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Slam of the North
Out at Slam in the North (I think that’s what it was called) tonight in Durham at the Assembly Rooms. This was I think my first time going to a... poetry slam? Spoken word competition?
Fifteen people or so got up and read a poem of theirs, and then there was an interlude and they came back and read a second poem each, but in reverse order. Then a panel of three judges came up with scores and two of the universities won: Durham and Sheffield.
During the interval the three judges did some poetry. Two of the judges were so-so, and the third judge, who was from Newcastle, was much better. Is it okay to say that some poetry is so-so and that some is much better? The only way I know to talk about poetry criticism is to say that one's own is rubbish.
I felt a little bit out of place when we first arrived — most of the competitors were young women and I’m just some middle class white guy — but the space was welcoming and there was a sort of excited tension amongst the readers that drew me in. I even snapped my fingers at one point.
I’m glad that I went, and I want to go to another. Two hours of folks trying to translate their Personal Experience into language with as little filter as possible is something that I get vanishingly little of these days — but which I think is fundamental to appreciating life among people.
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Andor, season 2 (2025)
Verdict: good television. Comforts the afflicted etc. But I don’t have a lot more to say about season 2 that hasn’t been said better elsewhere. I agree with Schaffrillas Productions that the season feels like 4 seasons of television smushed into one; luckily, given the production schedule, they avoided making things feel too rushed.
I couldn’t decide whether I felt that the season was a bit too much of a commentary on current events, especially in the United States: draconian immigration policies, the undermining of democratic systems, political infighting among the “good guys”, permission of massacre for the purposes of mining “raw earth” I mean foliated kalkite.
But fascism is fascism, whether it’s in 2025 or 1939, or presumably in 2060 or a Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away. Yes it’s a commentary on today, but it retains enough of the essential qualities of fascism (and resistance thereto) that it’ll still be a worthwhile watch in better times.
When I was finished, I went back and watched Rogue One (2016) again (like pretty much everyone else), and found it… middling. Chronologically it’s obviously a sequel to the TV programme, but thematically it feels like a prequel: the message of resistance and hope is present but undeveloped. Then I re-watched the beginning of A New Hope (1977), which by comparison feels nearly totally flippant. It was a different time.
In my review of season 1 I called out the production design as something I particularly liked. Well guess what that’s because it’s the work of Luke Hull, who also did production design on Chernobyl (2019), where I also called out the fantastic production design. I think that I am a big fan of the work of Luke Hull.
Andor, season 2 |
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Bob Graham Round, leg 4 clockwise
Last year I ran leg 1 of a friend’s anticlockwise Bob Graham Round with him as a pacer. This was in the catatonic lee of the Fellsman, and I was letting my fitness drain away a little bit, and my Fellsman training had overindexed on distance rather than elevation, and I was also wearing the wrong pair of shoes: so on the descent down Dale Head I sort of fell behind by a couple of minutes and only barely arrived at Honister before my friend set off again up Grey Knotts.
Nearly a year has passed since then, and very little running in the Lakes in the meantime. I have, however, at least started to pay lip service to climbing in Castle Eden Dene and the North York Moors, so I was keen to see whether I could keep up on a group Striders run on a clockwise leg 4 recce over the bank holiday weekend.
Pleased to report that it went well: either due to company, or fine weather, or dry conditions, or judicious use of salt capsules, I finished the 17-mile run in good fettle, a little tuckered out but not unable to keep climbing if necessary. A Bob is not in my immediate future, but I’m glad to know that I can at least dispatch pacing duties without catastrophe.
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Neptune relays
First ever relay race, a 1.7-mile lap around Hardwick Park in Sedgefield. I love short-distance events like these; I always feel in the lead-up that I’m in the presence of minor Greatness. Young people with joints that can go for days and windswept hair and sunglasses and moustaches and reeking of the privilege of being a lifelong runner. Do I sound bitter.
I finished in decent time, though at the end I felt that nagging feeling that I maybe left a little bit out on the course. Could I have eked another 10 seconds off? Another 20? Maybe. Maybe not. I’ll be back next year to find out.
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Macbeth (1623, 2025)
Better than I remember. I read Hamlet and Macbeth at around the same time, a long time ago, and I remember disliking Macbeth. Thinking that it was a bit dark and messy.
Still definitely dark. But much tighter than I remember. There's very little fat on the story — it's all propulsive and action-driven. There's not a ton of soliloquising or emotional gymnastics. No scenes where people go off and just mull around. I dig it.
Just after reading it we went to see the film of the production with David Tennant from back in February 2025. It was good but some of the casting choices were weird. David Tennant was actually remarkably not good. Banquo was terrific, and Macduff got better and better as the play went on. The person who played Malcolm gave off the impression that they hadn't rehearsed at all, and in fact that there was a person with cue cards standing just offscreen. Rigid, table-read-type stuff. The visual language was very cool, but maybe not particularly original.
Play, by William Shakespeare |
Show, with David Tennant |
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