2024 > 2025: Some culture from the past year

I want to say that cinema's going to pot, but maybe it's just me that's jaded. I only went to an actual film theatre once, and that was to see the latest Alien film, much of which was a retread of the first Alien film I saw um over forty years ago I believe. It wasn't a total waste of time; at least it sidestepped the pointlessly distracting mythos of mankind's foundation which was introduced in Prometheus and Covenant. 

I used to rely on Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode's film reviews on Radio 5 for new films to investigate, but since they decamped elsewhere I've been left with Empire magazine for reviews which I don't trust so much. The basic point is about just knowing what new films are out. But these days they merge films tv series and even games into their star reviews section.

So book reading continues to dominate my cultural mindscape. There were three books which made an impact on me this year. The first was Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks, which I've reviewed elsewhere. I came to the conclusion that I'd read one of SF's great novels, and I still think that. It's one of his Culture novels and I mean to read all the rest, and some of his non-Culture books. A clever writer, both challenging and entertaining. As well as Use of Weapons, I also read Inversions from the Culture series, and loved it. Banks seems to have tried all sorts of different ideas with the books: here, he wrote what looks like a medieval tale with some odd things happening, which only make sense when the penny drops that there are Culture Special Circumstances agents involved.

The second was The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce by Paul Torday. It was one of those books which are hard to describe in the context of enjoyment or pleasure, though there was humour in it, and nothing really grim or gratuitous. However, it's so well written, in my view Torday's best book of those I've read so far. So sad, that he came late to publishing his writing, and died too soon. 

This book tells the story of a descent into alcoholism, but it's much more than that, mainly thanks to making its characters distinctly individual and real. You could be smug like me and think, 'Well, I hardly drink, so...' but you'd be deluding yourself, almost as much as Wilberforce does. It contains a lesson about any kind of addictive behaviour, and is an uncomfortable read. Not least because the structure of the book seems at first to soften the blow, by telling the story in reverse - Wilberforce's death comes relatively early, so at the end we see him in happier times. But by then we see how thin that apparent initial contentment was. ...I wish I wasn't making the book sound like a moral tale. It's not like that at all. Torday was an excellent writer, and like all good writers he makes his stories compelling by making his characters relatable even as they display moral failings and let everybody down.

The third book was Tove Jansson's Moominsummer Madness. A kid's book??? Don't make the mistake I did for too long a while, and dismiss the Moomin books. I took my time and read this in English and Finnish (though not in Jansson's native Swedish!), and am convinced of her genius nowadays. Read my slice of unasked for opinion here.

Music? 

Yes, mostly thanks to YouTube. I've continued to play old familiar stuff a lot, eg tracks from Traffic's John Barleycorn album. And L7 remained on heavy repeat play, especially Fast and Frightening. In fact I eventually went and bought a cd, Smell the Magic (brilliant title). I think that led the YouTube algorithm to introduce me to Die Spitz, a new female punk band (apologies in that they don't like the categorisation, which is fair enough) from Austin Texas. I'll probably get an album at some point, with reservations: there are enough videos of gigs online to show they're very hard working with great energy live. Whether their material is so strong on record, I'm not sure. 

But they're promising.

However, main musical joy of the last few months has been Genesis. Yes, early prog rock Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, and by a circuitous route. What grabbed my attention on YouTube weren't original Genesis videos, but amateur performances of various kinds, often with quite different arrangements. They were generally charming, the performers obviously loving the original pieces; all ages, solo or choral groups, but with one surprising thing in common (most of them anyway, that I saw); they were Italian. It seems that Genesis was really popular in Italy and continues to be so. First there was a lovely amateur choir singing Trick of the Tail, then a variety of pianists doing that gorgeous intro to Firth of Fifth, then an actual Italian tribute group (The Watch, IIRC), who I know I'd love to see. Weird that despite being into prog as a sixth former, I never went for Genesis at the time. No reason. Well, I've made up for that now. I asked for and received Foxtrot and Selling England By the Pound for Christmas.

Christmas cards? 

Ha ha. I've usually commented on these at this time of year, ever since I picked up on how certain fashions in subjects/animals etc seemed to come and go each Christmas. But the overriding thought has been that cards really are on the decline. It's partly because using the internet is easier, but mostly the sheer cost of sending a card now. The absurd situation has arisen - so I'm told - that it's actually cheaper to send a card here from Europe than it is from one place in the UK to another. Can't argue with the bottom line, but I'm sad, especially about losing contact with certain occasional distant friends.

Anyway, the results are in, and I can tell you from my own unreliable sample, that trees and villagey scenes were the dominant themes this year; and as for animals and birds, the winners, in this house at least, were deers (doing the antlered thing) and robins, with owls as an interesting also ran. 

Ah, the clock has ticked on and it's now 2025 in our particular time zone. Happy New Year!