Friday 24 April 2009
Friday 17 April 2009
Those Overlooked Regarded
Sometimes when reading a book or watching a film, a person asks: 'When is something going to happen, when will he do anything, what's the point? Well, as in the Irish movie Garage, sometimes the waiting is the point, the actual observing is the main exercise.
Pat Shortt plays a man at the edge of his society, no social skills, inept with people, maybe even handicapped in some way. We observe his existence and it reflects back on us, on our reaction to those different in some way. He runs the local garage, a terrible, miserable run-down spot where he gets only fleeting interactions with 'real' people. We watch him and we watch that which is around him. The picture as important as the words he speaks. The stunning photography gives a uniquely Irish backdrop of beauty to his pitiful life that he seems to enjoy, seems to be happy in. He makes a friend, sees a part of life that was kept from him. But it all ends in sadness or maybe a release, depending on how you've taken to him.
It reminds me of John McGahern or William Trevor with their painfully simple and quietly dignified view of Irish life and especially McGahern's descriptions of the unrecognised beauty in the Irish landscape and Trevor's sometimes macabre and unexpected endings. Some may say its stereotyped character stuff, but stereotypes are there for a reason: because they are true. A minor masterpiece and a genuine modern Irish experience.
Pat Shortt plays a man at the edge of his society, no social skills, inept with people, maybe even handicapped in some way. We observe his existence and it reflects back on us, on our reaction to those different in some way. He runs the local garage, a terrible, miserable run-down spot where he gets only fleeting interactions with 'real' people. We watch him and we watch that which is around him. The picture as important as the words he speaks. The stunning photography gives a uniquely Irish backdrop of beauty to his pitiful life that he seems to enjoy, seems to be happy in. He makes a friend, sees a part of life that was kept from him. But it all ends in sadness or maybe a release, depending on how you've taken to him.
It reminds me of John McGahern or William Trevor with their painfully simple and quietly dignified view of Irish life and especially McGahern's descriptions of the unrecognised beauty in the Irish landscape and Trevor's sometimes macabre and unexpected endings. Some may say its stereotyped character stuff, but stereotypes are there for a reason: because they are true. A minor masterpiece and a genuine modern Irish experience.
Grow Your Own
It's that time of year again, as the cliche has it, to think about sticking something in the ground and later on in the summer, eating it. I grew strawberries in our garden last year and judging by the wrecked state of the property market will be doing so again this year!
So, especially those of you who live somewhere that actually receives sunshine (what's sunshine, daddy?), you all have to report back and tell me what you plan to grow and eat.
So, especially those of you who live somewhere that actually receives sunshine (what's sunshine, daddy?), you all have to report back and tell me what you plan to grow and eat.
New York
Those of us who miss New York City should every so often take a look at the opening of Woody Allen's movie Manhattan. A stunning homage to his home with the Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue soundtrack and the composition of the black and white cinematography. Pure movie joy.
Two
This financial crisis has brought out some choice comments from public figures and commentators over the last few months. Politicians, economists, bankers have all tried to explain to us and themselves what exactly happened over the last year and we are still left wondering whether it is the system that is corrupt or individuals within.
Two people here in Ireland are particular examples of a sort of nonsense rising to the top in a whirlpool of debate very little of which is of any real contribution. But they get print space and air time: Jim Power, an economist with Friends First has called for those who have smoked cigarettes in their lives and now are sick because of it to be refused access to healthcare - apparently we can't afford it and we need to prioritise. He is seriously proposing this.
Where are we now, that a leading commentator proposes ridiculous lifestyle policing? What of bungy jumpers with detached retinas, rugby players with broken necks, overweight cardiac patients, the bronchial chests of those who chose to live in a damp climate? A hell of a lot of illnesses are caused by our lifestyle choices, but of course if we were all healthy we wouldn't need an expensive health service. And we would all live for ever.
The other nutbar currently enjoying media coverage is Senator Fergal Quinn, who sold his grocery business in recent years, just like myself. Fergal wants Easter to be set at a certain date every year. Why? So church goers can plan their attendance at mass with exactitude? No, but to help those in the tourism business establish a regular season length, they can plan ahead etc.
Just leave it, will you? Does everything we do, each aspect of our lives have to benefit business, have to be justified to suit profiteers? I'm not particularly religious but the moveable feast of Easter is something unusual, something different, something of the past that he should leave bloody well alone and allow us enjoy a unique vagery of life in our growing-more -uniform culture.
Two people here in Ireland are particular examples of a sort of nonsense rising to the top in a whirlpool of debate very little of which is of any real contribution. But they get print space and air time: Jim Power, an economist with Friends First has called for those who have smoked cigarettes in their lives and now are sick because of it to be refused access to healthcare - apparently we can't afford it and we need to prioritise. He is seriously proposing this.
Where are we now, that a leading commentator proposes ridiculous lifestyle policing? What of bungy jumpers with detached retinas, rugby players with broken necks, overweight cardiac patients, the bronchial chests of those who chose to live in a damp climate? A hell of a lot of illnesses are caused by our lifestyle choices, but of course if we were all healthy we wouldn't need an expensive health service. And we would all live for ever.
The other nutbar currently enjoying media coverage is Senator Fergal Quinn, who sold his grocery business in recent years, just like myself. Fergal wants Easter to be set at a certain date every year. Why? So church goers can plan their attendance at mass with exactitude? No, but to help those in the tourism business establish a regular season length, they can plan ahead etc.
Just leave it, will you? Does everything we do, each aspect of our lives have to benefit business, have to be justified to suit profiteers? I'm not particularly religious but the moveable feast of Easter is something unusual, something different, something of the past that he should leave bloody well alone and allow us enjoy a unique vagery of life in our growing-more -uniform culture.
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