At the moment I am reading ‘Birdsong’ by Sebastian Faulks, a novel set during the First World War. I have never yet read anything by Faulks, which seems to be a fairly serious omission, and so far I am enjoying it. There’s an adulterous love-affair which reminds me a little of Madame Bovary and which I suspect is a prelude to the main action. I’ll update you as I progress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Faulks
My waking thoughts concerned lost TV series: not that any series is ever lost nowadays; you can always find it on youtube if not actually on DVD, but in the sense that they are no longer part of our lives. Their catch-phrases have gone, we no longer imitate the characters, and so on. Of course there is the rare example which permeates the language (‘Don’t mention the war’; ‘life, the universe and everything’ – from ‘Fawlty Towers’ and H2G2 respectively) but mostly these things come and go. Thus the two coloured sitcoms which in their time were favourites of ours: ‘Red Dwarf’ and ‘Black Books’. Alas, where are they now?
Er – on DVD’s in our house, actually. Or on youtube…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEu0o62ycmg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qKxZO7tFfc
And while I’m on youtube, Daniel is watching this – it’s very funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIwrgAnx6Q8&feature=autoplay&list=FLjh4SiSOrUsCze4muvjn0lw&playnex
And now a question for you: does familiarity breed content? I’m thinking of the way the recent debate on GM crops has gone. I was as opposed to this as anyone but a recent article suggests that many people are less opposed to it than they used to be. On examining my own responses I found that I, too, am far less opposed to GM than I used to be. Now, why is this? I actually have no idea. Is there some recent event which has changed my mind and which I’m not aware of? Or is there a process ongoing which makes GM seem less of a threat? I don’t know.
Any thoughts?
Delenda est Cartago
And finally, a late news item has flooded in – at least, to the US: Carthage has fallen. That is, we can only assume that the number of places in the States which are named Carthage indicates a lack of awareness in that country of the city’s tragic history. Or so said Mark. I think they probably frankly just don’t give a damn.
My dear.
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 