Culture - July

Books read:

Alan Sillitoe - 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' (short stories)
David Hume - 'On Suicide' (non-fiction)
Owen Hatherley - 'A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain' (non-fiction)
Virginia Woolf - 'Mrs Dalloway'
Anais Nin - 'A Spy in the House of Love'

This month I waded through Owen Hatherley’s weighty yet absorbing ‘A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain’; an acerbic and intelligent traipse around the UK - from Glasgow to Milton Keynes to Liverpool – taking urban planners and architects firmly to task. Hatherley, an unapologetic student of socialism, works hard to scorch architectural follies and Blair-ite trends that he coins ‘pseudo-modernism’; that of soulless shopping centres, precincts, industrial parks, identical leisure outlets, generic apartment developments. He laments the proliferation of ‘starcitects’ (Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano, et al.) designing buildings as easily-identifiable logos – the ‘Shard’, the ‘Gherkin’, the ‘Cheesegrater’ – where function very blatantly comes a poor second to form.

Hatherley’s insight into architectural theory and the socio-cultural impact of urban schemes is impressive and at times overwhelming, and his prose is consistently energetic and engaging; but by the end I found myself dogged by the ponderance of ‘what exactly should planners be building?’ and ‘what would work better?’ The problem is that Hatherley appeared to be very informed on all that was wretched with the built environment and rather more obscure and foggy on the details of what kind of ‘ideal’ he would instead espouse. Despite this though, I would recommend this book to people, regardless of their interest in architecture, for the reason that it may well refocus attention on entire aspects and features of urbanity and the environs that we so readily (indeed so much so that it could be said to be an intentional design specification), turn a blind eye to.

From a critique of modernism to a literary touchstone of the movement; Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel ‘Mrs Dalloway’ was my first dalliance with the author’s work, and one that I found particularly enjoyable. Set entirely within the timeframe of one day in London, the book explores the stream-of-consciousness narrative approach that had been thrust into the limelight by James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ just a few years earlier. Having yet to tackle Joyce’s modernist epic, it was impossible for me to gauge the debt Woolf’s work held to it, but what was clear was just how influential the 1920s modernist movement as a whole was to a whole swathe of later writers like Burroughs, Faulkner, and Nabakov, in its attempt at establishing a fresh and exhilarating paradigm shift away from the classic 19th century novel format.

Films Watched:

'The Act of Killing' (Joshua Oppenheimer) (at the Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton)
'Serpico' (Sidney Lumet)
'Possession' (Andrezj Zulawski) (at Roxy Bar & Screen, Borough)
'The World's End' (Edgar Wright) (at Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton)
'Repulsion' (Roman Polanski)

Easily qualifying as the most innovative film I've seen so far this year, 'The Act of Killing' was a cinematic experience I am unlikely to forget in a long while. Compelled to go and see it by the buzz that surrounded its release (when Werner Herzog says that it is the most disturbing film he's seen in a decade you know something special has arrived!), it seemed to infect my consciousness for several days afterwards.

It is essentially a documentary highlighting the shamefully overlooked genocide of incalculable numbers of suspected Communists by state powers and hired 'gangsters' in mid-1960s Indonesia, and the prominance and high-office still held by them to this day. It was a bizarre, disturbing and thoroughly challenging film to witness (the final five minutes surely ranks as the most uncomfortable I've ever felt in a cinema screening), but it was certainly one of the most original of recent years and an astonishing achievement.

‘The World’s End’ I found to be a sufficiently enjoyable, if considerably flawed, final part of the Wright/Pegg/Frost ‘Cornetto trilogy’. The opening 30 minutes boded well, with plenty of sharp dialogue and witty one-liners – “you’ve got an appointment with Dr. Ink” being a particular highlight). However, once the action started to kick off and the ‘conspiracy’ plot developed, I felt it began to unravel somewhat, even plodding at times until its particularly lacklustre finale.

My primary gripe was that, unlike the previous two films (‘Shaun of the Dead’ – zombie horror, ‘Hot Fuzz’ – police action), it appeared to be following no particular lineage of films on which to spark ideas and gags. Where the previous films had a wealth of ‘spoof appeal’ for the discerning film fan, by contrast ‘The World’s End’ appeared sadly bereft on this intrinsic element that I felt bound the others together so successfully.


Albums Played:

David Lynch - 'The Big Dream'
The Rolling Stones - 'Live at Hyde Park 2013'
Bob Marley & the Wailers - 'Legend: The Best of Bob Marley & the Wailers'
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven'
Pond - 'Hobo Rocket'
Fuck Buttons - 'Slow Focus'

On the music front July was oddly quiet, with a real scarcity of new releases worth getting excited about. I really enjoyed Pond's 'Beard Wives Denim' album from last year, and on first impressions 'Hobo Rocket' seems like a fairly faithful continuation; nothing revelatory but enough quirky psychedelic sounds to sustain interest.

On the electronic music side, for the first time this month I began listening to the dubiously named Fuck Buttons who have risen in prominance exorbitantly since Danny Boyle used their music for his 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony. Their third album 'Slow Focus' is, by all accounts, a lot darker than their previous two, and is one of the most captivating albums I've heard so far this year; it ripples with subterranean hypnotic energy and undulating rhythms.

Gigs Attended:

The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park, London
(support by King Charles, Gary Clark Jr., The Temper Trap, The Vaccines)

Having managed, against the odds, to secure tickets for my Dad and I to The Rolling Stones playing Hyde Park for the first time since 1969, the triumph of the gig itself was almost assured. Seeing a band like the Stones, who are more of an institution than any other alive, a tremendous 'rock n' roll circus', is something truly special. Not to labour the dour axiom, but in 15-20 years time, these guys won't be around any longer and I know that despite seeing them play in their dotage rather than their prime, it was a real honour to have been able to see Jagger strut his stuff and Richards crank out the riffs whilst still possible; as it's only inevitable that we will still be talking about their almost unrivalled legacy for as long as people are still listening to rock music.

Exhibitions:

'David Bowie is', Victoria & Albert Museum, London
See full review here