Emotions
March 16, 2014
They get in the way of wise action, drive you to reckless decisions, have you in tears over small matters, or lead you to sacrifice everything in pursuit of a dream. The emotions are one of the most distinctive elements brought to the world by humanity (and a few other animals). At times they seem …
Making Sense 1
February 22, 2014
Images hit the retina whenever our eyes are open. Mostly we let those images pass by, ignoring them in favour of more pressing thoughts. Sometimes an image deserves our attention and we take a perception, an action that makes sense of the visual manifold. There is a special kind of perception that we can take: …
Character and Plot
February 2, 2014
A recent film left me a little mystified. What was it about? What was the meaning? How did it all make sense? The story seemed to end inconclusively and many of the events depicted had led nowhere. What were we to make of it? My theatre companion suggested it was best seen as a character …
What Science Cannot Teach Us
January 17, 2014
If I had a hammer, there’s lots I could do with it. I could crush a walnut, for one thing. But I might hang a picture on the wall, knock a bulge out of my car’s wheel arch, break some toffee, start a carpentry project. I could also use it to bash someone’s brains in. …
Fictional Worlds
November 24, 2013
If you watch any Doctor Who episode from the classic series, you might well wonder what all the fuss is about. Some were better than others but there are undoubted moments of mediocrity to be found. Occasionally it was downright awful. Yet the series celebrates its 50th anniversary this weekend and has been lauded throughout …
Comedy is no Laughing Matter
November 17, 2013
‘The art of comedy’ is an expression that sometimes gets used but I’ve never known how seriously it’s meant to be taken. It’s far from obvious that comedy is respected as a credible art form and, just as the theatre of war is not a real theatre, talk of the art of comedy does not …
True Stories?
November 3, 2013
Yesterday was a remarkable day. It was not just that it lasted 32 hours, spent mainly on my way from Kuala Lumpur to Nottingham with an 8-hour time difference. But on the flight and since, I have come to think afresh on the question of truth in fiction and the place of storytelling in our …
Solitude
October 20, 2013
A precondition for much great art is solitude. We all have a tendency towards sociability, communication and laughter, yet this tendency must be curbed if one is to make progress on worthy artistic endeavours. Writing, painting, composing, sculpting, choreographing, philosophizing and designing will all require deep concentration at some point, best achieved in loneliness. For …
Broadened Horizons
June 29, 2013
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the issue of free will. There is often considered to be a problem of free will because of a view that our world contains deterministic laws and causes that trap us in their web. That’s never been my main worry, however. I’ve been far more concerned about social …
Film, Form and Function
February 3, 2013
Are there any classic movies you’re ashamed to say you’ve never seen? I rectified my biggest omission last week when I watched Citizen Kane, which many take to be the greatest film of all. At a movie industry dinner some months ago I found I was not the only one around the table for whom …
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