December 2006 Archives

There's some irony in the fact that in the same week that the death of former US President Gerald Ford is leading to a slew of obituaries mentioning his pardoning of Richard Nixon, Saddam Hussein has been executed.

You don't have to draw any moral comparisons between the crimes of Hussein and Nixon to suggest that if most historians agree that Ford was correct to let Nixon off the hook for his crimes in order to begin a process of reconciliation within the US, then perhaps there's a better way forward for Iraq than a rushed verdict and sentence on Saddam Hussein. Especially when that sentence looks set to lead to a significant increase in violence.

If the United States really wants to honour the memory of Gerald Ford, perhaps it will consider the implications of one of his most notable actions when advising other countries on their judicial policies.

Chatting with Steve today I discovered that perhaps we had been a little less public about our plans for next summer than I had thought. As he was telling me about his latest blog entry on climate change I was telling him about our travel plans and realised he at least had not picked up on them.

The plan has been formulating for some time. Our move to the UK means that Kari will be quitting her job and I'll be looking for a break in some of my work. So it seemed a shame to not make the most of that freedom and do some travelling. So while our belongings are shipped eastwards we will be heading west, to San Francisco, then New Zealand, Sydney, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Beijing, Mongolia, Moscow and then on by train to London.

And suddenly it all feels very real because we just bought tickets for the longest flight of that trip. On June 15th we will be boarding an Air New Zealand flight and 13 hours (or two days) later we'll be in Auckland. Now to book a lot more flights, train tickets, boat tickets, and all the rest...

For the past couple of months, any time spent writing here was time not spent working on the new version of the GOOD Magazine website. Today we pushed the button and took that new version live.

I'll probably write more about the experience on my other blog but suffice it to say that it's been nice to have such interesting content to read while testing the site. We're still working on a few bugs, so go easy on us, but if you're reading this you'll probably find the magazine worth a look.

In one way or another I've been waiting to see The Fountain for five years, ever since Darren Aronofsky's last film, Requiem For A Dream left me wandering across London from Soho to King's Cross in something of a daze and turning up at a party in a distinctly non-party mood. It's been a long wait for his next offering, partly because of the (in hindsight fortuitous) withdrawal of Brad Pitt from the picture a few weeks before filming was due to start. Hugh Jackman's performance leaves little doubt that the revised casting was a considerably better choice.

The film's been dubbed 'science fiction' but could equally be considered a historical epic or fantasy, and is probably better viewed without much thought to genre. It tracks three parallel tales set in distinct historical periods, but the relationship within them is left somewhat oblique and I'm sure many a discussion will revolve around exactly how we're supposed to understand them, or the Mayan mythology that figures so prominently.

All that aside, Aronofsky repeats the methodology of his previous work in setting up an engaging story in the first half of the film and then through the intensity of imagery, performance and music (provided once again by the Kronos Quartet) turning it into an intensely emotional whirlwind that leaves the viewer drained but enriched by the experience. It's no surprise that the cast and crew were watching films like Herzog's landmark Aguirre on set—as the film shares not only its predecessors interest in South American folklore, but also its remarkable emotional impact.

There's something a little strange about sitting in a large movie theatre on a Saturday night with only nine other people. And when the film is one of the year's best reviewed it's also rather sad. Maybe other showings had better turnouts?

I found myself wondering how much of The Queen made sense to those in the US audience who haven't kept a close watch on British politics over the past decade. Much of the humour seemed to rest on pre-existing knowledge of the Royals and of Blair's team, and in such an empty room it was tough to get a sense of how anyone else was responding.

But overall I was very impressed. It took far less time to suspend disbelief in the characters despite the fact that they all had the look of caricatures. Helen Mirren's much raved about performance deserves the attention it has received and the overall tone and rhythm of the film is well played out.

Tags: movie, helen mirren, the queen, princess diana, royal family, stephen frears, peter morgan

We made another of our all-too-short trips back home to England last week. It was great to see the people we were able to, though sad to miss so many others. We were left very much looking forward to living back over there, but there's certainly a lot to take care of before we can make the move!

Not many photos were taken, but a few of those that were are now up over on flickr.

Hell has frozen over. Or, I actually slightly wish I'd been at a sporting event. And it's all because of the marching band.

The Guardian's music section has a piece today on Jay C Rees' routine for the University of Arizona's band which sees them performing a medley of Radiohead pieces, complete with all the usual marching formations. There are quite a few videos on youtube.