Days 2372 - 2385

 Aka Monday 17^th May - Sunday 30^th May 2021

 As I’m catching up this will be a brief one. For the first week of this fortnight, I was on Annual Leave and celebrated by picking up my Lottery winnings:

…going for a Long Walk:

…and catching up on my comic book reading:

‘The Good Asian’ #1, an okay noir story, but nothing special, nothing that made we want to pick up #2

‘Die’ #1 - #16, a really enjoyable, fun and emotional read and I’m a bit annoyed that I waited so long before reading

‘Firefly’ #29, a solid issue continuing the further adventures of Serenity and her crew

‘Department of Truth’ #9, and the conspiracy and intrigue get deeper drawing you further into the story

‘Redline’ #1-5, a fun neo-noir set on Mars in the future

‘You Look Like Death’ #1-6, the oddball and touching solo adventures of Klaus/Séance from the Umbrella Academy

‘Moonshine’ #25, the horror continues as our various characters machinations continue, who is playing who?

…and my film/TV watching:

‘Saint Maud’, a slow burn horror, which expertly take sits time to build the tension

‘Pennyworth’ Season 2, nearly as good as the first season as things get darker and darker

 ‘Ready Or Not’, a fun b-movie treated as an A movie horror/thriller, well worth a watch

‘Tenet’, pretty disappointing, a good cast, but a dull, illogical/poorly explained story

…I also picked up this fortnights New Comic Book Day gems:

…I also found out that Nick Page aka Count Dubulah from Transglobal Underground (TGU), had passed away (Guardian obit). TGU were one of the first bands I saw live, and they expertly brought together dance music and world music…

...I also read ‘Babble On An' Ting’, a biography of The Orb/Alex Paterson, which was very disappointing. The writing style feels like a parody of Needs previous writing. The story is very much of Alex being ripped off by most of his band mates and record labels, that he was taken advantage off, that he was always the victim, but eventually things came round to him, that every song is brilliant, is a sonic-stiffie, with a bassline like Satan’s belly after a dodgy curry. The most interesting bit is when Needs is writing about Primal Scream’s ‘Higher Than The Sun’. He has Bobby explaining how the Scream took ‘Higher…’ to The Orb, who elevated to its classic status. But then he has Alex saying that ‘Higher…’ was an The Orb song that Bobby sang on. And because Needs is friends with both sides there’s no investigation, no looking into how there can be two different stories behind one song, about how one of them has to wrong/lying. It’s clear that Alex had a difficult childhood, but that’s no reason to gloss over and whitewash everything else. Like I said a really disappointing read.

…I also got my second Covid jab on Friday 28^th May 2021, and ever since I’ve been feeling under the weather. I can certainly sympathise with people who say that they are hesitant to get the jabs. I also got a bevy of music magazines:

…and I did this fortnight’s G2 Crosswords:

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a dodgy start. We totally forgot to check the intersecting letters when trying answers, which meant we had to cheat on over a quarter of the clues (seven out of 26). Like we went with ‘fist match’ and not ‘fist fight’ or ‘nudist’ not ‘nudism’, which we would have done if we had checked the intersecting letters <shaky head emoji> But if we put that to one side the little grey cells didn’t do too badly and hopefully the rest of the week goes smoother…

…Tuesday’s grid started off tough, we found it hard to get any of the clues, but then it just clicked, and we only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24). Probably because we took our time and remembered to check the intersecting letters, just missing out on two obvious answers. And we learnt that ‘ecru’ is another word for ‘beige’…

…and we stumble a little with Wednesday’s grid, having to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 24). For three of those four, we could never of even guessed the answers, so we learnt that ‘Gdansk’ is a ‘Polish city, birthplace of Solidarity’, that ‘calico’ is a ‘textile made form unbeached cotton’ and that Mustardseed and Peaseblossom are fairies, but the little grey cells were still a little sluggish, a little bit bleary eyed, maybe we need more rest and relaxation…

…the stumbling continues with Thursday’s grid, we had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (five out of 21). Three quarters of the grid came easily, like the answers just flowed, but as soon as got to the last quarter it was like hitting a brick wall and we just couldn’t figure out the clues, even with 1 across, where we had the answer in anagram form, we couldn’t work it out properly. We got the start, ‘irre…’ and the end ‘…able’, but couldn’t work out the middle. Very frustrating. But we did learn that ‘Primrose’ is a ‘creamy yellow flowering spring plant’ and that Caucasian Chalk Circle is a 1948 play by Brecht…

…and the stumbling dissipates with Friday’s grid, as we only had to cheat on one of the 23 clues, we didn’t know that ‘Scandium’ is a ‘soft silvery metal, Sc’, but the other 22 clues fell like dominoes, easy peasy style…

…and Saturday’s grid ends the week on a positive note as we only had to cheat on an eleventh of the clues (two out of 21). Again, easy peasy style! Although we should have gotten ‘unduly’ from ‘to an excessive degree’ and ‘enlarger’ from ‘piece of darkroom equipment’ (in combination with the intersecting letters)…

…and Monday’s crossword goes pretty well, we only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 23). The little grey cells took their time, didn’t go with our first guess and doubled-checking the intersecting letters. They powered through the clues, although we should have gotten ‘poison’ from ‘contaminate’, but we did learn that an ‘epicure’ is a ‘foodie’ and that ‘effrontery’ means ‘presumption’, not a bad start to the week…

…déjà vu strikes with Tuesday’s grid, again we only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 23). Although we should have done much better as, with a little extra thought we should have gotten ‘alive’ from ‘conscious’, ‘finite’ from ‘fixed’ and ‘scene’ from ‘embarrassing outburst’, but we just couldn’t make that cognitive leap from the clue to the answer, although the rest of the clues were pretty straight-forward to crack…

…things take a wobble with Wednesday’s grid and we had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (five out of 25). Some of the answers we just didn’t know, like ‘parvenu’ from ‘upstart’, or were too cryptic, like ‘port’ from ‘it could be vintage (or free!)’, but with the others we failed to make that cognitive leap. Maybe the warmer weather is affecting the little grey cells? Maybe they’re lounging around too much!…

…and the wobble turns into a hop, skip and jump with Thursday’s grid, as we only had to cheat on one of the 21 clues. The little grey cells sliced through the clues like butter, only failing on ‘stream powering a water wheel’ (which we first read as ‘steam powering a water wheel’), which we learnt is called a ‘mill race’…

…Friday’s grid goes okay, a bit meh, but not rubbish, as we had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 24). A couple of easy misses, but we did learn that a ‘Greek water nymph’ is a ‘Naiad’ and ‘Nacre’ is ‘Mother-of-pearl’…

…and the stumbling is massively back with Saturday’s grid, we had to cheat on nearly a third of the clues (five out of 18). It was a very chewy grid, and it was a struggle to get into its groove, there was no flowing to a completed grid, just stumbling. But we did learn that a ‘portico’ is a ‘covered entrance with columns’ and that ‘harum-scarum’ means ‘reckless (person)’ and we’re pretty steamed that we didn’t get ‘tea cosy’ from ‘it keeps pot hot’, we were too stuck on thinking around hot-pot and pot/weed to even think of tea pots!!!

Days 2358 - 2371

Aka Monday 3^rd May - Sunday 16^th May 2021

And I’m running behind again, so this’ll be a quick one. This was a quiet fortnight this fortnight, except for the last week, as my work laptop wouldn’t connect onto Work’s system from home. So, instead of spending the week working from home I spent one and a half days waiting for IT to sort out the problem, mostly spent waiting for them to get back in touch and a little time just watching the screen as they faffed about on my laptop changing settings, and not solving the problem, and the rest of the week was spent going into the office to work…and there were no Long Walks this fortnight,  but I made up for it with walking to and from work and up and down the office block…during which I picked up these New Comic Book Day gems:

…and got the reissue of the beautiful ‘Laser Guided Melodies’ by Spiritualized and ‘Foundations’ a compilation of tracks released on Deewee:

…I also picked ‘Possessor’, which looks like an intriguing sci-fi/horror film, the latest Empire magazine:

 

…and the postman delivered this month’s Kyle Starks Sticker Club stickers, ’Moof’ magazine and my copy of Rachael Smith's excellent ‘Quarantine Comix’:

…I also got this month’s Lego Star Wars and Batman Magazines:

…and watched ‘Nobody’, a really fun action flick, taking the ‘Taken’ template and adding a more nuanced approach and read ‘Kaijumax Season 6’ #1, a fun read setting up the final season of Kaijumax…and I did this fortnight’s G2 Crosswords:

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a solid flying start, we only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 23). The little grey cells were well rested after the weekend and monstered through the clues, only failing to get ‘hogwash’ from ‘claptrap’. And learning that ‘Tati’ was a ‘French comic actor and film maker, d.1982’ and that ‘Baku’ is a ‘port on the Caspian Sea, capital of Azerbaijan’...roll on the rest of the week’s grids…

…Tuesday’s grid goes just as well, we only having to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 23). The little grey cells are still flying and learning that ‘recalcitrant’ means ‘stubbornly resistant’, that a ‘salver’ is a ‘tray’ and that ‘Koblenz’ is a ‘city at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle’…

…things falter a little with Wednesday’s grid, we had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 25). The rain means no more soaring for the little grey cells ☹But we did learn that ‘nettled’ means ‘riled’ and that the ‘Cyclamen’ is a ‘plant of the primrose family with upswept petals and patterned leaves’…

…and things pick up a little with Thursday’s grid, cheating on only a seventh of the clues (three out of 21). The little grey cells getting back to their knife through butter manner. And we learnt a ‘Chandler’ is a ‘ship or boat equipment dealer’…

…and pick up a tad more with Friday’s grid, we only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24). The little grey cells ploughed through the clues, only hitting a brick wall with those three clues. But it does mean that we learnt that ‘Port Salut’ is a ‘semi-soft cow’s milk cheese from the Loire, developed by Trappist monks in the 19^th century’, that ‘Verdi’ was the ‘La Traviata composer’ and that ‘paisley’ is a ‘wool fabric with a colourful swirl pattern’…

…and things fall apart with Saturday’s grid, having to cheat on nearly a third of the clues (five out of 18). The little grey cells just couldn’t get to grips with the clues and it was a real struggle, missing some obvious answers. But, on the bright side, we learnt that ‘epigram’ means ‘quip’ and that ‘pernicious’ means ‘baneful’…roll on next week…

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a pretty dreadful start, we had to cheat on almost half the clues (nine out of 19). I don’t think we’ve had such a bad go around on a grid in ages. We just couldn’t get to grips with the grid and missing ones we shouldn’t, like ‘gargoyle’ from ‘grotesque waterspout’, but we did learn that ‘quixotic’ means ‘unrealistic’, that ‘quartz’ is a ‘hard mineral consisting of silicon dioxide in crystal form’, that an ‘Armadillo’ is a ‘burrowing mammal covered with strong horny plates’, that a ‘Kittiwake’ is a ‘small northern grey gull with a shrill cry sounding like its name’ and that ‘bhindi’ is the Hindi word for ‘okra’…

…things massively pick up with Tuesday’s grid, we only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24), but they couldn’t have gotten much worse! We learnt that ‘melange’ is another word for ‘miscellany’ and that the ‘Crimea’ is a ‘Black Sea peninsula’. Have the little grey cells bounced back? Let’s see…

…things worsen a tad with Wednesday’s grid, the little grey cells are not back up to full strength and we had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (six out of 23). But that does mean we learnt things today, like that ‘not written in a key’ means ‘atonal’, that ‘Vanuatu’ is a ‘South Pacific country, where Prince Philip was revered as a spiritual figure’ and that ‘arabica’ is a ‘type of coffee bean’…

…and things perk up with Thursday’s grid, we only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 25). The little grey cells cut through most of the clues like a hot knife through butter, learning that ‘umber’ is a ‘dark brown’ colour and a ‘nosegay’ is an ‘old-fashioned posy’…

…Friday’s grid goes nearly perfectly, the little grey cells are still firing on nearly all cylinders and we only had to cheat on two of the 24 clues, missing ‘sidestep’ from ‘dodge’ and ‘reassure’ from ‘hearten’. Have the little grey cells recovered from their rollercoaster, up-and-down ride of the last week or so? Let’s see…

…it looks like the little grey cells are back to their normal best, as we only had to cheat on an eleventh of the clues (two out of 22) for Saturday’s grid. Only missing ‘indirect’ from ‘oblique’ and learning that ‘fillip’ means ‘encouragement’, maybe the stress of this working week had fed into how we tackled these grids? But we seem to be back on solid ground…