The one hundred and first comic: #268 Lupin III
Considering the apparent presence of Lupin, the French aristocratic thief, in Japanese culture, and that this manga about his grandson created a character popular in all media, I went in with fairly high hopes for this work. Sure, I wasn't expecting an amazing work, but this is flawed enough to be unenjoyable.The most obvious flaw, at least in the works I've read, is that it quite quickly jumps over showing what's going on - show, don't tell, if you wish. Lupin commits a theft and we get told some bits of how he did it, but don't get to see it. We don't even follow the investigation, but just the lead up to the crime, the reveal of what happened and then it ends. This gets worse in some non-crime chapter, where in one, with Lupin trapped on an island, the resolution seems to happen in seconds because they're reached the page count.
Add to that how it's often not as clear what's going on. A bunch of characters look similar, in particular Lupin and his adversary Inspector Zenigata. The latter is often the focus character, but since Lupin loves disguises it happens a bit too often that he's disguised as the inspector, sometimes as a meaningless reveal at the end. The action, too, is rushed, and it means that my eyes end up glazing over until there's some conversation to latch on to again. Even looking ahead to some later issues, most of these problems stay around - at least not to a point where I'm enjoying it any further - and I guess that's the groove it settled into. I'd say we moved on to do it better, but by 1967 I think the medium was advanced further anyway.
The one hundred and tenth classical recording: #699 Joseph Canteloube - Chants d'Auvergne
Very early on, the list started with a number of folk songs before we saw it go into choral music. While the Chants d'Auvergne don't entirely go back to those days, still using an orchestra using traditional instruments, the feel of songs harkens back to it as time. It's hard to say how, but the folk origins of the songs come through in these songs. While the lyrics are in Occitan, not a language I understand, it feels they have been written to focus on the message of the song, rather than the repetition and skill of the singers as other, more conventional classical pieces have done. The sound of it matters, but you can tell that this originates from folk songs where not everyone would have such amazing skills.
The music supports that too. While certainly not out of place it is set up to evoke an atmosphere as well as to support the lyrics and while there are plenty of moments where it gets to shine, it also takes a step back during the sung parts. While still beautiful and stirring, it tries to focus more on the vocal performance and the effect that creates. Although it isn't (to misuse a genre) 'poppy' enough, it's easier to see the link from this to the music from 1930s movies and what I believe to have been popular at the time than other classical works do and, as we have seen with more modern works, it's a fusion like this that can produce the more interesting and forward driving results.
The two hundred and seventy-third album: #273 David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
As good as I've heard David Bowie be on list albums here and elsewhere, listening to Aladdin Sane makes it feel like the authors of the list may have been pushing a bit too much in getting him included this often. Aladdin Sane isn't a bad album, but its side one has some fairly generic rock tracks that don't feel as aspirational as his other work, with the avant garde jazz on its title track feeling especially off.
Time on side two starts off with the sound I expect more, the lyrics having more of an impact when not coupled with the heavy rock music and its showy vamping works well. The side goes between several styles - there's another rock song, but also a mysterious ballad, and on the whole it's closer to what I was hoping for from the album. Despite its odd single choice - the Prettiest Star really does feel like a B-side or pure album track - there are some good tracks here. On the whole, though, the album is a bit of a disappointment compared to what I expect from Bowie and it's not one that really feels like it fits on the list.
The two hundred and seventy-second album: #272 The Incredible Bongo Band - Bongo Rock
The premise, if you will, of this album is quite straight forward. It's an instrumental rock album where the main percussion comes from the bongo, with the drums having a secondary role. The success of that varies, with the percussion getting lost in the more traditional rock songs to the point you have to actively remind yourself while it's there, whereas it takes centre stage in others. And while I can see the point in doing the former to release tracks to listen to, it's obviously the latter that's actually interesting to listen to for me. Mostly it pays off, but I can't say it stands out here either.
The one hundredth comic: #762 Blacksad
The use of animals as allegories for humans goes back quite far in fiction - I've covered Aesop's fables before for the books list - and comics are the ideal medium to drive it, using visuals to convey a character's personality through its animal representation. While the initial book claims that it's not a direct representation, there are several points in the story where it refers to the species to indicate it's not just a visual choice.
Whether or not it feels needed depends on the story, with the racism episode making decent use of the conceit, but it always makes for an interesting visual. This comes through especially in the dynamic scenes where a character moves according to the animal's movements, rather than a human's, and that portrayal becomes quite effective.
At the same time the stories offer a view on 50s life with a number of its follies and issues, making for quite a dramatic look at the world that feels like it can pull it off more because it's shrouded in animal form.
The one hundred and ninth classical recording: #357 Johannes Brahms - Piano Quintet in F Minor
I feel like the word 'stirring' can be overused when it comes to describing classical music, but it's hard to deny when it applies. The larger movements of this quintet are sweeping while even the clamer parts have this energy to them. It's hard not to feel like you're doing something epic even when you're just running some maintenance scripts. There's passion and excitement in the works, a motivation that carries through in even the most melancholic parts of this work.
The one hundred and fifty-ninth TV show: #183 MASH
For me, MASH was partially a rewatch. It was part of late night repeats for me for a while, mostly with episodes from the final cast from season 6 on, but I've jumped around enough to see other major episodes. The basic premise of a series set in a medical hospital in the Korean war is different enough in the 1970s sitcom landscape, but the way it manages to bring in relevant issues of the time and creates a number of more dramatic episodes shows what else they can get from it. As the series moves on, it becomes capable of experimenting and exploring these subjects in a way few shows are allowed to do. The freedom came from its enormous popularity - the final episode still holds the record of the highest ratings for a scripted series.
Revisiting and rewatching the series has been great, with the first season still holding up. Even though it's still more of a comedy at some point, halfway through it's introduced a number of more dramatic episodes while the later episodes we watched show how they seemed to have moved these to perfection. The version we had omits the laughter track as well - famously negotiated so it wouldn't play in surgery but had to be present everywhere else - which probably makes the stories work a bit better. We're going to keep watching - we'll see if we finish it - but it's great to see that (a few dated jokes aside) the series still holds up.
The two hundred and seventy-first album: #271 Lynyrd Skynyrd - (Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd)
After I commented on not liking the Rolling Stones' blues rock before, the way Lynyrd Skynyrd handles it works a lot better for me. Perhaps it's the clearer vocals, which add focus to the songs. Perhaps it's the mellotron that adds body to some of these. The overall feeling I get is an album that's rock with blues elements added, rather than adding rock to blues, and it's a mix that works better.
The mix of tracks hits well too, with SImple Man a relatively simple, quiet song after some louder, more aggressive numbers. The whole album manages to keep this up, the B-side perhaps a bit more experimental and fun, but mostly there's a nice, coherent country rock sound here that has been rare so far.
The two hundred and seventieth album: #270 The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.
Given how I experienced them before, I found myself struggling to get into Exile on Main St. Considering this is the Stones' most acclaimed album, that's a weird situation, but I've always preferred their hard rock tracks over their blues or country rock and that's the music that mostly seems to be on display here. It took until Sweet Black Angel - a song with more bite both musically and lyrically - for the album to really pick up steam, which felt (almost) like a waste of time.
The album picks up after that, not dropping the blues influences but having more bite to it by that point that transfers better, having that 'weight' to it that the Stones bring to their blues tracks and that makes them sound so good. Even so, it feels best for me to ignore the hype - I don't think this is on top of the list as others do.
The ninety-ninth comic: #400 Luther Arkwright
Sometimes, I feel like an awesome concept can really get wasted. Possibly because the author is too eager to copy another or because the appeal it has didn't transfer to the author. In the case of Luther Arkwright, I wonder whether the disappointment came, in part, because the outcome of the series - the main character moving to the next stage of human evolution - is one I've seen done since several times over. I suspect it might have been more novel in the late seventies, at least in comic form - or perhaps it was the done thing - but I felt it took away from the appeal the early series had to me, one of exploring parallel worlds and timelines. The way it's set up, with rolling news broadcasts from various areas and a threat for all of them, doesn't quite materialize in favour of a handwave to promote our hero. It's a shame, because parts of the latter half of the series lose steam with it when it was set up so well early on and really made me want to see this concept explored further instead.
The one hundred and fifty-eighth TV show: #575 Big Brother
I remember the first Big Brother season. Not - probably - the one you know, but the very first Dutch season that became a larger hit than anyone expected. It was meant to be a social experiment, I believe they marketed it with some strange events happening in the house messing with people's minds, but those were quickly dropped when it turned out people enjoyed just seeing these people hang out. I even remember going online on a dial up connection (or did we have cable at this point?) and watching grainy black and white footage of these people. It was mostly a normal, but large house, with a fence to keep people out, but no luxuries and no have-not bedrooms or similar. Their budget varied based on how well they did but, as I suppose it was partially improvised, most of the show was about the participants hanging out and the going-ons between them. I guess it seemed boring now, but having two of the house guests have sex under the covers and the betrayal of a secret nomination for elimination was shocking at the time. There are no head of house votes, no battles, just the experiment of having people together, see who votes who off, and where all of this goes.
Watching some episodes of Big Brother US and Canada as this viewing, the show feels so different. Contestants are really producing themselves, aware of what's happening and what the consequences of their actions are, playing a game and talking about strategies, rather than the far more interesting story of how they live their life. You get cronies around the head of household, alliances that go far beyond what stays interesting, and it lost that charm of people just living their lives. It's obnoxious and hard to watch, and I'm going to say that the original formula - although it didn't hold much interest after a first season - is better than the mess this show became at this point.