I just won’t shut up

Silence. Well, they say it’s golden. In my case, it’s as a result of concentration on other things, like my various, but ultimately equally pointless essays, for school. I also got round to finishing the design of my website (www.jacobbutler.co.nr), then promptly decided to redesign it again, soon after having finished it. It’s been an odd summer holiday. Most of the time after the trip to England, I have spent doing the above, and have only left The Hague once, and that was to get my hair cut in Rotterdam. (Indeed, I am so averse to change that I still go to the barber’s I went to in Rotterdam, out of some distorted laziness which means I find it easier to take the trip to Rotterdam than to find one in The Hague. It was quite nice to go to Rotterdam again, though, with all the tall buildings and the ‘big city’ feel to the place. I’ve just realised that I’m still inside brackets. Better get out.)

Something which came to my attention the other day, and you will have to excuse my vagueness but I forget the precise details, was that some part of the Anglican church in America has allied itself with a group of churches in Kenya, due to what Radio 4 termed as their deep opposition to homosexuality. Normally I couldn’t have cared less about this kind of thing, but it’s funny (as in peculiar) because, unless I am being very naive (which is perfectly possible), saying you are opposed to homosexuality is like saying one opposes the Earth orbiting the Sun. Oh. What a minute. Bad example. The point is, opposing something does not somehow refute its existence. I assume their issue is really with their consecration in the church. It just seems like a peculiar way of saying it.

My unique perspective

As requested by ‘fizgig’ in a comment on my blog of August 4 2007 (SIMPSONS/MUJI/BELL), the following is the image which accompanies the events described (I even used a graphics tablet).

Deep Thought

Even the most seemingly inane films can contain deep and meaningful criticisms of contemporary society. The following thought-provoking assertions could be found within the film I went to see this afternoon.

1. It is possible to fool anyone into thinking you are an artist.

2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was correct in postulating that humans are mere puppets, manipulated by super-intelligent pan-dimensional rodents.

3. Rats are okay, really.

A classic case of over-analysis of a film, I fear (apart from the last statement, which was actively promoted).

The film in question, Ratatouille, is quite obviously a children’s film, so I suspect my slight amusement at some of the logic of the film is to be expected. In any case, the CGI and the musical score was good, which is also, as it happens, part of my huge admiration for the 2005 Joss Whedon film Serenity, which I recently saw (finally) on DVD, and forgot to write about at the time. It has to be said that I am completely ignorant when it comes to films, in the sense that I have not seen a great many, but I would like to assume that that does not limit my enjoyment or ability to criticise.

It wasn’t just visual effects and music that fuelled my appreciation of the film. I liked just about every part of the film, including the actors, screenplay and plot. There was some humour too. Unlike with The Simpsons Movie I had seen some of the sadly short-lived TV series (Firefly) on which it was based, and unlike Ratatouille, there were serious issues that there dealt with. Something that really was funny, though, was that on the DVD there was an extra which details the careful filming and production work which went into the creation of the extraordinarily bizarre advert for “fruity oaty bars”, which appears on a screen in one of the scenes (this may make sense if you have seen the film).

Tomorrow I should get round to starting my Theory of Knowledge essay. Not that I am entirely sure what Theory of Knowledge is, despite the fact that I have attended the lessons, as part of the IB curriculum, for the past year. I gather it involves learning about how we know things, which is, in my opinion, jumping the gun, since it rather assumes that I know things to begin with.

SIMPSONS/MUJI/BELL

I have not graced the blogosphere with my presence for some time. This is partly because we went to the UK to see relatives and, on the last two days, to visit London. One of the days we spent in London was also my birthday, and on that day we (parent and sister and me) went to Tate Modern and saw “The Simpsons Movie” at a cinema near Marble Arch. I had only watched a few episodes beforehand, but I still enjoyed the film very much. The following day involved some shopping, including our now traditional visit to MUJI on Tottenham Court Road (hence the minimalist title), and an exhibition at The Political Cartoon Gallery (which is tiny), entitled “Blair’s Legacy: The Iraq War in cartoons”. It featured cartoons from, among others, Steve Bell. Anyway, enough ball by ball commentary; it reminds me, a little, of when, at primary school, we had to write about what we did at the weekend and draw a picture to go with it. Luckily, I write this blog of my own free will, so there is no obligation for me to draw any pictures.