Look at this timber frame house. I know a little about building and that is nothing like any house I've ever seen. This is being constructed on the side of a steep hill. These guys seriously know how to build a totally solid and well insulated house. I was looking at the other houses in the area and all of them had unmelted snow on the roof - a sure sign of good insulation. Check out UK homes after a light snowfall and see how long the snow lasts.Still not had to use the healthcare system here, though I sort of dread the dent I fear any attention will make in my bank balance. In some ways this is good as you avoid going to the doctor unless you really ARE ILL. However surely this is not good for the general well-being of your society. That said the Swiss are supposed to be one of the healthiest. This is despite there being large numbers of smokers and 'smokers lounges' in most bars and clubs here. All this and everyone has to pay into health-insurance, it is a huge industry here. It won't be long before the tories make an equivalent industry in the UK as it looks like a license to print money while your health-care system saves it. Much as I love the NHS it looks like the way it hemorrhages cash without decent management this is the way it will end up.
After my Brooker rant in the last post I have to say I really enjoyed the Jesse Armstrong penned episode of Black Mirror 'The Entire History Of You.' Wheras the first two couldn't seem to get beyond the excitement of the format or Brookers absurdist humour, this managed to be a serious piece of TV drama with a sci-fi frame, somewhat unexpectedly from the writer of The Thick Of It and Peep Show. The basic premise of an implantable hard-drive that records everything you see and hear for perfect recall and providing a new form of screen based reality entertainment was secondary to the relationship breakdown at the centre of the piece. Relationships can be precarious and paranoid places to reside at times and this new technology only adds to this - the new ability to recall exactly what someone has said only adds to this. Excellent piece of TV this, just when I though the medium was finally dead, great performances from Toby Kebbell (Dead Man's Shoes) and Tom Cullen and a decent bit of directing from Brian Welsh.
End of year lists-
RECORDS(out this year)-
Doomsday Student - A Jumpers Handbook
Honey For Petzi - General Thoughts And Tastes
Cheer Accident - No Ifs, Ands Or Dogs
Nisennenmondai - Nisennenmondai LIVE!!!
Big 'N - Spare The Horses
I'm Being Good - Mountain Language
FILMS(seen this year)-
24 City - Jia Zhangke.
Kafka- Stephen Soderberg
I Saw The Devil - KIM Jee-woon
Cold Fish - Sion Sono
Helpless - Shinji Aoyama
Sad Vacation -Shinji Aoyama
Stranger Than Paradise - Jim Jarmusch
The Lady of Musashino - Kenji Mizoguchi
-I was put on to Mizoguchi by Jarmusch's former partner Sara Driver, who is currently screening her excellent short film 'You Are Not I' in various places. Seriously cool.
Bad Timing - Nick Roeg
(Ok - too much Theresa Russell for most peoples liking - but at least she gets bumped off)
BOOKS-
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
Solar Lottery
The Man in the High Castle
Martian Time Slip
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
A Scanner Darkly
-Philip K Dick
Minutes to Go
-William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Brion Gysin and Sinclair Beiles
The Exterminator
-William Burroughs, Brion Gysin
Tornado Alley
-William Burroughs
Without Stopping
The Spider’s House
Their Heads Are Green And Their Hands Are Blue
-Paul Bowles
You Are Not I: A Portrait of Paul Bowles
-Millicent Dillon
