Days 1166 - Day 1172

Aka Monday 6^th April - Sunday 12^th April 2020

 

More working from home, but this week it was Easter week, so we got Good Friday off, but it didn’t feel like a day off as, because of the lockdown, the days at home just feel like a Sunday from the ‘80’s, no where is open, about from a couple of food shops, and nowhere to go to…the only day that doesn’t feel like a Sunday is the day you do your weekly big food shop…and that’s mainly because it’s a change from being stuck indoors…

…I also had curly fries and fish fingers:

…which traditionally don’t go together, but I’d run out of supplies and all I had left were curly fries, fish fingers and salad leaves, so what can you do. And while each one is nice, together…they kinda don’t go together. The Southern Fried-ness of the curly fries doesn’t exactly sit with fish! In Lockdown the littlest thing can be become epic or dramatic, and play on you, way beyond what should be or would normally happen!

…I also did a chunk of comic book reading:

‘Jesusfreak’ (written by Joe Casey, art by Benjamin Marra, colour by Brad Simpson, design by Sonia Harris and letters by Russ Wooton) tells the story of Jesus as he comes to terms with his destiny and responsibilities, battles Romans and a demon, possibly the Devil himself, before become the Messiah. Described as a “two-fisted tale of historical heroism” ‘Jesusfreak’ is a fun combination of historic fiction and ‘70’s Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu comics. Blending what it was like to live in Biblical times with equal amounts of philosophy and kung-fu fights. What could have been a one-note joke, a kung-fu Jesus, is a fun and thought-provoking read (such as what it would be like to be preaching a belief that the authorities did not approve off). 8/10.

In ‘Moonshine’ #17 (written by Brian Azzarello, art & colours by Eduardo Risso, letters & design by Jared H. Fletcher, colour assist by Cristian Rossi and edited by Will Dennis) Jean-Baptiste gets his comeuppance and Delia shows her cunning and drive, has she takes back Lou. A dark, scary and sensual story that ends leaving Lou further down the road of magic, monsters and misery.  It’s basically Azzarello & Risso doing what they do best. 9/10.

Most of ‘The Batman’s Grave’ #6 (written by Warren Ellis, art by Bryan Hitch, colours by Alex Sinclair, letters by Richard Starkings, associated editor Andrew Marino and editor Marie Jarvins) is a big fight scene as Batman and Commissioner Gordon escape Arkham Asylum, with a locked down murder mystery coda, in which the victim may have solved the mystery! ‘The Batman’s Grave’ hits all my Batman buttons, there’s action, humour, mystery and detective work all going on. And it looks beautiful. From the writing, to the art, to the lettering to the design, it is all on point. 10/10.

‘Captain America: The End’ (written and illustrated by Erik Larsen, colours by Dono Sanchez-Almara and letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna) tells the last fight of Captain America. The Red Skull is dead, but his last act resulted in the release of a virus that changes people, making them crazy and violent, while changing them physically so that they look like the Red Skull. Cap has been battling these Red Skulls for years, trying to find a cure. There are echoes of ‘I Am Legend’ in Larsen’s fun tale, but Cap being Cap, there’s also a whole load of positivity. Who would have thought that the end of the world could be so life affirming! 7/10.

In ‘Kaijumax Season Five’ #2 (by Zander Cannon, colour assists by Jason Fischer, design by Dylan Todd with Zander Cannon and edited by Zack Soto) the main focus is on trial of Pikadon, letting Cannon play with Pokemon tropes (to great fun effect) we also get to see Sprinkles the Unidragon making his moves, which might cause future problems for Sharkmon and Ding Wing, although Sharkmon may be making counter-moves, or at least have his own plan for Sprinkles. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Kaijumax is “a near-masterpiece, making the experiences of monsters in prison so relatable and human” and issue 2 keeps up the high standard. 10/10.

…and a chunk of TV watching:

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been watching all four seasons of ‘She-Ra and the Princesses of Power’, a reboot/remake of the ‘80’s show. Masterminded by Noelle Stevenson, who created the outstanding comic ‘Nimona’. ‘She-Ra…’, in a nutshell, is about Adora, an orphan on the planet Etheria, who has been raised by the Horde, an army led by the evil Hordak. Things are looking good for Adora, she’s making Force Captain in the Horde, but she gets lost in the woods and finds a magical sword, which turns her into She-Ra. Adora soon realises that the Horde are the bad guys and she joins the Resistance and becomes best friends with Glimmer and Bow. And together they rebuild the Princess Alliance, a group of magical Princess, to oppose and defeat the Horde and Hordak. Which means that Adora is now pitched against her former best friend, Catra. With the betrayal Catra feels fuelling her to great heights of villainy.

‘She-Ra…’ is a really hopeful, positive and inspiring show, with a diverse cast of distinct characters, encompassing various body shapes, sexualities, and ethnicity, each with a distinct personality. And you can see why a certain section of fandom hates this reboot, it’s not about a sexy warrior princess doing sexy warrior things. Like ‘Nimona’ the show starts out with relatively simple storylines, but was it goes on, more complexity is added. Friends bicker and fight, and things are resolved at the end of the episode, resentments linger and fuel future stories, sacrifices are made, and life lessons learnt. But the core concept of friendship is always at the heart of the show, that we are stronger together and true friendships last no matter what. And there’s plenty of humour. 8/10.

‘Safe’, created by Harlen Coben, is about Tom Delaney’s search for his daughter, who has gone missing after she went to a house party, along with her boyfriend. The Delaney’s live in a gated community (in England) and has Tom searches for his daughter he uncovers a terrible secret (and some minor secrets) that will change the lives of many in the community. ‘Safe’ is an eight episode mini-series and I don’t want to say too much about the storyline, as it’s best to watch it unfold without spoilers. The show is well written, even when using some of the genres well-worn tropes, it brings a new spin or look at them. Plus, it has a killer cast (Michael C. Hall, Marc Warren, Hannah Arterton as Emma Castle, Amanda Abbington, Audrey Fleurot and Nigel Lindsay to name a few) who are a joy to watch. 8/10.

I liked ‘Safe’ so much that I’ve started watching ‘The Stranger’, also by Harlen Coben. I’ve only watched the first episode and twenty minutes of episode two and so far I’m liking it, a very intriguing story idea – that a stranger tells you about a secret that a loved one has, a secret that changes how you see them – that generates plenty of mystery and debate (like…how much do we really know about the people closest to us, should them doing something that “society” finds morally objectionable change our view of them, you should we  believe and who should we trust?).

…and I took in a couple of Long Walks, these are from Good Friday:

…which knackered my little toe a bit:

…and these are from Saturday (with my toe properly bandaged):

…and I’ve started growing a handlebar moustache (mostly out of Lockdown boredom):

…and I did this week’s G2 Crosswords:

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off with a bit of a stumble as we had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (six out of 24). I’m putting it down to not getting a good night’s sleep, leaving the little grey cells a bit beleaguered and ‘switched off’. And we missed a couple of easy ones, but we did learn that a male swan is called a cob and a female swan is called a pen, that the ‘trefoil’ is a ‘plant with clover-like leaves’, and that ‘aioli’ is a ‘garlicky mayonnaise’…

…but things kick up a gear with Tuesday’s crossword as the little grey cells are back on duty, cutting through the clues like a master lumberjack. We only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 23). But it means that we learnt that a ‘Dryad’ is a ‘wood nymph’ and that ‘otalgia’ is ‘earache’…

…and things continued to be kicked up with Wednesday’s crossword as we only had to cheat on none of the 25 clues! The master lumberjack little grey cells continue to hack through the clues, making log cabins everywhere…

…things take a bit of a tumble with Thursday’s crossword as we had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24). The little grey cells axe must be a little blunted! Annoyed that we forgot that ‘Aleppo’ is a the ‘largest city in Syria before the massive damage of the civil war’, but we did learn that ‘Kirsch’ is a ‘cherry brandy’ and that ‘Ibsen’ is the ‘author of The Master Builder, d. 1906’…   

…and the axe has been whetted and we only had to cheat on one twenty-second of the clues (one out of 22) for Friday’s crossword. And we nearly got the answer as well, the clue was ‘Protestant followers of a German theologian, d.1546’ and we went for ‘Lutherian’ instead of ‘Lutherans’, ah well…

…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on a high note, as the little grey cells, in their lumberjack finery, flannel shirts and suspenders, hacked through all the clues without the need to cheat on any of the 26 clues. It’s been a very good crossword week, but will it continue next week???

Days 1159 - 1165

Aka Monday 30^th March - Aka Sunday 5^th April 2020

 

…and it’s back to working in the office…

...in many ways it was business as usual, but there were only four of us in, with the other nine working from home, and the amount of post we got in was relatively low – Monday was about 75% normal levels and Tues to Friday varied between 5 – 50%…so it was pretty quick to deal with and we normally left at lunchtime (left to go home and work, no point staying the office when we don’t have to). The only ‘blip’ was on Monday, when we had to get 1,500 letters out to local businesses. Lots of printing and envelope stuffing! After work I’d enjoyed the garden, while the sun was still out, with a nice sausage sandwich and a few Blue Lagoons:

…'Barking' (by Lucy Sullivan) arrived with Thursday’s post:

…and it’s a beautiful book. I’ve only had a quick skim through, but the book itself feels hefty and solid, like it’ll last through the years and decades, and the art is gorgeous, being both realistic and abstract, often at the same time. It really captures the sense of being out of control, of being at a slight angle to the rest of the world. Now I just need to find the time where I can sit down and properly focus on the story!

(…and my ’How To Be A Feminist’ fanzines arrived two days later (which I’ll read after ‘Barking’)…)

…I also read ‘Snotgirl’ #15 and ‘Undiscovered County’ #5:

In ‘Snotgirl’ #15 (by Bryan Lee O’Malley and Leslie Hung, with colours by Rachael Cohen and lettering by Mare Odomo) we attend Normgirl’s wedding, which contains many pitfalls, including a forest fire and accidental food poisoning, Snotgirl and Coolgirl get together and have a heart-to-heart about their relationship, and the mystery of Coolgirl deepens. A nice issue which resolves some things and deepens some mysteries (I can’t say more without giving away spoilers). 7/10.

And in ‘Undiscovered Country’ #5 (written by Scott Synder & Charles Soule, art by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Leonardo Marcello Grassi, colours by Matt Wilson and lettering by Crank!) we learn more about Colonel Bukowski, as the rest of the team continue their escape from the Crawling Palace and we see more of the new United States of America. A nice enough issue, but one that does feel a tad ‘light’ and inconsequential compared to previous issues. 5/10.

…I also went for a Long Walk on Saturday:

…and watched ‘Pennyworth’ Season One over the weekend. I initially I wasn’t going to bother watching ‘Pennyworth’, as a series about the early days of Batman’s butler doesn’t feel like enthralling viewing. But I saw a tweet which mentioned that Alistair Crowley and the Devil make an appearance in the series and it hooked me. Made me give it a second chance. And I’m glad it did.

The Batman references (or at least the ones I noticed) are limited to three of the characters, Alfie aka Alfred pennyworth, who will become the Wayne’s butler, and Bruce Wayne/Batman’s parents, Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane. The references are so slim, you wonder if the show was originally created with no reference to Batman and they were added in later to secure funding for the show.

The show is like a mash-up of The Avengers (the UK ‘60’s TV show), The Prisoner, the Harry Palmer films, Minder and Guy Ritchie’s gangster films. Set in an alternative/heighted Britain (where people are still hung, drawn and quartered. And it’s broadcast live on TV) set in the early ‘60’s where Alfie (aka Alfred Pennyworth) has left the SAS and set up his own security firm, employing a couple of friends, also ex-SAS. During the show, as he tries to establish his business and marry his girlfriend, Alfie is drawn into a conflict between to underground political movements, the far-right Raven Society and the far-left No Name League, and ends up rescuing the Queen and saving the country form a coup. ‘Pennyworth’ manages to walk an odd line between fantasy (e.g. Aleister Crowley) and realism (the far-right coup) and feels unique in itself (even while reminding you of various existing shows/stories and using some clichéd story elements, such as the dead girlfriend and remote parents, which almost verge on soap opera) and deserves a wider audience. 9/10.

 

…and I did this week’s G2 Crosswords:

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a meh start, as we had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (five out of 23), but it does give us an Illuminati score!!! And we learnt that ‘countertenor’ is a ‘male singing voice’, but we should have gotten the other clues, we just didn’t give the grid enough time…

…and Tuesday’s crossword almost hits the stratosphere as we only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 25). This time the little grey cells and me took our time and chomped through the clues like Pacman! And we learnt that ‘mother-of-pearl’ is ‘nacre’ and we should have gotten ‘died’ from ‘pegged out’ but went for ‘tied’ instead. C’est la vie…

…Wednesday’s crossword wobbled a little and we had to cheat on a seventh of the clues (three out of 21), but that’s mainly because we didn’t know the answers for two of them – that ‘brio’ is ‘animation (Italian)’ and that ‘Titian’ was a ‘Venetian old master, d. 1575’ – the last one we got half right, for ‘listen to’ we went with ‘hear’, when we should have gone for ‘heed’…

…Thursday’s crossword takes a bigger wobble and we had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (six out of 24). Some we just got wrong – ‘statue’ and not ‘effigy’ for ‘sculpted figure of a person’ and ‘plenty’ not ‘masses’ for ‘lots of lots’, but we did learn that ‘Exmoor’ is a national park and in the South-West of England, I always thought it was up North! And that a ‘chaplet’ is a ‘garland for the head’ and that a ‘banquette’ is an ‘upholstered bench’…

…and Friday’s crossword took an upswing and we only had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (three out of 18), would have done better but we drop the ball a little, going for ‘Bordeaux’ and not ‘Burgundy’ for ‘French wine region’, and ‘freedom’ not ‘liberty’ for ‘independence’ ad we didn’t think laterally enough to get ‘tabulate’ from ‘arrange in order’…

…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on a high note as we only had to cheat on one of the 19 clues, ‘Greek dish of lamb, baked on the bone’, which is called kleftiko’, the rest of the clues were easy peasy for the little grey cells to plough through…