We had some real snow a few days ago in Berlin! I loved it. It didn't stay for long... (Boohoo.)

A few days ago the great British "everyman" actor John Hurt died. He got some fame in s.f. films, but more so in classic roles, e.g. as Caligula in the I, Claudius series, and as the non-hero Winston Smith in 1984. I greatly respected his work, although he seemed to be a bit of an arrogant guy, from interviews (an example, on NPR).

Which is why he seemed perfectly cast for the role of an intellectual macho in one of David E. Kelley's - of i.a. Ally McBeal fame - earliest writing jobs: FROM THE HIP, the story of a "stormy" young lawyer, who is so ambitious that his antics land him the defense of an indefensible murder case. One of my favourite films, partly because of the great Hurt performance in it. R.I.P.!

Bookwise, I have just started reading my first ever s.f. book for the umpteenth time, 2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY - one of the most well-known s.f. authors, another Brit, Arthur C. Clarke, wrote it for i.a. the director of the same-named film, the iconic Mr. Kubrick, from his original manuscript. Clarke is only the 2nd-greatest s.f. stylist - his author friend Asimov once indicated - but I like his style tremendously, because it's dry, short and factually "hard". He was a royally acclaimed astronomer & technical guru, who i.a. predicted the prodigious use of geo-stationary satellite networks in future (our present). He wrote many, many short stories and some novellas, his real métier - which may explain his unusually "short" style in the eyes of novel readers.

I like his ending a lot more than Kubrick's somewhat muddled one. (Kubrick & his art department didn't always stick too closely to Clarke's script...) To have read the book helped me see - as an astounded teenager - and love the film the first time I saw it.

After an emergency visit to a new dentist today - the current one's mini clinic is on holiday the whole week - I took my horsey-feeling jaw 'n lips home to have a quiet evening.

First, I decided to launch into the supermarket catch from yesterday. I only go on a hunt-with-trolley less than once a week, on average, and the days that follow are always great fun as I ravish a week's supply in, mostly, two days. Today I tried a long baguette for the first time, instead of ever more chemically tasting bread rolls, and with i.a. camembert & honey added, 't was a joy.

Then, I watched the rented DVD I picked up yesterday: Jacques Cousteau's first long film, LE MONDE DU SILENCE, and got the old warm feeling of remembering when I'd first seen these as a young teen. But only for about half an hour, until the Calypso crew started misbehaving with a group of sperm whales; perhaps my growing misgivings are explained by my admitting that these whales have been my favourite of all cetacean species since about a decade: First the ship rammed an adult, and, then, instead of being more careful, like slowing down & following them, they basically broke the back of a baby whale, finally harpooning (!) it, catching it by the tail, tying this to the side of the ship, "mercifully" (!) shooting the baby in the head and then watching it being torn apart by sharks, which they then also proceeded to spear/pummel/hook & generally mistreat. ("All men at sea hate sharks.") Perhaps I never saw this film?

But I finally found some respite in a book I'd started a while ago, and now want to finish by the weekend: Levithan's BOY MEETS BOY. An astounding entry in the U.S. American race for cutest or most romantic high-school "diary" novel! Written in a well-executed easy-going style, with memorable characters like Infinite Darlene, the school's best footballer. Astounding - because it's about a homosexual romance between the protagonist, a young guy surrounded by his best friends, like Darlene & (female hetero) Joni, and handsome/mysterious newcomer, Noah. And all written in a classic-laid-out suburban setting in an alternate USA. A decade-and-a-half old, almost, and currently highly relevant... Wow!

Gute Nacht.

Oops, December was too busy to post a monthly blog entry, so here goes a short duo to make it up...

OBAMA EXITS

"I say YES*, since he simply achieved a lot within the States, incl. for young afro-american & immigrant folk. And remained human - you noticed occasionally, that the job weighs one down, and he allowed that to be noticed. (Cool!) The "plusses" just barely weigh up the "minuses" - civil dead through drone attacks, wavering re Syria & Israel, & that he initially really seemed to believe he was the new Messiah, at least in the USA."

I will miss him!

LOSING THE NUCLEAR FOCUS

In the current issue of STERN magazine, the director of the Munich security conference said in an interview that both the US and Russia have not been adressing nuclear proliferation or even arms modernisation as they could have done to further de-escalate the possibility of using nukes in the near future.

An American ex-inspector of i.a. North Korean arms production/testing recently urgently called for talks with that country's leaders, a feat a new administration might attempt, he feels.

It seems to layman me, that the phase of my worst fears concerning the world, back in the Eighties, is resurfacing slowly but menacingly. One reason I've been saying that catastrophic climate change is not on the cards for me, since it's another vehicle for generating global fear (with a lot of bad conscience handed out for good measure, too).

This vehicle is one to be truly afraid of: Either a nuke strike nearby and rapid spiral into death, or a nuclear winter, where we have months to tearfully watch the sky get darker and darker, as fallout "snow" begins to fall.

Focus, folks! Don't let that Putin or any other insecure "Big Man" try another Hiroshima, even if it's only a small, "tactical" one! That way lies true, rapid catastrophe - it's not just a clay-footed pseudo-scientific prognosis if the fat boy bombs start to fall...