[wt : 4]

Final lecture finally lectured, and it wasn’t too bad. That’s it until October, probably. Now for a shit-ton of marking.

It was all going so well and then a month slipped by.

In my defence I had a right motherfucker of a cold — I am still coughing — and that backed up work into nuclear deadline emergency crisis mode. Which continues, but the end is in sight. One more setpiece lecture — 2 hours on algorithmic composition — plus a few odds and ends, then it’s all over.

Until the next bit. Which starts immediately, of course. No rest for the wicked. But I’m looking forward to this little bit of closure at least.

Deep breath…

I’ve read and watched more than my fair share of dystopian science fiction, and the thing it always gets wrong, it seems to me — based on the latest evidence — the thing that’s missing — is the relentless fucking mediocrity of it all. Admittedly there’s probably not much market for a YA trilogy about a dumb world of dumb shitbags who are, yes, evil fascists as well, but mostly just boring, charisma-free and so so so dumb.

None of the awful, witless oligarch caricatures currently attempting to carve up the modern world into medieval fiefdoms would make the C list of Bond villains. They’re rubbish. Rubbish. To the last man Jack.

Hannah Arendt identified the banality of evil, but Eichmann was fucking Hannibal Lecter in comparison to Trump and Musk. They are evil, but that word gives them too much credit. It glamourises the contemptible motherfuckers. Really they epitomise the banality of banality, the tautological ghastliness of the ghastliest people alive.

Still, it’s early days. There’s probably so much worse to come.

Liked Vollmond better this time around — last was more than 10 years ago, I guess? It is very much playing the hits, trademark longueurs included, but there’s a lot to be said for Pina’s hits and the youngsters gave it some welly.