Out of juice

April 14, 2024 by Leave a comment

The passing of OJ Simpson last week prompted a flurry of media reminiscence about his 1995 murder trial. The contrast between the 1990s, when the internet had yet to become a mass phenomenon, and our current social-media-saturated time is stark; back then the wall-to-wall TV coverage, with its lurid storyline and celebrity cast, was a novel experience, able to capture the attention of a worldwide audience for months on end, whereas today it seems likely that it would be just one more piece of transient clickbait.

I do remember following the case at the time, and not being particularly surprised when OJ was acquitted; the evidence certainly suggested that he was guilty, but the shambolic performance by the prosecution, along with the defence’s exposure of the racism and incompetence of the LAPD, was more than enough to give the jury grounds for reasonable doubt. He did end up in jail eventually, in circumstances that seemed very much like a fit-up, and lost a civil case to the victims’ families, but it’s difficult to say that justice was served.

It will be interesting to see if the trial due to start in Manhattan tomorrow will seize the public imagination in quite the same way. On the face of it it should, featuring as it does an ex-President of the United States, an actress best known for appearing in pornographic movies, and various shady financial dealings, but I wonder if we are now so inured to such tawdry spectacle that it will merge into the general air of decline that besets what remains of the ideal of liberal democracy.

Perhaps the real significance of the OJ trial was that it marked the beginning of the end for the concept that society could agree on a common set of facts and values, and that guilt or innocence could be determined by impartial examination of objective evidence. Now everything is seen through a partisan lens, and anything that contradicts our preconceived narrative is dismissed as fake news.

Of course I like to think that I am above such petty prejudice, so I’ll wait to see how the case pans out before I predict the verdict. Whatever happens, I doubt it will have a significant impact on the result in November, since I’m sure that nothing will be revealed about the defendant’s character that we didn’t already know.

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Kurt Cobain RIP

April 7, 2024 by Leave a comment

It’s hard to believe that thirty years have passed since Kurt Cobain was found dead in Seattle. I recall that I heard the news via a tabloid headline stating, with the questionable taste characteristic of the time, something like “Rock Star blows his brains out”, which I initially assumed was a figurative reference to Cobain’s well-known drug use, before reading the story and finding out that it was horribly literal.

I like to think that I was one of the earlier fans of Nirvana, in the UK at least, having picked up an imported copy of Bleach, mainly on the strength of it being on Sub Pop. I was moderately impressed, enough anyway that I bought Nevermind in October 1991, before the hype really took off. I had recently acquired my first car, and for the next few months I had a tape of Smells Like Teen Spirit and the rest on more or less constantly as I drove around town, imagining myself an fine arbiter of alternative taste.

I saw Nirvana play live once, at the Reading Festival in 1992. Kurt came onstage in a wheelchair, wearing a hospital gown, a reference to rumours of a recent near-fatal overdose. I remember it as a great show, though at that point I had been continuously awake and high for around 72 hours, which may have influenced my critical judgment a little.

That appearance, their last in the UK, was probably the peak of my fandom; I liked In Utero well enough, but it wasn’t the ubiquitous soundtrack that Nevermind had been a couple of years earlier. Still, I was shaken up by Kurt’s untimely demise, which seemed like a dark reflection of Gen-X apathy. The following week the NME featured a sombre portrait of Cobain on the cover; I carefully cut it out and framed it, keeping it on my wall in numerous apartments, before it got lost during a move.

Looking back now, it all seems part of some previous life, though one that somehow feels simultaneously recent and distant. I guess it’s because I have no frame of reference for those events other than the experience of my younger self, and I haven’t remained 27 in the way that Kurt always will be. It’s bittersweet to be reminded of the relentless passage of time, but it’s good to have some things to look back on fondly.

Oh well, whatever. Nevermind.

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Crypto justice

March 28, 2024 by Leave a comment

I’m not sure whether Sam Bankman-Fried will be feeling that his 25 year sentence for authoring the FTX debacle means he has got off relatively lightly; it was suggested at one point that he might be looking at something closer to a full century, but with time off for good behaviour he might yet be out before he turns 50.

Bleeding-heart liberal that I am, I can’t really see the point in locking him up at all; there must surely be some way he could be obliged to work in the service of the community, though I guess it would take a lot of highway litter-picking to pay of a debt to society that runs into the billions. Perhaps it is for the best that he serves as a cautionary example to those tempted to accumulate wealth by any means, but, given that the financial world is otherwise entirely organised to incentivise such behaviour, I suspect the only lesson aspiring SBFs may learn is “Don’t get caught”.

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Oscar predictions 2024 revisited

March 12, 2024 by Leave a comment

So, the Academy agreed with two of my Oscar picks, which reassures me that I’m not entirely out of touch with popular cultural opinion, but, as expected, Oppenheimer was the big winner on the night. Anatomy of a Fall, my favourite film of the year, did at least pick up the award for Best Original Screenplay, and its canine star Messi was undoubtedly the star of the red carpet, so I’ll take that as further confirmation of my critical acumen.

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Oscar predictions 2024

March 8, 2024 by Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again; here’s how I would vote were I a member of the august Academy:

  • Best Actor
    • Jeffrey Wright
  • Best Actress
    • Emma Stone
  • Best Supporting Actor
    • Ryan Gosling
  • Best Supporting Actress
    • Da’Vine Joy Randolph
  • Best Director
    • Justine Triet
  • Best International Feature
    • Perfect Days
  • Best Picture
    • Anatomy of a Fall

Do I think any of my choices will actually win? Judging by what the critics are saying, and how the Golden Globes and BAFTAs turned out, I reckon Emma Stone and Da’Vine Joy Randolph have a pretty solid chance of picking up a statuette, and Ryan Gosling might just sneak in too, but otherwise it looks like Oppenheimer will sweep the board, with The Zone of Interest favourite for Best International Feature.

I have to say that I wasn’t that taken with Oppenheimer; I thought it was too long, and not as profound as it seemed to think it was. In my opinion Anatomy of a Fall, Perfect Days, and American Fiction were all much better, exploring universal themes while staying rooted in individual experience. That said, Oppenheimer does have the combination of grand spectacle and well-drawn characters that made it a genuine cultural phenomenon, so I guess Christopher Nolan deserves the accolades that seem likely to rain down on him come Sunday.

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Supreme Tuesday

March 5, 2024 by Leave a comment

I’ve been writing this blog for long enough to have covered four previous US Presidential campaigns, and while the 2024 edition of the contest is arguably the one with the highest stakes, it is also by some way the least intriguing.

Back in 2008, Super Tuesday saw the Democratic primary still finely balanced between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton; 2012 was a bit less interesting, since even in March it was obvious that whoever ended up as the GOP nominee would have no chance in November, but the squabbling among the candidates was amusing; in 2016 the Republican race was wide open, though Trump had put his stamp upon it; and in 2020 progressives were split on whether to go with leftist Bernie or centrist Joe.

This time around though there is no suspense at all; it’s going to be Biden versus Trump. There was a slight hope that the Supreme Court might inject some excitement into the matter by barring Trump from the ballot, but, predictably enough, they dodged the opportunity to get involved, and let him off on a technicality.

So the fate of the free world will be entrusted to one of two old white guys. What could go wrong?

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Leap of meaning

February 29, 2024 by Leave a comment

I’ve noted before my affection for the extra day in February which comes around every four years, and my feeling that I should spend it doing something special. Alas, as seems to have been the case for the last few decades now, the dull reality of my quotidian existence has ensured that I have done nothing of the sort, instead passing the day in numbingly routine activity.

That said, as I’ve grown older I’ve become gradually more comfortable with the idea that, in cosmic terms, everything I do is essentially purposeless, so I guess that some day I may look back and count today as momentous as any other.

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Superbowl LVIII review

February 12, 2024 by Leave a comment

So it turns out that San Francisco didn’t need any bad luck from us to lose the game; they were able to fuck it all up entirely on their own.

To be fair, there’s no great dishonour in losing to a side as useful as Kansas City, but the 49ers had multiple chances to put the match beyond even Mahomes’ ability to stage a last-minute comeback.

That’s my deeply uninformed opinion anyhow, possibly not enhanced by sleep deprivation, as I stayed up to an ungodly hour to catch the game live. It was the first time I’d watched a full American football match for years, and I have to admit that, even with the high stakes, I found it a bit dull. I guess a true aficionado might have appreciated the efficiency of the defensive play, but it was too stop-start for me. My experience of US sports generally is that they are best watched in company, so there is some distraction when things get slow on the field, but I don’t really know anyone else who has more than a passing interest in anything other than Association football, so I might have to stick to just reading the match reports from now on.

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Superbowl LVIII preview

February 11, 2024 by Leave a comment

Just a few hours to go before we discover if my confident prediction that San Francisco would prevail in Las Vegas will be borne out, or whether the curse of SLS will doom another hot favourite to ignominious failure.

The 49ers faltering performances in the playoff rounds had given me some doubts, but I had more or less convinced myself that they had enough to overcome Kansas City, until I read about the Deep State plot to ensure that Travis Kelce’s team come out on top, in order to boost the profile of the obscure singer-songwriter he is currently dating, which will apparently help Joe Biden get re-elected. I guess if it keeps Trump out then it’s a price worth paying.

In other Trump-related news, my forecast that the Supreme Court would body swerve the question of the ex-president’s eligibility, or lack of it, under the 14th Amendment seems set to be confirmed, as oral arguments in the case revealed that just about all the Justices wanted nothing to do with such a potentially explosive decision. So, assuming that both of the elderly gentlemen make it to November, it looks like the Biden-Trump rematch is very much on.

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New Hampshire 2024

January 24, 2024 by Leave a comment

This time four years ago we were surveying the field of Democrats vying to challenge President Trump in the fall; our pick was Bernie Sanders, so at least we spotted it would be an old white guy.

No such excitement in this cycle; any hope that the GOP contest might spark into life after the procession in Iowa was extinguished by Nikki Haley’s failure to enthuse a sufficient number of moderate Republicans to stall Trump’s progress, more or less guaranteeing a Biden-Trump rematch in November.

I’m not enough of a student of US politics to know the last time that both parties had their presidential candidates in place this early in an election year; probably something like the Polk-Clay showdown of 1844. I have mixed feelings about the prospect of a ten-month campaign; there are sure to be some entertaining moments, but it seems likely to get even uglier than the 2020 race, and a happy ending is far from assured. Still, I’ll try to follow it assiduously, and keep up a steady commentary; I’ll let you know if I start to doubt my forecast of a Biden victory…

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