Jeroen's Micro Blog

The first song: O Sole Mio - Enrico Caruso

New, additional challenge: Find out more about music through the 1001 songs list. I am not really a music expert, so this almost seems necessary.

First, this song sounds old. It has all the imperfections you get in older recordings, apparently amplified by the recording process of the time.

The song is familiar, with the voice being incredibly powerful - again, if it wasn't for the faults of the recording process putting limits on the sound, this would be giving me goosebumps. You can tell it was an impressive voice just from this.

And it's a hundred years old. Wow.

The second song: The St. Louis Blues - Bessie Smith

The sound issues are still there - emphasing the cornet more than it normally would. It muffles the voice slightly, especially for the type of song,

Blues isn't a sound you hear much these days, and these feels melancholic. A good song to set a mood, it plays well, but maybe a bit dated. Lovely to fade away to, having it sink in slowly.

The third song: Lafayette - Joe & Cleoma Falcon

We've moved a decade from the first song - these first entries speed through time.

An interesting song musically, accordeons and guitar creating a jollier sound. The vocals are unfortunately weaker, in style with the music but (to my ears) sounding a bit off. Still sounds good though.

Peter just pointed out to me this is really early country music, just in French.

Not, perhaps, the best song, but a good different type of song - one you wouldn't hear otherwise.

The fourth song: Lagrimas Negras - Trio Matamoros

A sadder sounding song (the title means 'Black Tears'), this is a song I'd expect to be played by a band on a street corner - the Cuban roots fit this. Even then the Latin music has some happy tones in there, making some additions.

By the way, the recordings are already sounding a lot better.

The fifth song: Pokarekare - Ana Hato

You could actually hear the recording click here. 

Lovely music and female lead, she sounds great in here. The support singer feels a bit off compared to her, and I wonder how well they would have been able to hear each other. Musically this might not be anything special anymore, compared to more current lovesongs - it feels very 50s "what your parents listened to", which is very forward looking for its time. Lovely even so.

The sixth song: Saint James Infirmary Blues - Louis Armstrong

Now this sounds familiar. Lovely to hum along to, there's something almost soothing about the song and Louis Armstrong's voice. Even so, it mostly makes for good background music, not something I'd seek out to just listen to.

The seventh song: El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor) - Don Azpiazu & The Havana Casino Orchestra

Our first rumba, and while it's not quite swinging yet (we haven't had that yet), the song already feels more danceable than we've had before. It's nicely uplifting and attractive, grabbing your attention more. I'm looking forward to more of this.

The eighth song: Minnie The Moocher - Cab Calloway

Another big band song, and more from the horns section - is it just me or do you not hear trumpets in music these days? It's decent to listen to, with some interesting almost call and response in the refrain, and a move away from the love songs towards... is this the first revenge song? I suppose we had to see someone start what made Taylor Swift famous. Just with less electronic music and maybe a bit more feeling.

The ninth song: Need a Little Sugar in my Bowl - Bessie Smith

Our first repeat performer! And she sounds better now recording technologies have improved. With her voice coming through more strongly, the song feels stronger and we get a great performance. Despite the song being clean, there's a lot of winks in here - it's "sugar" in the "bowl". It's well performed, and that makes it far more likeable, there's so much more personality shining through.

The tenth song: Brother Can You Spare a Dime - Bing Crosby

Some performers have a reputation, but I never really saw why. This list is already showing me why some of these performers deserve it - Bing Crosby's voice is captivating, changing tone and playing with the music to emphasize its impact. He believes it and it pulls you in. 

The message comes across clearly, especially knowing this was recording during the great depression, when these things were a big issue. It makes the message more important, improving on the delivery of the song.

The first book: #1 The Arabian Nights

The second comic: #837 The Walking Dead

Progress on Arabian Nights is... present. There's plenty of variety in there, and the stories are interesting, but there's little to say - with nothing to link them, covering a few stories each day means there's not much to say about the whole. Plenty of sections become predictable anyway - while not formulaic, there are a bunch of standard lessons.

So about two-thirds of the way through, I've taken a break for The Walking Dead. I have to catch up with Peter, who's read a bit ahead, so we can stay in touch. Aside from a nice change of pace (and literal change of direction compared to Bleach), it's a good story. I've started watching the tv series earlier and the differences are already apparent. Plenty of unexpected deaths and some interesting challenges coming up. It's still early days, but I'm looking forward to see what follows!

The first comic: #788 Bleach

500 and a bit chapters in, I think I've read enough. Partway through the 'final' arc, it gets samey. Higher powered villains, more of the good guys cut down (although more actual deaths) and more powerful beings showing up. The criticisms continue to stand and while the series attempts to humanize the bad guys, their motivations aren't explored enough to turn it around.

Still, it's been a good run and the storylines were engaging. It would have been nice to have it be rebalanced, but still impressive enough. I'm looking forward to reading more manga of this type.

The first comic: #788 Bleach

I've finished reading the first big arc, moving on to the second to get some impression of it. It's become a fun enough read that I wanted to go on anyway, but it shows how these longer arcs can be a problem when it ends (and especially when they don't really overlap). Without spoiling it, the power issue isn't as big a problem - the jumps don't need to be as big because of The Things That Happened.

However, it's a bit of a downer. You have everything working together and after that there's nothing. About fourty chapters later, some of it came back, but it's sad and slow. Bleach embraces it, making it part of the character, but there's clearly a struggle to bring it back in.

I'm close to the end now, at least as far as I can get. It's starting to feel like I'm getting to the point where a switch would be welcome though. Soon enough!

The first book: #1 The Arabian Nights

The first comic: #788 Bleach

Bleach is back! Problems resolved 😀

Arabian Nights - still quite a bit to go, but the story changed tactics with a number of shorter stories, this time with more animal protagonists and feeling more like parables than the fairy stories from the start or the lengthier stories that came in later. It has actually been getting more entertaining this way - I think I prefer the shorter stories for my commute.

Bleach - pretty good still. With the story ramping up to the final confrontation, it all feels more serious, but also like the protagonists are actually more powerful, the threats feel more realistic now. The fights also drag on a bit less as there's so much more to get to. It's all pretty fun really. Perhaps the break helped - it feels stronger.

The first book: #1 The Arabian Nights

Finally, over 140 nights in, the king asked for a story - a breakthrough in any other point. And a nice breather, as the tale of Kana-ma-kana was going on for quite a while. it's probably the longest so far and that made it more difficult to keep track of through the reading sessions I've had.

The nights as a framing device have been interesting as well. Although early on they have some story content, about twenty nights in each night starts with the exact same phrasing, just a different number for the night. It's clear these would just have been the breaks for the storytellers, separating them. Not even always in obvious places - rather than cliffhangers, there are several places where they interrupt the action for no real reason other than length - especially where there are just treatises on asceticism. Even so, as we move between longer stories - and, I believe, different sources of tales - the length differs, and the first 40 or so nights are each noticably longer than the next 100 or so. It's been interesting looking at the stories on that level as well, how the different sources move from the actual tale as at least some vague story to just using it as an almost ritualistic framing device.

The first book: #1 The Arabian Nights

Taking a break from Bleach because of various issues, we're hoping coverage will resume soon.

The first book on the list is of its time. Some lessons learned are that wives enjoy sleeping with slaves and that you shouldn't trust ifrit. And maidens can detect if your shape has been changed. Wonderful so far.

Genuinely good stories though, even if the stories-within-stories get difficult to keep up with.

The two hundred twenty-second movie: Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo

Yeah, I watched plenty of these before and have been tracking them.

I know enough of my biblical history to understand a lot of what was going on. That unfortunately was the downside as well. While the familiar bits were nice in places, a lot of it dragged on - in part because you knew what'd happen, in part because, well, religious text doesn't necessarily make for interesting happening.

Enriching, sure, but not enthralling, we got distracted during this.

The first comic: #788 Bleach

What's with the constant reliance on honour? Several times now, I've seen characters fight on their own, with others either waiting in the wings or intentionally holding off. They get beaten up, either win in the end or have someone else step in. I get that sometimes, the others are beaten up, but even so any distraction should often help, surely? Flanking and all that.

It's a bit annoying, as it makes some of the battles (and Bleach has a lot of them) frustrating. They can drag on a bit anyway - breaking up the story - but it feels padded when it so much feels like they're intentionally holding off.

Three quarters of the way through, now to an extended flashback. Joy!

Friday to Tuesday at Lake Bled.

Most amazing sights (most beautiful place I've ever been), great walks (even if my feet are regretting it now and my knees keep hurting) and a wonderful time overall.

And yes, I read some more Bleach during my downtime