Days 2330 – 2343

 Aka Monday 5^th April 2021 - Sunday 18^th April 2021

I’m still catching up with this blog, still working one week in the office and one week at home, so this’ll be another brief one and it’ll cover a whole fortnight <shock, horror> 😊…and during the fortnight the postman delivered my new Converse:

…previous Converse have worn out fairly quickly, within six months they were fraying and the soles and been worn through in a couple of places, so I’m going to keep a watchful eye on this pair and maybe, if they wear out early, I’ll get some Vans instead, just to see if they are longer lasting… the postman also delivered some comics:

…this month’s excellent Kyle Starks Sticker Club stickers were also delivered:

…as was Bill Drummond's ‘Ration Book’ book (which came with a free short story):

…I’m big fan of Bill Drummond past books and works, so looking forward to reading us…and I brought and watched ‘Synchronic’:

…which is a weird little sci-fi tale that uses the idea of a drug which causes its users to travel back in time to explore the bonds of friendship and sacrifice. A film that gets you in the feels.

…and I read loads of comics:

…‘Full Tilt Boogie’:

…an entertaining tale which continues the story of Tee, a bounty hunter, her grandmother and cat as they journey through a far-future universe.

…‘Firefly’ #25 & #26:

…are set a few years in the future and seem to be set after the Dark Horse comics (or maybe that’s because the last arc touched on similar themes to the last (few) arc(s) of the Dark Horse comics), with the crew of the Serenity spilt up and having to survive and adapt to their new situations. Which does re-energise things and it’ll be interesting to see way their go with it.

…'Buffy' #22 & #23 and ‘Faith’ #1:

…which are perfectly serviceable stories, but I’m left wondering how much I would miss them if I stopped reading them. I guess I’m asking if I’m getting enough bang from my bucks. Something to ponder on.

…‘Henchgirl – Expanded’:

…’Henchgirl’ is the story of Mary Posa, a middle-rung villain, working for Monsieur Butterfly. Kristen Gudsnuk uses superhero tropes to look at what life is like when you’re in your twenties and stuck in a job, which isn’t best for you, but also pays you enough to have a mostly enjoyable life. It’s chock-full of humour and feelings and should be read by everyone, especially now that it’s been expanded with new comics/pages!

…read ‘Batman: Black and White’ #4 and ‘Detective Comics’ #1027:

…both are anthologies containing some outstanding stories told by outstanding creators, including plenty of new names to follow (or at least new to me). I’ve more or less given up on mainstream superhero comics/DC & Marvel, but these books make me think that I should at least be picking up the anthologies, because there are great creators in these books, whose solo-book work I wouldn’t have picked up. For example, I got ‘Batman: Black and White’ #4 for Becky Cloonan and Chip Zdarsky’s sories, but I was blown away by Karl Kerschl’s work and re-introduced to Daniel Warren Johnson.

…and ‘Green Lantern: Season 2’ #3 - #12:

…concluding Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp’s epic space-opera, and epic doesn’t seem grand enough word to use. But the art and writing are beautiful, I look at some of the individual panels and can’t begin to understand how they were created. The story touches on themes from ‘Seven Soldiers’, of future/higher creatures/generations playing with the past/present for their own ends. A totally engrossing read.

…on Monday 12^th April 2021 non-essential shops were allowed to open again!!! Which meant that I was able to pop to the shops and pick up this week’s New Comic Book Day comics:

…get this month’s Uncut magazine:

…which had a nice Q&A with Jason Pierce from Spiritualized, but the cover CD, covers of Dylan tunes, is a bit meh, none of the songs really stand out as being worth having. And I got ‘Bob Stanley Presents 76 In The Shade’ compilation:

…which I have listened too and can’t really remember any of the songs as being outstanding. I enjoyed it while I was listening to it, but a few weeks later I can’t remember any of the songs…

…and I went for a Long Walk:

…and I ended the fortnight having a panic attack (on 18^th April), which I haven’t had or felt near too in ages. It was just a complete feeling of something terrible about to happen, that I would shortly die. Not a nice feeling at well and one that screws up the whole day and beyond, the attack itself only lasted for a few hours, but the aftermath was felt for several weeks after. Just being in a state of worry that at any moment I would suffer another attack. But I know what can trigger them and how to handle them, so hopefully I won’t have another one for a good long while and if I do I’ll be able to minimise how much it affects me…

…and I did this fortnight’s G2 Crosswords:

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a grand start as we only had to cheat on a thirteenth of the clues (two out of 26). The little grey cells were just knocking it out of the park and we learnt that ‘Morecambe’ is a ‘Lancashire seaside resort’ and that ‘Stevenson’ was the ‘Treasure Island author’ (which we recognised as soon as we clicked on reveal, but sometimes these things are too far back in the old memory)…

…Tuesday’s crossword goes almost as well, we had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 24). Although we should have gotten ‘rebuffs’ from ‘snubs’, it was another powerful performance and we learnt that ‘augury’ means ‘sign of important things to come’…

…Wednesday’s crossword went a tad worse and we had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 24). I think the little grey cells were a little worn out today, but we did learn that a ‘marshmallow’ is a ‘pink-flowered plant – confectionary item’, that ‘Otalgia’ is a ‘pain in the middle or inner ear’ and that ‘fungous’ means ‘resembling mushrooms or toadstools’…

…and the terribleness continues with Thursday’s crossword, as we had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (five out of 21). At this rate we’ll have to cheat on all the clues for Saturday’s crossword! I’ll have to give the little grey cells a rest today, so they can get back up to speed. But we did learn that ‘Franz Schubert’ composed the Trout Quintet, that ‘billet-doux’ means ‘love letter’ and ‘deign’ means ‘condescend’. Hopefully tomorrow will go better…

…but things pick up with Friday’s crossword, as we only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 23). Looks like the little grey cells have bounced back! And we learnt that ‘Dortmund’ is the ‘largest city in Westphalia, with a top flight football team’ and ‘Ishiguro’ is the ‘The Remains Of The Day author’…

…and things fall down again with Saturday’s crossword, we had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (five out of 21). I guess the little grey cells hadn’t fully bounced back! Especially as we should have gotten most of those five, but we did learn that ‘anodyne’ can mean ‘painkiller’ and that an ‘eland’ is a ‘spiral-horned antelope’…

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to an okay, shaky start, as we had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 23). But on the bright side two of the four we had no knowledge or and no real way of guessing, so we learnt that a ‘theodolite’ is a surveying instrument’, that ‘Serbia’ is a ‘country formerly part of Yugoslavia’ (which we should have guessed) and that a ‘cowl’ is the ‘hinged metal cover of an engine’ and not just something superhero wears…

…Tuesday’s crossword went better; the little grey cells were on lighting form and we only had to cheat on am eighth of the clues (there out of 23). We did get stuck on ‘that being the case…’, thinking that the answer was Latin and not the simple, straight-forward ‘if so’, we re-learnt  that ‘Elba’ is the ‘Island that Napoleon was exiled in 1814’, and we learnt that ‘narcissi’ are ‘spring-flowering plants’…

…the middling approach continues with Wednesday’s crossword as we had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 25). I think the pollen season is getting to the little grey cells and making them sluggish. But we did learn that a ‘beryl’ is a ‘precious stone’ and that ‘piano’ is the ‘opposite of forte’…

…and the continuing continues with Thursday’s crossword, we had to cheat on a seventh of the clues (three out of 21). Not bad, but not great, like we should have gotten ‘Gainsborough’ from ‘Lincolnshire town – 18^th Century painter, but we did learn that ‘Aristophanes’ was a ‘Greek comedy playwright, d. c.385 BC’…

…and the pollen strikes with Friday’s crossword, as we had to cheat on nearly a third of the clues. Not a good performance at all. We just could not get a handle on this grid, the little grey cells were too knocked out and we missed straight forward ones like ‘Redwood’ from ‘Sequoia’. But we did learn that ‘excoriate’ means ‘criticise severely’, that a ‘cantata’ is a ‘vocal composition, typically with choir and orchestra’, and that ‘Hyderabad’ is a ‘city in India and Pakistan’…

…and the hayfever tablets kick in and Saturday’s crossword goes better as we only had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (three out of 18). Not great, but much better than yesterday! And we learnt ‘raiment’ means ‘apparel’ and that ‘remainder’ can mean ‘balance’…