Monday 31 December 2018

The Long Path Continues Into 2019

This must have been the longest year to have lasted as long as a year.


All things come to an end, apart from the ones that don't. I am ever-increasing given to the position that the construct of years is far too heavy given credence over our lives. (side note: what dose it say about me that my life is a path not a road?)

Like birthdays I find it to be tedious and rather dull. Life is far too complex to break down in equal chunks. My life has had many parts but not near as many as years I have been alive. I live by eras and I like the one I am in, one that I could say started this year but then it isn't also a clean line.


No looking back this year, only forward. Leaving behind me a wake of unwritten posts and other things that will be better for my life to be left behind me. The impact of the past on your life is massive but the past that you will make next will be greater if you focus on it.

I've not even had a drink yet and I'm being very abstract. I am finding the list of talking points I made for this post to be a mental wall, I think I will go back to having these posts as places to let free my wondering mind and clear up my head space.


Here's to the future. And here's to living in it.

Monday 24 December 2018

One Christmas Song - I Believe In Father Christmas

Track 9 - Works Volume 2
Greg Lake

One of my favourite “popular” Christmas songs. Though it is not a Christmas song. Perhaps?
 



Death of the author is a cool concept. Art is what people see or hear it to be, so if the public at large believes this is a Christmas song who am I to argue? Well part of said public I suppose.

They said there'll be snow at christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin's birth
I remember one christmas morning
A winters light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire

A look at Christmas from the eyes of someone out of the loop as such. Taking all that we have come to accept as the perfect Christmas at heart and being disappointed by the reality. Also it is a lament on the lost meaning of Christmas, and at the magic that doesn't exist.

It even goes deep into the outsider view and the are some very cute misunderstandings. It also shatters innocence, seeing who is acting as Santa. It is all wrapped around a hopeful facade of Christmas cheer and traditions.

They sold me a dream of christmas
They sold me a silent night
And they told me a fairy story
'till I believed in the israelite
And I believed in father christmas
And I looked at the sky with excited eyes
'till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

It ends on a brighter note, wishing us a happy Christmas, but it has a sting in its tail. What Christmas do we deserve? Dose it even matter what kind of Christmas you celebrate?

The musical crescendo near the end and the power in the vocals makes me shiver, it is one of the few songs to have a physical impact on me. His voice is fantastic and the performance is alive and emotive, you feel his sadness and hope.

I wish you a hopeful christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there'll be snow at christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
Hallelujah noel be it heaven or hell
The christmas you get you deserve

I love this song and I love that it is a Christmas song.

Sunday 9 December 2018

2018's Film List [December]

INDEX

01. Flatline - How the Amiga Languished (09.12.18)
Another great documentory by Ahoy. Classy and very well put togther it tells the stroy of the creation and life of the Amiga computer.

02. Unforeseen Consequences - A Half-Life Documentary (15.12.18)
One of the best games ever made. I played it for the first time around 2002 and even then it was what cemented my love of FPS. This is another gret doc by NoClip that lookis into how the game and its sequel forever changed the landscape of gameing.

03. The Nightmare Before Christmas (19.12.18)
Didn't know Jack was voiced by Danny Elfman. My first time seeing this all the way through, it is famous for it's introduction song and it is class. A good film very well put together though the could have been more to the story.

04. Avangers Infinity War (21.12.18)
I have already made up my mind, this is my favorite film of the year.

05. Star Wars The Force Awakens (25.12.18)
Nothing good on TV tonight, needed something to enjoy as I relaxed.

06. Guardians of the Galaxy (26.12.18)
This film has a lot of heart. Fun and moving with some very very cool moments.

07. Mission Impossible - Fallout (30.12.18)
It's got ist head too far up its own continiuity. A good film if very predictible. Good action but I think it was plotted using dart board... in the dark... with a shotgun.

08. Ant-Man and the Wasp (31.12.18)
Such a fun film. A few strange edits that feel like they were for time but on the whole it works well. The use of the powers was good and the villian was strong but not thin.

So that is it for another year. Started strong but the last few months were very slow.

Best? Has to be a tie between two films I haven stopped thinking about since I watched them.
Avengers Infinty War - and - Annihilation