The sixty-third classical recording: #390 Johan Strauss II - Fledermaus
It’s always better - though not always feasible - to see operas and ballets live. Even when they’re in German with French subtitles, the performance adds enough to draw you in. The youthful performance from the French national opera that we saw in Paris did so. I have some knowledge of both languages - enough to keep up with the main plot through both - and enjoyed myself.
Fledermaus is a lighter operetta, with a lot of humour written into the libretto and more opportunities for the performers to show off. The music isn’t as whimsical, but the at times bombastic score sets the tone quite well. The waltzes are instantly familiar and it’s amazing to see how many of them are pieces we knew. It sounded amazing, and the younger performers’ energy is what suits it perfectly.
The sixty-first comic: #676 Stray Bullets
Stray Bullets is one of those comics that feel a bit weird reading on the train. Not as much the cartoon boobs - they're rare and easily hidden - but it gets incredibly violent. Probably more interesting is the psychological arc of Ginny, a girl who doesn't get along with her mother, runs away and gets involved with organized crime soon after she witnesses a murder and, a bit later, her father passes away. It's clear a bunch of bad things happen to her that makes her withdraw into her fantasy world, but at the same time for parts it's unclear what's fantasy and what's real. The simpler art style is effective at conveying that misdirection by treating it all equally and these passages are probably the best. Later issues becomes more grounded and, at the same time, more serious, with a grounded setting but messed up things that happen. It's a breathtaking read that we rushed through.
The one hundred seventh TV show: #833 Glee
We gave up Glee somewhere in season three, some time after we stopped really liking it. Returning to it didn't sit well with me. The songs feel more and more forced in, the presentation a bit off and not necessarily entertaining - probably an after effect of the setting in a high school, with typical high school drama that we've seen before and beats that feel like they get repeated here. The unique glee club hook feels like it doesn't hold up for longer - in part because the setting means characters have to move on, but don't get that chance. It gets too meta with some themed episodes, its messages are so banal they barely land for it and perhaps it's a show I'm too old for - I prefer a bit more nuance these days.
The one hundred twenty-ninth album: #129 Caetano Veloso - Caetano Veloso
I wasn't quite sure how to fit Os Mutantes into things here, but it feels clearer for Caetano Veloso. A lot of these songs feel like Bossa Nova, jazzy numbers with a more Brazilian sound, here sometimes drawing on psychedelic rock but it often feels calmer than that. It's nice, it works well as swinging in places, but doesn't feels as out there as some of the write up led me to believe. Eles, in particular, does feel different, but even then it layers an electric organ on top of an existing song - it feels like it's there to be odd, rather than to be an integral part. The songs all sound good, but I'm not sure the "foreign" additions really benefit the songs.
The one hundred sixth TV show: #871 Bob's Burgers
"How have you not written up Bob's Burgers, we watch it every week?" Because I hadn't thought about it, to be honest. It's an easy thing to fix though, going through some classic episodes on a Sunday morning.
The show is both quite grounded with the normal problems that (mostly) affect families - no celebrities, no trips into space or anything else like that. You instead get weirdly heightened and bizarre storylines that feel quite grounded, anchored by some excellent voice acting and weird characters. Even despite that, the show keeps its heart with a family that cares for each other and characters that continue to help each other. It always feels on and somehow keeps at the same level for a long time and I'm more wondering where else they can go with it.
The one hundred fifth TV show: #624 Winter Sonata
For this random pick, we ended up diving into another Korean show - we're a bit ahead on that now, but that's fine. It's a show that made us think about what we'd do in these circumstances and a show that made us feel a lot of things as we went through. It's a love story told over twenty episodes that has multiple car accidents, a big amnesia storyline and a few other twists that feel a bit bigger, but there is enough foreshadowing that it builds all of this quite well it works in context. Along there are a bunch of characters that we learn to love and hate. A lot of the conflict comes down from a lack of communication - possibly also the way relationships are dealt with in Korean culture.
The main thing that stands out from other dramas is the pace of plot and reveals. Just as your interest might be starting to fade a bit, the next step comes along - sometimes a big revelation, sometimes something smaller, but it feels like it keeps moving. The first two episodes are off that a bit, dragging a bit but setting up a lot that gets paid off in the next 18 episodes, while the end drags a bit because it needs to resolve a lot more (and there's one reveal that's set up so early that it feels like it could have come sooner), but overall it works quite well. Commit to get past the first bit and the rest of the series really unfolds well.
The one hundred twenty-eighth album: #128 Jeff Beck - Truth
WIth these rock bands, you have two groups. One is a collaborative effort, like the Beatles, where some might be more prolific, but it is at least nominally equal, on stage if not when creating the songs. Then we get something like Jeff Beck, backed by the Jeff Beck group. Here there is room for the other musicians, but the focus is still on the lead, in the music and vocals.
What the album gives us is a number of rock covers, with the distortion and loudness stepped up (not unlike Jimi Hendrix's sound), and reworks of classic blues songs where the same is done. The vocals sound on point for this style of hard rock and the heavy guitar soloes work well with them. Ol' Man River is a nice stand out track as well, where the heavier blues elements create a different sounds - still with the heavier sound, but not as intense as the other songs on the album. At the same time, Beck's Bolero, a solo number, is a magnificent tour de force that is purely instrumental, displaying some great guitar work. It's an album that has quite a bit of variation, but in the end feels like a powerful rock statement.
The sixtieth comic: #225 Steel Claw
The British publication Valliant Comics has spawned a bunch of on going series. Steel Claw is a story of an anti hero who first loses his hand, then gains the power to turn invisible when the steel claw that replaced that hand gets an electric charge. At first, that turns our titular Steel Claw into a villain, but later he becomes an anti hero and then general hero trying to protect others. Because of his limited powers (which gets expanded at one point, but it looks like that's temporary) he has to rely on himself far more, and with a ticking clock on his invisibility there's something less easy about his rescues. It's all still plot convenient, of course, but it plays with the concept in a way that only Iron Man really seems to do... and he's always got more gadgets. It feels, at least in the stories we read, quite down to earth, and that's what made for something quite different to read - supernatural, but not too far towards superhero comics.
The sixty-second classical recording: #612 Sergey Taneyev - Piano Quintet
While the previous recording had a clear story, today's quintet is more abstract, five pianists playing together accompanied by violins.There's something quite intense about it, at times as if the different instruments are fighting to be heard, while contrastring with places where the a single piano is slowly supported by one or two more. It goes between those delicate and bombastic moments, with the build up being as fascinating, it's not unearned or jarring.
The one hundred fourth TV show: #498 Space Ghost Coast To Coast
Looking at the list, our personal picks tend to lean towards the eclectic. Space Ghost Coast To Coast is technically a talk show, but with an animated cast, the celebrity interviews are little more than window dressing to hang weird jokes on. Answers are cut up with new questions around them to feed into the weird antics from Space Ghost and his sidekicks Zorak and Moltar. It's bizarre, even more so than something like Childrens Hospital, and clearly made on a budget to reuse material. It's funny, sometimes hilarious, sometimes just weirdly out there, but the sheer variety of ways the show goes is what really sets it apart.