BBC Radio 4 is currently playing John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men - the first episode still available on the web for another week or so, here. I first read this book maybe 15 years ago, and the story stuck with me... I'll be actively searching for more Steinbeck in secondhand bookshops when I'm in London later in the month!!
And how do you rate this... as well as listening to Henry David Thoreau, reading Steinbeck, and generally having pure thoughts, I have been captivated by... the new(er) Battlestar Galactica. Not the series from before I was born (!), the 2003-current franchise.
It's TV sci-fi. There are "but that's so unrealistic!!!" moments. It's not a truly epic, connected, believable world (that, say, Stephen Donaldson puts together for his books, or Kim Stanley Robinson). But it's entertaining.
Why do I mention it? Part of me thinks I shouldn't be watching "that kind of stuff" but like most things, I suppose, the only problem comes without balance, or a lack of awareness. If I was to watch TV all day every day it'd be a problem. And perhaps everyone having a TV, and the internet - allowing society to be fragmented because you don't have to talk to real people very much... hmm.
I guess the thing is that working in an office puts unnatural strains on a person, in addition to the natural ones of group dynamics. It's tiring - just living in that world is draining. So the whole of our culture is built around the twin foundations of work (for economic growth) and getting away from work (well.. also for economic growth.. because the people at work are working to get people to buy stuff.. and the end of that chain is for the people not working to buy stuff). Insanity? We do x because y, and we do y because x, more and more, more and more.
So Battlestar Galactica is good. The fact it is, ultimately, only made to sell advertising time on TV is bad (the program is good; the system that dictates which programs can be made is bad, because it doesn't care intrinsically about the program, just the effect the program will have on other things).
Today was a beautiful day - warm, and I stood outside and felt the sun on my skin.
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