“The How Of Happiness” – activities 1, 2, 3, 4
August 14th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
I have recently finished reading a book called “The How Of Happiness” by Sonja Lyubomirsky. The main section of the work is a description of 12 happiness-enhancing activities. Activities 1-4 are as follows:
- Expressing gratitude: Counting your blessings for what you have (either to a close other or privately, through contemplation or diary-writing) or conveying your gratitude and appreciation to one or more individuals whom you’ve never properly thanked.
- Cultivating optimism: Keeping a journal in which you imagine and write about the best possible future for yourself or practise looking at the bright side of every situation.
- Avoiding overthinking and social comparison: Using strategies (such as distraction) to cut down on how often you dwell on your problems and compare yourself to others.
- Practising acts of kindness: Doing good things for others, whether friends or strangers, either directly ot anonymously, either spontaneously or planned.
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The modern resurgence of China
August 13th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
At this time of year, my professional commitments are light, so I sign up for a number of short courses at the City Lit further education college in central London. My sixth such course of this summer was delivered by a lecturer called John Berryman and it was titled “China: sphere of influence”.
The course involves two lectures, but I will have to miss the second one because I have a speaking engagement in Belfast.
This lecture put China’s modern resurgence into the context of recent history. The period from the 1840s to the 1940s – which included the opium wars and territorial losses of 1839-1842 & 1856-1860 – are seen by the Chinese as “the century of humiliation” and China’s economic and military growth under the Communists is seen as a return to the country’s rightful place in world politics as a major and important power.
China is the most populous country in the world with almost 1.4 billion people. It is also the third largest nation – after Russia and Canada – and, like all large powers, its grand strategy is shaped by its geographical circumstances.
China asserts strong hold on the province of Xinjiang conquered in the 18th century and the territory of Tibet annexed in 1951, so that it has secure borders on all sides. Now China is building a Blue Water navy to assert its power in the East China Sea and the South China Sea and it is investing throughtout Asia, Africa and South America to create strategic assets like ports and acquire strategic minerals, metals and sources of energy.
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A review of the film “Love In The Time Of Cholera”
August 12th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
The novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez was first published in Spanish in 1985 and this English-language movie adaptation was released in 2007. As the title makes clear, this is a love story, but what makes it different is the time (roughly 1880-1930), the place (unnamed in the novel but identified in the film as the Colombian city of Cartagena) and the postponed consummation (only after half a century do the lovers finally fulfil their dreams).
The main characters are the alluring Fermina Daza (played by Giovanna Mezzogiorno) and the lovelorn Florentino Ariza (Javier Bardem) although Fermina’s husband Doctor Juvenal Urbino (Benjamin Bratt) has a key role. I have no idea how faithful the film is to the book, but I enjoyed this cinematic adaptation – somewhat languid in the telling but beautifully shot and well-acted – and it has given me a desire to visit the historic, walled city of Cartagena where much of it was shot.
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How did your part of the country vote in the Brexit referendum?
August 11th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
More than one year after the UK voted in a referendum narrowly to leave the European Union, we have still barely started the complex negotiations that are involved. Meanwhile debate continues to rage over the decision and whether it can be reversed.
You know how you voted (I voted remain), but do you know how your part of the country voted? The BBC has a search facility – plus a helpful Q&A – here.
The answer for my borough is as follows:
Brent
So my decision was reflective of the majority of my locality. What about you?
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Another day of rain (or sun)
August 9th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Here in London, we’ve had a miserable summer with lots of cool, overcast, and even wet days. Today is probably the worst so far with so much rain.
I decided that the only thing to do was to listen to “Another Day Of Sun”, the opening song from the wonderful movie “La la Land”. Enjoy!
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A review of the sci-fi blockbuster “Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets”
August 8th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
You have to admire an artist with ambition who is prepared to take risks and French writer/director Luc Besson is an original in the world of cinema. He has given us such wonders as “Leon”, “The Fifth Element” and “Lucy” – works of variable success – plus the under-rated and under-known “The Lady” and even co-scripted the three “Taken” movies, so his eclectic work has added to the joys of the big screen.
The science fiction tale of “Valerian” is his most ambitious film yet – seven years in the making and, at an estimated $180M, the most expensive independent movie ever made. Was it worth it? Well, the result is part brilliant and part bonkers and sadly these are not even equal parts.
Let’s start with the plaudits. Even in the 2D in which I chose to see a work that threatens sensory overload, “Valerian” is quite spectacular. Adapted from a comic strip and set in the 28th century, it conjures up about 200 different alien species (some of them wonderful) and a variety of amazing worlds which include the eponymous city, a race of elongated glitter people, a virtual reality shopping mall, and a red light district with a marvellous shape-shifting character called Bubble (the splendid Rihinna).
Apparently, there are almost 3,000 special effect shots in this movie. Whereas so many sci-fi works postulate a dystopian future, Besson has created a positive future with a universe in which thousands of different species happily co-exist and ethnicity and gender are blurred.
So what’s wrong with “Valerian”? Above all, the plot is weak and the script is even weaker. And then there’s the acting.
The main characters – federal agents Major Valerian and Sergeant Laureline – are played respectively by Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevinge and, while both look pretty, he can probably act but doesn’t (and sounds eerily like Keanu Reeves) while she still can’t act and doesn’t realise it (but has time to learn), while the chemistry between the two (as well as solving a mystery they are conducting a kind of romance) is non-existent. Clive Owen is unconvincing, Ethan Hawke is underused, and lord knows what Herbie Hancock is doing there.
Unfortunately this expensive movie is going to cost Besson dear and not just financially, but I suspect that in time it will acquire a curiosity value and maybe even a cult following.
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Kenya goes to the polls today and Kenyans hold their breath
August 8th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
A month ago on my fourth visit to Nairobi, I did a blog posting about the coming general election in Kenya. That election – and a host of other polls – will be held today and, given the experience of previous elections and the closeness of the rival coalitions, there are real fears about the risk of ethnic-based violence.
The general election is dominated by two coalitions of parties: one called Jubilee and the other titled the National Super Alliance or NASA. Jubilee is led by the current President Uhuru Kenyatta (who is Kikuyu) and the current Vice-President William Ruto (who is Kalenjin). NASA is headed by Presidential candidate Raila Odinga (who is Luo) and Vice-Presidential candidate Kalonzo Musyoka (who is Ukambani).
Both Kenyatta and Odinga are sons of former political leaders who dominated the early years of post-independent Kenya. Constitutionally this is the last presidential election that Kenyatta can contest, while in terms of his age Odinga could not really fight another presidential election. So the stakes are high.
There’s an explanatory article in the “Guardian” newspaper today.
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Russia: Re-exerting its dominance
August 7th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
At this time of year, my professional commitments are light, so I sign up for a number of short courses at the City Lit further education college in central London. My fifth such course of this summer was delivered by a lecturer called Robert Behan and it was titled “Russia: Re-exerting its dominance”.
The course involves two lectures: one on the domestic situation and the second on the international context.
We began the first course with a reminder of how Putin had come to power. When Boris Yeltsin was at the nadir of his popularity, he arranged to sell state assets at knock-down prices to a set of oligarchs who agreed in return to back his re-election. Subsequently these oligarchs exerted considerable influence on government.
Vladimir Putin was a KGB agent from 1975-1991 who rose under Yeltsin’s tenure to become head of the secret service the FSB (successor to the KGB) and then Prime Minister. He was hand-picked by Yeltsin to succeed him as President on the understanding that Yeltsin and his family would escape any prosecution.
So Putin was the Prime Minister from 1999 to 2000, President from 2000 to 2008, again Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012, and again President since 2012.
The next part of the course looked at the factions in Putin’s government and our lecturer highlighted four:
- The siloviki clan – The Russian word refers to ‘people of force’. It covers Putin’s former comrades from the KGB and key members of the defence and security establishments. This clan has supported a build up of the armed forces and the security services.
- The St Petersburg power group – These are people who used to work with Putin when he was at senior levels of the city’s administration from 1990-1996. This group includes Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev and Deputy PM Dimitri Kozak.
- The oligarchs – In fact, as soon as he became President, Putin started a programme to tame the oligarchs and limit their political involvement. A key tactic was the imprisonment of Mikkail Khordokovsky.
- The power vertical – This refers to the centralisation of power in the Kremlin. Elections are mere “electoral events” with United Russia a pliant supporter of Putin and limited tolerance of other political parties. Gubernatorial elections were abolished in 2006, so that now all state governors are appointed by the President. Most of the media is state-owned and there are tight restrictions on the Internet.
Such is Putin’s absolute grip on power in Russia that our lecturer opined that, if Putin was to go, “there would be absolute chaos”.
You can read my “Short Guide To The Russian Political System” here.
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The tragedy of the partition of India
August 6th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Seventy years ago this month, the British rushed through the partition of India to create new two states: India and Pakistan (which is now Pakistan and Bangladesh). In the resultant ethnic violence and migration, perhaps a million people died and up to 15 million people were displaced.
Why did this happen and where does partition leave us today? In today’s “Observer” newspaper, Yasmin Khan addresses these issues in an illuminating article which includes a map and a timeline.
She concludes her piece:
“This world of more fluid identities and cultures was gradually dismantled throughout the 19th century under British rule and then smashed by partition. It becomes ever harder, today, to imagine the pre-partitioned Indian subcontinent. In the south Asian case, the historical conflict is now acted out on a different, international stage. India and Pakistan stand frozen in a cold war, with nuclear missiles pointed at each other.
At least one billion people living in the region today were not even born when partition took place and south Asia has many more immediate and far more pressing problems: water supply, environmental crisis and adaptation to climate change. Nonetheless, a sense of shared history, and a more multidimensional understanding of what happened in 1947 is also vital for the future of the region.”
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A review of the new Christopher Nolan film “Dunkirk”
August 5th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
The last time we saw Dunkirk in a film was in Joe Wright’s “Atonement” which featured a staggering five and a half minute Steadicam shot of a hell on earth beach scene. Now, thanks to the supreme talents of British director Christopher Nolan, we have an entire film devoted to the miracle of May/June 1940 that enabled some 340,000 British and French soldiers to be rescued by the British Navy and a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 small boats.
Nolan is what film studies call an auteur, someone who stamps an individual style on every work that he produces. In fact, Nolan is a most unusual auteur because his films are commercially successful (most notably his “Dark Knight” trilogy). But he often makes his viewers work hard because frequently he likes to use a non-linear narrative (most dramatically in “Memento”, “Inception” and “Interstellar”).
In this sense, “Dunkirk” – which he wrote, produced and directed – is classic Nolan in that there are three storylines: one largely set on land and covering a week, another located mainly at sea and occupying one day, and the third taking place in the air and filling just one hour. The three narratives intersect and finally converge temporally at the end of the film. It is as well for the viewer to know this before seeing the work for the first time and it means that a complete understanding of the timelines probably requires more than one viewing.
The unusual narrative structure is not the only distinctive feature of “Dunkirk”. Visually and aurally it is a striking film and I viewed it in IMAX which was a stunning experience. Whether it is the vast expanse of the beach with thousands of soldiers lined up or the claustrophic bowels of a crammed ship or a close-up of a pilot in his Spitfire fighter aircraft, whether it the whine of bullets or the explosion of bombs or the howl of a Stuka dive-bomber, this is a work which is almost overwhelming. When one factors in the astonishing soundtrack from Hans Zimmer, the movie becomes a heart-pounding experience.
There is a roster of familar talented actors – notably – Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy (although we barely see his face) – but Nolan deliberately cast young, newcomers to the screen in many of the soldier roles. In many ways, this is a minimalist movie: a simple plot (if complicated timelines), comparatively little dialogue, very few women characters, no German faces at all – just an unrelenting focus from the opening scene to the closing minutes on that strip of sand and the tens of thousands on it. The end sequences teeter on the edge of jingoism, but overall this is a masterclass in moviemaking.
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