Jeroen's Micro Blog

The tenth book: #10 The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes

It's quite clear to me now that while the knightly romances were popular in the 1500s, the real accomplishments (at least for me) are the satires and parodies of the genre. Unlike other books that are about virtues and morals and doing the right thing. Lazarillo, instead, is just concerned with stilling his hunger and pulling the wool over his masters' eyes to do so.

It's an incredibly entertaining read, with a nice arc through the indivdual tales. The chapters and stories get shorter as time goes on (a few masters are dismissed in three sentences) which actually means themes don't get revisited too much. Snappy and fun that way.

The twelfth TV show: #652 Venture Bros

Having regularly watched Archer (which will come up at some point in the future), the basics of adult animation are familiar to me. Venture Bros seems to be an early one introduced by Cartoon Network, at least of its 'generation'. Taking on the adventure animation stories from the past - Johnny Quest a clear inspiration, but the likes of Scooby Doo also present.

It's semi-serialized, individual adventures in a plotline. It quicly creates its own cast that expands beyond the Venture familiy, that gets referenced and returns whenever possible and plausible. What seem like one-joke characters quickly get their own longer storylines, creating a nice but messed up world.

One with a surprising amount of cartoon nudity. Somehow.

The nineteenth comic: #723 Road to Perdition

This was amazing. A long story about a boy and his father, a hitman for the mob in the 1920s. It is drawn amazingly, looking impressive in a black and white setting that feels like it fits the time it occurs in. But then it's the story that really impresses. The story of a hitman who loses favour with the boss is impressive, with several different detours that look good. The period detail is nice, but it's the characters that are well drawn and nuanced. A wonderful journey - violent, but somehow contained enough.

The ninth book: #9 Amadis of Gaul

Another knightly romance, Amadis of Gaul just didn't work for me. From the same era that Arthur's stories appeared in, this, too, is about an English knight (though no round table is involved) and there's some thematic similarities. It's a knight who's send out by his king and his wife, the princess, to get purity. He's the perfect knight, defeating those less good.

It's a chore to read. The characters didn't seem that interesting and the language is tortuous enough that I struggled trying to stay focused on the work. These romances don't seem to work for me.

The seventeenth comic: #796 Meanwhile

Choose your own adventure stories are interesting. The storyies tend to be shorter, but there's some excitement in knowing you have influenced what will happen. The lack of length - due to the number of entries that needs to be supported - is unfortunate however, either because choices are curtailed early or because they all have to be short. When comics are already short, this feels like it would get even worse.

Meanwhile pulls this off quite well, both by doubling back on itself and by densely packing its pages, using pictures in pictures and mixed panels to add reminders to the story. There's even room for a giant squid picture that doesn't link to anything else. The story itself makes use of this too, using time travel to reuse panels and link them together. Even then it creates an interesting story, with possibilities of a perfect future or a grandfather paradox style item that populates the world.

Or you just go home and enjoy your ice cream.

The eighteenth comic: #249 Fritz the Cat

Fritz the Cat, when seeing the title, reminded me of Felix the Cat, but this is obviously different. Fritz is an anti heron, in the comic we read (Bugs Out) clearly someone who messes up his life and that of those around him because he's surly after a bad break up. It's recognisable, anarchic in its setup, and fun to follow.

The artwork is a bit rough, something that suits the tone and feel of the comic - the character is rough and a bit off. There is some salacious contents, characters get drunk, use drugs and have sex. None of it is glorified or emphasized (something I understand the film adaption didn't handle as well), instead it's seen as part of the system.

Not laugh out funny, but very entertaining and interesting to read.

The tenth TV show: #983 Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

While trying to keep up with the Daily Show for a while, we saw John Oliver's tenure as Daily Show host for a while, so when he moved to HBO for his own show we followed and watched it. We've seen him create his own church, encourage people to take and post dick pics and recently take down Trump pretty effectively.

While funny, the longer time each week and lack of time reserved for an interview, means that it goes deeper into the topics. There are in-jokes, but it's all more subdued, using clips and expertly tuned rants to make a point, most of the jokes simply to enforce the point - often ending with a sketch that's funny enough, but also has you cheering.

It's an interesting dynasty of presenters that have come from the Daily Show, and Last Week Tonight feels like it's best - with every episode making a good viral video that spreads. Always a highlight of our week.

The eleventh TV show: #805 Only Connect

There is a difference in game shows. On one side, you have the difficult, smart shows that are difficult from start to finish, where you're not expected to go along because they are that difficult. On the other hand, you have the ones where you're expected to play along, the answers are easy and there's more a guessing game, a twist, or something similar - Family Feud for example. They are always in between there somewhere, with something like Pointless being pretty friendly, but having some more difficult questions in the final rounds.

Only Connect leans towards the smart show. You can absolutely play along, but it is unapologetically difficult, to the point where when they got a complaint that their Greek symbols used to select questions were too pretentious, they stepped it up by using Egyptian hieroglyphs instead. The questions are difficult - we really started struggling after the first round - but fun to follow along.

The host Victoria Coren Mitchell helps create that feeling. She clearly knows her stuff and gets visibly annoyed when people don't get it (something visible during the third round a few times), but lightens the mood with, usually, sarcastic comments and non sequiturs. It's delightful and being surprised by her (and, in the series we watched, clearly hungry and wanting alcohol) makes it human, understandable... and wanting to get it right to get the approval. Like that school teacher who knew how to keep you entertained (it's a good thing).

The ninth TV show: #984 Inside No. 9

We enjoyed both the League of Gentlemen (a future entry on the list) and Psychoville (which isn't, but should have been) - and so Inside No 9 has been on our watchlist for a while. It's an anthology series with each episode set at a number 9 - usually a home, but also once, for example, a cubicle.

More varied, it probably removes some of the pressure of having to switch between costumes while playing different characters, but the variety must have had its own challenges. And it works well. Each have their shocks or twists, but they allow for just as many experimental options - some are straight up scary stories, but having an episode with only one line of dialogue is just as good and impressive.

Few really lean towards the supernatural, while most just hint at it, it's the variety that keeps you on your toes. You can't predict where an episode will go (with even the episode descriptions misleading you at times) but it almost always pays off magnificently. Of the twelve episodes filmed so far, only one felt like a dud (the balloon), which is an amazing score.

Bring on the third season!

The sixteenth comic: #70 Mandrake the Magician

Mandrake the Magician is possibly the first superhero comic - it's debatable, but it's certainly a candidate. And it's a superhero in the realistic mold - although his command of hypnotism surpasses what's actually possible, and telepathy features in places, there's no super strength, no over the top displays of power, and it tries to make it all seem at least possible.

And it sort of shows. As a character, Mandrake is boring - he's the sort of boring 'perfect' man - polite, confident and universally beloved. There's just not much to it. And while other heroes sometimes started out this way too, they evolved, but Mandrake doesn't quite seem to have gotten there in the samples we've read. The sidekicks are there too. Narda is useless and unnecessary in most stories (although more useful in Doctor Congo) and Lothar starts off as a stereotype, becomes more interesting but still is the dumb, strong one.

The storylines are also a bit samey in places - crime is committed. Mandrake might be distracted or deflected (if long enough). Else he hypnotises someone or uses telepathy to get the secret out, scares them through varying means and captures them. As a clean newspaper series, it can't go any further than that.

Although stories are linked together, there's not much more continuity. I haven't spotted any recurring villains yet, for example, which could be down to my selection of stories, but doesn't lead anywhere else.

The fifteenth comic: #395 Garfield

"Hey, did you know you can find all the Garfield strips online?"

An hour later we read the minimum we wanted. And some more. You can too!

Garfield is such a mainstay in the comic field that it feels like there's little to say about it. The riffs on it - Garfield minus Garfield, and the unnamed trend that started around the same time that just removed Garfield's speech bubbles showing how expressive the cartoon is. Also, great to hear that Jim Davis is not only willing to let those projects be, but even embraces them and enjoys reading them.

Garfield is good, from the early comics to the most recent. It relies heavily on tropes and recurring gags, and while 'fresh' isn't the best word for it, it manages to find enough variation to keep the comics fun. It's all simple and recognisable, both because you recognise the behaviour from cats and because a lot of traits - like hating Mondays - are recognisable in general.

This means that what should be repetitive and boring because of it becomes more familiar - a well executed, nice part of the day - as a newspaper comic that has run for as long really should be.

The eighth book: #8 La Celestina

I suppose it was bound to happen. La Celestina was translated to English in the 1600. While it has been updated, the translation still has elements that show its age, having really just been updated for spelling and the like. The language can certainly feel a bit dated.

What makes this more noticeable, and the book possibly less penetrable to me, is that the story has been set up as a conversation (similar to, for example, Plato's dialogues) or arguments. It reads as a play, with less stage directions, and makes the writing feel more static. There are long monologues and actions don't stand out as much. It's not what I've been used to reading and I feel I might have missed out on parts of it.

Still, it's an interesting story - the basics are there, but the characters are painted effectively and are interesting enough.

The fourteenth comic: #334 Rose of Versailles

That was... different. I've read Japanese manga before for this list, and with the love themes as found in here - the lesbian angles felt similar to, but more serious than Genshiken - but historic works, fictionalized accounts are rarer. I've been there for books a few times now, but not for comics.

That historic angle wasn't necessarily the best for the work in all places. It provided me with some detail and facts I didn't know, or had half forgotten before. My history lessons on the subject are fifteen years or longer ago, so it's all a lot hazier than it used to be. But at the same time, it meant that character development was often curtailed. In particular, historical character were shown to learn from scenes, then later discarded that knowledge because the historical figure didn't learn it quite that way.

The more interesting characters are the fictional ones - the lead, Oscar, in particular. Originally a supporting character, she became the favourite in part because they didn't need to follow a historical line for them. It means that there is actual, consistent character development, as well as a more likeable character, something the manga struggles with for Queen Marie-Antoinette.

Another thing that was noticeable was how it romanticized everything - Robespierre and Napoleon are played far more sympathetically than they should, and they can't decide quite whether court life in Versailles is good or bad. For a large part you're meant to enjoy it, and the downside almost seems to be "if only you'd spend a bit less". It's an example of "Japan loves Paris", one of those cultural phenomenons, that this likely played into.

The manga wasn't aimed at me, and that's the feeling I had all the way through - I probably would have given up earlier if I didn't know there was the definite end, and wanted to see in particular how the final few volumes played out. On towards other things though!