Days 1003 - 1009

Aka Monday 28^th October 2019 - Sunday 3^rd November 2019

 

A quiet week this week, during which I...

…brought ‘The Wichita Lineman’, a biography about the song ‘Wichita Lineman’, which is one of my favourite songs, especially the These Animal Men version:

…although I’m still reading ‘Ghoster’ and have a ton of other books to read first!!! …well a did finish ‘Ghoster’ a few days later and I really enjoyed it.

‘Ghoster’ is about Kate Collins, who was meant to be moving in with her boyfriend, Scott, except that he has vanished, along with all his possessions, except for his phone. And it’s his phone that Kate uses to try to find Scott, a search that leads Kate down a dark path. 

 

Jason Arnopp has done a great job of building tension and dread through his story, at first it feels like this is a story about dependence and the digital world and how it affect us, with Kate’s addiction to social media and her use of Scott’s phone making her “crazy” and driving her to act rashly and dangerously, but slowly and slowly the supernatural elements come through, and like the ‘60’s and ‘70’s demon/Satanic horror films, we realise that it’s not all in Kate’s head and that there has been a demonic hand at play, with Kate caught like a fly in a web. 

I’m still not sure if I like the end though, while the ending is true to the preceding story and is fittingly horrific, through the preceding 450 or so pages I’d grow to care for Kate and I was left wishing that she had a happier end, even through it would have been a kinda cheat/cop-out ending.  A testament to how well Mr Arnopp writes characters who feel like real people.

In addition to a great story, ‘Ghoster’ is also well designed. From the cover looking like the front of a smart phone, to the use of SMS style boxes to present some of the text to the short chapters, reflecting our shorter attention spans and how media is presented to us in shorter chucks in the modern age.

…and on Friday 1^st November 2019 I officially became a permanent member of staff, which is a bit of a relief, I now have a bit more stability and security and paid sick leave!…and I brought the Bob Dylan album with Johnny Cash, Travelin' Thru, 1967- 1969: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15,

to celebrate:

…I don’t really consider myself to be a Bob Dylan (Johnny Cash was the attraction for me get this boxset), but I really liked these Dylan songs/outtakes and I’m considering getting the albums that are covered in this boxset. There is a great since of mutal respect and fun on the songs that Dylan and Cash duet on and the songs themselves range between straight up country to funky rock ‘n’ roll, with a great version of ‘Lay Lady Lay’, which is almost as good as the Magnet and Gemma Hayes version…

…and when I got back home on Friday I had the latest Seahawks album, 'Celestial Railroads', a collaboration with Woo, waiting for me (although I still haven’t had a chance to listen to it, or the bonus mix CD, yet):

…and I got these New Comic Book Day gems:

...and the latest ‘Lego Batman’ magazine, for the Lego Joker:

…and I did this week’s G2 Crosswords:

…and Halloween week gets off to a great start with Monday’s crossword as I don’t have to cheat on any of 24 clues. It was a little tricky getting started, but pretty soon the little grey cells were slashing their way through the clues like Michael/The Shape! But will this continue for tomorrow, will it be Halloween II (1981) or Halloween II (2009)?...

…and Tuesday’s crossword goes almost as well, with the little grey cells slashing through the clues like an unrelenting Michael/The Shape, with only a tenth surviving (two out of 21). Mostly due to my lack of classical literature knowledge, I didn’t get ‘Dickens’ for ‘author of Our Mutual Friend, d.1870’ and I really should have just guessed ‘Dickens’ rather than giving up and assuming that I didn’t know. But that’s just a minor quibble in what has been a great start to the week…

…and things take a turn for the worse with Wednesday’s crossword as I had to cheat on nearly a third of the clues (seven out of 23). The little grey cells must have used up all of their juice at the start of the week and now the clues are acting like Michael/The Shape and having at the little grey cells! Looking back, I feel so stoopid for missing those seven clues/answers, like how could I not get ‘ravine’ from ‘deep, narrow gorge’!...

…and things take a turn for the better with Thursday’s crossword, the little grey cells have recouped, and we only had to cheat on a seventh of the clues (three out of 21). I’m a little unsure about ‘one who hunts down and confines another’ is the best clue for ‘captor’, or maybe I think that because I was stuck thinking about bounty hunters??? But I did learn that ‘Draco’ was a ‘7^th-century BC Athenian whose law code imposed death for even trivial offences’…

…progress on Friday’s crossword is a little mediocre, as I had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 23), which isn’t bad, but isn’t great. It was a bit of a struggle to get started, but once I was started the little grey cells had an okay time figuring out the clues, especially when there were some intersecting/shared letters to help them along…

…and Saturday’s crossword continued the mehness and ends the week on an okay note, as, again, I had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 23). I guess the little grey cells are a little tuckered out from the great start to the week, but I did learn that ‘laic’ means ‘secular’, that ‘Nash’ was the ‘architect of Buckingham Palace, d.1835’ and that ‘Elijah’ was a ‘Hebrew prophet who rebuked Ahab and Jezebel’.