Cultural Highlights

Following my butterfly post a couple of my friends have sent me links to videos of Paul Weller- in and out of The Jam- singing Butterfly Collector. It was new to me. I don't like the misogyny, but it's the true expression of a true emotion and I don't have to like a song to like it- if you see what I mean. Now I have it as an earworm.

I watched Parasite last night. The theme of wily poor people running rings around complacent rich people is as old as whatever development in human culture gave us the division between rich and poor- (it's the heart and lungs of the commedia d'ell arte for instance)- but not so very many iterations of it end in bloodshed.

Burning Issues

Something I have to keep reminding myself is that there's no law compelling me to have an opinion on every burning issue of the day- and that it's perfectly OK to say "None of my business" or "I don't have enough information" or even- a little radical this- "I don't give a damn either way." Two things are currently in the air that I found myself wrinkling my brow over before I thought a little deeper and disengaged: the first was the drama of Novak Djokovic's right- as an unvaccinated person- to enter Australia and the second was the question- raised by a number of Jewish entertainers- about the acceptability of Jews being played by non-Jews. The first of these involves a tangle of issues that I don't feel smart enough to unravel- and the second is a bit specialized- a question affecting people in the world of entertainment- actors, agents, casting directors-and I propose to leave it to them- though I have to say- as a mere consumer of product- that I think there's something a bit screwy about casting Helen Mirren as Golda Meier when the only way it can be done is to completely cover the actor in latex and false hair. Was this a decision made for any other reason than that the producers wanted a star name- and might Mirren- whom I admire- not have been wiser to say, "Not for me, chum"? I think "Maybe" to both of those. Now watch her win an Oscar for the performance- just as Gary Oldman did for being buried in prosthetics to play Churchill.

One thing I do have an opinion on is the position of Prime Minister Johnson (I avoid calling him Boris because I'm not one of his mates and I don't find him amusing any more) following the revelation that he repeatedly broke his own government's covid rules by partying through the pandemic. In fact I have not one but two opinions. The first is that he should go now- immediately- before the next scandal breaks- as it undoubtedly will- and the second is that his going will make next to no difference to the way we're governed and the prioritising by government of the interests of the rich...