Programming note: On Sunday at 5.30pm British Summer Time/12.30pm North American Eastern, Steyn's Song of the Week airs on Serenade Radio. I hope you'll want to join us: you can listen from almost anywhere on the planet right here.
Meanwhile, we continue our latest Tale for Our Time: a summer diversion on a theme of H G Wells. In tonight's episode of Out of Time, our Victorian time-traveler discovers he's off for a day at the Albert Hall:
She was taking part in the "de-radicalisation" symposium at the Royal Albert Hall. Five years ago she had done a module in mutual dialogue, and so they had asked her to help "de-radicalise" a terrorist. He had been on his way to blow up Westminster Bridge but had prematurely self-detonated at Ealing Broadway and lost his hand. One's eligibility for parole could be advanced if one agreed to participate in De-Radicalisation Class.
"He aced it, he really did," said Weena, with maternal affection. "I'm so proud of Shaheed."
"Where's he from?" I asked.
"Leamington Spa."
"No, I mean: where's he really from?"
"Oh, you!" she said, and gave my arm a playful thwack with her lanyard. "Maybe we should sign you up for De-Radicalisation Class, you rigid old nineteenth-century racist you."
If you're a member of The Mark Steyn Club you can hear Part Fourteen of Out of Time simply by clicking here and logging-in. All previous episodes can be found here - so you can choose whether to follow each night twenty minutes before you lower your lamp, or save them up for a weekend binge-listen.
Thank you for your kind comments on this summer diversion. If you're one of those Steyn Clubbers who are a couple of episodes behind but who reads these notes ahead of listening, we need to append a potential Plot Spoiler warning to what follows:
After Thursday's cliffhanger ending and Friday's episode, David Kelley-Wood, a First Day Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club (and formerly our man in Wuhan), says:
So, our time traveler is still 'hanging' with his 'lady,' who in my mind's eye has 'transitioned' from Yvette Mimieux into Jaye Davidson. Will need to strap in (or, is it on?) for the rest of this increasingly strange ride.
Don't forget, David, that our Victorian time-traveler is (as he often says) a "man of science". So his assumption is that this is a genetic evolution of some sort. The idea of a "developed world" so developed that by choice it mutilates the bodies of middle-schoolers and renders them infertile is so horrific it would not occur to him.
Steyn Clubber Sal Tessio adds:
Moments such as the one protagonist experiences at the end of this episode were first introduced to the masses via the film, The Crying Game (Neil Jordan, 1992). And while to the uninitiated something like that may come as a shock, it's old hat to younger folks in this generation. Going out on a date these days is probably something akin to Wheel of Fortune. Where the wheel lands at the end of the night, who knows?
Don't judge though people. Different strokes for different folks! If I were to give a piece of advice to the protagonist in Mark's story I'd say, "Lie back and imagine the future that Klaus Schwab is building for us." It's chock full of surprises for sure.
One more from J B, a Steyn Clubber in Montana:
The Crying Game has been mentioned, but it is not alone.
Sleepaway Camp (1983) has a surprising ending which, with the events of the rest of the film, make it a valuable cautionary tale for our time. It is also Mike Kellin's last film.
Sleepaway Camp is one of those films that seems more pertinent in hindsight than it was at the time, J B.
Oddly enough, it's not that or The Crying Game I tend to think of, but Naked Gun 33 1/3 . Leslie Nielsen is undercover as Phil Donahue backstage at the Oscars, and trying to stay one step ahead of Anna Nicole Smith:
I wish they'd left the end on that clip: He rushes out on the Academy Awards stage, leans over into the orchestra pit and vomits into the tuba.
Is that scene still in the streaming version? Enjoy it while you can.
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