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This is where im going to dump a bunch of really irrelevant things that I like because the world is dying and I'm sure my thoughts on various forms of media, entertainment and the world will fix that. This will basically just be some brief ramblings about topics of interest. I do not claim to be an expert in any field I discuss, nor do I claim for it to be organised. Most likely I will just put them in one big sprawl with titles splitting them. I may try and use big words to sound smart. I apologise in advance for this.
A brief message surrounding Dr. Strangelove, satire and bombs.
Strangelove, or to give it its full title, Dr. Strangelove or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb is a 60’s political satire film, and a damn good one at that. Incredible direction courtesy of every film bro’s favourite weirdo Stanley Kubrick, Strangelove avoids being a relatively standard variation of the typical comedy of errors with the period-appropriate cold war tensions by taking things a step further. Strangelove does not merely satirise what a potential doomsday would look like, it revels in it. It dances within its darkness to point towards one of the greatest ironies of the modern day. In order for there to be peace, we must first burn everything to the ground. The film is littered with posters about peace and new ages of prosperity yet it recognises that these are false promises, these times are never coming as there will always be tensions and bombs and hatred and honestly people. I love this film for its currently rather prescient commentary on government inefficiency and oversights, yet mostly due to it's development to the truest form of satire. Satire and want it means to be satirical is greatly misunderstood in our day, and I do not wish to claim to be any master in it. But I can tell you that a lot of what people declare ‘satire’ or ‘dark humour’ nowadays is far from that. I love anything that can fill me with existential dread whilst making me chuckle, and Strangelove definitely fulfills those clauses. I’m hopeful to have more of these little nuggets of insight about topics I have no grasp on in the future. I like to think I’m finding justification for why I like things as is often demanded of us, but deep down I like things because I like them. This is all an afterthought. This little diddy may give further clarity on these thoughts. Chemical bomb.
Innovation, creativity and a film called House.
About a year ago I found a film. I’m not entirely sure where I found the film - the memory is already fuzzy - but I most definitely remember the film. House, 1977, directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. If you hadn’t seen the film before, let me give it in a single word. Surreal. Many films get called surreal and absurd but very few I’ve seen earn such recognition like house does. This is not a film willing to hold your hand. The film begins mostly normally, as what modern audiences may recognise as a pretty standard haunted house setup. Yet we see Obayashi's flair, there is a consistent artistic throughline that persists even after everything goes crazy. This is where the surreal really kicks in. Without Obayashi this film is just like any other haunted house film, a few years before haunted house films started to become a recognised thing. But with him the film is unlike any other horror film I’ve ever seen. It's more impressive than horrifying, emotionally dense where so much of horror at least nowadays feels entirely vapid. There is definitely a kind of horror in everything that you experience as a child which is relived here, and this is probably because much of the film is actually based around the fears of Obayashi’s own daughter. This film is emotionally dense, and at several points there are references to war and bombs and what they take away. Obayashi was just a child during the second world war, at an age where you can never forget the horrors you see. Obayashi definitely has a lot of commentary on war in his films, some of his final films being a trilogy focused on war. I find Obayashi to be one of the best directors I know at handling war because he rarely makes it a major part of his narratives but it's just there, barely out of frame. Always lurking. Waiting. I absolutely love House. It's certainly becoming one of my favourite films, and so I jumped at the opportunity to find more of this man’s work. The little I did find due to language restrictions and lack of mainstream success was excellent. Nearly every film from Obayashi feels entirely unique and his own, full of that flair I mentioned earlier. There's a theory that all directors should have their own unique style, and Obayashi definitely fulfills this. A lack of creativity in modern film is often discussed, and whilst I agree that many franchises just need to be laid to rest I cannot say I will not enjoy a good blockbuster. Voices like Obayashi will continue to grow, and make wonderfully weird little movies like he did. Jane Schoenbrun’s I saw the TV glow is a recent example of such. Unfortunately Obayashi himself passed away in 2020, but hopefully the legacy of him and other experimental film makers like him ( David Lynch comes to mind ) will allow creativity and innovation to thrive within film and beat back the waves of so called ‘franchise slop’. This ones a little disjointed and all over the place but it's here. So yay.
Sportswashing and the EWC
Sometime around now the esports world cup is going ahead once more, and once again it is being held in Riyadh. A wonderfully exciting event, it promises to provide a riveting experience for a whole range of esports. Except it's awfully produced state funded sportwashing. The concept of sportswashing has gained much traction in recent years, and I will explain it simply here. Essentially its the idea that countries (particularly those who hold a large amount of oil and quite a few human rights allegations) will hold impressive sport events (think the world cup in Qatar) so that when that country comes to mind you think about that football team’s cinderella run and not the hundreds of migrant workers who died from exhaustion whilst building the stadium. Saudi have got themselves in this race through esports, as they have branded their prince as a ‘gamer’ who just loves to host such events. Esports is hard for both the teams involved and the people funding the leagues, so the insane amount of prize money promised means all semi-important esports have no excuse but to sign up, despite how awful the scheduling ends up being. Riyadh appears to be the permanent home for this tournament. Once again it's an excuse for when you think of Saudi to go ‘that's where Kang Kang had that insane ace’ rather than ‘that's the place where that woman got arrested for wearing jeans’. Whilst there's not much we can do, we can try and raise awareness about these poor attempts at distraction and support people and events actually trying to help people. Famous valorant caster duo Sideshow and Bren are running a charity livestream (fittingly titled Everybody’s WelCome). They are doing general variety games and livestream challenges to raise money for the human rights defense fund and the middle eastern children’s foundation. I implore you to go check out their livestream : sideshows youtube can be found here. This one is just a little rant about sportswashing and the EWC didn't want to go too in depth for those not too familiar with esports.
From the aeroplane over the sea
‘One day we will die and our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea’. Words from the title track of neutral milk hotel’s 1998 album ‘In the aeroplane over the sea’. Today I wanted to talk about said album. This project has gained a cult following over the last couple of decades as a truly amazing piece of alternative music, but here I wanted to look into it further than the usual music bro appraise. To get the obvious out of the way the instrumentation on this record is phenomenal. Everything up to singing saws join the orchestra here to make a track listing that pirouettes through slow ballads and high tempo choruses to provide a captivating listen. Yet what truly makes this album, at least for me, is the story that it takes you on. Not necessarily directly through the lyricism, although the lyrics are wonderful they are mostly nonsensical in order. This album brings you through a hundred different emotional headspaces which is even more impressive considering it doesn’t even reach 40 minutes in length. The ideas for this album supposedly came after the band’s lead had a dream surrounding Anne frank. That sense of the dreamlike and psychedelic is palpable, yet the Anne Frank connection does seem somewhat bizarre. Yet not to sound entirely insane it almost works? I don’t know what to say further about that. Personal favourite tracks for me include both parts of two headed boy, Holland 1945 and Communist daughter. I recommend those unfamiliar with this record or perhaps haven't given it a chance in a while to try it again. I was listening to this album for the first time in a while and just wanted to give some brief thoughts about it here.
Education, money and meaning
Recently I’ve been watching the dropout original series ‘Total Forgiveness’. The series centres on Grant O’Brien and Ally Beardsley setting each other increasingly difficult challenges to earn similarly increasing sums of cash to pay off their crippling student loans. The show is obviously great for showing the problem that education isn’t exactly free and the lengths to which people will go to rid themselves of that debt, and it got me thinking more about my future. The show does not hold back whatsoever in showing all the perils of life and finance, with the sums the pair earn being displayed with egregious taxation reductions and how interest means they pay ungodly amounts more than they even owed in the first place. Many people will say that the solution is to give the youth greater financial literacy and better choices outside of traditional higher education, and of course in an ideal world (not trying to be pessimistic but I mean a decent one) education would be free universally but that's just not the world we live in. We have been sold a dream of college living and we want to see that dream out. I find myself in a position currently where I am looking for my options towards university and I think I know that that's what I want to do, but there’s always a question of whether it is worth it. And that's where it comes to meaning. Whenever we talk about university, at least where I am, it's always in relation to career prospects. After that where will you go next. What will you do? And I hate that narrative. I truly do. I have absolutely no claim to be an expert in anything but maybe I just want to go to university to study something because I want to, as Aristotle would say ‘education for the good of human flourishing’, and maybe that's okay! Yet in reality when travelling the path most worn academia is such a small part of your life and then it's off to the world of work, full with (I recognise my cynicism) all the joys of filing TPS reports and organising office parties. Nobody knows the meaning of life, it's been debated since the dawn of man and conclusions have been made all the way from ‘we were made to serve the corn god’ and ‘each person must find their own meaning’. For me I agree with the latter to some extent, but that's just me. Who really cares. I find that most people I speak to have a hope, a general goal, a will to do something or get somewhere that can be expressed in a thousand different ways. I feel like if you want to achieve something you should do anything you can to achieve it, as obvious as that seems, but it rings true. Maybe ignore the crushing debt and lifelong misery for those golden few years. Hey, maybe you’ll get an opportunity to cover yourself in leeches to get some of that cash back.
Jeff Rosenstock and the art of musical rebellion
Whilst the typical radio-friendly pop has always dominated the mainstream now more than ever it feels different. All music no matter how catered to mass appeal felt like it had a voice behind it, a real person who wanted to make a song. Today's chart toppers feel empty in a way that is hard to place, but I think it's best described as music that doesn't really say anything. It has no point to make within its dreary lyricism about lost love next to the autoselect studio software keyboard. I want to talk about an artist that not only goes against this lack of life, but makes sure his music says something, Jeff Rosenstock. Rosenstock has been making music under different monikers since the 90's with the band 'The arrogant sons of bitches' and the DIY ska-punk collective 'Bomb the music industry!'. Jeff's work here has a sense of urgency, there is always something to be angry about, something to shout about. The 'Slumlords' of the world are shouted out at and pushed away, called out for the bullshit of modern life. Both of these projects would dissolve and Jeff would turn towards solo work. His 2016 record Worry was my first introduction to his work, and that album remains an all time favourite of mine. Worry feels more reserved than his earlier work but that allows the songs to feel greater fleshed out, given more time to breath whilst still making sure to burst in with that in your face energy. Here he comments on the passage of time and the real sense of despair introduced by the social media age. The records twist and turn with these shorter tracks before coming to a head in planet luxury, a half minute chaotic explosion of anger at the modern world. Yet after that track it turns, Hellhole turns this despair into a hopeful defiance, stating that they will not submit to living in this hellhole any longer. For the remaining few tracks this hopeful energy is maintained and this helps the record feel really whole. This is an angry, emotional album that is despaired by the modern world yet it knows that there is hope. Whilst the world can feel crushing alone together with family and friendship we can overcome that weight and forge a path to a better tomorrow. Worry is an extremely refreshing album because such little music has so much to say and manages to remain hopeful by the end of its track time. Other projects may feel heavy and disheartening when covering such subject matter yet Worry manages to avoid these concerns by making sure you know there is something that you can do. By the time we arrive at his latest record 'Hellmode' there is a more definite reflection on time and its passage. Hellmode takes place in the post-covid world and all the chaos that that brings so there is definitely plenty to be angry about ('I WANNA BE WRONG' and 'GRAVEYARD SONG' are standouts in this regard) but tracks like 'HEALMODE' feel relaxed and there's a sense of comfort there. It feels like he is having to reckon with finding comfort in this world whilst so many others suffer. Another truly amazing record. Especially from the movements that Jeff hails from there has always been a level of rebellion within their music yet that art seems to be slipping away more and more, at least I am unable to see it. That's why an artist like this feels so impressive who's been around for so long working in so many different areas of rock, ska and pop-punk and still being able to feel fresh and important. Maybe I'm being too cynical as there are many great artists out there who still have a point to make and a story to tell but I wanted to highlight one who to me is rather prescient in this matter.