That's no moon (Han Solo)

 

Wie geht's?

Arts review part 2 (after Empire Of Light): Birnam Wood.

Warning - if you intend to read the novel avoid this post!

Okay - I did warn you! 

The ending of a story is crucial, is it not?

Well, it is for me. I used to hate it when young students would invariably end a piece of writing with, and then I woke up. Nasty!

Serious novelists should know better.

But, from time to time, I read a book and all can be bright and shiny and brilliant and then the ending can be bleugh.

In a nutshell that sums up my reaction to Birnam Wood.

As a reader, or viewer, I need a pay-off for the bad guys. Blame all of those westerns I ingested as a kid. The black hats always got their comeuppance in the end. In Star Wars, Luke prevails in the end (twice). I need the hero to achieve success on her or his quest. That's the usual trope in an adventure story and I've been conditioned to expect it.

In Game Of Thrones, I gave up watching when a season long torture sequence had no pay-off. Not cool. Not happening.

Eleanor Cotton tries for a similar no pay-off trick in Birnam Wood and it doesn't work. All the goodies die and only one deeply flawed protagonist who I didn't care for much anyway escapes to maybe set in train some comeuppance. Maybe. A glimmer of hope is not enough for me Eleanor!

Not cool. Not happening.

I feel like I've wasted effort reading the book when this hollow feeling happens.

Bah humbug!

Love and peace - Wozza

To be able to fly (Hilary)

Wie geht's?

Empire Of Light, starring Olivia Coleman and directed by Sam Mendes, was playing at our local, so Jacky and I bowled on up for a midweek viewing last week.

I'd been keen to catch it but it had been playing in early  afternoon slots and only intermittently in the evening; a sure sign of the target demographic. 

Some thoughts:

You can't beat the theatre experience. In this case we were the only patrons so it kind of felt like our lounge with a huge screen. Great!

Olivia Coleman is versatile and naturally good in everything she appears in - no change here as she carries the film and even makes the romantic fling with a much younger guy (Stephen) seem natural and okay.

The early eighties setting in Britain was beautifully presented: hair styles; soundtrack; tacky neo modernism; colour palette; and the presentation of both entrenched and changing attitudes - a shot of older Hilary and younger black male Stephen on a bus together when an older white male sits behind them is spot on. All done in about 4 seconds.

The down side, for me, was a lack of depth in the plot development and the characters. Apart from Hilary, they're not developed beyond the surface. Even Stephen. It's not too much of an issue though as the acting by Colin Firth et al is first rate. 

So I ultimately gave the film a 3 out of 5 star rating. It's a bit grim in subject matter but the pluses outweigh the negatives. Worth watching if you're in that target audience, I'd say.

Love and peace - Wozza 

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Photo by Alexandre Jaquetoni on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Another weekend: another wood delivery to stack, another dead tree to chain saw up and put on the burn pile, and as an added bonus - a horse float full of hay to collect and store.

In our preparation for winter, we're not that different to animals in the wild like bears and squirrels.

This will all pay off, I'm sure, when we're sitting inside on a wet, cold, winter's day sipping a hot brew and gazing at the embers wistfully, thinking back to those weekends in autumn when we'd take a break from cutting down broken branches in the aftermath of the cyclone, sitting on the deck with the sun streaming down on our aching, sawdust caked feet, sipping our teas and nibbling on crackers and cheese while Jerry, Rey and Laney mooch around, waiting for us to get back to work.  

Love and peace - Wozza

Tony felt suddenly acutely self conscious of his own freshly laundered clothes, which smelled of the eucalyptus fabric softener used by his mother that, of all the scents of his childhood, held the strongest associations for him of being home (Eleanor Catton)

Wie geht's?

This post is inspired by my good friend GK who suggested I read Birnam Wood. He was keen to hear about my opinions of the actual writing. So here goes with my initial impressions, GK, bearing in mind that I'm only 50 or so pages into it.

Yeah boy, time for some literary criticism, Wozza style.

First things first: I'm happily reading it. I look forward to picking it up.

Partly, because I feel that Catton is writing so that I might enjoy the experience of reading. She credits her readers with some intelligence and I like that. 

Now, I'm no literary snob, I love reading pulp fiction as much as the next philistine.  I'm a big fan of Lee Child novels for instance, but Birnam Wood isn't a novel that I can read in a day or two because it's like someone speaking to me in one or two syllable words. 

Instead, I have to read Birnam Wood in a deliberate way; concentrating and being present. If my mind wanders I lose track.

In that way it's like a Dickens' novel or a Shakespearean play - she invites that comparison with a title like Birnam Wood (her name for a collective of opportunistic market gardeners).

Like the work of those two giants of literature, it doesn't take long to adjust the brain and get in the groove of the writing. 

It also doesn't take long to realise that the language is rich, the sentences are often complex and labyrinthine, and the characters have real depth. Hey! She won The Booker Prize, so she knows what she's doing!

Interestingly, I'm noticing some distinct stylistic changes which suit different subject matter. The interior monologue and character motivation stuff, for instance, tends to be convoluted and that suits the context, while there are plainer, simpler sections for simpler exposition. They all flow quite seamlessly so it's not that obvious and it doesn't get in the way of my enjoyment.

All up, it deserves to be widely read and enjoyed (rather than just admired). That's pretty high praise from me.

Love and peace - WNP

Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.

Wie geht's?

Karma at work here: mate of mine recommended I read Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood (coincidentally, I'd looked at the blurb on it a few days ago but didn't buy it. Doh!)

So I looked on-line and saw the price was mainly 35 to 39 dollars, except at the Warehouse - they were offering it at 26 dollars.

My heart sunk. 

I hate the Hastings' Warehouse. And I mean, hate. It feels depressing going in there anyway but since they ditched records and CDs it's even worse.

But $26 is $26.

So, I went in. Gulp.

Straight to the books section. No Birhnam Wood. No shop assistants. I went back to the shelves and looked again. Nope. Nada.

I spied a guy in Warehouse livery and approached him. He checked on his desktop device. They definitely had copies. I said, 'I may be blind then'.

We trudged to the shelves. He looked. I looked. Nope. Nada.

'Phew', I said. 'I'm not blind'. Not even a flicker from him. But he did say, 'I'm just helping another customer but I will check in the back after that'.

I waited 5 minutes - he was still faffing around. So I left muttering bah humbugs about customer service these days.

Yes, I could buy it on-line from the Warehouse for $26 but I don't have faith in them. At all. Even if I did, it would be tainted with the nasty experience.

So I'll go back to Whitcoulls today and pay the higher price. At least I can use my rewards card there. And they serve you. And they can actually find the book!

Better be worth it Greg.

Love and peace - Wozza

I am 'El Rayo' (David Lindley)

Wie geht's?

During the last few years, it's been a rough time for musicians and actors of a certain vintage. 

So far in 2023, some biggies have headed off Planet Earth for further adventures:

• David Crosby
• David Lindley
• Raquel Welch
• Gina Lollobrigida
• Robbie Bachman
• Jeff Beck
• Fred White
• Lisa Marie Presley
• Wayne Shorter
• Burt Bacharach
• Tom Verlaine
• Cindy Williams

This is, of course, all part and parcel of aging. The bands and actors that I grew up listening to and watching are around 10 to 20 years older than me. In other words in their seventies and eighties.

Macca is 81 this year. Ringo will be 83, and Dylan 82. Although immortal as artists, even they can't actually live forever.

Of course, it will still be a shock when they do pass on. They've always been walking the Earth at the same time as me.

I spent the weekend listening to EL-Rayo-X, David Lindley's first solo album. It's a lot of fun.

A memory that I shared with my WTWMC buddies was that I once sold that album to Ian Mune (the great NZ actor/ Director) while working at Marbecks Records in the Queen's Arcade. He came into Marbecks one day in 1981 and was looking for an album he'd heard at a party. When he described the style of music I instantly knew it was Lindley's album. He was impressed!

R.I.P. David Lindley

Love and peace - Wozza