to the reader (if indifferent)

to the reader (if indifferent) has been punctuated horsmouth-style (with its secret meaning or modifier in the bracket) - it’s from one of those extra obsequious introductions books used to have when they were very expensive and only bought by nobles (in england’s helicon a collection of elizabethan poetry). 

england’s helicon crops up in john fowles’ the magus. horsemouth was interested to note there was a film version of the magus made in 68. it was filmed in mallorca (greece was closed on account of fascism at the time) with anthony quinn (who’d made a great magician by all accounts - excellent casting), michael caine (miscast as the protagonist as he was already too old - the point about the protagonist in the book is that he is young, inexperienced and therefore cruel) and anna karina (slumming it as not working with jlg - but perfect as eurobeauty). 

while there are parallels with the wickerman (young(ish) man goes to island, strange goings on) it’s more like what was later achieved with sleuth. a generational battle between actors. 

the film had a crucial failing, despite great cast, crew, location and design, nobody could understand the plot. the plot is that the story which explains events constantly changes - in this it is similar to the wickerman - but the wickerman has only one real turn. 

a young man walks down the street in santa monica doing a live cast on his phone. he is a hypnotist and nlp practitioner. he is talking to us about the magus (one of a large number of online reviews). he notes that at one point in the book the hero finds a story (and that it is a regularly used script in nlp). what intrigued him about the book (in addition to the appearance of hypnotism as a motif) is the large number of outframings - when we are given a new explanation of events that does not fit in with the old explanation. 

 (come to think of it this is now like ben’s film). 

our hypnotist/ nlp’er says he uses this technique himself in changework - which is presumably helping people change habits/ attributions. ultimately he thinks the magus is an interesting vehicle but an empty one (nice metaphor). fowles has no real deep beliefs himself (and so nowhere to take us). 

the guy has rinsed the battery in his phone and so the livecast must end. 

 the death of elvis/ the life of julian bream 

otherwise horsemouth was watching a documentary on the life of julian bream - for those who don’t know the first famous british classical guitarist. his dad (a radio ham and a bit of a n’er-do-well) plays guitar in a dance band, julian picks up his dad’s guitar, julian plays alongside him but he also is enthused by classical guitar and (he discovers) very much better at it than all the other british players. 

julian and his dad are hustlers (they need the money) - there’s film work, there’s theatre work, there’s danceband work, julian embraces the spanish repertoire, he takes up the lute and the work of dowland, he hustles british composers to write music for the guitar (scoring a notable success with benjamin britten’s nocturnal). 

for fun he plays jazz, there’s a brief collaboration with sarod player ustad akbar ali khan. 

he retires to dorset. he gives masterclasses. he died recently. 

elvis died in 77 - horsemouth remembers south wales being in shock. horsemouth likes the later elvis tunes. outside another grey day. 

today more reading. soon horsemouth becomes asymmetric again. soon (probably) back to the wen to resume his duties. there’s a plan to do a meeting outdoors (but horsemouth thinks the weather is too fucked).