MrBiffo
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QUARANTINE BULLETIN
🕑 Added 2020-05-20 08:45:09 +0000 UTCMorning all! Hope you're doing okay. Who else is sick of this - 'scuse my French - fucking pandemic?
It's not even the lockdown, or the pandemic itself, but I'm just growing weary of the news cycle, the batshit conspiracy theories that end up having to be debated or dismissed in the media, the not seeing my kids, the people who seem determined to push against the rules for their own selfish ends while the rest of us try to do our bit, Trump, the same old social media bollocks which seems so utterly irrelevant against this backdrop that I want to scream, not having anything to look forward to this year, like a holiday, or... anything. I mean, I could go on.
There's a feeling in the air that people have had enough, and I get it. But reading up on this, as I do, it's not going away within the foreseeable future. I had to give my dad a slight lecture yesterday - I saw him, because I seem to have become the social-distanced carer/personal shopper/delivery driver for every older person in my family - because he and my high-risk mum were planning to go and visit my sister over in Chalfont.
Thankfully, it did the trick, and they cancelled the trip. Unfortunately, not everyone in my family is being so reasonable... which is in itself infuriating.
As I say though... I get it. The novelty of being forced to stay home has well and truly worn off, and even I'm having moments where I question the long-term impact of quarantine on mental health, but it is what it is. There are times when I wonder how people coped during the Blitz. I don't think we've changed that much have we? There must've been those who couldn't handle it, and those who went about their lives regardless of the risk...
As some of you will be aware, we've moved Digitiser Live to next year. It's gutting, because we would have been well into the planning of it by now. My daughter's wedding had been scheduled for this end of this month, and then I was intending to go straight into full-on preparations.
Originally we were planning to move the show to summer 2021, but I honestly think it's optimistic we'll be back to normal by then. Let's say they do find a vaccine by next January... how long is it going to be before it's rolled out to everyone?
Provisionally, we're now looking at early autumn next year, but even then I dunno if we'll be forced to move it again, but... people have bought tickets, and I want them to have something to look forward to. So, I'm trying to remain hopeful that there'll be some sort of breakthrough between now and this time next year.
For all that, I still appreciate some of what has come out of this situation. I enjoy that many of my favourite creators and artists are feeling inspired to make things. I kind of feel a touch guilty - but not too guilty - that I keep going down the Lost/Found Footage rabbit hole, which leaves little time to focus on a schedule of quantity over quality, and keep you all furnished with lots of stuff,. but... it's where I'm at right now. It's how I'm passing my days when I'm not working; making something I can feel proud of, even if it's not the thing the majority would like me to be doing. I guess I'm putting what I need first, because that's what we should all be doing right now.
Heck, I'm even doing editing when I am working, sometimes. Yesterday I was writing a script, and the only way through it was to alternate between finishing a scene, and then rewarding myself by editing Lost Footage for ten minutes.
This week's Digi video will likely be Sanja and I going through my old school books and reports. They're mental, frankly, and it's a video I've wanted to make for a long time. We've not shot it yet. so I apologise if the video isn't up until the weekend, but we'll try and make it worth the wait. We do have the lolly tasting episode we filmed last week, but - frankly - we're both a bit bored of taste test videos, and I think that comes across in it. Also, my hair is shocking in it, and I look even more homeless than usual, and I can't be arsed with the inevitable comments right now. Vanity rules!
Stay safe, stay well, stay in touch.
Paul
Comments
Tyronne Mann
I just want to get back to work as I have had my furlough extended by another week (now 6 weeks in total).
Rich John
Dave, that's an excellent summary of where I'm at too. I've pretty much turned off the news, I haven't seen any of the government press conferences for at least a month, because it's not really telling me anything.
John Veness
Aww I love your unkempt look, Paul! As well as your... kempt(?) one, of course. But you do what you need to do re: videos and everything.
Dave Graves
I hear you Paul. One of the problems I have encountered with the modern world (i.e. the internet only really began when I was at 6th form, and then exploded when I was in my 20s), is the way that the phrase "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing," has proven itself. Masses of the ill informed, on all sides of the political spectrum, 100% believe in their own bias, and can find 'evidence' to support their every belief with enough digging. Because of this, no idea can ever be challenged to the satisfaction of others, and fewer people 'appear' to be capable of shifting their views and being flexible. Boris is either the messiah, or a mass murderer. Everybody has the ability to pretend they are an epidemiologist, an economist and an orator. So, the sheer amount of screeching and ill considered opinion that COVID has unleashed...I just find it so tiresome. I rarely assume malice so cannot stomach the Tories as a force for evil who're deliberatly thinning the herd (flies in the face of one argument stating that old people voted for Brexit/Tory etc...so why would the Tories willingly want to kill them off?), nor did I believe Corbyn would destroy the threads of society/economy. He has a good heart, but would have needed some tempering. We're a pretty dammed good robust country, and we'll be ok. Just, leave the doomsaying out of it for a while, please! Couple this dripfeed of negativity with not being able to see my wife (she lives away, job) and various spectrum traits being indulged by the detachment...and it's all a bit much. So I unplug, and write and tell creators I like how much they're valued. Spread a bit of positivity amongst the darkness and all that. Be well Paul.
D. ‘Xalior’ Rimron-Soutter
It is indeed, “all a bit bollocks” right now. And it’s hard being surrounded by knuckleheads who think it’ll blow over as soon as the doors open. I hear you. <3 x
