More Joy

iPlayer and Radio 4 Extra are the two reasons I don't bitch about paying the licence fee. Yesterday I was pointing you in the direction of the Christopher Nupen documentary and today it is my happy duty to direct you towards anything bearing the imprimatur 'A film by Ken Burns'. You most often find these prize pieces of intellectual Americana on PBS America (my most watched channel on the old telebox) but you can watch his Country Music on iPlayer. Brilliant, thorough and captivating.

I've Got The Only Cure For Life, And The Cure For Life Is Joy

Not the first time I've purloined a masterful Clive James lyric (written for the music of Pete Atkin) and it won't be the last. Anyway, it came to mind as I mused my way out of the downer threatened by yesterday's speculations on asymmetric war. The cure for life is joy.

I have just watched (it's on iPlayer - seek it out) Listening Through the Lens : the Films of Christopher Nupen. It is no false modesty to say that I have a tin ear and zero musical talent but, rather as with wine, I have come to know what I like. The documentary about Nupen, himself a documentarist, reminded me that music is quite possibly the highest marker of human spirituality. As long as mankind is possessed of musicality there can be some hope.

Also there is running. My new shoes are working well and this morning I ran up the hill and back down into Benllech with the view out to Red Wharf Bay opening up before me. The cure for life is joy.  

Happy Places And The Shadow Of Asymmetric Warfare

Our world is a dreadful place. Our world is wonderful. This contradiction has, you may have noticed, been weighing upon me for some time - pretty much for ever.

Of all places I thought about this as I occupied a new happy place (actually a sub-set of a wider place) - the practice ground at Clwb Golff Ynys Mon where I am now a member. I practised my short game (very necessary) in a mood of self-righteousness burnished by having cleaned the windows at Plas Piggy this morning. As I flailed at golf balls, jets roared overhead as they came in to land at RAF Valley. I find their presence comforting. We can go into that at some later date. No, what I was thinking about was the asymmetric war currently being waged in Gaza. Israel have a formidable defenec force and are deploying it ruthlessly in Gaza - the ratio of terrorist deaths to civilian deaths is numbing. Netanyahu does not care an iota. He sees an enemy constitutionally committed to the eradication of the state of Israel and will pursue them no matter how many bodies he must trample over. This horrifies most of the watching world. However the vital point that evades those spectators is that Hamas' approach to the conflict is knowingly as asymmetrical as Israel's. Hamas care not a jot how many civilians they have to put in Israel's path. Their god is on their side. And before we get all gooey-eyed about the horror of it all, we might pause to consider the asymmetry of the bombing of Dresden, of Hiroshima, of Nagasaki. It makes one weep. Not, I suspect, that you care but the OG's preference would be for Israel to take what is left of the moral high ground and desist. This seemingly will not happen so long as Netanyahu is in power. Whilst liberal hand-wringers (in whose number I count myself) pontificate on this catastrophic mess, we might care to turn our attention to influential wings of two monotheistic religions, in their very different manners, acting as grisly death cults. If I wasn't so happy, I would cry.

But you see, that's the problem. I am happy. It is only when I face the world outside my euphoric bubble that I do just wonder if this whole human experiment has turned to shit. Will I feel better if I buy an electric car? Answers on a postcard to the usual address.

 

An Antidote For The Tired Mind

Yesterday was one of those days when things just come together and remind you why you love life. You won't have missed the fact that rugby union has been a large part of my life. A diminishing part. I woke yesterday still feeling the effects of a cold and forgave myself an intended run. Instead I settled down for a quiet day in front of the television here in my happy place - I'm in Ynys Mon. I wasn't over-optimistic about the Six Nations fixtures, anticipating another bout of tactical kicking and the accursed caterpillar ruck. Scotland would see-off a valiant Italy and dull England would be outclassed by Ireland. How wrong. How wrong. Italy's victory over the dim Scots was a tear-jerker. And then came the best England performance for an age. Not a complete performnace but one that at last betrayed some wit and intelligence. All washed down with a 2014 Rioja Gran Reserva. Herring roe on toast for supper. Life's been good to me. 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Certain serious critics have dismissed Leone's trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns as stylised and trivial concoctions of improbable violence. I watched the third of the trio again the other day and I'm here to tell you that The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is, all things considered, a very good film. In fact I'd go a little further and label it an important movie. It utilises a wide screen but plays a trick whereby the picture you see is all the characters can see. It does not pretend realism. It plays with Western conventions and pitches into the mix three outstanding central performances from Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach. On top of that comes the fabled music and the lovingly elongated close-ups. And for those who dismiss this recipe as over-long, well, sorry I can't agree - Leone takes his scenes to the absolute limit. It is a cunning game played beautifully and prepares us for what would follow in his Hollywood masterpieces - Once Upon a Time in the West, and Once Upon a Time in America. One more thing - the sub-plot of the Civil War battle is magnificent - a tremendous evocation of trench warfare and, if you look carefully, there is even an origin story for Eastwood's Man With No Name, cunningly stiched into the fabric of the text. Yes, important. And fun. 80/100.