Mike Leigh’s Meantime (1983)
Meantime is a 1983 film directed by Mike Leigh, produced by Central Television for Channel 4. It was shown at the London Film Festival in 1983 and on Channel 4 a few weeks later, on 1 December. According to the critic Michael Coveney: “The sapping, debilitating and demeaning state of unemployment, the futile sense of waste, has not been more poignantly, or poetically, expressed in any other film of the period.”
the social recession
“Eructation of unhealthy souls into the faded air”:
Neil Lawson of the Labour think-tank Compass bleakly admitted: “Society is hollowing out, but not just in the rotting boroughs of south London. The middle classes are anxious too. Many are richer but few seem happier. Mental illness abounds. White-collar jobs are outsourced to India. Everyone looks for meaning in their lives – but all they find is shopping.”
“The reason our children’s lives are the worst among economically advanced countries is because we are a poor version of the USA,” he said. “So the USA comes second from bottom and we follow behind. The age of neo-liberalism, even with the human face that New Labour has given it, cannot stem the tide of the social recession capitalism creates.”
Australian sculptor Patricia Piccinini
Lessons learned from the Palin debacle
I know Frum is not exactly a fan favorite here on clusterflock, but he’s right in this case (via Sullivan):
It’s very important that politicians understand the everyday lives of Americans. It’s important that politicians champion the ordinary person and not pay undue heed to the wishes of the rich and powerful. It’s important that politicians be people of integrity, not hirelings of industry lobbies. These are issues of character, and character counts.
But the choice of cowboy boots over loafers, enjoyment of hunting rather than bicycling, a preference for ketchup over mustard — these tell us precisely nothing about a candidate’s character.
Yet it was precisely these kinds of irrelevant lifestyle choices that persuaded so many conservatives that Sarah Palin would be a fitting leader. She drops her “g”s! Her husband owns a fishing boat! She shoots moose! (Not really on that last point, but that’s the story we were told at the time.)
Stellar Invites
I’ve got two one more Stellar invitations invitation. Let me know in comments.
Update: Jason says:
And I’ve got unlimited invites if other ‘flockers want to try it out. Email me at jason {at} kottke {dot} org.
2001: A Space Impossibility
This has bothered me a long time. I rewatched 2001: A Space Odyssey last night, and if HAL can kill Poole outside the spacecraft, the rest of the movie is a logical inconsistency. Even believing the space hatch Bowman returns to the craft through is somehow beyond HAL’s control, he still has to pass through two series of doors, and gain access to HAL’s neural center. Not to mention HAL killed Poole by controlling his pod. Once Bowman is outside the spacecraft, he should never be able to regain entry. It bothers me in an emperor has no clothes kind of way, and from a filmaker so invested in precision, and who I admire with the strength of a thousand suns, it baffles me.
This is how I’ve been feeling while on the internet this week
since my mother has been staying at my newly christened bachelor pad (in case you were wondering why I’ve been so quiet).
World of Class Warfare
the birth of a nation, part two
We have this horrible contemporary phenomenon in the Tea Party – a real menace not only to America but to the world. Because if it goes on like this, they will destroy our economy and they will destroy America. They have no democratic vision, and I don’t mean with a capital “D”, I mean with a small “d”. They frighten me. They’re like the early followers of Adolf Hitler, and I’m willing to be quoted on that. They are a sickening phenomenon. That is because they have not read deeply and widely enough. But then maybe they’re not to blame, because American education – even in elite universities – has become a scandal in my opinion. It has committed suicide.
Harold Bloom on the state of American democracy.
Previously, on clusterflock.
A beautiful Hillman Curtis video for a product that doesn’t seem to exist
This is both an ad for Nokia’s Voice Visualizer, which doesn’t seem to exist, and another example of Hillman Curtis’s beautiful video work.
Stellar
I have two Stellar invites if anyone is interested. Let me know in comments.
Update:Michael has one invite left.
Update: All gone.
It started as an April Fool’s joke, Scott Engel, the iPad Enrichment Coordinator at the zoo, tells me
The Milwaukee County Zoo has introduced iPads to their orangutans:
The orangutans both have their favorite apps, often spending quite a bit of time finger-painting with DrawFree, watching television shows and even playing games. They’ve tried iFishPond, Flick Kick Football and seem to really love the interactive book The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore.
“I’ll show [Morris Lessmore] to them through the glass and they love the combination of movement, sound, and color,” Engel said. “They will sit for about 20 minutes, listening to the story. In fact, MJ and I finished the book in one session.”
1934 BMW R7
Although this BMW is more than 70 years old, it could pass for a contemporary concept. Master engineer Alfred Böning designed one of the most visually arresting motorcycles ever built, one that was equally advanced mechanically.
The R7 featured enclosed bodywork, a pressed-steel frame and telescopic forks — a first for motorcycles. The 800-cc boxer engine, mated to a four-speed transmission, produced 35 horsepower and a top speed of 90 mph. The cylinders and cylinder heads were a single component, with hemispherical combustion chambers.
Plus nine more beautiful motorcycles to lust over.
tweet of the day
from the comments
His sister held him close and whispered to his bleeding head, “CH33p VI4GRA!!! SAV3 TONZ OF $$$!!!”
not a spam name
Went down the rabbit hole…
…following organ music tonight.
Again, I wish there were an “I’m sorry” category.
from the spam
I have often wondered whether I can be both an evangelical and a neocalvinist—whether I can reconcile my evangelical priorities to abide in Christ and seek and save the lost with my neocalvinist priorities to claim Christ’s kingship over creation and fill the earth with culture.
Chris Marker OVERNIGHT (2011)
I would agree with those who judge this a minor contribution to Chris Marker‘s oeuvre, but I still find it interesting, especially as it has appeared so swiftly after the events interpreted (England’s recent wave of riots).
The World’s Most Important 6-sec Drum Loop
(via @zeldman)
the birth of a nation
The majority of Republicans in the United States do not believe the theory of evolution is true and do not believe that humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. This suggests that when three Republican presidential candidates at a May debate stated they did not believe in evolution, they were generally in sync with the bulk of the rank-and-file Republicans whose nomination they are seeking to obtain.
I don’t see how this isn’t a fundamental problem for the future of American democracy.
(via @fivethirtyeight)
quote out of context
But also, more educated people spend more on alcohol, and praying reduces alcohol consumption.
IBM’s Cognitive Computing Chips
IBM announced a computer chip that learns by mimicking the neurological processes of the brain:
Called cognitive computers, systems built with these chips won’t be programmed the same way traditional computers are today. Rather, cognitive computers are expected to learn through experiences, find correlations, create hypotheses, and remember – and learn from – the outcomes, mimicking the brains structural and synaptic plasticity.
Goodness.
(via @tcarmody)
quote out of context
After collecting and weighing his own shavings every 24 hours, the author, who was living on a remote island, claimed his beard grew faster the day before he planned to visit the mainland, where his potential for making whoopee increased. “Even the presence of particular female company in the absence of intercourse, after a period of separation, usually caused an obvious increase in beard growth,” he wrote.
(thanks, Tim)
British sculptor Sean Henry
