Notes from the Engine Room XI
Meta Letta
Here we are again, the sun is shining, let’s delve in together!
I was asked yesterday what this week’s newsletter was going to be about, aside from talking about Public Service Broadcasting and Cruella. (Though really, what else is there to talk about?!)
I replied with a Doctor Who quote:
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t finished talking.”
To the annoyance of everyone around me, I think best when expressing my thoughts; whether that’s in writing (hello!), or an endlessly meandering face-to-face torrent of wittering while I formulate ideas at the same time as expressing them, only to do a full volte-face when I think of some new, possibly unrelated, perspective mid-sentence.
If that sounds tiring and annoying, imagine having to actually live with me?! You’d need the patience of a saint!
In My Ears
Today I learnt that Lamb, a band that was incredibly important to me in 2003, is not as well known as I would have thought. Now, admittedly, this might be because the albums they released after 2003 were comparatively disappointing, but never mind. We can’t all peak with one album like Elastica. So, while a track I love features in this week’s playlist, I went a little further. Never again shall you be without an answer if you’re asked “Daddy, Who Are Lamb?”.
Sadly a lot of my favourite remixes aren’t on Spotify, a clear problem of streaming services. A problem very aptly shown by the absence of the divine Iron Butterfly remix of Everest by Public Service Broadcasting.
Public Service Broadcasting you say? Wouldn’t it be lovely if there would be a Venn overlap of their music, German architecture and Krautrock? Some berlinial ode to the joy and magic that can be found in urban spaces? If that’s something that could be of interest to you, well People, Let’s Dance!
PSB’s new album Bright Magic is out on the 24th September, tour tickets are on sale to mailing list members on the 4th of June, and on general sale next week.
While this article is primarily about Gomez, I found the psychological analysis of pop music fascinating. I love how the brain is wired to release dopamine when we listen to music. The more that music gels with us, the more dopamine is released, which is true whichever genre of music you prefer as it’s all based on past experience. Which makes it harder to create that same joy from new music as you get older.
The way to avoid this musical rut is, of course, to listen to more music. Via a weekly curated playlist perhaps?
Perhaps even Sounds From The Engine Room 7?
On My Screen
The time has come, and it’s time for for the first movie from my must watch list! I’ve been looking forward to Disney‘s Cruella for a while, and I was able to take advantage of Disney+‘s day and date ‘Premiere Access’. I did have to think hard about spending £20 on an early access digital release, but compared to the cost of either taking a day off or a babysitter, two cinema tickets, train fares, food etc., it became a no-brainer. It would definitely have been a better experience in the cinema, but it’s better than not seeing it at all.
There were cynics who saw the last trailer and were quick to deride it as derivative of Joker, but I’m happy to report that this wasn’t even close to the case. If anything it was more Devil Wears Dalmation meets Snow Black & White. Both Emmas Stone and Thompson have a great time with their characters. But while their performances are good, they’re not at their peak, which is a real shame. The movie isn’t as dark as expected, I’d have loved it to go a little further. But on the whole, this was very enjoyable. I’d watch it again, and as I paid for early access, I can.
What I really loved in the film was the design, with Cruella wearing outfits inspired by Vivienne Westwood’s deconstructed punk Victoriana and Alexander McQueen’s high-octane extravagance. The outfits were designed by costume designer Jenny Beavan, who has been nominated 10 times for best costume design at the Academy Awards and has won twice, once for A Room with a View and another time for Mad Max: Fury Road.
On My Mind
If you talk to people ‘out there’, perhaps in a hostelry of some form or other, a very common topic is the transition to the post-pandemic. Depending on people’s priorities, they may talk about their vaccination status, the risk of booking a vacation to an amber list country, or debating whether standing at the bar is a time-honoured tradition, or clearly not as good as table service. But for others, the whole focus is the ‘return to office strategy’, with talk of hybrid models or flexi-days.
I, of course, look forward to looking some colleagues dead in the eyes in meetings; I look forward to ‘one quick drink’ after work, or popping to the cinema, or eating somewhere I’ve not been before. But the flip-side for that is work/life balance, which will definitely be diminished by the return of the commute.
I wonder whether a return to sociableness, occasional spontaneity and ‘filling of the tanks’ will re-ignite my creative juices, or whether that organ has fully atrophied. I worry that the time lost will merely rob me of the time to pursue my coping mechanisms. Currently, this newsletter and associated materials is my sole creative output. And while I aspire to do more, to create more, to do and be better, even this current state feels fragile.
Maybe what I need is to get out more, and refresh my perspective? Or maybe I just need to be more disciplined with my time and energies, before they get sapped away by a train journey and the Kafka-esque machinations of office life.
Denouement
And that’s us done for this week! It’s been gloriously sunny, and I hope you’ve managed to enjoy it more than I have. My loft is a furnace in the summer, so the only logical action to take is to go for a drink.
Don’t worry, I’ll take my laptop with me.
There’s always more work to do. Let’s just hope that work is creative.
Mind how you go!
(Aside: I wish there were a collective noun for you lovely lot. Something more flattering than Cumberbitches, something less ambiguous than Blinks. Send me your suggestions!)
Postscript: There’s a supplement to this newsletter.