Lockdown Diary - Saturday 24th October 2020

The final Saturday of British Summer Time, though any hint of summer in the weather has been absent for quite a few weeks now.

Sadly, as befits the times, it's going to be another Saturday spent in the same way as most other Saturday's this year, doing the same old boring shit there isn't time for in the working week.

In order to spice 😆 things up a bit, I've decided we're going to get a curry delivered tonight rather than get a microwaveable pale imitation of one. That - unexpected surprises notwithstanding - will be the highlight of the day.

Apart from the chores - what chores? I'll have a large glass of pinot noir please. Start again. Apart from the chores, I will endeavour to read the papers, and also maybe a bit more of 'Ulysses' and 'The Many'.  Talking of which, 'The Many' is our book club choice for the month, it's quite short - more novella than novel - and sounded quite interesting from the blurb, but without giving too much away I am struggling to get into it. It's not a hard read, but... I'm going to try a bit of close reading to see if I can work out why I'm struggling. I will finish it, it's not that difficult but..

I tracked down the full 12 hour episode of 'The Third Day', which played out in real time, with live acting, a few Saturday's ago.  There are edited highlights, as short as about 1 hour 40, but can there be enough in 12 hours which makes it compelling viewing? Part of me thinks, 'no way', but another part of me is intrigued, even though 12 hours is longer than most complete series.  I know son #1 is also intrigued, so it may just happen, with toilet breaks.

Didn't get to read any of 'Ulysses' but did progress 'The Many' a little, though I'm still unclear about what's missing.

Curry ordered online, so that's dinner sorted. Now, what I need is wine!  Blimey! Dinner arrived almost 30 minutes early, just after 7, need to rally the troops!  

Film night, natch. As we're eating early, son #1 finally gets to choose the film he's been wanting us to watch for months - 'Gangs of New York'.  It's around two and three-quarter hours long, and as we usually end up eating late and no one wants to be still watching a film that late, it doesn't normally get started. Instead of watching a film late the boys want to be online gaming and 2 hours after I take my anti-depressant I turn into a zombie (less the flesh eating tendency), unless I am doing something really energetic and/or stimulating to the brain and other cells. Zombie, then.  [Yes, I could take the tablet even later, but the drowsiness doesn't wear off for about 12 hours, so I'd be trying to get up as a zombie or like a bear that's just emerged from hibernation]

'Gangs of New York', the verdict: Good film, I enjoyed it despite the violence, which thankfully was not as gory as it might have been. (I think, as a rule, people's insides should stay inside them in films as I have enough imagination when shown violence to realise the consequences of the action of cleavers, knives etc I don't need to be shown the offcuts from eviscerations) Powerful story, loosely based on historical events.  It certainly gave me a new perspective on the American civil war and the history of New York that I'd not really been aware of.

Music-wise I found myself listening to 'Chairs Missing' by Wire.  This was the album where the exploratory and experimental ideas hinted at on the album 'Pink Flag' start being realised: it's where they truly become post-punk. This is 'Marooned' which seems most fitting.

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