Now

Twenty twenty-five is the year I get my blogging groove back.

Listening

• Hell - Live at Roadburn, 2018, Dopesmoker - Sleep | Both of these are pretty “heavy” albums that I appreciate from an aesthetic point of view but which also I feel like I haven’t quite “earned” in that I’m listening to them on wired iPod earbuds from 2019 while at my remote deskwork job. Via The Verge.
• Inverse Field Vol. 1 - Inishowen | Airy ambient music from Ireland, apparently recorded on location in the Great Outdoors. Listened to this one with Ghyll on Saturday evening; the recording conceit probably comes across better when listening on headphones. Via Simon Collison.

Watching

Finished Wolf Hall. I feel a great sense of superiority at having read the books before I was even aware of the television programme, but not so great a sense of superiority that I forget that I read them after the first two were awarded the Booker Prize. So it’s not like I’m a champion of obscure literature or whatever. Anyway, the television series was terrific, elevating Mark Rylance to National Treasure status, perhaps.

Reading

Still working through Butter. It’s enjoyable but it’s not propulsive. It gives the impression of one of those video games with episodic quests. The characters all pop off the page, which is fun—except for the main character, who feels weirdly flat. Maybe it’s a reader-projection thing.

Catching up on end-of-year review posts from Simon Collison and Phil Gyford, the latter of which linked me to this interesting YouTube video about splitting a year into quarters to make life/work goals more manageable.

Outside

Ran a 5k in 19:57 on Tuesday, the culmination of a long process of training. Now I guess I need to figure out how to do this for 10k straight. Then I didn't run again until Sunday, nor felt any desire to: which is maybe a sign of something or maybe not a sign.

Spent a lovely night with Sam and Ghyll in Kielder at Flittingford bothy. On the plus side we brought in plenty of fuel for a toasty fire and we got to see an aurora, plus a skyful of stars; on the negative side Ghyll did eat human poo. I left a stern word in the overflowing bothy book.

On Saturday night it snowed heaps but was started melting before we even got up. Pottered about doing errands for most of the day, getting thoroughly cold and wet in some persistent sleet that fell all day. It's 9pm on Sunday now and my trousers are only just starting to dry out. A smarter man would have just changed trousers.

Inside

Trying to continue wrapping up projects from last year: installing a lattice above the garage door for storing e.g. plywood; finishing up the last of the grout in the back office. We will get there someday ok!

Light spoilers ahead.

I'm a sucker for a good Star War, but I much prefer these shows—like the first season of The Mandalorian or this first season of Andor, where the Star Wars Cinematic Universe is really just a background for exploring interpersonal relationships and the individual fight against fascism.

Was Andor a little heavy-handed at times? Yeah, absolutely. But the story was implicit enough that the program never felt like it was leading you by the hand. The writing was, for the most part, tight and spare; characters and stakes felt real. Star Destroyers are well and good but the crew of the Oridge Tridge never truly felt in danger; here, however, the Empire gets its elbows out, killing and torturing indiscriminately. As Tom Philip writes for The AV Club, "I’m for sure more afraid of the Shoretroopers at the resort-like Niamos than I am of the Stormtroopers in the movies."

The highlight of the writing and production on Andor (aside from great performances from Diego Luna and Fiona Shaw) has to be the use of tension. I don't think I've ever felt such tension in a Star Wars property as before the attack on Aldhani or the uprising at the prison. The slow build, the coy insights into planning, the suspense of not knowing if, or how, or when things will go sideways, build up the stakes with such purpose. I can't wait to see what heists are in store for season 2.

Another highlight, for me at least, was the costume and set design. So much of Mon Mothma's Chandrilan heritage is expressed in her and her associates' costumes. As an Adult Otaku, I especially liked the Japanese influence in the men's outfits. Star Wars has a long history of cribbing Japanese aesthetics so it didn't feel out of character for the universe.

Now—most of Andor could be lifted wholesale out of the Star Wars Cinematic Universe and stand on its own as a prestige TV drama. I think that's fine—there's nothing specifically Star Wars about the fight against fascism. But I like the colour that the SWCU provides to an old-as-rocks story.