Shadows creep and crawl
When darkness sets in.
People bellow and brawl
When darkness sets in.
Time is solemnly sold
When darkness sets in.
Lovers help and hold
When darkness sets in.
Minds slip and scream
When darkness sets in.
Children drift and dream
When darkness sets in.
Lights burn brightest
When darkness sets in.
Category: Uncategorized
It's the end of the World as we knew it
Strange, strange times indeed. What has happened to the world that we know and had become so accustomed to? It’s quite amazing how the things which we take for granted can just be changed in the blink of an eye. I can’t help but think it was only a matter of time before some world event or crisis like the Coronavirus came along to seriously disrupt the order of things.
I feel like the world was in an odd state of tension prior to this crisis coming to the fore. There were things like Brexit and the continuous collective worry about the declining state of the environment which seemed to seep into people’s consciousness in ways which I hadn’t experienced before. It seemed like there was no clear direction on where everything was headed. Everything seemed uncertain. And now, thanks to the Coronavirus, everything is a little bit more uncertain but at least it seems like the priorities have shifted.
Over the years this type of crisis has been predicted throughout all forms of media for a number of years. Take ’28 Days Later’, ‘How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse’, ‘Contagion’, ‘Death Stranding’ and ‘Twelve Monkeys’ to name but a few. I’m not saying we’re at that level of crisis but it’s difficult not to see the similarities and how something more savage and aggressive could seriously disrupt the way of the world overnight. And yet despite all of our exposure to this media we never seem to have truly prepared. This has been shown with the amount of panic buying which we have all seen examples of. Honestly does anyone need 75 toilet rolls at once? I mean how many hot Nando’s are they eating? If everyone was a bit more collective in the first place, I doubt we would have seen this level of panic. Everyone would have been more used to waiting their turn and only using the things which they really need at the time.
Back last year I started trying to be more minimal and discovered there was a whole minimalism movement going on out there. The aim being to try and ‘live a more meaningful life with less’ as said by The Minimalists. I’ve always been someone that has become a bit overwhelmed by clutter when it gets a bit out of control and found that these sorts of reactions to ‘things’ raise my stress levels. The reality is that we don’t need to let ourselves get to this point. As a society we are obsessed with ‘stuff’ and ‘things’ and upgrades , and all manner of other things which we think will enrich our lives. The reality is that in most circumstances these ‘things’ are empty and they satisfy us for a short amount of time before we want or think that we need the ‘next thing’.
Bearing in mind what is going on in the world at the moment, maybe it’s time for us all to take stock of the things in our life which we value and bring us joy. Maybe this crisis is an opportunity for us to make some changes to the way that we live and consume, so that we can exist a bit more meaningfully and collectively. ‘The Minimalists’ is a great insight into the way of living and is available on Netflix. Those guys also have a great podcast which covers a whole range of topics and how minimalism can be adapted or connected to that, for example with trauma or interior design. One thing I would recommend while we all have time at home is trying to do the 3-33 challenge; where for three months you are only allowed to wear 33 different items of clothing. The challenge does not include underwear or gym wear, but does include accessories and footwear. It’s a great way of going through all of your stuff and weeding out those items which you haven’t worn for a long time for whatever reason. There’s no need to throw all of your unwanted stuff away but just pack it away until it’s ready for the appropriate season. The challenge also means that the things you choose to keep on wearing will be things that you genuinely love and bring you joy in wearing them. It should help to make you feel good, and this is something that we all need at times like this. In fact it should be easy as none of us will be going out all you will need is your ‘slobs’.
So maybe in this time of apparent crisis we should all try and be a bit more minimal and focussed on the things that we know we want and the things which bring us joy.
https://www.theminimalists.com
The Matrix Re-turns
“Whoa!”
Wednesday saw the announcement that Warner Bros. has apparently lit the green light on production of a fourth Matrix film, to be written and directed by Lana Wachowski, and starring returning actors Keanu Reeves and Carrie Anne Moss. Initially I missed this news until Thursday…How the actual f**k did I miss this?
Over the last few years there have been numerous stories about Warner Bros. trying to get a new movie off the ground, most recently with a reboot starring Michael B. Jordan, which did have me excited provided there was going to be care taken with the choice of writers and directors.
I cannot emphasize it enough, The Matrix Trilogy had a profound and almost life changing effect on me when I was growing up. When the first film came out in the Summer of 1999 I was too young to see it. I saw it first on VHS (who?) and my mind was blown. Well and truly. I literally couldn’t watch it enough and every time that I did I felt like I got something more out of it. It was the first time that I realised a film could have so many layers and so much hidden meaning. I first saw the trailer to The Matrix Reloaded when it was played before Minority Report. I was so hyped and could not wait to see where the story was going to go. I went to see the second film on a preview night and once again I was blown away – the film could literally do no wrong in my eyes. When the third film came out my hype machine was going into overdrive. When I saw it I liked it…however like many final chapters I was slightly underwhelmed I have to say, even though I have never wanted to admit it because of how much I treasure those films. As time has gone on I think I have actually switched my opinions slightly on the two sequels. When it comes to Reloaded some of the CGI has not aged well and for me detracts from the film. When it comes to Revolutions I actually think it was quite a fitting end, even though it has always felt like a film of quite low mood. I now come to agree with a lot of other people on the internet that the sequels could have benefitted if they had simply cut them both into one sequel.
Increasingly Hollywood seems to take less risk on properties. It seems like it is only Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan that get to make big budget films that are not a direct sequel, prequel, spin-off or reboot. So it is finally the turn of The Matrix. Underneath all of my undeniable pleasure that Warner Bros. are resurrecting this property, I can’t help but think that they are riding the wave of the Keanu resurgence. John Wick, Toy Story 4, Bill & ted, Cyber Punk – Keanu is reeves is arguably as popular as he has ever been. Even if that is the case I for one am really happy with this news. Yes there is going to be sceptics due to the critical reaction to the sequels and the patchy track record of the Wachowskis as directors.
However I still think there is an appetite for these films and I would love to see them work in current technologies and associated anxieties. I want them to spend a lot of time within The Matrix, bending the rules of reality. The more I think about it I would love to go back to this world now, and experience it in the ways which cinema and effects have progressed over the last 15 years. Will anything match our reaction when we first saw bullet time?
Currently its only Keanu Reeves and Carrie Anne Moss that have been slated to return. It will be interesting to see whether any other members of the original trilogy will return. Personally I would like to see a bit of a passing of the torch in a similar way to The Force Awakens, where the original actors hand the baton over to a new generation.
I can’t wait to see how much further the rabbit hole goes.
Let me know what you think of this news.
When plastic got drastic and being more green
Wednesday 3rd July 2019
So for my first post I thought I would share how I’ve recently really switched on and have started to wake up to the crisis of trying to preserve our planet. In the last few months things have really hit home to me about how bad things have got with regards to plastic waste. Thanks David Attenborough and Blue Planet 2! Let’s get real here, we can all do more to reduce our carbon footprint, our plastic waste and just generally be more green and eco friendly with the way that we live our lives. By now we have all seen the pictures of the islands of plastic waste out in the world’s oceans, and we are bombarded with news stories about how the world is warming up at a dangerous rate. Surely as the supposedly intelligent species on the planet it’s more than a choice to look after our world, it’s our overriding duty to pass it on to the next generation in the best state possible. So I have started to make some proper changes to my lifestyle to try and incorporate this and do my bit.
I recently watched the three part series titled “The War on Plastic” on the BBC and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone that hasn’t seen it. In watching that what was clear to me was just how much single use plastic we all have in our homes that we are basically unaware of, at least I was anyway. What was also clear was how easy it is for us all to reduce how much single use plastic we use, and the positive impact that can have, however small it may initially seem. I used to be of the mindset that why should I bother if no one else is? This is clearly the wrong attitude to have and is part of the problem that we are all contributing to. If everyone started to make small changes and really do their bit I’m confident we would start to see some positive impacts and maybe the problem sources (supermarkets) would actually start to take note.
So the changes which I have made are as follows:
Started cycling to work / using more public transport. Obviously this will only work if your place of work is within a reasonable distance. It saves money and get’s you fit and as a family we have been able to switch to one family car.
Switched energy supplier to Octopus energy, who claim that all of their energy comes from 100% renewable sources.
I bought a Chillys bottle to use rather than buying bottled water. Although they may look expensive initially, they’re extremely well built and keep your water ice cold for ages!
Purchased an rCup reusable coffee cup for coffee on the go. I’ve become slightly addicted to coffee (and the odd slice of cake) and let’s be frank the amount of coffee cups we use every day in life which are never recycled borders on being criminal. This cup so far seems really good and is also made from recycled plastic. Some coffee shops will also offer you a small discount for using a re-usable cup. It may seem like a small amount but multiply that by how many cups of coffee we buy in a year and it will be a worthwhile saving that you can use elsewhere.
Getting big food shops delivered. This reduces the amount of vehicles driving to and from supermarkets by having one vehicle deliver several customers’ shopping. With an almost two year old daughter it’s also a lot less stressful as I don’t have to constantly prevent her from touching and removing every single item from the shelves.
Switching to bamboo toothbrushes. Apparently toothbrushes can’t be recycled. I’ve also switched to replaceable heads by LiveCoco for my electric toothbrush as these claim to be recyclable if you send them off.
Getting milk delivered in reusable glass bottles.
I made my own household cleaner. It uses all natural ingredients and reduces the amount of spray bottles which I use which contain a lot of different plastic parts and are difficult to recycle.
Switch to LED lightbulbs throughout the house. These use a lot less energy than normal lightbulbs so in the long run will save you money on your energy bills.
Reduce use of single use wet wipes. In the recent BBC show “The War on Plastic” these types of wipes were found to contain a shockingly high amount of plastic. If you look around your house I reckon you will have a few types of these wipes around the home…baby wipes, toilet wipes, disinfectant wipes. Do we really need to use that many?
Obviously many of the points which I have listed above require some form of initial investment, however I think it’s time everyone wised up to the cost our 21st century lifestyles are having on the world around us.
Moving forwards I would like to continue to reduce the amount of single use plastics that I use at home. Where I do have to use household products for cleaning etc. I would like to switch to products which claim to originate from natural sources. I would also like to tackle the huge problem that we have of waste and single use plastics at work. I’ll keep you posted.
I’d love to hear what steps anyone else is taking to be more eco friendly in their lives.
Thanks for reading
Andrew
Finding Focus 