Weeknote 34-37/2024
Breathing in a galaxy far, far, away, the moral morass, orang-utan librarians, and Zeus.
Ignorance is king. Many would not profit by his abdication. Many enrich themselves by means of his dark monarchy. They are his Court, and in his name they defraud and govern, enrich themselves and perpetuate their power. Even literacy they fear, for the written word is another channel of communication that might cause their enemies to become united. Their weapons are keen-honed, and they use them with skill. They will press the battle upon the world when their interests are threatened, and the violence which follows will last until the structure of society as it now exists is leveled to rubble, and a new society emerges.
- A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller Jr
Verbs
Watching: Kaos, Criminal Record, Slow Horses, and Only Murders in the Building
With both of us having been ill for a couple of weeks we’ve watched quite a bit of film and TV. We’re hugely excited to have new seasons of both Slow Horses and Only Murders in the Building this autumn as they are both examples of some of the very best writing, directing, and performing in their respective genres. If either or both of these are new to you, you’ve got an enormous treat waiting for you.
Kaos was something of a leftfield show - the sort of show that could have so easily been a swing and a miss but actually knocked it out of the… field? Arena? It’s park, isn’t it? It features Jeff Goldblum playing Zeus in such a way that we have to assume the director said, Jeff, just be really Jeff and we’ll say you’re Zeus. But by golly, it works. Super casting across the board, real attention to detail, and a love of the Greek myth source material make this a winner. It feels very of-a-kind with something like American Gods, Good Omens, or even the much-neglected Legion.
If all the scenery chewing of Zeus Goldblum is too much for you, at the other end of the spectrum Peter Capaldi in Criminal Record appears to be able to do more acting with infinitesimal movements of eyebrows and lips than a whole year’s worth of Oscar winners. He’s staggeringly good in this and has, as a perfect opposite number, Cush Jumbo who both holds her own and delivers all the emotional punches and deep humanity that Capaldi is withholding. The show is all about the murky grey areas and the ambiguous moral morasses that life throws up and is emotionally and mentally intensive. To see Capaldi and Jumbo performing astonishing high-wire acting makes every scene crackle.
Anticipating: The Discworld RPG
As sharp-eyed readers may have detected, I have a deep love for the Discworld books of the late Sir Terry Pratchett. I’m also a fan of TTRPGs with a regular Dungeons and Dragons game on the go. To hear that a TTRPG set *in* Discworld is in development makes me excited in my deepest nerd glands. The design approach sounds really interesting and very different from most other games of its kind (puns as powers!), and the designers seem to really understand the material they are working with - which is crucial for a world as idiosyncratic, and deeply beloved, as Discworld. This one will be a Kickstarter so I am excited for the launch in a week or so and hopefully, once it’s released, I’ll be able to give it a go and finally be able to live out my long-held wish to join the finest magical institution in all of fiction - the great Unseen University. After all, Hogwarts doesn’t have an orang-utan for a librarian, does it.
Breathing and relaxing: Star Wars on the Headspace app
I’ve used the Headspace app in the past, at a particular time when work (and the knock-on effects of work) were proving especially hard some years ago. Since then, I’ve not really spent any time with it. But thanks to a free family-plan subscription through Anja’s job I’ve added it to my home screen once more. What particularly hooked me in this time was the partnership with Star Wars which is… odd? But odd in a charming and sweet sort of way. There are themed meditations, breathing exercises, and night-time routines all built around the Star Wars mythos and I’ve found they’re actually quite fun. It’s the normal sorts of exercises and activities but skinning them in a Star Wars guise provides just enough entertainment value to keep from getting bored and letting my mind wander off too much. Silly. Yes. But it’s bringing me back to the app and getting me to engage with the sessions so that seems like no bad thing to me.
As flagged at the top of this newsletter, we’ve had a couple of weeks of illness here after getting back from Crete. First I went down with a heavy cold and then, despite all our attempts to head it off, Anja went down with it too - just as I was getting better. That’s meant quite a bit of time balled up on the sofa watching TV or films, or reading whilst coughing, spluttering, and ingesting gallons of hot beverages. Not all the TV was a winner - there are some great shows up above, but we also trudged through a few others. But sometimes your virus-addled brain needs something soft to chew on. Thanks to The Decameron for that.
Now that we’re back on our feet we’ve been making all kinds of preparations for changes coming in the new year, as well as sorting ourselves out for the autumn and winter here in Serbia. We’ve gone from 35C heat to a cool 15C in the space of about two days so autumn hasn’t so much blessed us with its presence as it has crashed through our front door, staggered down the hallway, and thrown up handfuls of damp, muddy, yellow leaves all of the rug. Luckily, all that means for me is that the 6 months of wearing shorts are over, and the 6 months of wearing jeans begin.
Next week I will be off the the UK for a brief visit. As usual, hoping to see family and friends as much as possible, and maybe have a day for myself in the big smoke if I get a chance. I think London in the Autumn, as with a lot of European cities, is about as good as it gets, and it’s looking like I won’t be over again for a good while so it’d be nice to make the most of it.
Oh, and for those following along with my Discworld re-read, I’m just finishing up #17, Unseen Academicals. 24 to go.
- Mitch.