Posts by Stephen Mumford
The Metaphysics of Chess
October 6, 2013
As soon as the necessities of life are secured, we turn to the arts but also to games. Arts and games are alike in having no immediate practical value but their very pointlessness reveals their intrinsic value to us. Games are sometimes called pastimes. It might look as if their purpose is merely to pass …
Photo Synthesis
September 29, 2013
The camera, even in my childhood a rare item, is a gadget that everyone I know now possesses. We used to choose our shots carefully. There were only 24 or 36 frames on a roll of film, which then required time and money to be developed and made into prints. Any movement led to a …
The Pianist
September 22, 2013
As dusk arrived, we took shelter in the pub by the harbour. The sea air and the mist had chilled us. The pub sat above rocks against which waves constantly crashed, the noise being inescapable outside. Inside the atmosphere was completely different: busy, warm, cosy and intimate. A fire had been lit. The décor played …
The Wordsmith
I was surprised this week how much I was affected by the death of Seamus Heaney. The many tributes I saw and heard seemed to make a bigger impact than his actual passing. It was clear that wordsmiths are still highly valued or, in Heaney’s case, revered. That is so encouraging. We sometimes see dystopian …
Reviewing Reviewers
August 25, 2013
My son was listening to a film review on You Tube last week. I found the reviewer to be smug, sniping and self-satisfied, poking fun at a movie that he wouldn’t have had the talent to produce in a million years. If internet reviewers really knew what they are talking about, wouldn’t they be working …
Ethics Begins at Home
August 17, 2013
I’m not a moral philosopher (and sometimes joke that I’m an immoral one). But certainly morality is an area of the arts that concerns every single person. We all have ethical deliberations to face on a regular basis. Some have a strict and explicit code according to which they live while others get by on …
Performance
July 14, 2013
Hyper-sensitive and irritable. Unable to think of other matters. Waiting for that moment when I am called. My stomach churns every time I think of stepping forward and speaking into the microphone. Around 1,700 people will be in front of me and film cameras are pointing in my face. It is live-streamed around the world. …
Lost and Found in Translation
July 7, 2013
A couple of months ago I had dinner with a professional translator who produces subtitles for film and TV. The conversation led to the complexities of the process. There are difficult judgments to be made all the time, as with any form of translation. Does the word in language A really mean the same as …
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