What times we're experiencing right now, eh? Who among us would've predicted that this century's '20's would be so akin to last century's? Well, if you don't take into account the cyclical nature of things, and the absolute incapability that we, the human race that so gleefully choose destruction and bondage over true freedom, have to actually learn and grow and want more and truly shoot for the stars, then none of this comes as a surprise.
And so many of us the world over are now confined to our own tiny cubicles, venturing outside only to buy the barest of whatever we need to survive another day. I could write - at length - about how this is a test for the sure to come war for resources, and how we're utterly failling at that already, but no, I shall curb my more Ted Kaczynski-like thoughts.
As most of us now feel, boredom is indeed a daily facet of our lives - gone is everything that we did without even a second thought, curtailed are the opportunities we had to do so much of what we love. And we deal with this in our own different ways - some exercise, some read, some binge tv series, some get even more creative, some suffer in silence. We cope - somehow hoping that soon we go back to the normal that leads us inescapably to extinction. Ah, but if we can go out, if we are allowed to party like we used to, if we can go back to the old ways, why should the future be a cause for concern, when we have to make up for so much that we can't now do?
I find that as I age I become increasingly disillusioned with most things - the world, people, the state of things, whatever. I revert, even moreso as I get older, to a time when I found things to be simpler, if not necessarily better. There are, I deem, many places in my heart that hold dear so many of the things of my youth, and it's not unremarkable how much of my sense wonder has left me with time. It's true that while in some aspects I'm seeing a golden age of my oldest passions - I grew up reading comics and I'm a Marvel guy through and through - and to see the infinity saga play out across those many movies was a true delight for me, I also have to own up to the fact that pretty much nothing completely wows me these days. Maybe for the past twenty years or so I've been feeling like this. Granted, there are exceptions to every rule, and granted, I could list here a number of things from the recent past that have left a deep impact in my life. But nothing hits me like reading a Pratchett book for the first time, however many other books I read and reread. Nothing seems to pack the emotional punch that Six Feet Under packed, and that devastating final season still sends shivers down my spine. I've gradually been losing my ability to watch tv shows and movies, and I'm sure there are any number of things that I'm missing out on. That's why I can't understand the concept of binging. Maybe because I never was someone who wanted everything now.
And god knows I love music - if you've known me, even from afar, you can understand that. I'm someone who enjoys listening to music for its own sake, I do not analyze it nor do I presume to understand how it's made. In that respect, I'm completely bereft of understanding. And a part of me sort of, kind of envies people who can translate the music they have inside them into melodies, into symphonies. And the long winded gist of it is that one of the musicians I almost always default to is Patrick Wolf.
His song 'Hard times', from 2009's 'The Bachelor' is completely apropos to these troubled days we live. Do you know how sometimes you can't dissociate a song from a specific person? Back in 2011 I was dating a girl whose taste in music matched mine almost 100%, and true, it wasn't because of that things ultimately didn't work or were somehow better, but it helped to have that common ground. 'Hard times' is a song that I so vividly recall listening to whilst driving in her car. It just becomes so deeply ingrained in my mind that I can't help but smile a bit, and hope that wherever life took her, Filipa's doing well and keeping safe.
But back to Wolf for a bit now, back in the early 00's I religiously followed a blog that eventually became a full-fledged site, Planeta POP, and that blog was my gateway to so much of what I would come to listen in the coming years, from post-punk revival to New Rave to electro-clash to disco-punk, etc. It was right here, in these hallowed halls, that I first came across Patrick, with his video to 'Accident & Emergency'. I was hooked - that voice! The joy behind the way he sang! How the instruments sounded so gleeful! In a mire of darkness, his music became that shining beacon I'd been craving for the longest time. If you don't know him, I highly recommend that you do so as soon as you can. I highlight both 'The Bachelor' and 'Lupercalia' as his greatest achievements so far, but truly, you can't go wrong with anything he's done.
That's it for today, let's see what fate brings us tomorrow.
Thank you for your time, and have a nice rest of your day!
No comments:
Post a Comment