Month: April 2018

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Trump

It’s too easy to make fun of Mr Trump. Because of how he is, what he does.

We know he is stupid, we know he is unhinged, we know no-one can stand up to him. His irrational tweets show us, and we don’t need to read books to know this. You look at the family, the friends, people in the White House, senior Trump advisors, who used to be fashion correspondents.

But Mr Trump is the President of the USA, the leader of the western world, the most powerful person on this planet.

Doesn’t that scare you?

So, i am off to New York city. I will meet people and talk to locals. They will not talk about Trump. In NYC, you cannot get away from Trump. He ‘owns’ so many buildings, but it’s like he doesn’t. Get something about Trump from a local, and it’s generally disgust. They don’t like uncouth, common people.

Trump’s buildings have his name all over them. A tv programme said that Trump Tower has been shown to be the least ecologically efficient building in the world. There was a fire recently. Someone died. Had Mr Trump chosen to install sprinklers, to protect the people and the building, this would not have happened. Mr Trump dismissed the whole thing with “well built building”, in a tweet.

All Mr Trump wants to be is the most famous person in the world. Possibly he is, and, for many, a source of amazed laughter.

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Babestation

There is a set of channels on the UK Freeview system for adults. There are many stations, including Babestation. On it you can see somewhat pneumatic topless ladies cavorting around. There are occasionally some bottomless, but nothing harder than page 3 stuff.

One of their ‘stars’ who always seems to do nude is Lori Buckby. It’s all pretty innocent, of course.

Unless you look from another angle:

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2001

It is fifty years and a little bit since 2001: A Space Odyssey was released. 1968.

So many books and articles have been written about this film over the years, you wonder if there is anything left to say.

But I have a few thoughts.

When it came out, man was nowhere near landing on the Moon. There was no cinema cgi. Nowadays, every film has a wash of cgi on it, but not one frame of this film. It was all actual models, hand animation and other rather ingenious special effects. It was craftsmanship and patience and skill. And it shows on the screen, setting a visual standard that films nowadays cannot match.

I know people who hate science fiction and have never seen it. This is actually probably good. It is a film made for the cinema, a true film. I first saw it in my home town on a small screen, but when I moved to London, it was on in 70mm (or Cinerama) at the Casino theatre (now the Prince Edward). On a big screen, with a good print (film, not digital) it is an experience never to be forgotten. Those huge, glorious images, and that wonderful detail. And let’s not forget the choice of classical music.

It is a film unlike any other. Whatever you may think of the story, and it is just a story, 2001 is one of the greatest films ever. The story is told mostly through the images. There are occasional patches of expository speech, once on the Moon about the object they have discovered and again at the end, as HAL is being lobotomised.

Kubrick is dead. Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood are alive, and will talk about the film, though I think Mr Lockwood thinks it’s “just a film” in the end, and that there’s a lot of popmpous nonsense said about it. Douglas Rain, who voiced HAL, is still alive but does not seem to want to talk about it any more.

2001 represents a high point in cinema history. Yes, people can point out mistakes – Pan Am has gone, Howard Johnson’s too, and 2001 the year is long gone and manned space travel is more restricted now than it was in 1968, which is sad.