The seventy-second book: #61 Jacques the Fatalist - Denis Diderot
In writing Jacques the Fatalist, it felt like Diderot wanted to be clever. The novel leads with a lot of imaginary conversations with the reader about how the writer isn't going to explain things or skips the boring bits, in a way that I found quite off putting. On the other side, when we get to hear the stories (and stories in stories) Jacques, his master and his compatriots tell, as well as the few bits we get told off that they experience, they are amusing and interesting. There are a lot of digressions and not all the stories actually finishes, but it tells enough that you need to know.
It works when Diderot doesn't try to be too clever, but in the end it ends up feeling a bit unsatisfying as a whole - an okay experience, but done better elsewhere.
The one hundred seventeenth TV show: #876 Portlandia
We started watching Portlandia when it first came out - mostly from seeing Fred Armisen on SNL and wondering what else he'd do. We took a break from watching after the fifth season, until we came back to the show recently, which seems like a break that's done us well. There is something specific about the Portland (Oregon) shown here, based on the reputation the city has but obviously exaggerated. It's a pastiche of liberal characters, though not maliciously, and what appeals mostly is the world it creates - recognisable, but absurd enough that it can get away with a lot. It commits to its bits, which is part of the same appeal.
Not all of the episodes are winners - they're at their best when they juggle a few storylines and combine them, rather than focus on a single one, but on the whole the series pulls it off, and it wouldn't work as well without that world building.
The one hundred and sixty-first album: #161 Tim Buckley - Happy Sad
Unlike his first album, TIm Buckley's Happy Sad starts off with a jazz chord, a bass being played until it fades into a jazzy number with folk rock vocals.While the jazz influences stay, these get dialled back to more common folk rock, with some emotional and affecting songs. They are long, but the folk rock/jazz fusion mean that the songs don't outstay their welcome even at ten minutes - there's not enough repetition to get boring. Instead, it gets you into this flow state that's quite appealing and feels good throughout.
The one hundred sixtieth album: #160 Sly & The Family Stone - Stand!
As we keep up on the non-rock bands, Sly & The Family Stone's funk works for me. It did when I came across it for the songs list and here, too, the upbeat music works well while avoiding the repitition that bores me with other funk artists. There's a lot to each of these songs, in a way that works both for intense listening and when it fades into the background.
The oddity is on side B, where Sex Machine is a lengthy jam that goes it some pretty weird places, using distortion to create some weird sounds. It's not something that holds up for thirteen minutes, and mostly detracts from the sound of the rest of the album, but I can see why they might want to try.
The seventy-first book: #60 Camilla - Fanny Burney
Reading Camilla was a struggle for me - a bit unfortunate, perhaps, knowing the book's reputation, but I struggled to feel it. In parts, this is the stereotypical romance novel I've disliked before, where the main protagonist is perfect, surrounded by wicked people, and led down the wrong path. Camilla isn't quite that, but she doesn't come across as that interesting - everything seems to happen around her or to her. As annoying is that halfway through, the book turns into a lesson on why everyone needs to be taught personal finance. Camilla seems to be perpetually poor and rather than sorting that issue, she keeps borrowing so she can keep spending... it feels so stupid, I found it quite off putting. Its length just doesn't seem worth it.
The one hundred fifty-ninth album: #159 The Temptations - Cloud Nine
While rock still seems to be dominating the list, a break for something else is always welcome and the soul from the Temptations is a welcome change.The vocals are strong throughout the album, the five leads working well together through the record. What pushses the soul further here is the soundtrack - while at times rather standard for soul, from time to time it moves further with its sounds and creates what's called psychedelic soul. It means we get some good, strong soul songs with the occasional oddity, which works well as the more psychedelic sounds blend well.
The one hundred sixteenth TV show: #640 Peep Show
For some series, it feels like it's easier to judge when you reach the end of them - and in this case having had a break before watching the final season. While it starts off as mostly covering two loser friends trying to make their way through life, the main thread now is how terrible these people are. A lot of it stems from the filming style. Everything is filmed from the point of view from characters in the scene. We hear the inner monologue of Mark and Jeremy, the two leads played by David Mitchell and Robert Webb. It shows the double layers of all of their decisions and in particular how manipulative Mark is (Jeremy being misguided more often).
The filming style defines a lot of the feel of the show. Not only is a lot of the acting focused on the face as characters talk to each other, the way their gaze changes tells stories as well - both zooming in and out, but also looking up and down from time to time. If nothing else, the status differences that come from it are portrayed so much better than anything else would. It feels very intimate, which makes these depraved stories become a lot more human - bad behaviour feels more acceptable but also comes out of their motivations far better. It's a unique show, with a good arc throughout that works well, and played well - you care about the characters, as much as you hate them. Not unlike Sunny, but coming from a different type of motivations.
The seventieth classical recording: #82 Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat
There is something majestic about choral music backed up by a fuller orchestra. While I think the music here would work well on its own, the sound is somewhat soft in places and the choir's voices work layered on top of it, some of it adding some "punch" to it where that's quite welcome. It builds and falls nicely and where, of course, I don't get the full impression of the lyrics as I listen, it works well both as a nice piece of music to listen to and to convey its message of praise.
The one hundred fifty-eighth album: #158 MC5 - Kick Out The Jams
It feels like it's been a while since we've had some decent garage rock on the list, with both folksier and more eclectic sounds taking center stage. There's been plenty of hard rock, but the looseness has been missing in an era that seems very studio based. Kick Out The Jams atarts with Ramblin Rose, which is mostly a bunch of noise while the lyrics were shouted over it, the introduction creating the political message. These are part of the album's set up as a live album - a brief introduction, some crowd reactions and songs that it seems the room can barely handle, but work better in this section.
The album is politically charged, radically left and trying to make a point. The songs show this best in Motor City Is Burning, a bluesier number that's directly about the oppression and focuses its lyrics more than before. It's effective, more than the rest of the album is. The songs on the album are better constructed than it sounds above - Starship, for example, plays with quite a few structural elements and has specific points it meets, but it's less precise and heavily produced, instead having an energy and life to it that garage rock, and to some extent the punk that will follow, has as well. It's music made to be enjoyed and I'm hoping I can get more of it.
The one hundred fifty-seventh album: #157 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
It's probably more a coincidence than anything else that we get two albums from the same band this close to each other. Led Zeppelin II feels like it has more of the songs I know the band for. Whole Lotta Love opens the album and its sound and effects make it stand out more than the blues-based hard rock of the previous album, with this setting up more of its own sound - and making its own statement that way.
The album continues into a bunch of rock songs that keep up the beat and energy. It's a bit faster than their original album, a bit harder and focused on the louder guitars, with some parts written to show off that in particular. Lyrically it isn't always as strong. Ramble On referencing the Lord of the Rings is interesting enough, but even there it feels like it doesn't do as much with it, and the music always feels more important than the content of the songs.