Jeroen's Micro Blog

The thirty-third comic: #436 Squeak the Mouse

This comic was an awkward one to read on the train. A take off of the Tom & Jerry cartoons, as well as partial inspiration for Itchy & Scratchy, this comic is violent, gorey, with plenty of adult themes and a lot of zombie-like creatures. While normally, these cartoons have a lot of cartoon violence where nobody gets visibly hurt, there is a lot of blood, gore, people being torn apart and skulls carried under arms here. The other side is that there is a lot of nudity in here (aside from the main characters, most wear clothes) and several explicit sex scenes - not long ones, but still there, and they are slightly odd. It's vaguely played for humour, but it's still weird.

Beyond that, it follows through on the standard comic instincts, just with its own bend on these cartoon worlds. It's short, but that way it feels like it mostly doesn't wear out its welcome. Too much of it is gratuitous, but that's the point of it, and it balances it just well enough.

The thirty-second comic: #272 Ashita No Joe

This was a bit disappointing. I must admit I don't have a great feeling about sports based media, as I can't always connect, and the titular Joe is an arrogant ass who never becomes likeable. He doesn't really grow away from that either and I didn't see a point rooting for him. I kept wanting him to fail, because he would need to learn from it, but except for learning more boxing moves, he didn't seem to learn more.

The action scenes look good, but don't have the weight they should have for me - probably because I don't rate boxing high, but also because I don't care much for the characters. The one I rooted for most was the one described as only being there for a coward, and beyond that I would have preferred to see it more as a disciplined character, with a naughty streak, but not to this level.

I believe there's more sports stories like this coming up, but this doesn't feel like a good start.

The fifty-fourth album: #54 BB King - Live at the Regal

BB King is one of those names that I have heard plenty before, but where I would have trouble identifying any songs. Listening to it, his blues sounds good. There's a certain assuredness to his voice that I don't think I've heard in other singers, not going as loud or for other tricks, but instead keeping it grounded and pleasant. I'm happy to just go along with it, which is where it sounds that good.

The songs for the live album are well chosen, showing off the guitar performance as well as his vocal skills. It doesn't fade into the background as the jazz albums do, but it doesn't go too loud and agressive either. It's a smooth, nice album throughout.

The two hundred and sixty-ninth song: My Way - Frank Sinatra

This is one of those standards that almost had me waiting for the famous chorus. Melancholic, it feels like an end and a goodbye. Fitting, perhaps, as this is the last Sinatra song, and these orchestral songs that were common earlier are going from the list. It's the skill that still shows through here, so much smaller and personal even as the full music kicks in. It's something to belt along to, even if Sinatra started to hate being this associated with it - it feels like a classic for a reason.

The two hundred and seventieth song: The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack

We have a deliberately slow song here, I suppose intended to indicate some sort of loving, but here I don't really feel that emotion come through. There's nothing that hooks me and mostly it really just bores me. It's gentle, it's technically perfect, but it doesn't do anything for me.

The two hundred and seventy-first song: I’m Just a Prisoner (of Your Good Lovin’) - Candi Staton

Here is what I've been looking for more in this year. A funkier song that goes for a nice rhythm, some variation and something upbeat in the tones. A lot of it relies on the R&B vocals we heard from other singers from the era, and while this might not have a major twist on it, her voice sounds special through it, standing out in a good way.

The two hundred and seventy-second song: She Moves Through the Fair - Fairport Convention

Folk can be a bit hit and miss for me, but this feels like one of the songs that shows how it's developing in a good way. Two decades later this might have been Kate Bush, but here a lesser known band takes a classic, still focuses on the song (and I love the vocals on this song) and adds just enough instruments to give it that extra body. It's clearly still the song, but it couldn't have been made quite like this before the rock revolution. This was a lovely sound.

The two hundred and seventy-third song: Many Rivers to Cross - Jimmy Cliff

My feelings on reggae are quite mixed. It can be done well, but easily becomes sounding similar. Here, the song is more gospel and it is a sadder song. It hits the right tone, in a message that feels like it connects with anyone who is overwhelmed and low. It was a surprise - I wasn't sure what to think of it when I first saw it come up (with the reggae label) but it is a story that's easy to connect to, told in a way that really connects with you through the music.

The two hundred and seventy-fourth song: In the Ghetto - Elvis Presley

Elvis has grown up in a different way here. He doesn't sound like the wild sex symbol here, nor like the country singer that part surprised me before. Here, he has a story about those living in poverty (not something he would have encountered for some time, I would have thought, but the general themes still connect) and how the cycle perpetuates. He sings it well, unmistakable for anyone else, but more subdued and more tender. It's a further development and one that I feel suits him.

The two hundred and seventy-fifth song: Oh Well, Parts 1 & 2 - Fleetwood Mac

This is one of those weirder things - this single had an A and B side for parts 1 and 2, with a more standard rock section at the start and an instrumental, stranger second half. It's quieter, more focused on creating a Spanish melody, and it's hard to see quite why these two combine. The second half seems less notable, but also more interesting. It's very deliberate and could be the main theme of a big movie or TV show.

The two hundred and seventy-sixth song: The Real Thing - Russell Morris

And to go somewhere else again, we've not had psychedelic rock in this block yet, so that's what we get now. It's a decent melodic line that feel fun to bop along to. It's quite heavily produced, but put together well there, with its own sound that seem to pull influences from everywhere. There are times where it starts to feel a bit too extravagant, too taken with itself to really be serious, but the places where it dials that back are the places where we get a good tune as well. The main weirdness is that we literally seem to have other songs intrude on and break into this song, an image that is weird but feels appropriate for this era.

The fifty-second TV show: #845 The Trip

The third season of this show dropped around the time I started my rewatch of the first two series for this list. At this point I've finished all three (again) and it's been a worthwhile journey again. The formula is simple: comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon travel through an area of the world - first the north of England, later Italy and Spain, and visit six restaurants to write a review/travelogue for the Observer.

What we get is a story of these two men traveling, hanging out and having fun together while in the background their demons come through. They are, at times, antagonistic, but what comes through is that first of all, they enjoy hanging out, trading impressions and at times just singing in their cars. As far as I can tell they play exaggerated, less self aware versions of themselves, playing on their public persona, but they are at their most delightful when they drop that act and just have fun together.

The other part is how they play on how they portray themselves. Rob Brydon is the family guy, happy with his place in life, not too worried about doing something different from what he does already. Steve Coogan has aspirations, as writer and serious actor (especially after Philomena) and it's clear that more often, he wants to outdo Rob. Both work well, and despite his more antagonistic feeling attitude, the frustrations he feels are so recognisable that there are times where I agree when he wants them to shut up. Then again, if I was in one of these nice restaurants and they would be sitting two tables over doing their impressions and so on, I would be so annoyed.

This show strips it down to the best parts though, keeping it the most fun it can be. I am genuinely hoping for the fourth series.

The thirty-third book: #33 Peregrine Pickle - Tobias George Smollett

I just can't get this book. The writing feels pompous - overly complicated, not ironically, but because the author seems to think he feels smarter that way. It made for a story that I couldn't follow for the most part and lost interest in. It bounced around a lot anyway - there's a large Clarissa-like section with the story about this woman and the men who pursued her, but it felt a bit out of place.

Fanny Hill shows these can be easier to follow, Monkey: Journey to the West shows that these stories can be more intriguing. Here, however, it doesn't hold together. It's probably still an age thing - the book is too far removed from me, making it that difficult to penetrate, but I don't think the characters doesn't work as well: we'll see this with the upcoming comics write up as well, but it shows up here as well.

I wish I had more to say... it just doesn't work here.

The twenty-second classical recording: #528 Jean Sibelius - Finlandia

Short but powerful, there is something rousing, but especially sophisticated about this - it's not bombastic..Of course, it's difficult to judge the full piece without seeing the accompanying tableau of images, but there's certainly a strength in it, with choral parts suggesting more tendernes. It's a poem, taking you through several emotions and to its conclusion.

The fifty-first TV show: #642 Angels In America

Angels in America is a mini series that, watching it for the second time as I watched it for this list, feels special. It features some of the biggest Hollywood names - Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Al Pacino - who put in an amazing performance together with actors less known at the time such as Jeffrey Wright, who more than rise to the challenge. A lot of the actors pull double - or even up to quadruple duty - reflecting the origins of a stageplay, where the actors would jump between roles, switching genders and being in places in the scenes where they fit best.

All of this is in service of these characters, well drawn and three dimensional. The main ones grow, the lesser just as often are there to allow the others to grow, and they play off each other. You can focus on how effectively Meryl Streep disappears into the role of a (male) rabbi - and she does - but that's just a practical step needed from the play. Her mostly silent Ethel Rosenberg is amazing, but would feel like little more than a cameo in other parts - here tormenting Al Pacino's Roy Cohn. But her role as Hannah Pitt, mother of the closeted Joe Pitt, shows a journey of a mother growing, learning and understanding while giving hope to other characters.

Al Pacino is one of the few who doesn't double on roles, but he plays a role that so many revolve around. He plays an interesting character (based on a real person) in a way that really feels like he did it because he cared about doing it. The feeling comes through for all of these actors. Emma Thompson doesn't really have any of the major characters, but she almost steals the scene when she appears - almost, because everyone gets that chance to shine.

Last that I want to call out is Jeffrey Wright, who plays Belize and others, and is the Tony award originating actor of that role (once both parts of it debuted together). He has a few different interesting characters, and while they all have some level of internal optimism, the different portrayals become interesting. Belize in particular feels special. A gay nurse, he helps those who would hate him and feels like the one most likely to stand by his friends - even if he will tell them the truth, and certainly makes some morally ambiguous decisions. As I read elsewhere, the angels here aren't necessarily the mythical creatures that show up in the fantasy sequences (if they are a fantasy sequence, the show keeps it vaguely ambiguous in places), but are the people in real life who are trying to do the right thing.

And that's the main place where the story works. It is difficult to remember sometimes how much easier it is to be gay in our modern times. Still not always easy, with its problems, but with the rise of AIDS and the fight for equal rights that was starting, it was a difficult time. This show explores it - in what I feel is a decent exploration fo the issues, although I obviously can't tell that from my own experience. It shows people losing each other and coming together, gaining understanding and support, but also working out what the right thing to do is. It's a story of salvation, of being human, and of moving forward. This is more than exemplified by the angels, the ultimate beings of good, who have stagnated and want humanity to stagnate, but also appears as corrupt because of this. It's about an upcoming apocalypse, but also about how we're in charge of it. And n a way it feels good that, even though it hasn't been perfect, there have been these points where people have gotten together to make it better, or at least try to survive, while at other times cutting out the bad influences in their lives. With plenty of infighting, but there's something both hopeful and depressing about the show, and strength of many of these characters is what gave me hope.

The fiftieth TV show: #515 Father Ted

Encouraged by my husband and mother in law, I've tried to watch random episodes of Father Ted, but never quite got into it. Some of that might be because it got mixed with other shows, while other parts is that this show works best if you know the characters.

The show works, to be honest, because it can be so stupid. It's predictable in places and goes for quite simple, but it's still all incredibly funny - I found myself laughing out loud plenty of times. Dougal and Ted work best for that, the gags are the best and I feel like there was a lot of improv going on between them. They're also surrounded by a great, memorable guest cast, which is as good. Graham Norton's appearances especially were a lot of fun.

The episodes are incredibly well constructed with plenty of call backs and setup, as well as stories that stand on their own. Even the set shows this progression. It was a good run.

The thirty-second book: #32 Fanny Hill - John Cleland

Let's just say I have a lot of reading time on my hands at the moment.

It was interesting to read some early erotica - possibly the first of its kind. It's certainly well written, and (possibly also because of its subject matter) more engaging than other works I've gotten to recently. It doesn't go too pretentious, while still putting in descriptions that go beyond the literal. It's an easier read - even if the sexual scenes did drag on in a few places.

There were times when this was an awkward read, but considering how I breezed through it, it worked as a good distraction most of the time. More recommended from me than more proper novels.