(December 3 – 9)
The big occasion this week was the Elderbeast’s primary school graduation. I’ve been reflecting a lot on this.
On the one hand it’s simply leaving one school and starting another. There are no exams, qualifications, or specific achievements involved. On the other hand, it’s a pretty major life change for the Elderbeast. He’s been at his school for about 7 years now, he’s had several ups and downs, and he’s made a bunch of friends. Now he has to leave all of that behind, go to a completely different place each day and start to make brand new friends. Put it in those terms and it seems like quite a big ask for a 12 year old.
I’ll admit I started to feel a little emotional during the ceremony; thinking about how the Elderbeast is growing up, and thinking about how well he’s come through the various challenges of the last couple of years. It would have been nice to see him get one of the million or so awards and certificates that were given out as the main part of the assembly, but not every achievement can be marked by a piece of paper and I take a lot of satisfaction from knowing that that Elderbeast has, above all, had a happy year.
It was very sweet, after the ceremony, to see all the kids crying and hugging each other. There must have been a whirlwind of emotions for these kids, being placed front and center for the assembly, then realising that this day marks the start of a week that will end with some of them never seeing each other again. It was also good to see the tears quickly replaced by a form of elation, as the kids spent the ensuring morning tea hanging out and getting photos taken with each other.
Watching
The penultimate episode of Doctor Who this week (“It Takes You Away”), and I’m still not completely sure what to make of it. It started off firmly in horror territory—one of the Doctor Who tropes that, I think, the new series hasn’t really tackled yet. However, it then diverted into something closer to dark fantasy, before jumping head first into some sort of cosmic philosophy.
I like that we’ve had at least one episode where they took off the brakes a little and just ran with what they had. However, with at least three different stories going on in this one, I feel that neither was really done justice—and I definitely feel cheated out of a full on horror episode of Doctor Who.
And then (minor spoiler) we also need to talk about the frog …
A significant part of me loves that the show runners decided to represent a sentient alternate universe as a talking frog. However, I’m still wondering what the thinking was behind doing it with a particularly unconvincing frog puppet. It was so obviously bad that there has to be a rationale for it.
I caught up on another few episodes of The Haunting Of Hill House, which is truly excellent but almost overbearingly grim.
Fridate horror this week was a Netflix offering called Yesterday. For a short time I was baffled at its absence on IMDB, until I realised its original title was Yesterday, but it’s more commonly known as the The Blackcoat’s Daughter. It’s helmed by the same director as I Am The Pretty Thing … and has a very similar mood to it. I really enjoyed it, although the soporific tone did nearly send me to sleep!
The weekend also brought repeat viewings of Godzilla, Fright Night and The Shawshank Redemption, all of which are great.
Reading
I’ve been continuing to listen to Leviathan Wakes, and enjoying it. I’ve settled a bit more into the relatively flat narration, and am fully into the story. I’m intrigued by the way I’m getting drawn into it this time, while the TV adaptation left me a bit flat. I will write more on that later.
I’m also catching up with Bird Box when I can. It’s a relatively quick read, and I’m definitely hooked enough to want to see it through. Hopefully I can find time to finish it next week (ideally before the film hits Netflix).