September recommendations
I was reminded of a person from my past who I do not recall with that much fondness. I did not tell the person doing the reminding about my memories. I moved the conversation along. Why drag them into a long-ago battle? There was an intentional action on the part of the former friend, I guess that’s the most accurate term, and the immediate consequence was my hurt feelings. Even to this day, their name brings me back to the moment I realised there was an imbalance in the relationship. But then, on deeper reflection, I remember the other consequence. Because X did Y, Z happened and Z is a memory very dear to someone I love. It blooms. My being present for Z means I got to see the best of the world. It is a scene I live in sometimes, and returning there after stopping off, briefly, at the bad memory, is like waking up on a bank holiday Monday with no plans. A wonderful respite.
Recommendations
Mr. Malcolm’s List is in cinemas now and is diverting, simple fun. Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Zawe Ashton are very funny in it. Ashton in particular plays a great solipsistic gal pal of whom you would forgive anything because her eyebrows are that good. Jackson-Cohen made me guffaw. I even forgot about him being evil in The Invisible Man, the last movie I saw in cinemas before we got banned from doing anything for, I dunno, a decade. Ireland (the shooting location) looked great. Unfussy, fab production design, excellent background for the dresses - gorgeous mauves and dark blues. I watched it on a Sunday morning in a dark cinema (my version of mass) and the woman who served me tea at the counter told me I could get free popcorn and a soft drink and I was like yes please and ended up feeling sick by 4pm because you’re not meant to eat that much salt for breakfast. Still, a deal is a deal.
My partner composed the score for the play Lost Lear by Dan Colley which will be at the Dublin Theatre Festival. You can book on the DTF website. Previews (which mean cheaper tickets) are on the 28th and 29 of September. The synopsis: “All at once fast paced and thought-provoking, Lost Lear lands us into the world of Joy, a woman with dementia, who is being cared for through a method where people live inside an old memory.“ The plot reads like going to this will make you a better person???
This newsletter from Carmen Maria Machado changed me, a little bit, a large bit.
The Dublin Review podcast gets you an interview with a writer by the writer Aingeala Flannery and then the interviewee reads their essay or short story. Bitta free art.