Culture - February

Books Read:

D.H. Lawrence - 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'
Haruki Murakami - 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' (non-fiction)
V.J. Lenin - 'The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism' (non-fiction)
Simon Sellars & Dan O'Hara - 'Extreme Metaphors: Interviews with J.G Ballard 1967 - 2008' (non-fiction)

This month I thoroughly enjoyed Lawrence's subversive masterpiece 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', and could easily imagine the incendive spark it must have represented to the masses of sexually straitjacketed housewives upon the book's release from the shackles of, presumably, male-sanctioned censorship.

I also waded through 'Extreme Metaphors', a veritable tome of a book. Although reading a collection of interviews with a favourite author seems on the surface to be fairly indulgent, when the interviewee in question is J.G. Ballard, a man with such a ferociously engaging and prophetic mind, its hard not to completely revel in the sheer loquaciousness of his thoughts as though they were a hot spring of ideas.

Films Watched:

'Berberian Sound Studio' (Peter Strickland)
'Martha Marcy May Marlene' (T. Sean Durkin)
'Lore' (Cate Shortland) (at Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton)

I rented 'Berbarian Sound Studio' from LoveFilm on the strong recommendation of film critic Mark Kermode; it being his film of 2012. Overall, I found myself disappointed, perhaps as I result of the heavy expectations, as indeed I did of 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'. Both had much potential, but their flimsy narratives seemed to flounder, never quite able to properly get off the ground. There was a successfully pervading sense of dread and unease in the latter, but frustratingly it decided to eschew any sense of resolution and closure in favour of artful ambiguity.

'Lore' on the other hand, benefitted from my prior awareness of it being fairly minimal. The film was a very impressive depiction of a teenage girl's migration with her younger siblings across an immediately post-WWII Germany, signalling her departure from the naive comforts of childhood and into a necessarily harsh self-awareness. Whilst slightly too languid in pace, there were some excellently subtle dramatic setpieces and cruel realism as the children struggle to adapt to this new world and the ease with which those around them descend into realms of barbarity.

Albums Played:

My Bloody Valentine - 'mbv'
Tin Machine - 'Tin Machine'
Kraftwerk - 'Autobahn'
Kraftwerk - 'Radio-Activity'
Kraftwerk - 'Computer World'
Kraftwerk - 'Electric Cafe'
David Bowie - 'Black Tie White Noise'
David Bowie - 'The Buddha of Suburbia'
David Bowie - 'Outside'
David Bowie - 'Earthling'
David Bowie - 'Hours...'
David Bowie - 'Heathen'
David Bowie - 'Reality'
Carole King - 'Tapestry'
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - 'Push the Sky Away'
Johnny Marr - 'The Messenger'
How To Destroy Angels - 'Welcome Oblivion'
Atoms for Peace - 'Amok'

I listened to a bevy of new music this month. Particular highlights were the new albums from My Bloody Valentine and How To Destroy Angels.

I completed my odyssey through Bowie's catalogue, venturing through his often hit-and-miss latter-day output. The subdued soundtrack album 'Buddha of Suburbia' was pleasant enough, and although its fun - on 'Outside' and 'Earthling' - to hear Bowie's sound transmogrifying yet again into the drum & bass and industrial sounds of the day, its hard to suppress the impression that for the first time he was riding in the cultural slipstream rather than speeding in the fast lane.

Exhibitions:

The Turner Collection, at Tate Britain
'Amongst Heroes: The Artist in working Cornwall', at Two Temple Place

The 'Amongst Heroes' exhibition was a charming display of artwork depicting rural Cornish wokring life, set in the Victorian opulence of Two Temple Place. Although some were more insubstantial, the centre piece 'A Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach' by Stanhope Forbes, who's work dominated the exhibition, was striking in its clarity of detail. Particularly, with the water reflections pooled between the ripples of the sand, the weather-worn face of the grizzled fisherman, and the day's catch of fish lain out in the foreground with such accurate precision that you could almost scent the smell coming off the canvas.

Other:

Museum of London
'The Cutting Edge' at Comedy Store, Piccadilly Circus (comedy)