That IS so touching. What a classy bunch. I kind of envy the Brits having telly specials on Christmas Day. So glad to know about the return of this gem.
So, I wrote this in another comment thread right after I watched the Detectorists 2022 Christmas Special:
So, the Detectorists Christmas special was perfect. Exactly what I needed and a kind of wonderful twist at the end!
On a very touching note, Becky (Andy's much better half) is played by Rebecca Stirling, Diana Rigg's daughter. Dame Diana played Becky's mother in the Detectorists and she passed away as Mackenzie Crook was preparing to write the script so he put in a scene that discussed Becky's mourning the loss of her mother. This obviously hit Rachel Stirling rather hard (though, in an interview she said that she was grateful that he allowed her that moment). Crook said that almost the entire cast was there the day they shot the scene and were respectfully silent. He said that, even before they shot it, he'd decided that they were only going to do one take because he didn't want to put Rachel Stirling through it more than once.
I was really touched by the sensitivity and the honor that they paid Rachel Stirling and her mother. It was also an absolutely great scene.
Well, there's a reason a certain long-dead-but-his-work-will-live-on-forever writer started his Big Book with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Seems to me that holds true for every year, with some being better or worse depending on the vagaries of fate and one's individual circumstances.
I'm grateful to be unburdened by any religious indoctrination, having been exposed to (and rejecting) Unitarianism as a young lad. It all seemed like BS to me the time, and still does, so my thoughts on happiness and unhappiness are relatively untainted by men in robes pointing towards the sky and telling me what's what. That said, I too share the dark foreboding that whenever things are going really well, I'm heading for a fall. Rather than religion, I ascribe this to the movies more than anything else, especially those that seem to be heading to a grim conclusion, only to have a miraculously contrived ending tacked on to save the hero just before the credits roll.
But who knows Not me.
The thing about "happiness" -- for me, anyway -- is that I simply must NOT try examine it too closely while it's happening ... and when I do, oh do I regret it. Happiness is a bit like those little dust motes (or whatever they are) on the surface of your eye, the ones that look like microscopic aquatic organisms, but only in your peripheral vision. Every time you try to look directly at one, it scoots away, and for me the parallel with happiness is clear: if I insist on staring into that happy fire, it soon turns to ashes.
As for aging ... yeah. It pretty much sucks. Every time I move into a new decade of life, the previous decade suddenly looks oh-so-much better. I thought I was old at 39, but In my 50s, 40-anything sounded like the full apple-cheeked blush of youth. Ditto my 60s, which felt ancient at the time, but as I tiptoe into the dreaded 70s, 60 really does sound like the "new 40." If I'm unlucky enough to make it past 80, I'll doubtless feel the same about the current decade.
So it goes.
All I know for sure is that after 52 hours suffering the wrath of the Bomb Cyclone with no PG&E electricity, I'm very grateful to have the magic invisible juice once again flowing through the circuits of my house. I didn't go without during those dark hours -- a small Honda generator, a 3.6 KW battery, and many painful hours of crawling around under the house running wires last summer saw to that -- but there's no substitute for having every light switch work, and to not facing the choice of making dinner in the microwave or atop the wood stove. When push comes to shove, the little things we take for granted in normal times turn out to be the big things after all.
And on that note, I wish you and all the Bastard Machine sub-stackers the very best in the new year to come!
I loved all of this, Michael. Very heartfelt, smart and funny. And I think the part about the impending doom after a spell of good things being from the movies -- well, damn, I need to think about that. Interesting take. I mean, we are so shaped by what we see on screens that it's certainly not out of the question. Although my hunch that it's VERY CATHOLIC still seems solid.
I did not know you were raised Catholic and as a recovering one myself, I really understand how it influences one's outlook on life--for the rest of your life even if one does not ascribe to its teachings. One thing I remember so clearly is being made to believe that being a Catholic was superior to anything else. I remember questioning things (in my mind) I was being taught in Catechism (the Saturday religious school lessons I had to attend) but the final straw for me was when I was about 11 and learned that President Eisenhower (yep, I'm that old!) wasn't Catholic! How could that be! The most important person in the United States wasn't Catholic! I realized I had been fed a load of crap. But that can't change how it follows you in life anyway. I'm glad you have been able to be in gratitude more in your life, I am working on that too.
Yeah, the Catholics are big on the We're the Champs and everybody else is pretenders to the crown kinda thing. I don't know. I'm very non-religious now -- but I do believe that you can have spirituality in your life untainted by established religion. I had to take a moment to really absorb these responses to this post because they were all pretty great. I've spent a lot of my life trying to just let go of some of these ingrained ideas, but it's frustratingly hard. The notion that a bad thing will follow a good thing is a crushing weight of a belief. I remember telling my partner that and she was all, "WHAT?" She thought, rightly, that it was a ridiculous and also horrible thing to be taught. She always believed that if good things happened, more was on the way!
Definitely a worthy goal for this new year. I think of myself as a spiritual person, my belief system now is closest to Buddhism. I had an amazing cosmology teacher in college who really helped me understand where all the religions came from. He had a radio show in the bay area, you may remember him. His name was Andrew Fraknoi. He was the most interesting, enthusiastic, and entertaining instructor I've ever had.
For me, happy + sad = poignancy. Funny + dark = poignancy. Depression + glee = poignancy. And somehow, with age, I’m appreciating more and more how patterns of poignancy glean through the years. (That’s the simmering aspect, maybe?) Okay, that, and I REALLY like how there’s a second, lunar new year, we can celebrate. I’m a big fan of ordering up the dim sum and doing a New Year’s:Take Two.
OK, two things about this, Lolly. First, the concept of poignancy is really great and I'm going to think on that more. As I read this, a couple of times actually, I kept thinking, wow, ok, poignancy. That's a really stable and evolved way of looking at (and accepting things). And then the pivoting to talk of dim sum = chef's kiss. Laughed out loud.
That was some serious sweetness, Denise. I read that (before tonight) and it just made my day. Still does (and night, I guess, too, since it's night now). Thanks!
Fingers crossed, always. It's an interesting concept. I love when I hear it in a lyric. Two come to mind: "You woke up with your pants off/In a boy's bed/With your fingers crossed." And: "Feels like an accident/Waking up under a bus/with my fingers crossed." Like most songs, you kinda have to hear it but still...
Someone asked me if I had made any resolutions. My answer was 'no', not because I'm anti resolution, but because my personal life was on such an upswing for 2/3 of 2022 that I just want to keep doing what I'm doing. So, that's my resolution. Gratitude, spreading the love, etc.
The personal 'upswing' also explains why I've watched less TV! Oops :D
That IS so touching. What a classy bunch. I kind of envy the Brits having telly specials on Christmas Day. So glad to know about the return of this gem.
Good news. Dectectorists one off on Acorn this Monday. This from someone who is constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
So, I wrote this in another comment thread right after I watched the Detectorists 2022 Christmas Special:
So, the Detectorists Christmas special was perfect. Exactly what I needed and a kind of wonderful twist at the end!
On a very touching note, Becky (Andy's much better half) is played by Rebecca Stirling, Diana Rigg's daughter. Dame Diana played Becky's mother in the Detectorists and she passed away as Mackenzie Crook was preparing to write the script so he put in a scene that discussed Becky's mourning the loss of her mother. This obviously hit Rachel Stirling rather hard (though, in an interview she said that she was grateful that he allowed her that moment). Crook said that almost the entire cast was there the day they shot the scene and were respectfully silent. He said that, even before they shot it, he'd decided that they were only going to do one take because he didn't want to put Rachel Stirling through it more than once.
I was really touched by the sensitivity and the honor that they paid Rachel Stirling and her mother. It was also an absolutely great scene.
It's great, enjoy...
Oh!! This IS good news.
Well, there's a reason a certain long-dead-but-his-work-will-live-on-forever writer started his Big Book with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Seems to me that holds true for every year, with some being better or worse depending on the vagaries of fate and one's individual circumstances.
I'm grateful to be unburdened by any religious indoctrination, having been exposed to (and rejecting) Unitarianism as a young lad. It all seemed like BS to me the time, and still does, so my thoughts on happiness and unhappiness are relatively untainted by men in robes pointing towards the sky and telling me what's what. That said, I too share the dark foreboding that whenever things are going really well, I'm heading for a fall. Rather than religion, I ascribe this to the movies more than anything else, especially those that seem to be heading to a grim conclusion, only to have a miraculously contrived ending tacked on to save the hero just before the credits roll.
But who knows Not me.
The thing about "happiness" -- for me, anyway -- is that I simply must NOT try examine it too closely while it's happening ... and when I do, oh do I regret it. Happiness is a bit like those little dust motes (or whatever they are) on the surface of your eye, the ones that look like microscopic aquatic organisms, but only in your peripheral vision. Every time you try to look directly at one, it scoots away, and for me the parallel with happiness is clear: if I insist on staring into that happy fire, it soon turns to ashes.
As for aging ... yeah. It pretty much sucks. Every time I move into a new decade of life, the previous decade suddenly looks oh-so-much better. I thought I was old at 39, but In my 50s, 40-anything sounded like the full apple-cheeked blush of youth. Ditto my 60s, which felt ancient at the time, but as I tiptoe into the dreaded 70s, 60 really does sound like the "new 40." If I'm unlucky enough to make it past 80, I'll doubtless feel the same about the current decade.
So it goes.
All I know for sure is that after 52 hours suffering the wrath of the Bomb Cyclone with no PG&E electricity, I'm very grateful to have the magic invisible juice once again flowing through the circuits of my house. I didn't go without during those dark hours -- a small Honda generator, a 3.6 KW battery, and many painful hours of crawling around under the house running wires last summer saw to that -- but there's no substitute for having every light switch work, and to not facing the choice of making dinner in the microwave or atop the wood stove. When push comes to shove, the little things we take for granted in normal times turn out to be the big things after all.
And on that note, I wish you and all the Bastard Machine sub-stackers the very best in the new year to come!
I loved all of this, Michael. Very heartfelt, smart and funny. And I think the part about the impending doom after a spell of good things being from the movies -- well, damn, I need to think about that. Interesting take. I mean, we are so shaped by what we see on screens that it's certainly not out of the question. Although my hunch that it's VERY CATHOLIC still seems solid.
I did not know you were raised Catholic and as a recovering one myself, I really understand how it influences one's outlook on life--for the rest of your life even if one does not ascribe to its teachings. One thing I remember so clearly is being made to believe that being a Catholic was superior to anything else. I remember questioning things (in my mind) I was being taught in Catechism (the Saturday religious school lessons I had to attend) but the final straw for me was when I was about 11 and learned that President Eisenhower (yep, I'm that old!) wasn't Catholic! How could that be! The most important person in the United States wasn't Catholic! I realized I had been fed a load of crap. But that can't change how it follows you in life anyway. I'm glad you have been able to be in gratitude more in your life, I am working on that too.
Yeah, the Catholics are big on the We're the Champs and everybody else is pretenders to the crown kinda thing. I don't know. I'm very non-religious now -- but I do believe that you can have spirituality in your life untainted by established religion. I had to take a moment to really absorb these responses to this post because they were all pretty great. I've spent a lot of my life trying to just let go of some of these ingrained ideas, but it's frustratingly hard. The notion that a bad thing will follow a good thing is a crushing weight of a belief. I remember telling my partner that and she was all, "WHAT?" She thought, rightly, that it was a ridiculous and also horrible thing to be taught. She always believed that if good things happened, more was on the way!
Hell yeah. Love that.
Let's all be better to ourselves.
Definitely a worthy goal for this new year. I think of myself as a spiritual person, my belief system now is closest to Buddhism. I had an amazing cosmology teacher in college who really helped me understand where all the religions came from. He had a radio show in the bay area, you may remember him. His name was Andrew Fraknoi. He was the most interesting, enthusiastic, and entertaining instructor I've ever had.
For me, happy + sad = poignancy. Funny + dark = poignancy. Depression + glee = poignancy. And somehow, with age, I’m appreciating more and more how patterns of poignancy glean through the years. (That’s the simmering aspect, maybe?) Okay, that, and I REALLY like how there’s a second, lunar new year, we can celebrate. I’m a big fan of ordering up the dim sum and doing a New Year’s:Take Two.
OK, two things about this, Lolly. First, the concept of poignancy is really great and I'm going to think on that more. As I read this, a couple of times actually, I kept thinking, wow, ok, poignancy. That's a really stable and evolved way of looking at (and accepting things). And then the pivoting to talk of dim sum = chef's kiss. Laughed out loud.
The first and last sentences in your post are great. The perfect bun for a tasty word sandwich. 🙃
That was some serious sweetness, Denise. I read that (before tonight) and it just made my day. Still does (and night, I guess, too, since it's night now). Thanks!
2022 and 2022 were both shit years but both had positives too. Fingers crossed for 2023
Fingers crossed, always. It's an interesting concept. I love when I hear it in a lyric. Two come to mind: "You woke up with your pants off/In a boy's bed/With your fingers crossed." And: "Feels like an accident/Waking up under a bus/with my fingers crossed." Like most songs, you kinda have to hear it but still...
Someone asked me if I had made any resolutions. My answer was 'no', not because I'm anti resolution, but because my personal life was on such an upswing for 2/3 of 2022 that I just want to keep doing what I'm doing. So, that's my resolution. Gratitude, spreading the love, etc.
The personal 'upswing' also explains why I've watched less TV! Oops :D
Love all the personal upswing vibes! Congrats! OK, that said, uh, no, you can't let relationships deter your TV watching. Get on it, girl!
Love you Tim.
I read this right after it published. What a day-maker, Wayne. Thanks for the kindness.