) never does what it says on the tin, and i, again, find myself led back to Christ and his call away from a clamour for power, and towards an embracing of humility in the loving of our neighbour as ourselves. Here, in our acknowledgement of ourselves as one with 'the other', is the only way to a true peace.
Also, what were Charles and Camilla thinking!? "Oh, let's go for a drive and check out the riots ourselves!". The commoners are revolting.
...nope, none of the above, it was panic on the streets of London.
2 December 2010
10 for 10
The end of 2010 is upon us, as is, therefore, the end of the decade. I thought it would be interesting to consider this past 10 years from a cinematic perspective. We've had the digital revolution, 3D cinema, loads of real world events for movies to get political about, and the advent of the 'TV Box-Set' - all of which has had an effect on cinema.
I wish i wasn't so hard on myself. I wish i could allow 10 lists of 10 movies each - maybe 10 movies per genre or something. But, alas, i'm too cruel and hard of heart. The task i have asked of myself is to come up with the best / my favourite 10 pieces of cinema from the past 10 years. Not necessarily a film from each year, but 10 in total. It has brought me joy to think back over films that have thrilled and moved me (maybe even films that have helped shape my thinking), but it's been really painful to leave so many out. Like, i'm talking about a real, deep, stinging pain.
So, bearing in mind our potentially different tastes, and the different things which were happening in our lives when we saw these films; and also bearing in mind that i haven't seen everything that's come out in this time (in fact there are some highly acclaimed pieces which i haven't caught), here's my 10 (in no order whatsoever):
"Do you even know why you're supposed to kill me? Look at us. Look at what they make you give."
"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain"
"We are supposed to be righteous. That's a beautiful thing. And we're losing it. If I lose that, that's everything. That's my soul"
"Many, many years ago in a sad, faraway land, there was an enormous mountain made of rough, black stone. At sunset, on top of that mountain, a magic rose blossomed every night that made whoever plucked it immortal. But no one dared go near it because its thorns were full of poison. Men talked amongst themselves about their fear of death, and pain, but never about the promise of eternal life. And every day, the rose wilted, unable to bequeath its gift to anyone... forgotten and lost at the top of that cold, dark mountain, forever alone, until the end of time"
"You, you were supposed to be a monster - now I'm the fucking beast. There's blood on my hands, from what you made me do"
"Happiness only real when shared."
"You ever get the feelin'... I don't know, er... when you're in town and someone looks at you all suspicious, like he knows? And then you go out on the pavement and everyone looks like they know too"
"Let's never come here again because it will never be as much fun"
Bookseller: 29.80. Would you like it gift wrapped?
Gerd Wiesler: No. It's for me.
"Look, I don't care what the telly says, all right? We have to get out of here. If we don't they'll tear us to pieces, and that is really going to exacerbate things for all of us"
2004 and 2005 appear to be the biggest hitting years for me, with 7 films between them. If we discount the multi-featurings of actors and directors in franchises, Heath Ledger and Paddy Considine would then seem the biggest hitting stars, cropping up twice (The Dark Knight and Brokeback Mountain, and The Bourne Ultimatum and Dead Man's Shoes respectively).
So, confronted with my list, i observe in these films the running themes of violent retribution and associated guilt, the struggle for freedom in oppressive contexts, and the realising of one's self and one's power (for good or for ill). Most of these stories are stories of men, and even one of the two that are stories of women is about men not dealing very well with women's changing place. The irony is that Anchorman had to be set in the 70's to get it's message across, where, judging by my list, it's still just as relevant an issue now as it was then. Look at the gender of the directors of these films, for example.
This could all be down to me and my choices, and probably partially is, but i look at these themes and issues raised and i have to ask what the balance is of what these films say about me for selecting them, and what they say about this past decade which has produced them.
What about your favourites? What does your mental cinematic landscape of this past decade look like?
Ok, honorary mentions for those most narrowly missing out: Joyeux Noel, There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Let The Right One In, United 93, The Darjeeling Limited, Moon, Primer and Stranger Than Fiction.
I wish i wasn't so hard on myself. I wish i could allow 10 lists of 10 movies each - maybe 10 movies per genre or something. But, alas, i'm too cruel and hard of heart. The task i have asked of myself is to come up with the best / my favourite 10 pieces of cinema from the past 10 years. Not necessarily a film from each year, but 10 in total. It has brought me joy to think back over films that have thrilled and moved me (maybe even films that have helped shape my thinking), but it's been really painful to leave so many out. Like, i'm talking about a real, deep, stinging pain.
So, bearing in mind our potentially different tastes, and the different things which were happening in our lives when we saw these films; and also bearing in mind that i haven't seen everything that's come out in this time (in fact there are some highly acclaimed pieces which i haven't caught), here's my 10 (in no order whatsoever):
- The 'Bourne' trilogy (Doug Liman, 2002 and Paul Greengrass, 2004 + 2007)
- Batman Begins / The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2005 + 2008)
- Munich (Steven Spielberg, 2005)
- Pan's Labyrinth (Guillmero Del Toro, 2006)
- Dead Man's Shoes (Shane Meadows, 2004)
- Into The Wild (Sean Penn, 2007)
- Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)
- Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
- The Lives Of Others (Florian Henckel van Donnersmarck, 2006)
Gerd Wiesler: No. It's for me.
- Anchorman (Adam McKay, 2004) = Shaun Of The Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)
2004 and 2005 appear to be the biggest hitting years for me, with 7 films between them. If we discount the multi-featurings of actors and directors in franchises, Heath Ledger and Paddy Considine would then seem the biggest hitting stars, cropping up twice (The Dark Knight and Brokeback Mountain, and The Bourne Ultimatum and Dead Man's Shoes respectively).
So, confronted with my list, i observe in these films the running themes of violent retribution and associated guilt, the struggle for freedom in oppressive contexts, and the realising of one's self and one's power (for good or for ill). Most of these stories are stories of men, and even one of the two that are stories of women is about men not dealing very well with women's changing place. The irony is that Anchorman had to be set in the 70's to get it's message across, where, judging by my list, it's still just as relevant an issue now as it was then. Look at the gender of the directors of these films, for example.
This could all be down to me and my choices, and probably partially is, but i look at these themes and issues raised and i have to ask what the balance is of what these films say about me for selecting them, and what they say about this past decade which has produced them.
What about your favourites? What does your mental cinematic landscape of this past decade look like?
Ok, honorary mentions for those most narrowly missing out: Joyeux Noel, There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Let The Right One In, United 93, The Darjeeling Limited, Moon, Primer and Stranger Than Fiction.
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