Absolutely unimprovable

Kilogram weighs less. Kripkeans rejoice. (Sam Liao)

Mission Song review

Everything John Le Carré writes has a peculiar quality which is as difficult to convey as it is easy to spot: something rich and thick; the result of his ability to get into the minds of his characters. He doesn’t really manage that in The Mission Song; Red Strangers this is not. Since this psychological acuity is Le Carré’s main attraction, you’d think the book would be crap. Wrong. The plotting is goodish (and informative), the characters are inherently interesting, and I quite enjoyed the sight of a 75-year old author trying several new things at once. Worth several hours of your time.

Gloomy Weather

Joe Zawinul, dead yesterday. From the Guardian obit:

Joe Zawinul, who has died aged 75 of cancer, is one of a handful of people who changed the way music sounds. As a composer, jazz keyboardist, bandleader and hit-maker, he put his stamp on five decades of music – through his own bands, Weather Report (co-founded with saxophonist Wayne Shorter) and the Zawinul Syndicate, and also the tunes he wrote for Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis. He had a crucial impact on the sound of what we now call world music, working with Salif Keita and Trilok Gurtu, and championing talents such as Karim Ziad and Richard Bona, whose career took off after a spell in the Syndicate.

Wickedness tried to kill greatness

Apartheid – petty and grand – is obviously evil. Nothing can justify the arrogant assumption that a clique of foreigners has the right to decide on the lives of a majority…The fact that apartheid has been tied up with white supremacy, capitalist exploitation, and deliberate oppression makes the problem much more complex. Material want is bad enough, but coupled with spiritual poverty it kills.

Steve Biko, p. 27-8, I Write What I Like, Bowerdean, 1978.

Tramontate, stelle! All’alba vincerò!