Movie Mondays – TraumaZone
There’s a prevailing trend in documentary making these days where the narrator becomes part of the story in a fusion of self-promotion and naked bias. Personally, I blame Super Size Me (2004). I feel a hot take brewing, but while that’s still on the boil it’s a return to inertia’s much-neglected Movie Mondays. For thisContinue reading “Movie Mondays – TraumaZone”
My New Companion // A Eulogy
I’ve been navigating empty spaces lately. Tracing the outlines of where someone once was, wearing their clothes and sifting through paper trails. Grief of this kind is akin to shuffling around in a pitch-black room, feeling the contours of unknown furniture with outstretched hands and piecing together a mental map of the new confines ofContinue reading “My New Companion // A Eulogy”
Book Club – Crash
There are a lucky few books that make it to print, and fewer still that will outlive their authors as cultural milestones. Of this rare handful some will set out grand ideas, while others may one day come to be regarded as bold leaps in literature that expand the bounds of language and expression. ThereContinue reading “Book Club – Crash”
And There They Were
Last month I managed to steal a weekend away to the Highlands. The weather was balmy for March, with summer feeling as though it had arrived early. Not a cloud in the sky, taps aff, etcetera. The trip seemed blessed by the sun itself, a well-timed getaway destined to be plenty of fun. The journeyContinue reading “And There They Were”
Movie Mondays- Boiling Point
This week for Movie Mondays I thought I’d talk about a movie from last year that I missed when making the best of 2021 list. Despite having its official release date last year, Boiling Point was widely released to the UK public back in March via Netflix. The entire hour and a half runtime amazinglyContinue reading “Movie Mondays- Boiling Point”
Inner Ears vol. 1
Welcome back to inertia. We return to you with a new musical feature titled Inner Ears, a fresh freeform feature where our contributors serve up some piping hot music recommendations. Based on what’s been streaming through our own headsets, hopefully you find some artists, albums and genres here to plug into that you’ll dig asContinue reading “Inner Ears vol. 1”
Movie Mondays- Paris, Texas
Sometimes it can feel like you’ve already watched most of the classics, or at least the ones that appeal to you most strongly. With such a rich back catalogue of brilliant films from across the world, it is to be expected that the occasional gem may pass you by entirely. Relying on streaming services asContinue reading “Movie Mondays- Paris, Texas”
Book Club – How Late It Was, How Late
A comedy of errors without much to laugh about, 1994’s How Late It Was, How Late was a second-hand purchase of mine bought on a whim. It stuck out in the Scottish Literature section like a sore thumb as the title rang the bells of familiarity in my head. Counting out my loose change toContinue reading “Book Club – How Late It Was, How Late”
Movie Mondays: Best of 2021 Special
As we’re only just into a new year I thought I’d bring back Movie Mondays with a bit of a retrospective on the best movies of 2021. There are definitely some films that I have not gotten around to yet but will hopefully watch soon. Some of these movies that will not be included hereContinue reading “Movie Mondays: Best of 2021 Special”
Top 25 Albums of 2021
With 2021 being a bit of a damp squib, we have thankfully had plenty of great new music as a silver lining to the mundanity of staying at home. With touring returning for musicians for a while only to once again be put on hold with the arrival of Omicron, many artists have used theContinue reading “Top 25 Albums of 2021”
The Call of the Void
I’ll preface this post by saying that none of this constitutes any qualified opinion or advice regarding mental health. I’m mainly putting this out to raise awareness and give people an idea of the lived experience of a misunderstood mental illness. For resources from charities, health bodies and psychologists, please see the bottom of thisContinue reading “The Call of the Void”
The Carbon Footprint Paradox
Growing up in Scotland during the noughties, climate change and environmental awareness were a part of the curriculum at both primary and secondary school. I would say that it is safe to assume that including such topics in school has an overall positive affect on the way that children think about the world that surroundsContinue reading “The Carbon Footprint Paradox”
Snakes and Ladders | Part II
If you have found yourself here without reading Part I, you can find that here. Thatcher set out creating her game a year after she came to power in 1980, the year when her Tory government passed its landmark ‘Right to Buy’ legislation through parliament. The new law granted anyone living in a council houseContinue reading “Snakes and Ladders | Part II”
Snakes and Ladders | Part I
It was the turn of the 20th century, and Lizzie Magie found herself in a predicament. America would not grant women the vote for another two decades or so, and yet Magie was proudly outspoken: brimming with fierce intelligence and committed to bravely promoting ideas that would have been controversial for her time. She wasContinue reading “Snakes and Ladders | Part I”
Movie Mondays – Portrait of a Lady on Fire
The risk with making a romance film is that it doesn’t come across as authentic enough, or worse still it reaches so far into seriousness as to become a parody of itself. Filmmakers are often not ambitious enough when it comes to romantic relationships. Either they’re carefully positioned as a secondary consideration to the plot,Continue reading “Movie Mondays – Portrait of a Lady on Fire”
Movie Mondays- Drive
Often, I get a feeling when it comes to a movie or album that I loved as a teenager that I should avoid revisiting it for fear that it doesn’t live up to my memory of it. For me, Drive is one of those movies; a highly stylised action flick with a morally ambiguous protagonistContinue reading “Movie Mondays- Drive”
Book Club – Sapiens
Sapiens by Israeli academic Yuval Noah Harari is a book that can make a rare claim to being a blockbuster read in a time when reading books is in sharp decline. Since its publication in English in 2014 it can often be spotted in living room bookshelves and hostel sunbeds the world over, having beenContinue reading “Book Club – Sapiens”
Book Club- The Disconnect
It’s been too long since the last book club entry here on inertia, although I have been taking some time away from writing after experiencing severe burnout after finishing the second semester of my Masters. Now feeling recharged and armed with plenty of notes on a few books that I’ve managed to get through inContinue reading “Book Club- The Disconnect”
Movie Mondays – Sound of Metal
I am not joking here when I say this is one of the best movies to be released in the past ten years. Since watching it a couple of weeks ago I still find myself thinking about it nearly every day. The film follows an aspiring metal drummer in America who suddenly starts to lose hisContinue reading “Movie Mondays – Sound of Metal”
Movie Mondays – Under the Skin
I always find it a point of total fascination that watching a film or listening to an album can be experiences where your enjoyment of what you’re consuming is not a guaranteed constant. Returning to stuff you used to like can sometimes provoke warm nostalgia, or otherwise make you coldly question what you even likedContinue reading “Movie Mondays – Under the Skin”
Pollokshields: Community in Action
The standout Scottish story to come from the previous few days’ newscycle was the amazing display of community from the Southside of Glasgow. Images of an immigration van boxed in by peaceful members of the community have stuck in my head and restored some faith in the power of people. At a time when itContinue reading “Pollokshields: Community in Action”
Back of a Cocktail Napkin Election Report
It’s a rare thing that a party in power for 14 years can increase its majority, but such is the situation in Scotland that the euphemistically named “constitutional question” continues to dominate. Even parties that complain about nationalists constantly banging on about independence seem to do extremely well when they also constantly bang on aboutContinue reading “Back of a Cocktail Napkin Election Report”
The Culture War Election
In some ways, the upcoming Holyrood election is lacking in the drama of an American election night or a nail-biting referendum. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon enjoys approval ratings far higher than any of her opponents. The SNP are almost certain to win the election with even the worst polls for her party giving them aContinue reading “The Culture War Election”
Beware the Beat of the Culture War Drums
With every passing week brings another bloody battle in the so-called Culture War that seems to have gripped Britain. In the red corner we have the lefties, supposedly baying for anarchy and hellbent on destroying our traditional way of life. In the blue, the Tories: their puffed-up outrage about such a threat on full displayContinue reading “Beware the Beat of the Culture War Drums”
Movie Mondays – Lost in Translation
For me, Lost in Translation is as much a film as it is a mood. You’re never really whisked off your feet. You’re never really transported to a magical place. You don’t experience sweaty palms in a tense car chase. You’re kind of never really doing anything in this film. Instead, you flow with itContinue reading “Movie Mondays – Lost in Translation”
Movie Mondays – Patrick
Following on from Ewan’s post last week I thought I would also review another film from Aberdeen’s beloved Belmont Filmhouse’s shiny new streaming service, this time 2019’s Patrick directed by Tim Meilants. A black comedy set on a Belgian naturist camp, this film reveals all but also shrouds a great deal in mystery. Once youContinue reading “Movie Mondays – Patrick”
Aberdeen Finds Community Spirit Down by the Beach
It’s the first sunrise of a new week, and I’m in my swim trunks down by Fittie Beach. In days gone past the only reason I or anyone else my age would have for being up at this time would be because we haven’t slept yet from the night before, and yet looking around meContinue reading “Aberdeen Finds Community Spirit Down by the Beach”
Movie Mondays – Possessor
For this instalment of Movie Mondays, I’ll be looking at a film from 2020 that I watched for the first time the other night. After initial apprehension at the horror category assigned to the movie I decided that the plot sounded good and that it wouldn’t be the standard Hollyood jump-scare bonanza that is oftenContinue reading “Movie Mondays – Possessor”
Aberdeen’s Retail Crisis
With the latest of the shop closures in Aberdeen hitting John Lewis, 265 jobs will be lost. In the wider picture of years of decline in the city centre and the huge impact on businesses from COVID, it is starkly clear that something needs to be done immediately. Representatives from the likes of Aberdeen CityContinue reading “Aberdeen’s Retail Crisis”
A North Sea Love Lilt
There’s a curious Scottish myth about selkies, shapeshifting creatures who can transform from seals to humans with the shedding of their skin. It’s a story I can recall my mum reading to me when I was a child. I was, and still am, a bookworm; the type of person who will go happily to bedContinue reading “A North Sea Love Lilt”
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