She wanted to be an orchestra
Forgive me,
I should have sent this last week but I was lurking in the interregnum, still stuck in the lovely liminality between Christmas and New Year. It’s a favourite time for me.
I’m increasingly reluctant to think of January as a time for fresh starts - I keep them for the spring. January is for rest and recuperation and maybe for thinking and planning.
Phil’s reflections on quarters and seasons are relevant, probably.
Some things:
I’m still reading Kate Molleson’s Sound Within Sound. Here she introduces us to Galina Ustvolskaya (‘Sound poet of St Petersburg’)
“When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said she wanted to be an orchestra.”
I have a folder in my head labelled ‘Things That Are Presentations Combined With Other Art Forms’, I look out for examples. They stretch from Spalding Grey to Elijah. But this might me my favourite: Ten Rules For Techno. A practical guide to making music, transformed into dance. It’s strange and wonderful.
This is a great piece about Netflix and what it’s doing to TV/cinema. And more besides. But I really like the terrible moments of dialogue he notices.
“Several screenwriters who’ve worked for the streamer told me a common note from company executives is “have this character announce what they’re doing so that viewers who have this program on in the background can follow along.” (“We spent a day together,” Lohan tells her lover, James, in Irish Wish. “I admit it was a beautiful day filled with dramatic vistas and romantic rain, but that doesn’t give you the right to question my life choices. Tomorrow I’m marrying Paul Kennedy.” “Fine,” he responds. “That will be the last you see of me because after this job is over I’m off to Bolivia to photograph an endangered tree lizard.”)”
I’m now tempted, when leaving a room, to first announce that I’m off to Bolivia to photograph an endangered tree lizard.
I would be scoffing and rolling my eyes at this if it was framed as spiritual or ‘natural’. But the thin veneer of science has me all in, sticking my nose up a tree:
“Smell a winter forest. Find a clump of trees near you. Walk in. Inhale. As leaves fall and decompose, they are digested by bacteria and fungi. Cold air traps fewer smells than warm air, leaving our senses less overloaded than in summer, so we are especially receptive to the odour produced. Many people find this smell immensely comforting and bracing.”
From The Guardian’s new year tips. By Nigel Kendall.
Haalarit is so wonderful I worry it might be a hoax. I want this all the time, everywhere, please.
PROMOTIONAL NEWS
Rishi Dastidar has found a perfect use for StampFans - poetry. An instant subscription for me. My own effort has now, at least, found a form; a print version of Findings.
If you fancy a coffee - come along on Wednesdays. Coffee Mornings are back. Caffe Tropea, Russell Square. 8AM every Wednesday.
If you fancy a chat - you can book one online.
And, it’s time to wind up for Interesting 2025. If you’re not sure what it is and are wondering about talking. Here’s an explanation.
I’ll give you back your day.
russell
(There are 983 of you. A Martian nautical mile is 983 metres.)