Category Archives: Stuff

Monster; Everything Everywhere All at Once

Posted on March 16, 2024 by Houyhnhnm

Monster Boys told they have a pig’s brain transplanted into their heads, which explains a) their poor behaviour and b) their effeminacy/homosexuality. Those are the monsters. It’s got a wonderful ending, when you are supposed to think, I believe, that … Continue reading →

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Driving Madeleine; The Holdovers

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Houyhnhnm

Driving Madeleine A modern-day Charon takes his victim/customer to the underworld; or, rather, a cabby drives an old woman across Paris from her apartment to an old people’s home. They strike up a deep friendship, ending with the woman – … Continue reading →

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The Iron Claw; Wonka

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Houyhnhnm

The Iron Claw The true story of the Von Erichs – a 1980s US wrestling family. The father, a star wrestler who never got the world title, pushes his five sons to get the title for the family – with … Continue reading →

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The Zone Of Interest; American Fiction

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Houyhnhnm

The Zone of Interest Read about it yourself – anything I say will not do it justice. For a sense of the depth of thought and preparation behind this film have a look at this from Wikipedia: Glazer did not … Continue reading →

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Trenque Lauquen; The End We Start From

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Houyhnhnm

Trenque Lauquen (Literally ‘Round Lake’ – a town near Buenos Aires.) An Argentinian film in two parts, totalling over four hours. Quiet, mysterious, and disconcerting: I often felt, particularly in Part I, as I did when watching Tarkovsky’s Stalker, or … Continue reading →

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The Animals In That Country; The Normal Heart

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Houyhnhnm

The Animals In That Country A 2020 novel by Laura Jean McKay. It’s in the voice of Jean, a middle-aged woman who works at a wildlife park in Australia. A zoonotic pandemic enables people to communicate with other species. What’s … Continue reading →

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Welcome to Houyhnhnm

Posted on January 20, 2024 by Houyhnhnm

Named originally as an antidote to Yahoo (both are rival creatures in Gulliver’s Travels), Houyhnhnm has for a while been a prompt to myself to make comparisons between the last two things I’ve seen/watched/read. I hope you enjoy my at … Continue reading →

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Rebecca; Middlemarch

Posted on December 6, 2023 by Houyhnhnm

It’s been a while since I watched these two (yes, sorry, watched, not read): the 1940 Hitchcock film and the 1994 BBC Middlemarch.

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My Name is Alfred Hitchcock; Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Houyhnhnm

{Welcome back double-blog!} Two great pieces to start: seemingly unrelated, but then on closer inspection…

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Review of Carl Safina: Beyond Words: What animals think and feel

Posted on November 8, 2023 by Houyhnhnm

The Quaker Green politician Rupert Read once told me that he gets through boring meetings by imagining the participants stark naked and preening each other like apes. After reading Carl Safina’s book (available in many editions; first published in 2015) … Continue reading →

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