65 Comments
Jan 5Liked by Nathan Slake

I just came here for the JSRPH reference

Expand full comment
author

Lured you in 😉

Expand full comment

I started reading Wild Hall a few years ago. Very compelling, very well researched. It was featured in a creative nonfiction writing course even though it's fiction. Gorgeous photo

Expand full comment

I wrote Wolf Hall but autocorrect wreaked its havoc, and now I can't edit it.

Expand full comment
author

The app doesn't let you edit comment text in posts, for some reason. It only seems possible when you go to the comment via a browser (phone or computer).

Expand full comment

Oh I didn't know that. Seems a silly omission to me, but still

Expand full comment
author

Indeed. Probably on a long to-do list for one of their developers ;)

Expand full comment

I hope so!

Expand full comment
author

Yeah, huge amount of research by Hilary, I'm sure. I can't even imagine the levels it must have taken.

Expand full comment

Welcome home, Nathan! 🏡

I was thinking “cloud fortress” 🤔 but then zoomed in and there it was. Great photo 👍🏼

Ironically, Dunkirk is my least favourite Nolan movie but, if I remember correctly, by the end of the film it does clarify the timelines

I’ve not read Wolf Hall but watched the BBC adaptation with Claire Foy and Mark Rylance which was very good. And I’m also no fan of royalty 🤴

Expand full comment
author

Heh, I didn't expect anyone to read the caption ;) There were some really dramatic clouds, plus when dawn was just breaking a little earlier the clouds were half-illuminated and it was really something.

That's interesting re: Dunkirk. I think I'm still going to watch the whole thing to see how it all resolves. Maybe I'll like it less by the end. I did listen to a ranking of Nolan's films some time ago by the IGN UK podcast, but can't quite recall where they placed Dunkirk.

I'll be interested to watch the Wolf Hall adaptation once I'm done reading the books. How funny re: Mark Rylance. I noted him in Dunkirk, then last night we randomly watched most of Don't Look Up, which stars him, before succumbing to tiredness, and now you mention him.

Expand full comment

I like Nolan well enough. The Prestige and Memento are probably my favourites. Just didn’t connect with Dunkirk

Mark Rylance is also really good in Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks

Expand full comment

The BBC series is indeed excellent, adapting the first two books. They are also currently making a series adapting the final book in her Cromwell trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, which is also superb.

Expand full comment
author

That's great to hear. Stamp of approval. I look forward to watching these.

Expand full comment
Jan 9Liked by Nathan Slake

I cannot believe I've been meaning to read this for four days. Something truly awful has happened to time this year and, frankly, I'm considering pressing charges. I don't think I've ever been this discombobulated, this early on, before. Anyway, wasn't that line in WH gold! I'm very much enjoying it, thus far. Your footnotes always make me laugh (except that last one, which re-filled me with seething indignation at how bloody awful Tenet was!!)

Expand full comment
author

And there was me thinking you had ignored the post!!

Jokes. 😆

I feel ya. For some reason everything has felt discombobulated so far. I'm trying to locate some sense of routine to bring me back into things and only as of yesterday do I seem to be finding that. I hope you can find some inner balance and orientation. It's all probably due to the [insert current moon phase]!

Expand full comment

Welcome home! Always enjoy your newsy posts.

Also just arrived home yesterday. Also didn’t write or read much 😆 also didn’t sleep on the planes but my husband and son both did as usual 😆 Also digging into Wolf Hall and catching up with a few more stories in the Walk series! Looks like we have a lot in common! 💜 😁

Hope the break from writing is somehow fruitful for you and your return to work has more intrigue than you imagined. I often find that coming back allows a freshness and little tweaks in how we do things. Happy new year!

Expand full comment
author

Thanks Kate. Happy new year!

A lot in common indeed 😁

Hope you're enjoying Wolf Hall.

It's already been refreshing having a few days of normality this weekend, and I too hope that the return to work is fruitful (I'm just a tad scared of the giant pile of things I'll returning to 😅).

Expand full comment

So refreshing being home in some ways. I’ve got to read Wolf Hall tonight! I think I’m just before the bell 😅

Expand full comment

PS my plane film this time was Living with Bill Nighy with Ishiguro, Kurosawa, and Tolstoy layers 🤗

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_(2022_film)

Expand full comment
author

Cool. I remember when that came out but I never saw it. Thanks for the reminder!

Expand full comment

“internationally-recognised metric of Josephine’s Sleep Rotations Per Hour (JSRPH)”...that is hilarious!

Expand full comment
author

😅

Expand full comment

Welcome home, and I hope you find the return to routine as comforting as a good pair of jeans. I myself have ordered a few new books so I can kickstart my stack into 2024 after the holidays threw things for a loop. I am also thinking about routines this year and shifting how I spend my time. I suppose that means I'm changing into a new pair of jeans? I feel my metaphor crumbling...better sign off while I still can!

Expand full comment
author

Hehe, love the metaphor, plus love that you've got a load of new books to be reviewing. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts in your future posts.

Hope the new jeans are comfy ;)

Expand full comment

Welcome back, mate! 30 mins for Dunkirk on a flimsy screen on the plane? ! 😂 it’s a good movie albeit a bit confusing with the cuts and jumps.

Expand full comment
author

Yep haha, I know, not ideal right?

Expand full comment

Suboptimal! 😅

Expand full comment

You've been missed, Nathan! I hope 2024 will be off to a positive start for you, with abundance of inspiration and creation. I haven't watched Dunkirk yet, but plan to soon. I actually enjoyed Tenet, though it is somewhat convoluted. Everything else too. But I'm not so hard to please lol.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks Nadia. The same to you, too!

I am sure I am overly harsh on Nolan, but it's become something of an ongoing joke with me and several friends.

Expand full comment

Thank you! :) Hahaha. I get the criticism.

Expand full comment

Thank you for bringing some sense, Nadia! Nathan is way too harsh, as ever. You may not like the emphasis on spectacle, but it is definitely spectacle done well and with ambition. There are plenty of films that are all about spectacle that just resort to overusing underwhelming CGI effects. Those are the ones for which you should be reserving your who-allowed-this-to-be-made? levels of criticism, surely!

Expand full comment
author

It's very much spectacle done well, as you say. I wish I could coherently critique with some interesting rebuttal, but right now I can't, so I'm just going to blame that on jetlag...

Nolan's writing likely let's things down for me. Spectacle without substance.

Expand full comment
Jan 5·edited Jan 5Liked by Nathan Slake

I agree, Nolan makes his movies with love and care. But it is okay that Nathan feels how he does. He is also being funny with the footnote. 🤪😉

Expand full comment

Oh dear, he has started going on about Nolan again...

Expand full comment
author

You know I wrote that comment just for you ...

Expand full comment

Oh, of course!

Expand full comment

Lololol

Expand full comment
Jan 23Liked by Nathan Slake

Wolf Hall is an extraordinary work.

Expand full comment
author

It really is.

Expand full comment

I’m adding The Fabelmans to my watchlist. Thanks for the suggestion! 😄

Expand full comment
author

🌟Yay, great to hear. Thanks for reading, Liz!

Expand full comment

Thank you for writing, Nathan! 😁

Expand full comment
Jan 9Liked by Nathan Slake

Balsamic moon, in Sagittarius - we should have known 🏹

Expand full comment
author

But of course!!

(I won't lie, I thought you'd made that term up haha, then I googled 👏)

Expand full comment
Jan 7Liked by Nathan Slake

To shift to biweekly or not... that is the question. Debating this myself. Structure and ritual can be so generative... but not always.

Expand full comment
author

So true. It could go either way. I managed it last year, and it was good for me, but at the moment I still feel like I'm struggling a bit.

Anyway, hope you twice-weekly posting hasn't put too much of a strain on your routine.

Expand full comment

I’m on the Wolf Hall slow crawl too. Present tense ?!? That’s what’s got my attention. And it reminds me of a slightly more readable Ulysses.

Expand full comment
author

I know, amazing eh? Quite rare, and rare to be done so well.

Haven't even tried Ulysses myself; always been a bit too scared of it from what people have said 😆

Expand full comment

I have tired and failed at Ulysses

Expand full comment
author

Damn. That's how I figured I'd go too.

Expand full comment

Great way to start the year, Nathan, and just loved that line: "the leisure to vomit"!

Expand full comment
author

Thanks Mya. Wishing you all the best for 2024!

Expand full comment