Six Things, Volume 137
Stoppard | Apples | Leonardo | Spin Art | Obsolete Media | Compliments
Thing 1 – Stoppard
“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you’re dead.”
It only seems right to devote Thing 1 to Tom Stoppard, whose death was announced yesterday. Here are a few things:
his 1975 TV dramatisation of Three Men In A Boat, starring Michael Palin, Stephen Moore and Tim Curry
an in-depth examination of Brazil, 40 years on: It’s fascinating about the film itself, but also includes footage of three interviews with Stoppard (two of them are quite long, and I haven’t had a chance to watch them yet, but one snippet from the shorter one interests me, because his writing oozes rhythm and musicality: “I’m not so much tone deaf as tone stupid”.)
this short bit from The Real Thing, produced as a signed limited edition print, obviously pleases me as a fan of cricket. It was shared by Bluesky user lenschiff
one thing that’s consistently been mentioned since Stoppard’s death was announced is the number of films for which he acted as pseudonymised, uncredited script doctor. Here’s the list (to which we of course add the ones he was credited for, including Brazil, Empire of the Sun and of course Shakespeare In Love.
finally, a terrific analysis by Mike Fitzgerald of Stoppard’s important contribution to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (although, as it boils down to a long list of ‘things that were a bit shit that Stoppard turned into genius’, one can’t help feeling a bit sorry for credited scriptwriter Jeffrey Boam – still, he gets the credit, so no harm done, probably.)
Thing 2 – Apples
This is just delightful and I urge you to watch it.
Thing 3 – Leonardo
Big news for Leonardo fans. His Codex Atlanticus has been digitised. That’s 1,119 pages of Leonardo stuff – sketches, notes, drawings, other writings – on everything he was interested in, which is basically everything. There’s a piece about it here. And you can find it all here.
Thing 4 – Spin Art
This is one of the most pleasing and skilful things I’ve seen in ages.
Thing 5 – Obsolete Media
If you’ve ever had to explain to a Young the workings of floppy discs, cassettes, answering machines or anything else from BITD™ (Back In The Day), you’ll find yourself going soggy with nostalgia as you browse the Museum of Obsolete Media. Betamax! LaserDisc! 8-track cartridges! TRS-80 Personal Computer! Your guys took a hell of a beating!
Thing 6 – Compliments
Feeling unappreciated? Want to inject a bit of pep into someone’s day? Head to Luke Steuber’s Compliment Generator.
Perhaps that’s a bit twee for your tastes, too Hallmark. In which case you might prefer to generate an insult or two.
And if your currency is groans rather than smiles or scowls, he’s also made a Dad Joke Generator.
The Spin Art is also on Bluesky for those who don't want to use Instagram.
One of the things I liked best about the apple video is that one of the men wore a suit and tie. Who does that when apple picking, these days?
Stoppard, as marvelous as the appleseed. Or is that two words ? A great place to explore, or register your tree or tasting notes, is https://www.orangepippin.com . Personal fave is Ashmead's Kernel.