Blow Yr Mind / "Heroes"

Promo poster, 2014

When I reviewed Under the Skin in March I said that much as I bought into the idea that Scarlett Johansson is a sex symbol, I wouldn't see a film with her simply on that basis. Case in point - I haven't seen any of her Marvel appearances as the Black Widow, because the omnipresent comic book films do nothing for me. I nearly passed on seeing Batman Begins in 2005 for that reason. Lucy genuinely interested me because it looked like a strong female-led action film from noted director Luc Besson. I love Besson's The Fifth Element and I increasingly like Ms. Johansson's work (perhaps save for the Israel controversy). Indeed, I've been having something of a Scarlett year and Lucy made three after watching Don Jon, and intend to continue with Her at some point. So it was that I decided to repeat my little day out in March with a strong sense of déjà vu. Not only was I riding the train to see another 'ScarJo' (urgh) film at Cineworld, I was also in a new pair of Doc Martens - replacing the pair I broke-in seeing Under The Skin. I also didn't have a date again, so that's too many coincidences.

Spoilers, duh

COMPUTERLIEBE

Know All Men By These Presents, Coles Phillips, c1910

It seems like there should be a morose Morrisey-penned song about a flaming meteor saving us from Valentine's Day. There might well be - I haven't paid any attention to him in years, so I don't know. This isn't supposed to be my critique of Morrisey's latter-day output, opinions, and jack-assery; but consider that a summary. This is about Valentine's Day, OKCupid, and another Valentine's Day on OKCupid. Oh yes, I'm on there - I obliquely mentioned it in 2012. All that stuff I said years ago about throwing darts in lovers' eyes were the over-dramatic ramblings of a nineteen year old. Not that I retract my statements. It was two years ago while I was reading my more popular and less pseudonymous East coast counterpart's blog that I was ensnared by an OKCupid (hereafter OKC) personality test. In order to save the results of my test I had to create an account. Thus began a relatively lame journey. Sorry, that was a spoiler.

I Thought It Was The UK, Or Just Another Country

PART ONE OF A SERIES.

Na Nož, Jaroslav Věšin, 1913

Britain isn't cool you know, it's really not that great / It's not a proper country, doesn't even have a patron saint / It's just an economic union that's past its sell-by date
-Take Down the Union Jack, Billy Bragg, 2002

At the deepest historical time-depths there is a very basic notion of identity between the self-identified civilised peoples and the barbarians. While the concept of being Greek (Hellenes) didn't yet exist, the city states at the base of the Balkan peninsula saw a commonality between themselves but not with others to the uncharted North or in the later conquered territories of Alexander's empire. The genesis of this fraternity also lies in transmission of culture as the Greek alphabet (save for some regional variations) allowed folk culture to be stored. The established alphabet may also have smoothed over the dialects as it only represents the sounds distinguished within a dialect and not the phonlogical distinctions between the dialects. That would not be unlike the unifying force that Hanzi had on the disparate Chinese languages by representing words and not the component sounds of the languages (which are as wildly different though related as French and Romanian). Indeed, language is one of the most prominent pillars of ethnic identity along with religion (historically Slavic, Germanic, Celtic, etc paganism for pre-modern Europe) and, of course, land.

The Exposition Song (Early Days)

Part One of Two.

Buffy Summers, 20th Century Fox

Sometimes you're just born at the right time, and sometimes not - like that quote I seem to cite too often about being too old for the sexual revolution. For me, it was more a case of international broadcasting rights delaying the UK terrestrial première of Buffy The Vampire Slayer just long enough to be relevant. Hard to believe it's fourteen years since Buffy débuted on BBC2 on December 30th 1998, when the US was already midway through Season 3. Yet, if it had been just two years earlier I don't think it would have resonated with me. It would be reasonable to assume age would have no bearing on the enjoyment of a fantasy-action show about a blonde Californian girl slaying vampires, but the subtext of the entire show was about being a teenager going through high school and I was in my first year of secondary school. Some people watched it for neither the pretext nor the subtext, but just to see Sarah Michelle Gellar. I didn't, because that's what Cruel Intentions was for. I actually missed the first two episodes, however after seeing the third episode on the 13th of January it became a religious part of my Wednesday nights. Sometimes I pity the teenagers today living in a world of abstinent, sparkling vampires that don't believe in sex before marriage. The great thing about inexpensive and compact home video (anything since VHS tape) is that a large part of the history of broadcast entertainment is available to the modern viewer. So someone please tie them down and break out the Buffy boxset.