There are so many ways to die – linguistically, that is
May 24th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Check out this list.
I rather like the expression “to kick the bucket” – but there is no certainty around the explanation of the origin of this expression.
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Word of the day: pareidolia
May 22nd, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Pareidolia is the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous visual stimulus (so that one sees an object, pattern or meaning where in fact there is none).
Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, or lunar pareidolia like the Man in the Moon or the Moon Rabbit. The concept of pareidolia may extend to include hidden messages in recorded music played in reverse or at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds, and hearing voices (mainly indistinct) or music, in random noise such as that produced by air conditioners or fans.
Pareidolia was at one time considered a symptom of psychosis, but it is now seen as a normal human tendency. Scientists have taught computers to use visual clues to “see” faces and other images.
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A review of the new film “Nomadland”
May 19th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
By the time restrictions had eased on the third lockdown in pandemic Britain and I was able to see this film on the big screen, it had already received three Academy Awards, winning Best Director (Chloé Zhao), Best Actress (Frances McDormand) and Best Film.
It is a remarkably original work, mixing a fictional story of widowed 61 year old Fern (McDormand), who makes a life for herself in a recreational vehicle (RV) travelling to wherever she can find casual work, with what is in effect a documentary about the life of such nomads in modern America featuring a cast of real-life characters who fit into the story while telling their own stories. The cinematography is amazing with shot after shot looking like a photograph or painting.
This could have been a depressing critique of an America for whom the dream has become a nightmare, but instead there is a moving sense of solidarity and community between people who have so little materially but so much in spirit.
The sense of positivity is captured in Fern’s comment: “I’m not homeless, I’m just houseless. Not the same thing, right? Don’t worry about me.” The narrative is sparse and episodic and underlined by the understated music of Ludovico Einaudi. The ending of the fictional part of the film is unresolved and enigmatic. My viewing companion and I had very different ideas about Fern’s future.
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A review of the new film “Ammonite”
May 19th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
I had expected a celebration of the talent of an under-appreciated female scientist (like “Radioactive”) but instead found a tender tale of a lesbian relationship between a talented woman and her mentee ( a bit like “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire”). The reality is that there is absolutely no evidence of a relationship between early 19th century palaeontologist Mary Anning (Kate Winslet), known later as ‘The Fossil Finder’, and Charlotte Murchison (Saoirse Ronan).
I would have preferred either a fuller biographical representation of a real life scientist or an exploration of a fictional 19th century lesbian friendship but, if we overlook the conceit of writer and director Francis Lee (who is himself gay), we have a powerful piece of film-making.
This was my first visit to a cinema in many months after the third lockdown of pandemic Britain and it was a sheer joy to experience a large screen, wonderful sound and an audience in a dark theatre. The last time that I saw Lyme Regis in a film was “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” and since then I’ve actually visited this historic town with its nearby ammonite-rich Jurassic coast.
Although the slow and languid treatment is more art house than might be expected, the cinematography – all muted colours and atmospheric sound – is a delight and Winslet and Ronan are magnificent with a script that often involves repressed body language and sparse dialogue. At the end of it all, one longs to visit the British Museum and see some of Anning’s spectacular finds.
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A review of the 2019 film “Animals”
May 17th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
British writer Emma Jane Unsworth wrote the screenplay for this film adaptation of her novel “Animals” which is relocated from Manchester to Dublin and examines the close but complex relationship between two best friends of a decade who live together are now in their late 20s: Irish Laura (Holliday Grainger), who aspires to be a writer but cannot start her story, and American Tyler (Alia Shawkat), who is even more unconventional and feminist.
The two young women live an hedonist lifestyle with an excess of cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs and a fair bit of sex. There is little suggestion that this lifestyle is in any way fulfilling which makes one wonder why they persist with it. But Tyler seems to have lots of money from her family and Laura apparently finds her writing voice. Australian director Sophie Hyde tries to give the movie some style and the lead actors are watchable enough, but the whole episode leaves one feeling flat.
Footnote (and – only slight – spoiler): This is the only film that I’ve seen in which a woman’s pubic hair catches fire – resulting in the wonderful line: “Sorry, girls, didn’t mean to get all holy on you with my burning bush”.
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Word of the day: peng
May 15th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
I’ve only just discovered this word which shows how uncool I am. It’s a London slang word meaning:
very beautiful or attractive: I saw a girl – she was peng.
extremely good: That burger looks peng.
More examples
- That jacket is peng!
- I’d go out with that boy, he’s well peng.
- There was an online page called “Britain’s pengest teens“.
So where does the word come from?
I understand that ‘peng’ was originally a term used in Jamaica to describe high quality weed. It then came to mean someone who is really good looking. A lot of the London slang words are Jamaican in origin. They become popular through music and black Londoners links with the Caribbean.
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A review of “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig
May 14th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
As we know from Matt Haig’s non-fiction work “Reasons To Stay Alive”, at the age of just 24 he had a major depressive breakdown in which he contemplated suicide. It took him many years to recover and writing was one of the things that helped him cope. He has now become a best-selling author of both non-fiction and fiction for adults and children and this novel is clearly influenced substantially by his personal experience.
Nora Seed is a 35 year old woman living in Bedford who managed to obtain a first class degree in philosophy (Henry David Thoreau was her favourite thinker), but suffers from serious depression and feels that her life has been a series of failures. She attempts suicide – but then she finds herself in a strange kind of huge library where she is given the opportunity to visit other versions of her life based on different decisions that she has made in her so-called root life – a version of the multiple universes theory of quantum physics. She explores many other lives, eight of which are described in some detail, but which does she choose and why?
Nora is told by the librarian” “you can choose choices but not outcomes”. Of course, when we make our choices, we don’t know the outcomes which can lead to a life of regrets. This novel is hardly a work of great literature but it is very readable storytelling with insightful observations on life and an uplifting message. It has been a major bestseller and it is bound to be made into a film.
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How long have we been here?
May 12th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
By ‘we’, I mean humankind. By ‘here’, I mean the universe.
Consider these amazing facts:
The universe is 13.8 billion years old.
The Earth is 4.5 billion years old.
Humankind has been around for about 200,000 years.
So the universe is around 70,000 times older than humans.
If the age of the universe was represented by a year of 365 days – the notion of the cosmic calendar – then humans appeared on 31 December at 11.52 pm.
So the universe has managed most of its life so far without us and the chances are that it will manage most of its future without us.
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The local elections: definitely bad news for Labour – but maybe not that bad and certainly far from unique
May 10th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
As a lifelong member of the Labour Party, naturally I am extremely disappointed by the results of the elections held on Thursday. But I’m not despondent.
The most dramatic result was the loss of a Parliamentary by-election in Hartlepool. This certainly underlines a loss of support in the north-east, but Hartlepool is a bit special. Three times it elected as mayor a guy who used to be the monkey mascot of the local football team; Labour would have lost the seat at the last General Election had it not been for a substantial vote for the Brexit Party; and friends who’ve been to Hartlepool (I never have) tell me that the deprivation and neglect are especially serious and long-term, so it is understandable that voters there wanted a change.
At times like this, I think it’s better to look at the bigger picture. This is the first time in a century that we’ve had a global pandemic and this threat to lives and livelihoods has presented an extraordinary challenge that has affected politics as well as everything else.
I think the pandemic explains why the incumbent government in the different UK nations – Conservatives in England, SNP in Scotland and Labour in Wales – have all done well in these elections. It is partly because the leader of these three administrations has had exceptional exposure and power; it is partly that, with a successful vaccine roll-out and the lifting of restrictions, electors are feeling well-disposed to their leaders. In a similar way, the mayors of London and Manchester – both Labour and both easily re-elected – have been seen to handle the pandemic well.
By the time of the next General Election, the pandemic should be behind us and the special factors at play in 2021 will not be there.
Having said all this, it is clear that the Labour message is unclear and that Keir Starmer has problems being accepted in some quarters. These issues need to be addressed quickly and the reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet is a start (although the Angela Rayner situation has not been handled well). I’m not convinced that Labour’s historic position is out-of-date. After all, key features of that position have been a belief in an interventionist government and the vital role of public investment – both features being practised by the new-style Conservative administration.
I believe that there is scope and need for some big policies from Labour starting with the rebuilding and funding of the NHS and social care – as set out in the recent report of a commission of inquiry by the London School of Economics and the “Lancet” medical journal.
Taxation – the great unspoken topic of politics – has to be part of the conversation. The LSE/”Lancet” report calls for its proposals to be funded largely from increases in income tax, national insurance and VAT, which evidence suggests the public is willing to pay. And personally I think we need a carbon tax and a wealth tax in the UK plus international agreement on the taxing of the global tech giants and other multinationals.
Perhaps what the Labour Party needs more than anything is one overarching idea that can be simply summarised – something more positive, more lasting, more inclusive that “Take back control”, “Get Brexit done” and “Levelling up” which have worked so well for Boris Johnson.
I venture to suggest such a single joined up communications idea. Instead of the Great Society or the New Deal or the Big Society – each of which has been used in the past – something like the Fair Deal with every policy – environment, education, employment, housing, health, social care, transport and so – presented as a form of fairness and fair taxation presented as the cost of fair outcomes (that’s the deal). And, of course proportional representation as fair votes.
More generally, we have to appreciate that decades of globalisation and austerity have dramatically weakened social democratic parties throughout Europe.
In France, the Socialist Party stands below 10% in the polls. The Dutch Labour Party had a near-death experience at the general election of 2017. Italy’s Democrats have lost swaths of working-class support to the populist Right and were at one point eclipsed by the Five Star Movement. Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) has slipped badly behind the Greens. So the British Labour Party is not alone in needing to re-invent itself.
Yet, in every crisis, there is an opportunity. Over in the United States, President Joe Biden has shown that the twin crises of the global pandemic and climate change have created an appetite among electors for real and dramatic change. If policies are seen to be relevant (jobs, jobs, jobs) and presented in a language that working people understand by a leader with whom people can relate, transformational change is possible. And it is most certainly needed.
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A review of the 2018 film “The Girl In The Spider’s Web”
May 9th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
Each of the three “Millennium” novels produced by the Swedish crime writer Stieg Larsson before his death was made into a successful Swedish-language film with the mesmerising Noomi Rapace as the vengeful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander. The first book was then made into an English-language film with Rooney Mara as Salander and here we have the fourth book – actually written by David Lagercrantz – and this time Claire Foy is in the eponymous role.
Now Foy is a fine actor but, in spite of the tattoos, piercings, haircut and leather outfits, she does not really inhabit the part. Also the movie, while visually dark and striking, has a meandering plot that is full of implausibilities and so it is not surprising that it has been the least well-received of the franchise.
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