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Unfortunately for me, a combination of AmDram commitments this week, and a training course Down South next week, meant my annual dabble into the Leeds Film Fest was limited to just three films this year. Here are my hot-off-the-press-and-probably-not-entirely-thought-through reviews… Victoria I’ll start with the one most fresh in my mind [it played this evening]. As a technical and artistic exercise, Victoria is very, very impressive. Shot in one single take over nearly two-and-a-half hours (and I believe the take they used for the film was only their third or fourth), it follows the story of the eponymous girl who has seemingly little to lose as she falls in with a gang of men she meets outside a Berlin night club, and seems complicit in going along with their plans late that night/early that morning. Whilst this film was a tense thriller; most of that for me was an uncomfortable feeling right from the start that Victoria should not have got caught up in the scenario she did, and wh...

If you had asked me 17 months ago ‘what is Polyamory?’ I would have made some terrible joke about ‘it’s where parrots go to get their armour fitted’. Because I really did know nothing about Polyamory back then - about a lot of things in fact. But since then I have discovered a lot more about myself and the ways in which people operate in modern society, and I’ve met some pretty damn awesome people along the way. For those of you still putting together the vaguely cryptic messages I have made over the last few months; let me get to the point: I identify as Polyamorous in terms of my relationships. I know this for a few reasons - one, my girlfriend is in two other open relationships, which is not only awesome for her, but it means I have a unique friendship with one of her partners (the other isn’t exactly local so that is less simple!), and occasionally (well, once so far) we go off somewhere and have a great day out together. Another reason I know I am ‘Poly...

It has been something of a theme in the past few weeks that the phrase ‘Practical Philosophy’ has sprung up a few times, and I’m beginning to get my head around what that really means for me. Having established a pretty solid foundational philosophy for existence {as in what I can rationally determine from my own experience}, there are some pretty impressive gaps between this comfort zone of knowing, and - for want of a better phrase - the real world. Take for example a recent discussion sparked by the observation of a minute’s silence for the victims of the recent attacks in Tunisia. Two key areas of thinking came up as part of this discussion - my pacifism, and my lack of national identity (or reluctance to accept the concept of unity via geography). Pacifism Perhaps the most central tenet of my philosophy - and probably the only part of it that strays into the moral arena - determines that no-one is allowed to end your life; the one exception being your own self....

In honour of our American friends, I thought I would put together a ‘State of the Union’-style address on this least arbitrary of dates {Ed: Yes, I started this yesterday…}. And, much in the American style, I thought I would also bastardise it and make it my own… Since talking about change back in January, there have been further changes. A lot of which takes place in an arena I hope to be able to talk to you more about in the next few months. But a side-effect of these changes is that I haven’t had much time to do much thinking about “stuff” and “things” - at least not like I used to - so I thought I would take a little time out and go through a few things on here, as I have wont to do in the past. - Philosophy As I said in a recent Facebook discussion; “Philosophy is weird. You figure lots of things out at a metaphorical level, but then real world examples come up and your brain just thinks *something* and you aren’t necessarily sure why :-|” See I’d got a ...

Another UK General Election, another overwhelming feeling of being let down by the democratic process. Let me get this clear from the start - this is a non-partisan review of the 2015 UK General Election , and why the definition of democracy in Britain continues to bewilder me. According to the BBC News page linked above, the electorate [I.E. those eligible to vote] totals 46 million {okay technically 46,425,386, but I’m going to round to the nearest half-million for the purposes of this blog}. The Conservative Party gained 11.5m votes - that is exactly a quarter of the electorate. And yet, Friday afternoon, David Cameron had a chat with the Queen and subsequently formed a Majority Government. And that’s not just a name - the Conservatives hold just over half the seats in the houses of Parliament (331). Even ignoring the third of the country who chose not to vote, looking at the people who did vote - the Conservatives’ vote share is 37% which is still not a major...

The world is a toilet. So begins my latest philosophical journey, and ends in a line from the latest Avengers movie. It’s [(was) ~Ed.] late, so I’ll try and keep this brief - but if you know anything about my blogs by now - it is that they are almost painfully not brief… The discussion starts with the concept of humanity as a selfish self-propagating species that has not contributed anything to the planet that isn’t a means to an end. Arguably you could say that about every other species that has roamed the earth - but as I am lacking in direct primary evidence of that fact, I will restrict my viewpoint to the whole of human history for now. Yes, everyday, there are good deeds done, and uplifting news to be read, and generally positive things - as we see them - do in fact happen. But for who’s benefit - either our own as a species; or - more likely - the benefit of the privileged few? And yet what else are we supposed to do? If the world...

It is often difficult to put into words what you feel when you listen to music. Certainly when it comes to music like Simon and Garfunkel. Or Dark Sanctuary. Or Darude - Sandstorm . Part of me wants to use words like ‘melancholy’ and ‘wistful’ and ‘longing’, but there is an upbeat quality as well. And I think the very best music can make you feel all the things, sometimes in the same song - but usually over the course of a classic album. Or over a particular artist’s career. I have often resorted to listening to music when my otherwise emotional experience of life has been limited. Which is quite the opposite of what my life has been in recent months. There hasn’t been a need to ‘fill the void’ with musical entertainment - I have been extremely lucky to have had quite a speedy tour de force in the realms of emotional engagement [though evidently the Smooth Talking module is missing in action]. And so during the Simon and Garfunkel Story at Leeds College of Music this evening, I experie...