Aka Monday 5th October - Sunday 18th October 2020
This fortnight I did a bit of work, did a bit of not working, had a couple of days off as annual leave, watched a bit of TV and some films, and as I’m still behind (but only by a month now) I’m going to whizz through the fortnight:
…my Kyle Starks ‘Doom Patrol’ stickers arrived. Kyle is an excellent writer and artist ('Rock Candy Mountain', 'Sexcastle',' Kill Them All' are all awesome and just the tip of what Mr Starks has created/co-created) and has started up a stickers club and Cliff & Crazy Jane are the first set:
…I finished reading ‘Dispatches’ by Michael Herr, which is about his experience as a correspondent during ’67 – ’69 covering the Vietnam War (aka the Second Indochina War aka the Resistance War Against America aka the American War) and it’s very evocative, makes you feel like you are there in the middle of the action and non-action. So much so it lead me to re-watching ‘Tour of Duty’ (some of which doesn’t stand up to a re-watch, but plenty that does) and listening to the music mentioned in the book (The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, The Stones, etc.). What was odd about reading ‘Dispatches’ is all the Vietnam tropes/ clichés, which obviously weren’t tropes/cliches at the time, but due to all the films, TV shows, comics, etc. about Vietnam they have become common place and clichés/tropes and it’s weird to read the source (or one of the sources) for these tropes/ clichés. A great read and no wonder it’s thought of as a classic:
…the postman delivered my copy of The Rolling Stones ‘Steel Wheels Live’ set:
…and it’s a weird watch. This is the Stones has they enter their “professional” period. The drug use and wild behaviour is now part of the background, no longer thrust into the spotlight. There are backing singers and musicians and the band are literally wearing office wear, like ties!!! It’s a great spectacle to watch, but the music has lost a little bit of its funk. At times it feels like the band are rushing through a song because they have such a huge setlist to get through and aren’t luxuriating in the playing. But then for some song, they do, like the old Stones are shining through. But with such classic songs, this does sound like a minor quibble.
…I also listened to the excellent ‘Under the Influence’ Vol. Seven and Vol. Eight, two double-disc sets of rare/underground soul and disco songs that get your feet and ass moving, trying to pull off Jamiroquai shapes!
…I also watched ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’, the follow-up to ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ (although the two series are not linked story-wise) and it was a great slow-burn ghost story (or should I say ghost stories!) with a great cast and an emotional and interwoven storyline. Well worth watching. I also re-watched ‘El Dorado’ and ‘Rio Bravo’ which kinda share the same story – a small town sheriff (played by John Wayne) under siege, with only a rag-tag group to help him – but with enough differences to make both enjoyable watches (maybe even comfort watches).
…I also brought the latest issue of ‘Electronic Sound’ for its article on Global Communication and their new boxset (and just to keep up to date with what music is being made and released):
…I also picked up this fortnight’s New Comic Book Day’s gems:
…and I read:
‘Hellblazer’ #8 - #10, and the greatness continues, some of the scariest and socially/politically aware Constantine stories since the character was created;
‘Archie vs Predator II’ #1 - #5, the fun follow-up to ‘Archie vs Predator’ and like all the best sequels the stakes are ramped up greatly, both Predators, more destruction and more hi-jinxes;
‘Witchblade’ #14 - #18, and the story concludes, and it’s not a bad conclusion – the Apocalypse is avoided, the baddies (most of them) are defeated and our hero is renewed in her determination to be a hero (but it does feel a little rushed, or maybe confused is a better way to describe it, as at times, it feels like a panel or two are missing).
…and I went for a Long Walk each week, the first week:
…and I did this fortnight’s G2 Crosswords:
…and the week is off to a fine start with Monday’s crossword as we only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 23). The little grey cells were lobbing the shots straight onto the green, with the ball bouncing into the hole. Except for two birdies. Or in other words we learnt that ‘vintners’ are ‘wine merchants’ and that ‘Lady Jane Grey’ was ‘The Nine Days’ Queen of England in July 1553’. Let’s hope that we can keep this up for the whole week…
…and Tuesday’s crossword goes a tad better, we only had to cheat on a thirteenth of the clues (two out of 25). No real trouble with the rough or sand pits for the little grey cells! And we learnt that ‘Nehru’ was a ‘Indian statesman, d.1964. Father of Mrs Indira Gandhi’ and that ‘humus’ is the ‘organic matter in soil’…
…and Wednesday’s crossword keeps up the streak, with only having to cheat on a twenty-first of the clues (one out of 21). The little grey cells have been on fire this week! Knocking the answers out like a young Tiger Woods. And we learnt that a ‘guinea’ was an ‘old gold coin, worth 21 shillings’…
…and strangely Thursday’s crossword doesn’t follow previous weeks and we haven’t stumbled, fallen over or done badly. We only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24), the little grey cells are missing the rough, keeping to the greens and getting many holes in ones. And we learnt that ‘Erica’ is both a “girl’s name” and is the “genus of roughly 857 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae”, including heather (although we should have gotten ‘lawful’ from ‘licit’ and ‘Thebes’ from ‘ancient Greek or Egyptian city)…
…and we’re still doing solidly with Friday’s crossword, only had to cheat on a ninth of the clues (two out of 18). The grid was a whizz to get through, aside from those two, so we learnt that ‘anon’ can mean ‘by and by’, we thought the clue was leaning towards anonymous, and that ‘Venus’ was the ‘Roman counterpart of Aphrodite’, seems that we didn’t listen enough to Bananarama when we were younger! But the little grey cells have only dropped a shot or two and are playing a solid round still, will it continue tomorrow? Hope so…
…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on a pretty good note, with only having to cheat on a tenth of the clues (two out of 19). It did take a few minutes longer to solve, but the little grey cells got hole in ones after hole in ones (except for two holes) and enjoyed a nice snifter. Although we were slightly annoyed that we didn’t get ‘book’ from ‘reserve’ and ‘toodle-oo’ from ‘ta-ta’, we thought it was ‘toodle-do’ and didn’t realise that the ‘oo’ had two o’s, but a pretty good week all in all…
…and Monday’s crossword goes okay, we had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 24) and had to chew over a good few of the clues before we solved them. So, an okay performance. And we learnt that a ‘threepenny bit’ is a ‘pre-decimal British coin’, that ‘Delphi’ was a ‘city of ancient Greece with an oracle (we knew that Delphi was an oracle, but not that it was also the name of a city and we should have taken a punt on it, but for some reason didn’t), and that ‘Grieg’ was the ‘Peter Gynt Suite composer’. Hopefully, the little grey cells are now warmed up and will be more up to speed for the rest of the week…
…things tick up with Tuesday’s crossword, we only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 23). The little grey cells have kicked in and are cruising along at top speed. The wind in our hair and killer tunes on the radio! And we learnt that ‘numismatics’ is the ‘study and collection of coins’ and that a ‘shingle’ is a ‘mass of small rounded pebbles’…
…and we continue cruising with Wednesday’s crossword, with just having to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 25). With the little grey cells notching up the answers in double time. Although we should have gotten ‘eco-friendly’ from green, we did learn that ‘Skopje’ is the ‘capital of North Macedonia’…
…and there’s a couple of splutters from the engine with Thursday’s crossword as we had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (five out of 24). And it’s a real annoyance that with our years of study we had forgotten that ‘streptomycin’ was the ‘first drug successfully used to treat tuberculosis’, but we’re happy to learn that ‘echt’ means ‘authentic’, that a ‘dovecote’ is a ‘pigeon shelter’ and that Mombasa is in Kenya…
…Friday’s crossword goes just fine, we just had to cheat on an eleventh of the clues (two out of 22), nothing but green lights all ahead! And we learnt that the plant ‘Spurge’ is part of the genus ‘euphorbia’ and that Stravinsky’s first name was ‘Igor’…
…and the engine conks out with Saturday’s crossword. A poor performance as we had to cheat on a quarter of the clues. The little greys cells were just stumped by too many of the clues. Like with ‘friction’ we got stuck thinking about physical friction between two surfaces, so didn’t even think anywhere near the answer of ‘animosity’. And we got too hooked up on specific skills with ‘skill(s) attained while living in uncultivated country’, so didn’t think about the catch-all term ‘bushcraft’. But we did learn that ‘coquette’ means ‘minx’ and that ‘sangfroid’ means ‘composure’…
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