Author: stevendouglasblog

Born in 1954. Chequered career including Lecturer in English, Social Worker and Lecturer in Social Work. Had breaks related to mental health that also meant I worked in social care. Now retired.

Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) ‘Poor Things’ and ‘Poor Things’, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. No. 2 on ‘queering’ in each mode of art.

January 18, 2024

Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer Edited by Alasdair Gray  and Poor Things, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos with screenplay by Tony McNamara (The Favourite). A series of reflections on seeing the film on 15th January 2024 at the … More Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) ‘Poor Things’ and ‘Poor Things’, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. No. 2 on ‘queering’ in each mode of art.

Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) ‘Poor Things’ and ‘Poor Things’, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. This is number 1 of a series and is on the SETTINGS (of novel and film).

January 17, 2024

Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer Edited by Alasdair Gray  and Poor Things, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos with screenplay by Tony McNamara (The Favourite). A series of reflections on seeing the film on 15th January 2024 at the … More Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) ‘Poor Things’ and ‘Poor Things’, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. This is number 1 of a series and is on the SETTINGS (of novel and film).

How often I must have said: ‘I just don’t feel heard’. But perhaps that is because I didn’t look out for responses. Mea culpa.

January 16, 2024

I truly write for myself most of the time, I claim, and most often there there is no intentional untruth or even known self-delusion in that statement. Not reading, and now writing about my reading, has become a need – to evidence, as I have always put it that I am learning and growing in … More How often I must have said: ‘I just don’t feel heard’. But perhaps that is because I didn’t look out for responses. Mea culpa.

Have your even seen ‘old Durham Town’: Not till Ben Myers showed it to me again! The role of art in turning places into spaces in which the imagined can dwell.

January 15, 2024

Have your even seen ‘old Durham Town’? Not till Ben Myers showed it to me again! The role of art in turning places into spaces in which the imagined can dwell. Geoff and I are just on our way to see Poor Things, an exceedingly well-received film in the newspapers based on one of my … More Have your even seen ‘old Durham Town’: Not till Ben Myers showed it to me again! The role of art in turning places into spaces in which the imagined can dwell.

Hailing the innovative curation of the British Museum’s Touring exhibition from its fascinating collection of modern drawings: ‘Drawing attention’.

January 14, 2024

Hailing the innovative curation of the British Museum’s Touring exhibition from its fascinating collection of modern drawings: Drawing attention: emerging artists in dialogue. Seen at York Art Gallery on Friday 12th January 2024. We went to York and have just returned. The main reasons for doing so were to attend the PBFA Book Fair at … More Hailing the innovative curation of the British Museum’s Touring exhibition from its fascinating collection of modern drawings: ‘Drawing attention’.

Overwhelmed:  The passion for books and the old book market. The PBFA fair at the Knavesmire Suite, York Racecourse, on the 13th January 2023.

January 13, 2024

Geoff and I have been going to these touring fairs since the 1970s. During that time they became smaller, the clientele was always recognizable to us in a kind of déjà vu manner, and when it wasn’t, the attendees were clearly, ‘of a certain age‘ as people say kindly of those who appear so changed … More Overwhelmed:  The passion for books and the old book market. The PBFA fair at the Knavesmire Suite, York Racecourse, on the 13th January 2023.

The Peloponnese to Athens, Thebes, Delphi, (vis Arcadia) Mystra, Sparta, the Mani, Olympia. Return to the East coast

January 12, 2024

This trip involved stops in Athens, Delphi, Mystra, Yithion, and Olympia before a return home.Unforgettable and eventful, I can barely think how to describe it, for the memory is, I think, enough. The highlight remains Athens though Delphi and Olympia absorbed me as they have many others and in may accounts – in novels like … More The Peloponnese to Athens, Thebes, Delphi, (vis Arcadia) Mystra, Sparta, the Mani, Olympia. Return to the East coast

Once we normalise play we ‘Bunbury’ it and it is at last play in Earnest (not fun): Queer play in Christopher Marlowe, Michelangelo & Oscar Wilde

January 11, 2024

Once we normalise play and rid ourselves of ‘Bunbury’, then at last play loses its integrity in order to be just playing Earnest (not fun): Queer play in Christopher Marlowe, Michelangelo & Oscar Wilde I am intrigued by this question and have always been interested as a student of literature, history. art and psychology in … More Once we normalise play we ‘Bunbury’ it and it is at last play in Earnest (not fun): Queer play in Christopher Marlowe, Michelangelo & Oscar Wilde

‘Hector’s Mission Statement’: a parable for a world that never thinks and feels at the same time.

January 10, 2024

What is your mission? Each day he used the same route to work and each evening the same route in reverse back to his home. Each evening, he sat exhausted in front of the TV, and registered very little from its surface. One day, his employer decided that the business needed revamping, and found a … More ‘Hector’s Mission Statement’: a parable for a world that never thinks and feels at the same time.

Why is ‘Saltburn’ such a brilliant film, though it fails the conventional tests, such as integrity of characters, plots, place and design, and even articulable and non-contradictory meanings demanded by the art of the coherent?

January 9, 2024

Saltburn is a film wherein there is no inclusion without exclusion, no love without hate, no owning without being owned, no independence without dependency, no belonging without exile, no entitlement without false claims, no observation without action, or no truth without lies. In a space where no binary satisfies, and acceptance of our debt to … More Why is ‘Saltburn’ such a brilliant film, though it fails the conventional tests, such as integrity of characters, plots, place and design, and even articulable and non-contradictory meanings demanded by the art of the coherent?

This blog looks at a popular version of an old trope of racist cultures in Obioma Ugoala (2022) ‘The Problem With My Normal Penis: Myths of Race, Sex and Masculinity’.

January 8, 2024

Examining coolly and dispassionately a narrative that Fiona Campbell of BBC Three said was without ‘malice’, and was in fact in her view an example of the mainly Black comedians on the show Famalam ‘poking fun at all stereotypes’, Obioma Ugoala says, with all kinds of evidence and witness to back him up, that myths … More This blog looks at a popular version of an old trope of racist cultures in Obioma Ugoala (2022) ‘The Problem With My Normal Penis: Myths of Race, Sex and Masculinity’.