Elton John and Jared Diamond

I went to see Rocketman yesterday and really enjoyed it. I liked the framing narrative and the progression of Elton from normal to outlandish and back again throughout the timeline of the film. The performances were great (always good to see Jamie Bell), the music was brilliant, the visuals were spectacular, and I thought the blending of fantasy and reality worked really well. Once the downward spiral began, it did go on a bit too long and got a bit repetitive, but overall I thought it was great and was really glad I went to see it. My only criticism would be that the story formula was overly familiar - but that's more a statment of sadness at how many people who have great success also experience a lot of self-destructive suffering than a problem with the film itself.


Later, I went to an Intelligence Squared event, where Jared Diamond was talking about his new book, Upheaval. I've enjoyed the books of his I've read in the past and I thought it was a really interesting idea to apply personal therpeutic methods to national crises. Jared's presentation about the book was interesting and the discussion with the reporter afterwards was also good, though he didn't seem as prepared to answer questions as I would have expected. Still, it was an interesting event and I'll probably pick up the book at some point because it sounds like something I would enjoy.