Thom's Link Emporium - 0010 - 27 March 2022

Afternoon all. Another Sunday edition this week. Mainly because I’m experimenting with some slightly longer writing in this week’s with a longer piece looking at Ringo Starr’s 1973 album, Ringo which contains all four Beatles and one of the most misogynistic songs you’re likely to hear today. Any feedback on the changes or anything else always welcome in the comments or by replying and you can share this to people you think might enjoy it here: Share

Links

• It’s never a bad time to watch a video of a crow skating down a roof

• Two thousand "attempts at poetry" were sent into the BBC’s Children Hour, but the producers thought they they were all shit so they gave the prize to charity:

• Poet Marianne Moore attempts to name the Ford Edsel on the enjoyable Letters of Note newsletter. Some of my favourites:

  • The Resilient Bullet

  • Pastelogram

  • Utopian Turtletop

• Despite the view of women in many parts of the church today, there were many women in leadership roles in the early church.

• Helen Lewis's excellent Bluestocking newsletter on her "Ant Mill" theory of social media interaction. Made me laugh and think meaning I'd already ticked two tasks off my list before lunchtime.

• Framed - Wordle, but with revealed frames from a film. Another one to add to your ever-growing list of daily quizzes that, if you’re like me, are beginning to feel a little like a second job.

Listening

• You can read my review of Ringo Starr’s 1973 album, Ringo, here.

Reading

At long last, I finished the excellent, but very long, The Making of the British Landscape by Francis Pryor. It’s full of little asides such as this about the extremely political roots of rambling and the Youth Hostel Association in the UK:

The Youth Hostel Association grew from the organized rambling tradition and played an important part in opening up the hills to a wider public: in 1931 there were 71 YHA hostels; five years later there were 260. The newly energized rambling movement culminated in the famous Kinder Scout ‘mass trespass’ of 1932, when a large group of Manchester ramblers confronted gamekeepers. It was a highly politicized occasion: Mancunian ramblers affiliated to the British Workers’ Sports Federation, under their leader Benny Rothman, sang ‘The Red Flag’ and the ‘Internationale’, as they walked towards a group of gamekeepers and temporary wardens in the moor. 27 ‘The pushing and shoving that followed saw only a few open fights; and then they left.’ 28 When they returned to the nearby village of Hayfield five supposed ringleaders were arrested and were later given sentences ranging from two to six months. This and other actions led directly to the foundation of the Ramblers Association in 1935. Today the hill of Kinder Scout is a part of the Peak District National Park and access to it is unlimited.

Watching

• I’ve only watched a single episode of Severence on TV+ but it’s a great opener. Strange, many mysteries, interesting idea.

• I have to admit I didn't have any interest in seeing The Nan Movie with Catherine Tate, but this story of its production makes it sound even worse than I'd imagined it:

The majority of the road trip, now taking up most of The Nan Movie, were then written and filmed on the cheap without [original, now uncredited, director] Rourke. The animation sequences were then added when the reshoot budget couldn't stretch to all that was deemed necessary, which meant re-recording part of the soundtrack to add an early reference to Jamie being an amateur animator to try and justify it.

Quote

It is the duty of machines and those who design them to understand people. It is not our duty to understand the arbitrary, meaningless dictates of machines.

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman