Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!
The Summer of 1982 means only one thing to me: the first Football World Cup I can remember. I’d never before experienced the idea that different countries could play each other at sport. Across the duration of the tournament, I learned about all these nations out there. I learned about their different cultures – especially as expressed through their football. I got to see their different flags, and discovered that I was fascinated about why they had the colours/designs they had. When rivals met on the pitch, I got my first taste of geopolitics.
I mean, I also got to watch some football matches, but its an interest in flags that’s the real legacy.
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It’s just about possible that this year’s best supernatural TV series comes from Germany. It’s called Dark, it’s available on Netflix since December 1st, so it probably won’t be on any best of lists for this year. It should be. Dark borrows from some of the most favorite horror TV series of the last two or three years; it takes what it can use from the recent Twin Peaks, Les Revenants, True Detective, Stranger Things and others, and distils those borrowed spare parts for long enough to turn into its very own material. There are two things that make it worth your while: it tones down the supernatural element and focuses on its characters enough so it doesn’t have to rely on its McGuffin too much, and it creates its own atmosphere so well that it’s easy to forgive it a few shortcomings. It’s a slow series, ten episodes of about one hour, but some scenes are almost bristling with intensity. 
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 