Lust for Peace

Saturday was the day that I decided experiencing World War Two was preferable to being forced to listen to bad 'music'. Unable to tolerate the cacophony that is 'Crapchester Shite' - the local 'music' festival showcasing local 'musicians' that is held every year in the park across the road from my house - I decided to try and neutralise the sound by watching my DVD of Patton (or Patton: Lust For Glory if you saw it on its original UK release), at full volume. You know something - it worked. Three hours of George C Scott growling "You Goddamned sons of bitches" at General Montgomery, senior US commanders, his own men and, occasionally, the Germans, interspersed with extremely noisy tank battles, turned out to be far more melodic, and much kinder to my ears, than 'Crapchester Live'. Sadly, the row from across the road outlasted the movie by a couple of hours, but at least I managed to get some respite.

You know something else? I think I enjoyed Patton even more with the sound turned up to eleven than I do usually, (despite the movie's subject being a right wing reactionary US General, not to mention the whole thing being historically dubious, it rates as probably my favourite war film). Even the anachronistic tanks, (they're all post-war US built models), didn't trouble me at all this time around. (One day I'm going to set up a website where I chronicle all the military hardware inaccuracies in Hollywood war movies, especially with regard to tanks. It's a pet subject of mine, in case you hadn't realised). So there you have it, the irony of a war movie managing to bring me a degree of peace. Maybe next year I'll go one better and dress as General Patton before driving a real tank through 'Crapchester Shite' in my quest for peace and quiet.