[a pleasurable headache] flourishing with a gun in our hands
Not too many links this week as I've been trying to conquer a TBR pile that I've allowed to get quite out of hand and make headway on two writing projects I want to complete by the end of the year.
Oh, that and the first bout of nursery-induced illness for Florence means I've barely had time to do much else beyond read and write.
Links
Martin Scorsese: “I Have To Find Out Who The Hell I Am.”
<https://www.gq.com/story/martin-scorsese-profile>
I think everyone and his dog saw this profile go up this week but I'm including it anyway as it was such an engaging and poignant read. There's a definite air of acceptance and fatalism here, capturing Scorcese's thoughts on mortality, old age and an acceptance borne out by the advantage of experience.
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It’s That Lonely Sinking Feeling
<https://noescapevg.com/its-that-lonely-sinking-feeling/>
An excellent post on the problematic gender politics of Mass Effect 2. The author here looks back on their own feelings on the game at the time and how age and a wider critical lens has changed their view on the game's presentation of its female characters.
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‘Prisoners’ at 10: When Denis Villeneuve Took Hollywood by Storm
I'm a huge fan of this Villeneuve flick and the Deakins photography in it. This 10 year retrospective at The Ringer was a nice reminder of how much this movie still slaps.
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The 40 Greatest Stand-Alone TV Episodes of All Time
<https://slate.com/culture/2023/09/best-stand-alone-episodes-tv-television.html>
I'm a sucker for a list as you all know. This beast of a list at Slate will either have you nodding along or seething at the injustice of it all. Hats off to including The Constant in there.
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England’s Rugeley Amazon Warehouse Tells the Story of Postindustrial Decline (via Nothing Here)
I somehow missed this one. Rugeley is my hometown. The power station mentioned in the article (long gone by now) was where my Granddad worked for most of his adult life.
It always seemed ironic that once the power station was demolished the Amazon warehouse sprang up in its place. Meanwhile the town itself, a formerly thriving industrial town, is now a shell of its former self with shops shuttered and nothing really in the way of opportunity for those unlucky enough to be unable to commute elsewhere or move away.
I am glad, and proud, however, that a union mentality has taken hold at the warehouse.
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I'm off to hope for a better week. See you in two!