Weeknotes 33

The framing shop phoned to tell me the print was ready for collection. I picked it up and was relieved to see that it looked really good, neatly avoiding any framing-decision regret. Now I just have to hang it in exactly the right spot.

It’s a piece of concept art from The Last of Us Part II, by the way, which wasn’t secret, just uninteresting. I like the artwork on an aesthetic level, plus I’m happy to have some way of commemorating a game that got me through part of this total shitbag of a year.

I understand that nobody wants to hear about sourdough any more, but this week I finally achieved the kind of oven spring I’ve been aiming for, so that needs to be briefly celebrated.

Comparing this to my early naff efforts is satisfying.

Scoring remains my final enemy. As usual I scored this loaf with a razor blade which I’m unable to do confidently or neatly. I’ve since bought a lame which I’m hoping will let me cut deeper and allow the bread to open up more as it bakes. In hindsight I could’ve saved myself a lot of anguish by buying all the proper equipment in January but at that point I had no idea I was going to be trapped in my flat for six months with nothing better to do.

The most emotionally crushing aspect of lockdown is the feeling of being trapped in a single day that repeats endlessly. To relieve the tedium I organised an escapist season of films for us to watch: Happy Death Day, Palm Springs, Source Code, Run Lola Run, Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, Triangle and Happy Death Day 2U.

These are, of course, all about a person being stuck in a time loop. Do you see what I did there. Repeatedly watching films with essentially the same premise created an interesting repetition-themed meta-experience; beneath the sameness, each film had different answers to some basic structural questions:

1. How many times does the loop repeat over the course of the story? A (perhaps very) small number? A (perhaps very) large one?

2. How long does one iteration of the loop take? Is it always the same length?

3. Does anyone but the protagonist perceive the loop? Is anybody else trapped in it?

4. Does anything persist between loop iterations aside from the protagonist’s memory?

5. Does the protagonist meet or otherwise overlap with their past or future self in the loop? Do they initially realise it?

6. Does the film show us the beginning of the loop or start in medias res?

7. Is the cause of the loop within the scope of the plot? Is it (in fictional principle) explicable?

8. Does the protagonist break the loop? How? Do they have a goal aside from escaping the loop?

9. Does the protagonist die in some iterations of the loop? Every iteration? Do they die intentionally?

10. Is every iteration identical or do events change independently of the protagonist’s actions?

11. Is there a single loop or nested/successive/overlapping loops?

Often the revelation of an answer to one or more of these questions is the most interesting bit of the film. I had fun coming up with new time loop story ideas by making novel combinations of answers. If you use this system to generate an award-winning screenplay then please tell and optionally pay me.

I ruled out a few candidate films (e.g. Looper, Primer, Donnie Darko) which in one way or another weren’t really about being stuck in a time loop. I now realise that Wikipedia has a whole page of other possibilities so maybe I could plan another season with slightly different criteria.

I think Groundhog Day is probably the best.

After months of avoiding regular exercise because of, I dunno, back and kidney and wrist pain I suppose, I started exercising again this week. It doesn’t feel safe to go to the gym yet but I have enough equipment at home to be able to get on with it. My muscles are now very sore but I’m glad to be feeling pain that is at least intentionally self-inflicted.

On my penultimate Friday off I cycled to Sydenham to hang out with Alice in a park. This involved more physical exertion in two hours than I’ve experienced in the previous six months combined which probably wasn’t a brilliant idea on a windy day with a face mask on but it was worth the back sweat to see my friend.

Only one four-day week left. And then another one immediately because of the bank holiday.