tamaranth | Monthly culture: August 2017

04-06AUG17: Nine Worlds, Hammersmith

Attended nine program items, two of which I wasn't on. Left hotel exactly once (for medication) between Friday arrival and early departure on Sunday afternoon.
Apparently some people liked my Marlowe talk: and interviewing KJ Charles -- in a frock designed especially for the occasion -- was immense fun and very educational.

09-14AUG17: Worldcon, Helsinki

Attended nine program items, none of which I was on. Highlights included Fight Scenes, with Elizabeth Bear / Sebastian de Castell / John Emery (in which my former fencing teacher got a namecheck); Nature and Use of Religion in SF/F with A_D Medievalist, Philippa Chapman, John Clute, Naomi Ubick and Evan; and the Johanna Sinisalo GOH speech. Also, many fine eateries, expensive gin cocktails, and swimming in the sea.

14AUG17: Recital, Suomenlinnan Kirkossa, Helsinki

A lunchtime recital by Sirkuu Rintamaki (sop) and Inka Kirinunen (piano) in the old Russian Orthodox (now Lutheran) church on Suomenlinna. Voice as musical instrument, especially as the pieces -- Sibelius, Handel, Faure, Merikanto, Madetoja -- were sung in Finnish and thus I didn't recognise any words. Marvellous acoustic, great precision.

19AUG17: The Hitman's Bodyguard, Odeon, Greenwich

Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) runs a security company whose motto is 'Boring is always best'. Then a prestigious client is assassinated as Bryce watches, and his life falls apart. Some years later, he ends up protecting notorious assassin Darius Kincaid (Samuel L Jackson) who is due to testify against a corrupt and bloodthirsty dictator (Gary Oldman) in exchange for the exoneration of Kincaid's wife Sonia (Salma Hayek). There is double-dealing, more corruption, a romantic subplot featuring an Interpol agent who happens to be Bryce's ex (Elodie Yung). There are a great many explosions, vehicle chases, wisecracks and plot twists.

Which might sound like an average summer blockbuster, except for the excellent double act of Reynolds and Jackson (which appealed to my competence kink as much as anything). Also, Samuel L Jackson can sing, which made me happy.

It'll be a while before I feel comfortable with scenes of trucks being driven at crowds, though.

20AUG17: Queer Art, Tate Britain

A patchy exhibition of, well, 'queer art', defined variously as 'art with a queer aesthetic', 'art by a queer artist', and 'a lesbian once sat on the sofa depicted here'. I found the 'Coded Desires' room (Victorians) fascinating, from Leighton's bronze that's much more homoerotic from behind to Crane's 'Renaissance of Venus', where the model for Venus was a youth. 'Theatrical Types' was also very interesting: I've long been intrigued by male and female impersonation acts and the ways in which same-sex desire could be hidden in plain sight. The other rooms had moments of interest: the box of buttons collected as souvenirs from soldiers; the bodybuilding magazines who encoded queer culture via references to classical civilisation; the short films in the final room of the exhibition.

25AUG17: The Iliad (Clare Goodall), The Lion and Unicorn / Camden Fringe

Clare Goodall condenses the events of the end of the siege of Troy -- Achilles and Briseis, Calchas, Agamemnon, the deaths of Patroclus and Hector, et cetera -- into under an hour, and adds little human details that alter our perspective (Andromache warming the water for Hector's bath, for instance). I liked this but find I have little to say about it.

28AUG17: Logan Lucky, Odeon, Greenwich

Another summer thriller with fast cars, explosions, a bank heist, some big names (Daniel Craig who's excellent, Adam Driver, Channing Tatum, Hilary Swank, Katie Holmes, Seth McFarlane, and Sebastian Stan who is not on screen enough). It's not a typical thriller: it's pretty slow, sometimes feels like a documentary about working class deprivation in West Virginia, and is played completely straight -- which I think makes it funnier. There is little violence, nobody dies, and the heist is shown rather than told. Surprisingly fun.