Keep the horseshit flying

Watch the full-length movie while it's still on YouTube

 

Someone once said that reading my blog was just like having a conversation with me except that they don't get a chance to talk back. To which the wife replied, "And how is that different from any conversation with him?"

Today's conversation is about George Orwell's book "Keep the Aspidistra Flying" which was made into the movie "A Merry War", which, as is the case with any movie adaptation, left a lot out but also added a few bits. The one bit added which I liked was when the poet-in-the-garret Gordon Comstock tells his girlfriend Rosemary about a man who lives along the street. He's called Sam the Shoveller. He follows the horses and collects their shit. He sells it to people to make their garden grow. He's happy to sell it and they're happy to buy it. Nobody is under an illusion. They're buying and selling shit.

Which is in stark contrast to all those Sams in politics and in the media today who are trying to sell us shit while pretending to do otherwise. Which leads me directly to George Orwell's best-known book "Nineteen Eighty-Four", which was written in 1948 but which, with the exception of those meagre chocolate rations, could just as easily describe the system we live under today (it was also made into a movie).

If all this is too depressing for you, just keep watching the full-length movie "A Merry War" while it's still on YouTube.

 

This should set the record straight

 

A German sausage is the Wurst

 

Of course, you already knew this, but there's a lot more on these six CDs with a running time of almost seven hours that you've never heard of.

From Germany’s historical and current borders to national symbols like the Brandenburg gate and the Reichstag, from Luther and Goethe to sausages and beer, this BBC radio series investigates Germany's 600-year-old history. It examines the key moments that have defined its past, and explores the profound influence Germany's history, culture and inventiveness have had across Europe.

I found my copy in a second-hand shop but you can download all thirty episodes from the BBC's website at www.bbc.co.uk or iTunes.

 

Regrettable regrets

 

Remember the scene at the end of the film Casablanca in which Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergmann are standing on the tarmac as she tries to decide whether to stay in Casablanca with the man she loves or board the plane and leave with her husband?

Bogey turns to Bergmann and says: "Inside we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But soon and for the rest of your life."

Regret is an emotion we feel when we blame ourselves for unfortunate outcomes that might have been prevented had we only acted differently in the past, and yet studies show that people regret inactions more than actions. Why is this so?

Well, one reason is that our psychological immune system has a more difficult time manufacturing positive and credible views of inactions than of actions. When our past action caused an unfortunate outcome, we can console ourselves by thinking of all the things we learned from the experience. But with inaction we can't console ourselves by thinking of all the things we learned from the experience because ... well, there wasn't one. The irony is all too clear: because our psychological immune system can rationalise an excess of courage more easily than an excess of cowardice, we ought to just blunder ahead.

Which is exactly what I have always done. And, yes, I have plenty of regrets but they are all regrets of actions, not inactions. So perhaps I am ahead of all those who hedged their bets, who never left their hometowns, who never left their safe jobs, and who never took any chances.

 

Cup Day

 

What's good for Melbourne is good enough for Nelligen! For safety reasons, the Melbourne Cup has a limit of 24; I didn't want to go beyond eleven in case they all came crashing down.

At one time, "Happiness is being one of the gang in Saudi Arabia" was all the go, after which "It's not easy being a mug" became my favourite, but these days my money is on "Old accountants never die, they just lose their balance".

Of course, as you can see here, my world view is somewhat biased.