Aka Monday 13th
April - Sunday 19th April 2020
A very quiet week
this week, which started with a Bank Holiday, a Bank Holiday that we couldn’t
really enjoy, given the Lockdown, no meeting with family and/or friends to
catch-up, have a bite to eat and a few drinks. The most exciting thing I did
this Bank Holiday is my big weekly shop…and it’s weird how some people are
still not bothering with social distancing and how difficult it is to do social
distancing in a shop (and in an office)…and then the next day it was back to
working in the office…and it was really good to get out of home for a good few
hours and to actually catch up face to face with people I’m not related too!!!
Even if we got a few hours in the office. We had to leave around lunchtime, as
all the work we needed to do in the office was done by then, and we carried on
working from home for the rest of the day. Which was/is a bit weird because once
you leave the office you think work is done for the day, but in this case, it
is only half done…
…and it is a very
enjoyable, and chilling, read as we see Alix coping with the aftermath of a
traumatic event (we don’t find out what the event actually was till near the
end), except not coping is probably a better description. Which ends with Alix
ending up in a psychiatric hospital/unit and we follow Alix as she experiences
the mental health system and tries to process her trauma. There’s a nice scene
involving a patient giving Alix a Tarot reading, which beautifully balances the
supernatural and the real world and how they can be become blurred when one is
unwell. ‘Barking’ kinda reminds me a bit of Arkham Asylum if you stripped away
the superheroics.
I won’t say any more
about the story so that I don’t spoil it for you, but I will say that the story
is very relatable, even if we haven’t experienced it to the same extent as Alix
has. And the art and lettering are beautiful with hints of Bill Sienkiewicz,
Dave McKean and John Hicklenton, and together they perfectly capture the
altered reality of being mentally unwell, when the real world gets distorted
(although the distortions sometimes show a greater reality than reality) and
you become adrift. The biggest problem with ‘Barking’ is that I do not
have the ability to properly convey how good it is. 10/10.
…I also read ‘Test’
#4 and #5 (written by Christopher Sebela, art by Jen Hickman, colours by Harry
Saxon and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou):
…and it was an
interesting conclusion to this story about technology and the future, and how
we can miss the present by focusing on getting to the future and assuming that technology
will complete us or allow us to be whole/fulfilled. But it had been a good few
months since I read the first three issues and I may be missing some points or misunderstanding
them. So, a re-read is defo in order. Putting my hazy recollection aside this
was an enjoyable conclusion, great art and an involved story that makes you
think. 7/10.
…and on Saturday I
went for a Long Walk:
…and I did this
week’s G2 Crosswords:
…and we’re off to a great start with Monday’s crossword, as
we only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 24). A bit annoyed
that we forgot what a ‘bodega’ is (a ‘small shop in Spain selling wine and
groceries’) and that we went for ‘unlease’ for ‘release’ and not ‘unloose’, but
a nice continuation of last week’s hot streak…
…and we take a little tumble with Tuesday’s crossword,
having to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 24). Lack of sleep and
general virus anxiety has made the little grey cells a wee bit knackered, ‘cos
we should have gotten at least three of those four, but we did learn that
‘oxcart’ is one word, not two and is not spelt ‘ox-cart’…
…and we bounce back with Wednesday’s crossword as we only
had to cheat on an eleventh of the clues (two out of 21). The little grey cells
either got an early night last night or they’re getting used to the Lockdown
and its accompanying lack of sleep and anxiety! But we learnt that ‘inviolable’
can also mean ‘sacrosanct’ and that a ship’s compass is housed in a ‘binnacle’…
…and Thursday’s crossword maintains the upswing as we only
had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 23) and it would have been a
clean sweep if we hadn’t rushed a couple of our answers, we went for ‘plinth’
instead of ‘pillar’ for ‘column’ and for ‘axle’ instead of ‘axis’ for ‘central
point of a rotation’…
…and Friday’s crossword brings another tumble, as we had to
cheat on a quarter of the clues (five out of 21). This grid was a right
nightmare, some answers came easily, but the majority went kicking and
screaming and some never came. Which means that we learnt that ‘anthracite’ is
‘high-grade hard coal’, that a ‘concerti’ is a ‘composition for orchestra and
soloist(s)’, that a ‘torte’ is an ‘Austrian cake with cream, fruit or nuts’ and
that a ‘chapeau’ is a ‘fashionable hat’…
…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on a meh note, not
so much a hot streak this week, rather a lukewarm streak, as we had to cheat on
a sixth of the clues (four out of 23). This grid was a bit of a nightmare as
well, a few were straight forward, and it took ages to get the rest (except for
those four). And three of the four we should have got, for ‘sanctioned’ we went
for ‘legit’, but the answer was ‘licit’, for ‘eyrie resident’ we went for
‘eagles’ instead of ‘eaglet’ (plus we now know what a baby eagle is called 😊)
and for ‘swimming underwater without breathing equipment’ we went for ‘free
diving’ instead of ‘skin diving’ ☹. And we learnt that ‘unction’ means smarm and balm…
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