Watching - December 2022

Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)

After revisiting Pretty in Pink so disappointingly a couple of days ago, I had to watch probably my favourite John Hughes film. The soundtrack here isn't quite as good and it doesn't contain Molly Ringwald, but the story is better, the characters are more developed and the ending is the right one!

Disenchanted (2022)

Enchanted is a bit of a family favourite so this was always going to be a watch together - which is what we did, albeit with B remotely and without K for some reason. Capturing the same whimsical yet tongue-in-cheek spirit as the original was always going to be difficult and if the sequel doesn't quite manage, it's not for want of trying or for want of fairy tale clichés to cram in.

Classic Albums: A Night at the Opera (2006)

For some reason TVDB only knows about a feature film length version of this, but that's not what I saw on Prime, which was about 45 minutes long and interesting enough but a little light on detail (and contained nothing about "The Prophet's Song" for some reason). Always amazing to watch (Sir!) Brian May playing though - just a genius.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

A candidate for one of the best sequels ever? William Goldman said that sequels are whore's movies - it's all about the money - but given that Cruise could have made a sequel decades earlier if he really was interested in cashing in, maybe this exists because he really wanted to tell the next story. Just as preposterous as the first film but better filmed and possibly a better story and, dare we say it, possibly a better film. I ordered this on DVD the day after we watched it in the cinema and I don't regret that at all.

Martin and Martin: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life (2018)

An odd two-hander, in which Steve Martin gets to play a little banjo, Martin Short gets to do some comedy-vaudeville and both get to trade mock insults with obvious affection and much show business affectation (particularly so in Short's case). I wouldn't normally bother with this kind of thing, but it passed about an hour, had some laugh-out-loud moments and was generally pleasant enough.

Runaway Jury (2003)

Apparently the trial's subject was changed from tobacco to guns fairly late, following the release of The Insider. On the one hand, it makes little difference which legal product kills someone, but on the other, it makes a lot: tobacco isn't protected by the constitution. However, instead of this being an interesting discussion about the US's weird cultural gun fetish, this is just a story of a jury being swung. Most of the interesting parts of the book are lost and in particular, we get no idea how John Cusack's character sways the jury - which makes it all a bit implausible. Passes the time but not particularly good.

24 Hour Party People (2002)

I don't have many claims to fame, but this is one of them: I was a student in Manchester when Madchester was kicking off and the Hacienda was the coolest nightclub in the country. Except I wasn't actually there: I was at the alternative clubs and the Poly bop, listening to The Velvet Underground and The Stooges, Mudhoney and The Wonder Stuff, not any of this dance crap. I think we know who was proved correct. Nevertheless I was aware of enough of it - and learned enough in the next few years - for this film to be an interesting trip down memory lane. Very entertaining in many ways (albeit I suspect off-puttingly confusing for anyone who doesn't already know the subject matter), but badly unbalanced by having Tony Wilson played by Steve Coogan, who, through no real fault of his own, just makes every character he plays sound like Alan Partridge.

Only Murders in the Building (2021)

I found this via reading about Martin & Martin (above), only to later discover that it's part of a resurgence of interest in whodunnits (with films like Knives Out), which makes me very on trend or something. Allegedly. Anyway, this series is great fun, with loads of twists and turns before the murderer is revealed and a amusing sense of self-awareness. Martin Short in particular is hilarious as a washed-up theatre producer who insists in giving delivery notes to just about anyone. Perhaps a slightly shorter series would have been a bit more focussed and if the stunt-casting episode with Sting was a bit misjudged, at least they took the micky out of themselves later for doing it. There's a second series too, but I'll have to see if I can be bothered once I don't have a whole holiday season to watch it!

Knives Out (2019)

Once I got past Daniel Craig's American accent - and not just a generic US one but a full-blown southern drawl - this turned out to be a very entertaining whodunnit, a clear successor to Christie's drawing room mysteries. Great fun and much better than the badly off-target Branagh version of Poirot.

Reading - December 2022

Eminent Hipsters by Donald Fagen (2013)

I've been meaning to read this for ages and finally got it out from the library a couple of weeks ago. I suspect I might be the first person to do so, judging by its pristine condition. Perhaps this is unsurprising: Donald Fagen isn't a household name and the band he fronted through the 70s, Steely Dan, is well-known amongst music lovers but still a bit of an acquired taste - so the potential audience for a slim book about really obscure musicians and influences from his childhood is probably limited. If it had been an autobiography - which is kind of what I expected - then it would have been of more interest. As it is, finding out about some of Fagen's influences has some value, but the second half of the book is a tour diary - and, as I say, it's not a big book anyway. Amusing in places and worth the read, but overall, mildly disappointing.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2004)

Despite being ostensibly classified as "science fiction/romance", this is only SF in the very broadest sense. Henry's time travelling isn't just a metaphor for any long term medical condition but is actually defined as one, and so his absences can be compared with a partner who is physically or mentally not with you through no fault of their own. But because he has found Clare - his true love, to whom he keeps returning and is destined to be with, through some unexplained causality of looped time - he can manage. I don't believe in the idea of "the one" any more than I believe in time travel, but it's a fine sentiment for a book and I was happy to indulge in it. It's over five hundred pages long and I did wonder how Niffenegger would sustain the story, but it stayed involving and moving right to the end. Very enjoyable. I just wish that authors could let go of the idea of "literature" enough to provide a happy ending.

What If? 2 by Randall Munroe (2022)

More disastrous scenarios from innocuous premises, explored in fascinating detail and with cute pictures. An ideal book to read over breakfast or lunch, or similar short bursts, as it is best read with a break in between chapters. Great fun.

The Humans by Matt Haig (2013)

I think the quotes on the front cover ("hilarious", "wonderfully funny") do this novel a disservice. It's never outrageously funny, so if you picked it up expecting a comedy extravaganza you might be disappointed. On the other hand, if you are interested in a gently amusing but thoughtful and bittersweet story of family and love, suffering and sacrifice, and why all are necessary to be human, you might have found the right book. Having an alien attempt to understand humans and their culture is a cute way to examine things from another perspective; perhaps the alien here could be anyone who feels themselves, well, alienated from society or their family (is this too obvious? Honestly, I am so poor at subtext). I enjoyed the book, although I found the slightly odd mix of emotional analysis and slightly thriller-esque elements meant I wasn't as involved or moved as The Time Traveler's Wife earlier this month. (As an aside, I do like Matt Haig's take-down of book snobbery very much though!)

Watching - November 2022

She's All That (1999)

I'm not sure why I chose this, other than I had it vaguely at the back of my mind as a well-known romcom that I hadn't watched yet. Now, having done so, I'm not really sure I can explain its  apparent popularity. The story feel like it has major gaps in it, or at least substantially unexplained motivations. Why isn't Laney more suspicious of Zach's motives? Why does Zach suddenly turn into a nice guy after clearly being a jerk jock? Anyway, that, and the terrible transformation of Rachel Leigh Cooke from "ugly" (actually very pretty) to "beautiful" (stereotypically Hollywood "sexy"), make this a slightly tedious and unbelievable watch.

Bros: After the Screaming Stops (2018)

Matt Goss popped up on Strictly Come Dancing this year and seemed like a humble, thoughtful person, as perhaps befits someone who's been through the pop mill (although we were never allowed to forget his "record-breaking Vegas residency"). So what with that, and having just finished Nick Duerden's Exit Stage Left, I thought I'd catch up on this documentary. Unfortunately, in this, he comes across worse: self-centred and too lost in showbiz to realise it, for all his new age "be kind" speak. Luke Goss seems better, as someone who has had to deal with being "the other one" and consequently had to make his own life. They reconcile, they hug and argue, tell each other "I love you, but ..." and finally emerge victorious (against an industry who "never supported them", apparently) at a reunion concert. I'm still left with an overall sense of "so what?" about it all though. And what about the actual "other one", Craig Logan? Mentioned exactly zero times, almost airbrushed out of existence (and not part of the reunion, by choice) - but by some measures, actually the most successful of the three - and probably the most interesting.

The Blues Brothers (1980)

I first saw The Blues Brothers in 1982, at a real, genuine American drive-in, in a double-feature with Rocky. Obviously now a classic but at the time probably just doing the rounds a year or two after its release, I don't remember what I thought of it at the time, but I've seen it so many times since that I just know I like it now. This time I watched it with Z and it was great to introduce him to it. He particularly liked the massed ridiculousness at the end. Apparently at the time this held the record for the most number of cars wrecked in the making of a film - 103!

Ghosts (season 4, 2022)

Still amusing and an excellent family watch (although I can't get into binge watching like my kids - I prefer an episode per night), but perhaps slight diminishing returns.

I, Robot (2004)

For anyone who's a fan of Isaac Asimov's seminal Robot short stories and novels, this isn't just a disappointment but an utter perversion of everything the good doctor wrote. Instead of a thought-provoking piece about how robots might fit into society, a few of Asimov's classic characters are borrowed - in name only - and a couple of his stories adapted, and all shoe-horned into an unimaginative, blockbuster-by-numbers piece of Hollywood Frankenstein schlock. And the egregious and unnecessary product placement really grates too.

David Baddiel: Jews Don't Count (2022)

This is the documentary of the book and makes the same main points - that is, that anti-Semitism isn't considered "real" racism - albeit in less detail, as there's only an hour. It does give Baddiel the opportunity to speak to a number of well-known Jewish people, mostly in entertainment, about how they feel about the subject, and (unsurprisingly) they feel the same. To me, as a Jew, the points made are all obvious (and sometimes painfully so), but it's interesting to see them made nonetheless. I hope that more than just Jewish people watch the programme.

Cousins (1989)

This is a long-time favourite of mine, a gentle, sweet romance about two people married to the wrong people but who find each other. Interestingly, though, I lent it a friend a while back and it came back about two days later with a complaint that I'd given them a horrible film full of people cheating on each other. I can kind of see that point of view, but the film is at pains to make Isabella Rosselini and Ted Danson's characters nice, honest people, while making their spouses (William Peterson and Sean Young) horrible, self-obsessed idiots. It's more a slice of real life with real consequences than other films perhaps. But I like that.

Forrest Gump (1994)

Almost thirty years old now (which would be why Tom Hanks looks so young!), and obviously a classic. Moving in places, very sentimental in others (which I'm a bit of a sucker for anyway), in some ways an American Dream cliché and in others a social critique (there's a lot of presidents being shot), all in one improbably popular film. Great to see it again.

Pretty in Pink (1986)

This, on the other hand, I should have left firmly in the nostalgia bin. I haven't seen it in decades and it's not at all what I remember. Other than some great moments (Jon Cryer throwing himself around to Otis Redding, just about every scene with Annie Potts in it), some superb music choices (New Order must surely be very thankful to John Hughes), and, well, Molly Ringwald (my number one crush as a teenager <sigh>), it's ... awful. Little logic, context-free dramatic moments that flair up out of nothing and an ending which just makes no sense at all. It always annoyed me that Andie doesn't end up with Duckie, which is why my friend George recommended Some Kind of Wonderful to me - the film that this should have been.

Reading - November 2022

Exit Stage Left by Nick Duerden (2022)

There's a persistent fascination with the idea of the fallen star, as evidenced by a myriad of "where are they now" tabloid exposés, TV series and even films, looking at ex-footballers, ex-soap stars and ex-musicians. Duerden focusses particularly on the more critically acceptable end of the pop star market and attempts to draw out themes and insight from the stories of people as varied as Joan Armatrading, Echobelly's Sonya Madan, Shaun Ryder, Lloyd Cole and many more. But the real interest here isn't any more sophisticated than those tabloid columns - we just want to know what people are doing now. And the themes? I don't think there are any really. It turns out people are just as varied in pop stardom as they are in any other walk of life. A good read, albeit a little bitty (the chapters are quite short) and feeling like a collection of, well, tabloid columns rather than a book. 

Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov (1986)

I last read this eight years ago, but it's still very familiar. I know the surprise at the end but I can still remember being delighted by it the first time round. Of course, you have to have read most of Asimov's other books to understand the reference, otherwise it would be a complete damp squib.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (2020)

This was recommended to my by a friend (thanks Zoë!) and I'm pleased, because I wouldn't have read it otherwise. It's essentially a "what if" kind of story: what if I had asked her out, what if I hadn't taken that job, and so on. The story ends up pretty much how I expected but nevertheless the journey is interesting and moving, and if the moral is fairly obvious, you're not being whacked over the head with it. And it's nice and short too (a very under-rated quality in literature, in my opinion) and only took me a couple of days to read.

The Firm by John Grisham (1991)

I read this not long ago, but this time I'm struck by the implausibility and plot jumps, where suddenly the main character knows a bunch of things and you think, "when did he work that out?" In that respect, he's a bit too good and a bit too clever to be realistic. It's still a great read though.

The First Time by Matt Everitt (2018)

6 Music is theoretically exactly the kind of radio station I should like - serious about music, its history and place in society and dedicated to playing good music, not just commercial music. Yet for some reason I just don't find it engaging. Unfortunately that means I miss things, like Matt Everitt's series of interviews asking a wide range of "music icons" (it says here) about their formative experiences with music. I've listened to a few since finding this book and they're really interesting - as is this collection of them. Everitt's brief introduction to each interviewee is nicely judged too, and extra points for only once mentioning his old band, and then not by name (I had to look it up - he was in Menswear - but I think he's been a music presenter for a lot longer now!)

The Pelican Brief by John Grisham (1992)

The cartoon baddie who orders everyone killed who crosses him, just because, is almost straight out of a Bond film, and the romance between the two main characters is somewhat contrived and, frankly, improbable. But the story moves fast and keeps interest up.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (1920)

Poirot's first outing and it's ironic that he's portrayed as an aging man who is perhaps past his best - given how long he subsequently "lived". Like Miss Marple, he started out old and never got older. Still, it's fiction so never mind! All the hallmarks of Agatha Christie are present and correct, including the big reveal at the end and the clever way the clues can all point several ways. A classic in its own way. (read so that I could have a half-way intelligent conversation about it with someone who had just read it for the first time!)

Watching - October 2022

Stewart Lee: Tornado (2022)

The companion piece to Snowflake wasn't as funny. Lee's show is basically about himself - or about his character, "Stewart Lee", anyway - and although there's plenty of amusement, I mostly chuckled rather than anything else.

Death on the Nile (2022)

A sumptuously filmed, expensively cast, melodramatic mess. The bare bones of the original, elegant plot are buried underneath a hodgepodge of unnecessary characters, needless activity and pointless scenery. Poirot is barely recognisable as Christie's "little Belgian", as all his original characteristics are presumably considered the antithesis of a real detective (which was actually kind of the point) and therefore removed, and we're left with a cliched star vehicle for Kenneth Branagh, who runs around, shouts, broods and accuses everyone, but exhibits no sense of discovery or intellect, merely a magician's reveal at the end that comes out of nowhere. Since any film is a massive team effort, it seems unfair to blame Branagh for this hopeless misreading, but since he's the director and star, that's what I'm going to do. Other than that though, it's not a completely awful film, just generic and a bit dull.

Gattaca (1997)

A striking, stylish piece of sci-fi that has stayed with me for a long time. The setup is pretty straightforward but then it's combined with a murder mystery that gives the story some structure. As always, some of the minor plot points don't bear thinking about too much, but it doesn't spoil things, and the score is superbly evocative.

Turning Red (2022)

The female members of my household think this film's headline metaphor is offensive ("so you're saying that when a girl starts her period, she literally turns into a red monster??"), which I can kind of understand. But having actually watched it, I think it's a little more nuanced than that: I think it's an allegory about how it feels to start adolescence and puberty, rather than menstruation specifically or solely. And, as such, I found it funny and relatable. It's not a Disney or Pixar classic but it's perfectly decent, it's good to see female central characters, and the animation is superb, of course. And the 4*TOWN songs are very good!

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

Watched with Z, who seemed to enjoy it.

Wimbledon (2004)

Comfort viewing.

The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)

I've been meaning to watch this for a while, as it's supposed to be a valuable historical artefact that documents the US west coast's punk scene at the turn of the 80s. I'm pleased I watched it, and it's a chance to see footage of some of the iconic bands of the time (notably Black Flag, The Germs and X). The music is a disappointment though. It's crude, but to some extent that was point of punk and perhaps they improved (much as, say, The Clash did) - and if it sounds clichéd, well perhaps it didn't at the time. Now, however, this is as dated as 50s rock and less interesting.

Reading - October 2022

This New Noise by Charlotte Higgins (2015)

I found this because it contributed its title to Public Service Broadcasting's concert this year at the Proms (which I was at!) This is not a history of the BBC, although that's not obvious until well over a third of the way through the book. Instead, Higgins uses stories from the formation of the organisation to inform a discussion about its place in British society and its many detractors over the decades. In a way, it's heartening to see that the kind of idiotic comment made recently by Jacob Rees-Mogg (who questioned the BBC's impartiality in a pathetically transparent attempt to avoid an awkward question) has been going on for almost as long as the BBC has been in existence, and that many of the newspapers - particularly the Daily Wail - have always been against the BBC, probably initially through worry over competition and then latterly just because they'll moan about anything. Sadly, although I don't think the BBC should change, it probably will, because in a subscription world, it's very hard to justify a license fee. 

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie (1933)

I always like a good whodunnit, from back when I first started reading Poirot stories. At the time I wouldn't have noticed how dated they were (given that this book would have been already fifty years old at the time!) but now it's glaringly apparent. Still, it doesn't spoil the ingenuity of the plot. Simple, easy reading. (Although what I wanted to read was Death on the Nile, as I had just watched it, but for some reason I don't own that)

Open by Andre Agassi (2009)

This is the first autobiography I've read that really articulates the struggle, hard word and pain that surely all world-class athletes (and probably greats in other fields) go through. Most play this down or just don't mention the hours, weeks and years spent tortuously refining the skills that put them at the top - presumably because they think it wouldn't be interesting. Agassi's book disproves that theory, but then it has a slight flavour of misery memoir about it that means all the pain is part of the story. And, of course, the story has redemption and a happy ending, as Agassi learns to love the game he was forced to play as a child and finally gets his dream girl. Indeed, this does also seem like a very extended love note to Stefanie (not Steffi) Graf, which is very sweet. Superbly written (with someone else, who is credited at the back), moving and insightful.

Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov (1982)

Great story-telling, maybe a little clunky in places, but never dragging. However, perhaps it's a bit over-familiar, so even though I chose it because I wanted something easy to read, it was a little unsatisfying. Which is a shame, because it's a classic.

Reading - September 2022

The Pre-Loved Club by Sue Teddern (2022)

This is a modern romance of sorts, I guess: two people, both separated from their first partners, who gradually realise they want to be together, but only after attempts with other people. It's more realistic and believable than your typical Silhouette romance, but oddly I found it a little frustrating, as it was obvious how it was going to end but seemed to take ages getting there. Still, I quite liked the "he said, she said" format (which reminds me, I would quite like to see that film again!)

One Man and His Bike by Mike Carter (2011)

I think the bicycle is a fantastic invention and I really should ride mine more. This is a feeling only made more intense by this somehow matter-of-fact and yet wondrous recounting of a journey around the coast of the United Kingdom. Part travelogue and part ode to his bike (a Ridgeback) and cycling in general, it makes you realise how big the country actually is - compared to, say, a man on a bike - and how different the regions are. It makes the four miles to work seem trivial but I'd still be nervous about some of the roads!

Watching - September 2022

Miss Americana (2020)

I came across Taylor Swift's Tiny Desk Concert while browsing for more music, and enjoyed it very much, and in reading around the subject (as I tend to), I saw reviews for Miss Americana. I enjoyed it a great deal: I liked the way it managed to compress a view of the madness of celebrity at that kind of scale with a view of the human at the centre of it. Inevitably there's a slight feel of artifice, because do people really film themselves at random moments, and how do we know that wasn't the fifth take? But I don't know how you'd avoid that, and it seemed genuine and heartfelt to me. Towards the end she says that she's very conscious of the saying that famous people get frozen at the age they become famous, and how she's trying to ensure she avoids that. I can't imagine how hard it must be to grow up in that kind of spotlight, just like I can't comprehend the kind of drive it takes to achieve what she has. I'm kind of in awe of it, to be honest.

He's Just Not That Into You (2009)

I read the book back in 2014 (iirc I found it at the book exchange at work - not an obvious book to be found in a very male-dominated environment) and thought it was amusing but over-simplistic, like an attempt to view life as if it was a romcom. And lo and behold, they made a romcom out of it! It's a ensemble cast with multiple stories intertwining and no, not all of them are happy-ever-after, but the overall message still seems simplistic. And if some of the scenes are moving, some are just cringey. Passes the time well enough though.

Working Girl (1988)

Possibly one of the archetypal 80s films, capturing that decade's aspirational sense of destiny and empowerment, plus a whole load of hairspray and shoulder pads. Sigourney Weaver is superb, Melanie Griffith does the Pygmalion-style transformation pretty well (also she's gorgeous, in a very 80s way, which perhaps says something about my age), and Joan Cusack is wonderfully Noo Yoik. And the opening combination of the Staten Island ferry crossing to the New York skyline with Carly Simon's amazing modern day hymn "Let the River Run" playing is just wonderful. Very enjoyable. (Also, I discovered Radio 4's Soul Music via its episode on the song)

Paddington (2014)

Showing on BBC1 while we were having dinner, and natural family viewing. I hadn't seen it for a while. I love the stylised, highly coloured version of London (although it is clearly a fantasy), and also the way the film makes clear that Paddington is an allegory for all immigrants - although I believe Michael Bond's original inspiration were the Jewish Kindertransport children from Germany rather than the Windrush generation that the film implies with its use of calypso music.

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

I do love a good romcom and the genre dates back a long time - and if Rotten Tomatoes is to be believed, many of the earliest were the best. I'm not so sure there isn't a certain amount of rose-tinted spectacles going on here though, as I was distinctly underwhelmed by this. It's silly and far-fetched and I couldn't really get past the one-dimensional characters either. Still, I can say I've seen it now.

Stewart Lee: Snowflake (2022)

Judging by a thread on the guitar forum I frequent, Stewart Lee can be a bit divisive. I personally think he can be hilarious and tedious at different times. There's a point in this where he keeps saying "for example, this actually happened" that had me in tears. Then later he's showing Ricky Gervais attempting to "say the unsayable" where I was hoping it would end soon. My understanding of what he's doing - which isn't "just jokes" - was enhanced considerably by reading his books. Anyway, this was funny.

Broadcast News (1987)

Another classic romcom, it says here, although this is a little less obviously rom or com than I expected, and more of a drama - but a very good one. The script and performances are nicely nuanced - for example, I like the way that it would have been easy to portray Tom (William Hurt's character) as just a handsome simpleton, but it slowly becomes apparent that he has his own skills. Holly Hunter is the centre of the film and spectacular with it, which makes me wonder why she wasn't a huge star after this. But the film does raise other questions: what's romantic about a film where no-one actually gets together? And is Joan Cusack in every eighties film?

The Sure Thing (1985)

More eighties romcoms, in this case one of my favourites and starring John Cusack this time, instead of his older sister. It's funny, so sweet and, yes, romantic. Cusack looks very young (he would have been about 18 or 19 at the time) but his personality and style are already coming through, and Daphne Zuniga is perfect as a slightly uptight, bookish girl who learns to relax a bit. The clichés are fairly abundant but it doesn't spoil the film for me as Cusack is so cool and Zuniga so cute. Although the dreadful saxophone-laden ballad at the end might just count as the most eighties thing ever.

Watching - August 2022

The Railway Children (1970)

Presumably on iPlayer following Bernard Cribbins' sad recent death, and mentioned a fair amount in his autobiography, so it seemed a nice thing to watch on an afternoon off, as it's a classic I've never seen before. Sweet and sentimental, dated and clunky, and old-fashioned when it was made, no doubt, it was nevertheless a nice film to pass the time with.

You've Got Mail (1998)

Sweet but a little unbalanced, mainly because Meg Ryan's character goes from finding Tom Hanks really annoying to falling in love with him in too short a time, compared with how long she is annoyed with him. But there's lot's of sentimental moments and a nice ending.

Reading - August 2022

For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming (1960)

A collection of five short stories. Three of them have titles that will be familiar: "From a View to a Kill", "For Your Eyes Only" (I always hear Sheena Easton in my head as soon as I read those words!) and "Quantam of Solace", which now seem like classic titles for films, of course, although the plots of the stories here bear no relation to those of the films with which they share their names. And yet the other two stories have terrible titles for films: "Risico" - clearly some sort of South American cop/buddy film - and "The Hildebrand Rarity", which would be a dry, character study of an elderly historian and would therefore be a shoe-in at award season. Anyway, the stories here are entertaining but now essentially period pieces because of their attitude to women, which is now glaringly sexist and borderline off-putting. I don't remember the other Bond novels being quite this bad in this respect.

Bernard Who? by Bernard Cribbins (2018)

I think this would work much better as an audiobook, read by the man himself (although I can't tell if such a thing exists, oddly). The style is very much his, a chatty, anecdotal wander through his life. I found it made for a nice easy read but too many of the stories seemed like they lost something on the page - or perhaps they weren't very funny in the first place. Still, he seems to have had a nice life, and I'm pleased I found this in the library a couple of days after reading his obituary.

Rude Kids: The Inside Story of Viz by Chris Donald (2004)

I was never much interested in Viz: after buying the obligatory couple of issues when I was a student (at its publishing height in the late 80s, it turns out), I found it amusing but repetitive and never bothered again. However, I saw a recommendation for this book by Chris Donald, Viz's founder and editor for just over twenty years, and I'm pleased I bothered. He's frank, funny and acerbic, describing some of the nonsense around the amazing rise of the magazine with an outsider's eye and a keen sense of the ridiculous. I'm also amazed to discover it's still going, another twenty years later. I might go so far as to flick through it next time I see a copy in WH Smith.

Laughter in the Rain by Debbie Macomber (1986)

Potboiler romance that I thought would be more interesting than it is. Very slight and yet too long, as the plot becomes repetitious.

Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace by Kate Forster (2021)

This is better - a more complex (for relative values of "complex") romance with some depth to it. I liked the view from multiple characters' perspectives, casting new light on what had previously seemed like one-dimensional behaviour. The two main people had too many silly misunderstandings, and too much over-reaction to them for my liking, but overall it's a sweet story with a happy ending.

When Harry Met Sally by Nora Ephron (1989)

I'm reading a book about screen writing at the moment, which says you can find plenty of screenplays on the internet. I put it to the test and found this. It's a quick read (less than an hour) and, of course, it just replays the film in my head because I know it very well! I think the book means you should study it more ...

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (2021)

B recommended this and since I have a couple of weeks off (can you tell by how much I'm reading?), I thought I'd give it a go. I enjoyed it very much, as it was an easy read and a good length (i.e. not too long!) - a sweet book, with an conclusion full of pathos, although the ending came a bit suddenly. The plot was a little thin, but was disguised well by the way important facts are gradually revealed; it can be summarised as Asimov's Robot novels meet Toy Story. (After I finished the book, I had a look online to see if anyone had caught the obvious similarity with Asimov's work, and in particular The Bicentennial Man. I was struck by reviews of the book, which, since Ishiguro writes "literature", appeared to be written by people who had never read any real science fiction (as that's not literature). So they burbled on about how imaginative it was and how it raised fascinating questions about the interaction between humans and robots. I guess they are fascinating if you haven't come across the ideas before - but I feel I should point out that real science fiction has been exploring this area for over sixty years ...)

Why is Sex Fun? by Jared Diamond (1997)

Similar in content to the equally misleadingly titled The Secrets of Love and Lust, this is not a how-to manual but a popsci guide to human sexuality, wherein it attempts to explain it in evolutionary terms and by comparison with other animals. Diamond highlights some of the unusual aspects of human sexuality and reproduction, such as concealed ovulation and the menopause, but, crucially, doesn't actually answer the book's title. I could attempt an explanation based on the themes (why do humans enjoy sex? Because historically those that did were more likely to reproduce) but I would have been more interested in what the experts think here!

Out of Time by Miranda Sawyer (2016)

In the last chapter, Sawyer explains that this book was written, as much as anything, as a way through her own mid-life crisis. The sub-title - "midlife, if you still think you're young" - kind of gives the game away: it's for people who never grew up, never wanted to or never believed they had or would. Maybe that's more prevalent in certain types of jobs or life-styles, maybe those in the media perhaps? Much of what she has has to say is interesting but I can't feel it applies much to me. It could be that I've missed my mid-life crisis, or it hasn't happened yet, or it's happening right now and I won't realise until five years' time, but not much resonated.

Moonraker by Ian Fleming (1955)

I started reading a copy at work that I had found in the book exchange and remembered what a good story it is - and nice and short too! Of its time, but classic.

Fugutive from the Cubicle Police by Scott Adams (1996)

This book was in an abandoned cupboard at work, and at the back was a printed newsletter dated 1998. This all seems appropriate. However, I should have checked, as I read this eight years ago and found it hit and miss then, so could have saved myself the bother this time round. Scott Adams has developed an odd crush on Trump in recent years and has generally become a bit weird, but sometimes Dilbert hits the mark.

Journey to Cubeville by Scott Adams (1998)

The second of three Scott Adams books I found. Since Dilbert is hit and miss (somewhat understandable for a daily cartoon), repackaging all the strips from two years as a book seems a little pointless. That said, I'm guessing it worked for Adams.

Bounce by Matthew Syed (2010)

Syed examines the idea (probably) first given mass exposure in Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, the idea of "10,000 hours of practice" that makes an expert, and gives it a more in-depth assessment. The sub-title, "The myth of talent and the power of practice" gives a good flavour of what he's saying. The research findings are quite clear: notwithstanding physical attributes (tall high-jumpers etc), there's no such thing as someone who is inherently good at a given sport, or musical instrument - or, by extension, any activity. Experts are made, first by circumstance and chance - being born at the right time of year, attending a school with a world-class teacher - and then by application, although of course this second factor is heavily influenced by the first. People want to believe that stars - of sport, music, business or whatever - got there because of some innate specialness. People want magic! But there's no magic, which should be inspiring: anyone can achieve greatness.

One Train Later by Andy Summers (2006)

A very readable, first person (and present tense, which I found a little disorienting at first) account of Summers' life up until the demise of The Police in the early 80s, with a two page afterword on his life since then. It's honest and entertaining and gives a real sense of how hard he worked to achieve his musical goal: not just the hours and hours of practice (see Bounce above!) but the decades of persistence. I knew he was a bit older than Sting and Copeland but hadn't realised that he was a contemporary of Clapton, Page, Hendrix and so on during the 60s. Perhaps that makes the brief madness of extreme fame he experienced more sweet (The Police lasted a surprisingly short time, six-seven years); he seems to have taken advantage of it, but come out the other side eventually.

The Joy of Work by Scott Adams (1998)

The third of the Dilbert books I found in a cupboard at work, this is an actual book rather than just a repackaged collection of cartoon strips. Most of the book is a long-form expansion of what you might say is the Dilbert ethos: work is pointless and dull but you can enjoy the ridiculousness in a number of ways. Aside from the section on office pranks, which mostly just seem mean (as do most "pranks" to me), it's amusing. The last section segues neatly into a serious discursion on creativity (and a minor come-back at a critic). It's a nice way of putting serious material into a book that was likely to be widely read.

Watching - July 2022

The Proposal (2009)

As predictable as the sun rising, but nice with it. Sandra Bullock is as convincing as she can be, given the somewhat preposterous plot, as a career woman who rediscovers her emotions and falls in love with both Ryan Reynolds and his family. What he sees in her is less obvious, unless he's always secretly been in love with her and just needs to accidentally see her naked to push him over the edge. Still, Reynolds is as engaging as you'd expect, albeit more convincing when he's being a smart-ass than when he's doing sincere. An acceptable way to spend a couple of hours one afternoon.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

I must have watched this originally on TV (and we had a copy that was recorded off TV), as now I watch on DVD there are significant chunks that I do not remember at all - and fairly important parts too. The plot's decent, and if the special effects look a bit clunky now, well, that's because it's over thirty years old!

Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995)

I remember going to see this with C in High Wycombe Odeon when it was released. We'd decided we wanted to watch something fairly undemanding but "with some big bangs" - which, if you know the start of this film, certainly matches up! It's aged reasonably well, although I think the sandwich board incident at the beginning would almost certainly not get included these days, and you'd hope they'd manage at least one or two better female roles. Preposterous but good clean fun.

My Life as a Rolling Stone (2022)

The Rolling Stones - as you've seen them many times before!

High School Musical (2006)

Slightly unexpectedly, High School Musical is probably our favourite film as a family. It's a combination of engaging characters, cheesy plot and songs that are much better than they have a right to be. We can watch it and make fun of it while still enjoying it.

Rock Family Trees: The Rise of Cool Britannia (2022)

Notwithstanding the title, this was a programme about Suede and how they started Britpop and then grew out of it. (Do they have a new album out soon, by any chance?) It wasn't really a proper rock family tree - of the claimed "three biggest bands of the 90s", only Suede and Elastica are linked and all that makes is a flat shrub, rather than a tree - and it only featured a few of the players of the time: no Bernard Butler, none of Blur, Pulp, Oasis or other more minor players. I was also irritated by the programme's lazy characterisation of prime Britpop as some sort of cheeky, end-of-pier, Carry On style of music. Sure, you had songs like "Parklife" and Supergrass's "Alright", but you didn't have to go far beyond the singles to find more depth, even on the same albums (try "This is a Low" or "She's So Loose"), let alone later ones. I guess it suits Suede to position themselves as perennial outsiders. Still, it was fun to relive the times (I recall Suede's first single launch gig in the basement of Rough Trade in Neil's Yard with much fondness) and Justine Frischman was a great interviewee, unlike Brett Anderson and Matt Osman who looked awkward and self-conscious. I suspect that might be because she has nothing to sell and no image to maintain.

Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)

Enjoyable outing with the family to a Sunday matinee showing at the cinema (now much more affordable, thanks to Vue's pricing). The film isn't going to win any prizes for plot or subtlety, but it has many very funny moments and a great soundtrack (thanks to Jack Antonoff of Bleachers, who I am going to see in September).

Hello Quo (2012)

Status Quo is a band I knew little about, bar the obvious singles, until a Fretboard forum listening party for Blue For You (1976). The album's not bad at all and a lot more varied than I expected. So I was interested to see this history of the band. I loved finding out that their future direction was set in the late 60s by seeing The Doors performing "Roadhouse Blues" live - as soon as Francis Rossi mentioned it, I could hear the link between them exactly. There's plenty of footage here (and all over YouTube) to show how tight and effective they were as a band, something that's harder than you'd think. Unpretentious music, workmanlike sometimes but at its best a real rock force (and as an aside, this picture of them, from the mid-70s, is superb)

The Martian (2015)

Having read the book, I had to watch the film. It skips some details but is marvellously visualised. The main character isn't quite such a smart-arse as in the book, which is a shame as this was the characteristic I found most attractive. There's a few film cliché moments inserted into the plot and an unnecessary coda, but otherwise it's surprisingly true to the source material. Very enjoyable.

Reading - July 2022

Love is the Drug edited by John Aizlewood (1994)

Entertaining, albeit slightly repetitive, recounting by various music journos of the time (plus a few celebs) of their fandom for a particular artist. In some cases, all they're telling us is why so-and-so is their favourite, whereas in others it's a full-blown obsessiveness. Interesting, but doesn't pass the key test of any book about music: in no cases was I inspired to go and listen to the music. I've had this book for a long time - probably since it was published - and now I've read it again, I'm not sure why it survived the Great Book Cull of '17. Destined for the charity shop, I think!

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (1997)

A worldwide phenomenon, apparently, albeit one that has completely passed me by - I found this in the book exchange at work. According to Wikipedia, it's one of the best selling memoirs ever, and I can kind of see why: it's sweet, easy to read and has a nice message. It's also sentimental, simplistic and possibly a bit shallow - qualities that probably also don't harm its appeal to a wide audience (yes, I'm being snobbish). The book's subject - Morrie Schwartz - seems like he was a lovely man who encouraged people to live simply and enjoy what they have. I don't think I'm overly simplifying here. It's a good moral, one we should all remember, and if it takes a book to remind you of it, then fine.

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall (2019)

Essentially an explanation about why the geopolitics of various regions fundamentally shape their history and policies, this is eerily correct about Russia's current actions, particularly given that it was originally published in 2015 (albeit updated in 2019). It adopts a curiously passive and neutral stance on countries' actions, explaining blandly that, for example, Putin had "no choice" but to annex Crimea, and initially this irritated me, because of course he had a choice. The only perspective in which he has no choice was that in which all other leaders are equally paranoid and opportunistic, and sadly, this is probably correct. It's also self-perpetuating, but inevitable. Ultimately, this is a book about why toxic nationalism is going to always be with us. Hard going and depressing.

Summer at the Lake by Erica James (2013)

A nice modern romance, with flashbacks to an older story embedded in it. The characters were engaging enough to keep me reading, but were a little one-dimensional, while the story was predictable in the best kind of way (i.e. it ends happily), albeit with a sudden injection of several dramatic elements all at once towards the end, which unbalanced it a little. Pleasant bedtime reading.

The Martian by Andy Weir (2011)

I'd never heard of this (or the film made from it) until I read about it, catching up on old xkcd comics. It's an odd book in some ways, a patchwork of different viewpoints, different styles and fairly relentless technical detail, but the central character has such a winning personality that he carries the plot and left me really wanting it to all work out (I did peek at the ending fairly early on to make sure it was a happy one). It threatened to degenerate into a series of unfortunate events but I suppose that's fairly realistic, given how hostile Mars would actually be, and in any case it didn't stop me enjoying it. I'm now looking forward to watching the film!

My Life as a Rolling Stone

BBC, 2022

The Rolling Stones - as you've seen them many times before!

The Word magazine used to have a question on their web site when you signed up: "Beatles or Stones?" (there was also a third option, "actually I preferred The Monkees". It was that kind of humour - I really miss The Word magazine.) But for me, there's never been a question about it: The Beatles released a dizzying array of music in less than ten years, whereas the Stones ... well, put it like this, when I was compiling my favourite songs of the sixties recently, I could add almost all of every Beatles album, but only a song or two at most from each Stones album. 

Now don't get me wrong, there's some classics there - but also an awful lot of dross, frankly. They've produced little music of interest since the early seventies, and nothing at all in the last forty years, something I think they're very well aware of, as a brief look at their set lists over the last few years shows. But somehow this hasn't stopped them becoming the "greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world".

What has always distinguished The Rolling Stones, to my mind, is the incredibly effective way they've publicised themselves. From the very beginning, when Andrew Loog Oldham deliberately set them up as the opposite of those nice, clean Beatles, through to right now and this impeccably stage-managed documentary series, they've always had superb control over their public image, which in many ways has defined the "rock rebel" stereotype.

The format - one episode for each of Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Charlie - manages to cover a lot of history, but it's a curiously incomplete picture. You could count the number of times Bill Wyman was mentioned on the fingers of one foot. Sure, he's not been in the band since 1993, but he was there for all the important moments. A complete history would include him, but this wasn't it. There was maybe five minutes in total featuring Brian Jones, and a minute including Mick Taylor (easily the best guitarist to be a member of the band).

Maybe this wasn't the point, and the idea was tell the individuals' stories. You could be forgiven for feeling that they were being pretty candid - after all, their history is pretty well known and Keith and Ronnie, in particularly, are well known for being rowdy rock 'n' roll bad boys. Conveniently, that means that the documentary can talk fairly freely about their well-known drug use, because that doesn't actually harm their image at all. But what about the women? We don't hear so much about that.

This was an enjoyable series and worth a bit of time to watch, but felt more like a very extended advertisement for The Rolling Stones and their latest tour than a real documentary. There was little new here and nothing that made me want to revisit any of their music. But then perhaps it's not aimed at me.

Watching - June 2022

Ocean's Eleven (2001)

I'm not quite sure why I chose this, which I have already seen, over any number of other films, but it is a superbly over-the-top example of the heist movie, as explained so succinctly by Mark Kermode. The plan is way too complicated, there's too many people involved, there are some moments when it looks like it will all put in jeopardy and yet it all works. Great fun though (if you leave aside the whole moral issue of making crime look so glamorous), George Clooney is masterful and Brad Pitt cheeky. Shame Julia Roberts has so little to do other than look pretty, but I suppose that was kind of why Ocean's Eight was made. I'd quite like to watch the original now though.

The Good Liar (2019)

Not my usual sort of thing, a suspense/thriller. Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen are excellent, as would be expected, and although it was obvious there was going to be some sort of twist where Mirren's character wasn't who we thought, I didn't predict what it was. Unfortunately, what it actually was, was not particularly believable. Kept my attention though and was very involving, although there were a couple of scenes I could have done without - but then, this isn't my usual sort of thing, as I said.

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

Still full of good ideas and fun moments, even if the moralising and message is a little bit more obvious. Nice to watch with the family

The Big Short (2015)

Probably even more simplified than the book (which I can't remember much about, as I read it over eight years ago), but still depressing. The story is told in a very stylish way, in a pseudo-docudrama format with multiple breaking of the fourth wall, and kept me gripped until the end, when it becomes apparent that all the main characters will have a) made a ton of money, and b) realised how broken the system is. The real scandal, of course, is that not only did no-one get prosecuted, but that it's being done all over again.

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Melodramatic and overly fond of the big scenery, in an attempt to dress up what is essentially a very static locked room mystery. Perhaps the people making it thought that a faithful retelling would be too boring. And so they force poor Poirot to become an action man of sorts, chasing after someone, getting shot (conveniently in the upper arm, which doesn't bother him at all after about two minutes) and going for a classic Branagh Oscar nomination scene at the end (although Michelle Pfeiffer's almost matches it). Still, an entertaining couple of hours. And a cute lead-in to the next film (Death on the Nile, recently released I believe), which presumably was already planned.

Who Do You Think You Are: Matt Lucas (2022)

I don't like Matt Lucas's comedy much (Little Britain was awful, I thought), but as a person he seems very nice, and although I don't actually know him, there is a connection: he was at school with a girl I knew through summer camp, a long, long time ago. Karen Morris very sadly died of leukaemia in her early twenties, and her parents set up the Karen Morris Memorial Trust to continue the fund-raising she started in her last year; Matt Lucas is one of the charity's patrons. And his background is very similar to mine: a north London Jew, his grandmother came to the UK in the 30s from Germany, just like mine. So I was interested to watch this. It wasn't easy viewing - nothing concerning the Holocaust is - but it was a sobering reminder that, for so many of us, for every relative that escaped the Nazis, there were four or more that didn't.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

The boys (B & Z) and I went to see this at our local Vue - prices much reduced from what they were pre-pandemic means it's very good value (the same can't be said for the popcorn ...) I told them to watch Top Gun first but they didn't; it does work as a stand-alone film but all the nods to the first one are fun to spot. Most of all though, even though it's clearly a preposterous plot, it's easy to get involved with and I found myself thoroughly engrossed and even a little teary at times (although I'm a sentimental old fool so this isn't hard). The action scenes are incredible, Tom Cruise is superb and I'm reminded of how watchable he is. Great fun.

Reading - June 2022

The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett (1998)

The Rincewind books aren't my favourites as they often feel a bit directionless. There are lots of interesting ideas here that aren't quite explained properly, or at least that I didn't quite get. Unusually, the annotation (link above) don't help much here, so I'm left with the feeling that either there's some subtext I'm not getting (entirely possibly, subtext is not my thing), or the book is collection of slightly random ideas - which doesn't seem likely for Terry Pratchett. There's also the usual humour, in this case working with rather obvious Australian stereotypes, which I find gently amusing, but I do wonder what an Australian would think of it.

Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett (1998)

In which vampires appear with suddenly manifested super-powers and try to take over Lancre - which is where Granny Weatherwax lives. Despite being pretty sure how it's going to end (obviously Granny will sort everything out), there's some suspense. Decent level Pratchett (i.e. very good by anyone else's standards) but not particularly distinguished.

Reading - May 2022

The Runaway Jury by John Grisham (1996)

Easy and familiar reading, but nevertheless still gripping.

Working the Wheel by Martin Brundle (2004)

Brundle's own take on eighteen of the world's F1 tracks, past and present (plus Le Mans) is perhaps a little perfunctory in places, but pretty interesting overall. Fun fact: I saw Martin Brundle give a talk (at some corporate event) twenty-odd years ago, and I took this book with me to get it signed, but bottled out even though he was stood chatting with a friend of mine after the talk - mainly because I thought it would be very gauche of me to ask. Oh well.

Reading - April 2022

The Unforgettable Fire by Eamon Dunphy (1988)

I bought and read this at the time, a very readable account of U2's first ten years. At the time, U2 were my favourite band and The Joshua Tree one of my favourite albums (it's still probably up there). It's pointless to say I didn't think I'd be listening to them over thirty years later, as no-one really thought like that, but this is a good time capsule of U2, Mk 1 - which is my U2, really.

The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy by Mary Street (1999)

I suspect this is based more on the legendary BBC series of Pride and Prejudice than on the book itself, but nevertheless it is a pleasant retelling of the story from Darcy's point of view. It doesn't add much to the story but there are some nice touches.

Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques (2003-)

A graphic novel would count as a book, so why not a web comic? I found this via explainxkcd and it was easy, low effort reading when I was feeling ill and keeping myself away from everyone else in the house for a few days. There's plenty of gentle humour, and occasional laugh out loud (well, snort out loud) moments, but what kept me reading is the story lines. The characters are interesting and I wanted to know what happens to them. It's kind of like a soap opera though - it never ends or resolves, just keeps going forever. I've now read them all - that's nearly twenty years' worth of comics read in about two weeks - and kind of want to stop ...

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)

The previous P&P-based book made me want to go back to the original, which reminded how much superior it is to any attempted tributes/pastiches etc. Still one of my favourite books for a reason.

Dad's Email Order Bride by Candy Halliday (2014)

Oddly, for a M&B "Super Romance", this is short and not very involved. Obvious where it was going but a little oddly paced, so it finished a bit quick.

Make Room for Daddy by Andrea Edwards (1990)

Cringy title aside, this is one of the sweetest romances I have, which is why I re-read it fairly often.

The Illustrated Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth (2021)

I really enjoyed Forsyth's The Elements of Eloquence (blimey, eight years ago) and this was a lovely birthday present from B. It's not a sit-down-and-read kind of book, more a dip-into-occasionally kind of thing. It's full of wonderful facts about where words come from that I will not remember, but very much enjoyed reading about. This tenth anniversary edition is illustrated: the illustrations are whimsical and nicely done, but pointless and add nothing, sadly.

Tempting Fate by Stacy Finz (2019)

This next in the Nugget series is an interesting exercise, as Finz has taken the character of Raylene, previously firmly cast as a villain, and attempted to rehabilitate her as the heroine of this book. Mostly it works in terms of the plot, as we get more of her backstory and her earlier actions can be seen in a different light. What's less convincing is the way the other characters all suddenly change their minds about her. Still, this doesn't stop it being a satisfying story. And thus, for now, ends my journey through this series, as the library doesn't have the latest two books. (sad face)

The Accidental Scientist by Graeme Donald (2014)

A bit of a hodge-podge of stories about those wacky scientists discovering things by accident. There's also a smattering of anecdotes about scientists being ignorant (like early experiments in nuclear explosions) or even wilfully negligent (for example, the thalidomide scandal). Interesting in passing but not especially engaging, and fails to balance things out by pointing out that most scientific work is deliberate and well-informed.

Watching - April 2022

Definitely, Maybe (2008)

A very enjoyable romcom, enhanced by Ryan Reynolds doing, well, himself, and an element of mystery during the story. The only slightly jarring note is that there is no big reconciliation at the end, which seems more realistic but less commercial.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

Iconic, classic and unclassifiable. Just brilliant in all respects. Even the behind the scenes footage (in the making of featurette) of Mary Elizabeth Winstead practicing her big-eyed anime looks to camera doesn't spoil the magic.

Musical Elitism - Why it is EVERYWHERE (2022)

A long form YouTube video, suggested to me by B. The slightly click-bait-y title is a bit misleading, because what I think this is actually complaining about is that "classical" music is seen as elitist, and that that's wrong. But music changes, music tastes change and evolve and isn't necessarily a bad thing - as Tantacrul (the guy who made this) points out very entertainingly in another video. So people don't want to play or hear classical music as much any more? Music making itself has never been more accessible. That's the main thing, surely. (He's spot on about the ludicrous over-adulation accorded to successful rock and pop musicians though. Bob Dylan, "genius"? ffs)

The Wrecking Crew (2008)

I've wanted to watch this for ages, but actually it turned out to be a bit disappointing. The Wrecking Crew were musical legends, but there's very little here of them actually playing music - plenty about the songs they played on, some stories about who they worked with, but almost nothing of how they worked together. Perhaps this is because it's not a documentary for musicians, it's for a more mainstream audience, about musicians, which is why it spends so long going on about how unknown these people were. Given that I already knew who they were, this was a bit redundant for me. (as an aside, having been unable to find this to watch anywhere for years, I finally watched a hooky upload on YouTube, which I feel a smidge guilty about.)

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2022)

Well-made and hits all the obvious marks, but possibly a little predictable. I find the Marvel films a bit formulaic these days, but Tom Holland is engaging and the whole thing with the three separate Spider-Men was cool - in fact, I could have done with more of that. The ending was a bit sad, so obviously a set up for the next one. Watched with the family, and only slightly spoiled by teenagers snickering through the more emotional scenes.

Watching - March 2022

The Good Place (Season 4, 2019)

We managed to watch all four seasons of The Good Place as a family, which must say something about the quality of the programme. Season 4 was obviously written knowing that it would be the last, as the feel of the programme changes from sitcom to - well, not drama, exactly, since it's still more comedy than anything else, but to gentle humour, hung around the overall story. The last episode is sweet and moving. Very highly recommended.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

This was on the telly, so I decided to watch it again (albeit I actually watched it off our Plex server, since we own it). Excellent fun, great action, some decent acting (apart from Kevin Hart, who just plays himself) and a couple of sweet scenes between Karen Gillan and Dwayne Johnson.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

I've been talking to Z about watching this for ages and he seems interested, apart from not actually setting a time! Eventually I got bored of waiting and watched it anyway. Great fun, but again, I was completely distracted towards the end by the fact that the characters still appear to be in their mid-twenties. Afterwards I watched the real Live Aid set from 1985, and although they've clearly gone a lot of trouble to match all the movements, clothes and sound, they've missed something minor and yet vital. In the film, there's loads of cutaway shots to Brian, Roger and John where they keep looking at the crowd or, more, at Freddie, like they can't believe they're here or amazed at how Freddie is controlling the crowd. I know it fits the film's narrative but it's completely wrong. Watch the real set and there's none of this: they are very confident, they've done this literally hundreds of times, they know exactly what they're doing and what Freddie is capable of - which makes more sense, really, as by this time they'd been playing together for fifteen years and played bigger venues than Wembley.

Count Me In (2021)

I don't play drums but I always fancied having a go. Unfortunately I've never been able to get past the space needed or the sheer volume they would generate. My family might not consider that I play guitar quietly but compared to drums, it's a whisper. Anyway, this is a somewhat disposable but star-studded documentary featuring an fantastic array of famous and no-so-famous drummers, talking about how they started, why they play and so on. It features a number of female drummers too, which was good to see. A bit like It Might Get Loud for drummers.

Echo in the Canyon (2019)

An appreciation of the music coming out of Laurel Canyon rather than a documentary, and a chance for Jakob Dylan to go and talk to a whole array of the people who were there. Some great music and some interesting interviews (David Crosby: "Want to know why I was really fired from The Byrds? It's 'cos I was an asshole"), but very oddly doesn't mention Joni Mitchell at all, who from what little I know was central to the scene. Perhaps she didn't want to be involved but you'd think she'd at least warrant being talked about. Otherwise, nice enough.

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

There's lots to like about this film if you leave out the final wedding. Without it, there's plenty of humour and a gently moving story about two people who find each other but never at quite the right time in their lives. Of course it has to be wrapped up somehow and so we get the needlessly implausible final scene. (I'm trying to think of a better way to end it, happily. In fairness, I can't - but then I'm not a multi-millionaire scriptwriter ...)

Reading - March 2022

Play All by Clive James (2016)

Clive James first came to my, and the world's attention (albeit at different times) through his TV criticism and I'm sure it would have been deliberate that a return to it was one of his last published works (the book is full of references to his own mortality). He made his mark in the field with a unique style that was a masterpiece in wit and brevity, made necessary by a weekly word limit. Here he has much more space to work with, which seems appropriate when writing about big box sets like Game Of Thrones, The West Wing and The Sopranos. His argument is that the additional time afforded by such expansive TV dramas allows them to explore life more fully. Presumably he feels that the space in a book to discuss them allows him to do them more justice. Unfortunately I'm inclined to feel that neither is well served by removing restrictions. I don't get the appeal of such long series and allowing a mind as fine as James' more space just results in more bewildering tangents than usual. Beautiful writing as always, but possibly not as well-targeted as I would hope for.

Boiling A Frog by Christopher Brookmyre (2000)

Pointed, darkly satirical and great fun.

Love Lives by Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees (2003)

Nice bedtime reading.

Thank You For The Days by Mark Radcliffe (2009)

I'm in the middle of about four different books that are interesting, but heavy going and not bedtime reading. So this came off the shelf again. I didn't realise I read it less than two years ago, which tells you something about how memorable it is, or possibly about how poor my memory is. Anyway, easy reading, gently amusing and a little reminder of how great Mark and Lard were together - their stint on the Radio 1 breakfast show definitely doesn't feel like 25 years ago! Oh dear, I'm getting old.

Pedal Power 2022

 Less than a month after I last reviewed my pedal board I decided I wasn't very happy with it. I'm not quite sure what prompted this any more, but out went about half a dozen pedals and in came at least that many again, quite a few bought brand new, and a whole new board and power supply. Since then it's changed slightly and, just in case this wasn't enough, I've recently assembled an entire second board. (Now I read this in black and white, it occurs to me that this might all be a little bit over the top ...) So although I normally review things once every couple of years, I thought this needed revisiting sooner.

What do you mean, seven gain stages
and five delays is too many?

First up, then, my big board. I wasn't particularly happy with the sound of my board last time, particularly the overdrive sounds, and I've been searching for my favourite delay sound for a while too. Let's go through it in signal path order:

Bright Onion Shifter Switcher Patchbox

The really posh pedal boards have built-in patch boxes, so that the pedals are always plugged in, and you just make your connections to the board as a whole via the patch box. I like this idea, so this achieves the same result. It's underneath the board at the back right, under the M5. It's also quite clever: the pedals for the front of the amp are patched in separately to the pedals for the loop, but if you only connect one in and one out, everything goes through one path instead of separate paths, which means I can use this with an amp that doesn't have a loop, without having to change anything. That's really helpful if I'm round at a friend's house using their amp.

Line 6 M5

A jack-of-all-trades pedal that's just too good to leave off the board. I really like the wah wah models (although see later on for my budget board!), the compressors are fine and I've been using the rotary model recently too. Since there's a whole section of delays in this thing, this counts as the first delay on the board!

TC Electronic Sub-n-Up

I originally used one of the octave effects on the M5 but I liked it enough to warrant a dedicated pedal. This has a surprising amount of variety in it.

Magnetic Effects White Atom

Now discontinued as the manufacturer has decided to move and stop making pedals. I really like the idea of this pedal, but in practice it's a highly competent but somewhat generic fuzz. It's not as massive as a Big Muff or as brutal as the SF300 (see below). I'll probably sell it at some point.

Fredric Effects King of Klone

I love the Klon circuit boosting anything, including itself, so this is a great pedal. A fixture of my big board.

Fredric Effects Blue Monarch

I'd never tried a Bluesbreaker style pedal before. This is actually more a clone of the Analogman Prince of Tone. Initially I thought it was great, but actually it's a bit too fizzy and polite for me - I prefer something with a bit more meat. Hence ...

Tech 21 Double Drive

I sold this about two years ago because I fancied something else, but then last year I saw a JHS video about under-appreciated pedals and realised I missed it. Luckily the guy I sold it to still had it and wasn't using it - so I got it back for exactly what I paid for it. Not letting it go again!

MXR Phase 95

Phaser is still one of my favourite effects, and one of the first I owned. This is a brilliant little pedal, better and more flexible than the Phase 90 (which they've ruined somewhat), and smaller!

BOSS GE-7 (modded)

Ideal and very necessary for sculpting tone (ahem).

This is the last pedal before the amp, if I'm running the following pedals in the effects loop.

Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail

I've tried various types of delay and analogue (bucket brigade) delay is my favourite. I've been through a bunch since I sold my original MXR Carbon Copy (mistake) and landed here, which sounds pretty much the same but has the advantage of modulation controls on the top (which is why I sold the CC in the first place). Somewhat underrated but a proper analogue delay - with all the limitations that implies as well. Which is why I also have ...

Strymon Brigadier

Analogue delay sounds awesome but it's either very dark, or noisy, and the delay time is limited. This is a digital model but for anything apart from the extremes of self-oscillation (which the Vapor Trail can do), this is superior to anything else: it's clean if you want it, massive amounts of delay if that's your thing, and incredibly musical.

Strymon DIG

So given that the M5 can do several types of delay and I have two separate analogue style delays, what's this doing here? It's a different sound which is sometimes very fun to play, and if you hook it up in stereo it sounds incredible.

Neunaber Immerse

Probably the best reverb pedal I've ever had. It does everything (even another delay if the previous four aren't enough) and has completely cured me of wanting another reverb pedal. Despite buying this for its plate reverb, it actually spends most of its time on the hall setting, which has subtle modulation and is absolutely fantastic.

What is also new is the board itself, which is a new Pedaltrain Classic 2, which is roughly the same size as the old board but has more usable space and, crucially, allows for a new Truetone 1Spot CS12 power supply mounted underneath, needed for all the higher consumption pedals.

So this is the state of the big board, and has been since roughly the end of last year. It can do loads and loads of different sounds and any modification - like the ability to run in stereo, for example - would be expensive.

So obviously, if my main board is so capable, I don't need another one, right? Wrong!

At the beginning of this year I had a couple of hundred pounds in my Paypal account from previous sales and for some reason I got the idea into my head that instead of searching for the next boutique beauty, I should see how far I could stretch my money. The core basics would be fuzz, overdrive, delay and reverb, with optional wah and wobble of some sort. I was trying to find pedals that are generally agreed to be good pedals, not just good for the money. And although I'm not a gigging musician, I wanted a board that would be reasonably versatile for if I was jamming with a friend.

Mainly, I think it was an excuse to do some shopping without completely breaking the bank, but it turned out much better than I expected - in some respects, it's a better board than the main board, and some of the pedals would absolutely not be out of place in a pro setup. Here's what we have (right to left, signal path order again):

The bargain basement budget board

Cry Baby Mini CBM95

A Cry Baby Super was my first ever pedal and this is probably even better: true bypass, three voicings, an adjustable pedal feel and it fits on a board properly. Sounds perfect to me - just like a Cry Baby. I settled on the vintage voicing but the low voicing is really nice too. Bought secondhand for a very nice price.

Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz

A blatant BOSS FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz clone, this is an absolute budget classic, not just an acceptable version of something more expensive. I got this from the forum but it's only £18 brand new. Brutal at high gain, with an occasional hint of octave fuzz, it also works as a good distortion with low gain and wedged between modes 1 & 2 (a party trick the BOSS can't do), plus it serves triple duty by acting as a decent clean boost.

Caline Pure Sky

Another budget classic, this is generally regarded as a very, very good Timmy clone. I've never played an original but this is what I was hoping for when I bought the Blue Monarch: a nice rich overdrive, even at low gain, adding some thickness to the tone, and also very nice boosted. Just great and incredible value new, let alone the tiny price I paid secondhand.

MXR Micro Chorus

Originally I bought a Behringer chorus (same series as the fuzz) but it sounded a bit generic - perfectly acceptable but the least inspiring pedal on the board. Then this came up for about a third of its new price and it was worth it: played side by side, you can really hear the difference in quality. I also love that I can adjust the one control with my foot.

Xvive Echoman

There was a lot of hype about these a few years ago, but it's died down somewhat. Supposedly designed by the same man that designed the legendary EHX Memory Man Deluxe, this has some of the same flavour, but probably some of the same drawbacks - mainly, it's noisy. This wasn't such a bargain, although it was still a decent price. If I was a bit more patient, I would have waited for a cheaper, "analog voiced" delay, of which there are plenty. That said, it's a nice sounding pedal.

TC Electronic Skysurfer

TC's "smorgasbord" range includes some real value and I think this is one - particularly given that it was half the price for me because I used some of my loyalty points at Andertons. Simple but effective reverb that does what it says.

The board itself is home-made from a piece of wood I had lying around that was exactly the right depth and just needed cutting to length. I used a hole saw on my drill to create "rails", and I put some feet on too. The power is from a daisy chain supply and the patch cables were ones I had lying around.

Total cost: £199

Watching - February 2022

The Good Place (Season 1, 2016)

B told us to watch this - specifically not to look up anything to do with it, just watch it. I'm pleased we didn't get any spoilers or even an idea of what it was about, as this seems to be a show that thrives on plot twists. Accordingly, I won't spoil it for you either, except to say that it's a series well worth watching  - very imaginative and amusing, and not too heavy on time commitment either.

Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (2010)

I've known and enjoyed Rush's 1981 album Moving Pictures since my teens, I believe, but only occasionally ventured into other parts of their back catalogue - to my shame. It's a bit like only listening to A Night At The Opera or Led Zep 4 - only knowing a band's most well-known album. I thought I'd see if this documentary inspired me to listen beyond this. It's a really interesting film, always engaging, and it's nice to see three people that were only interested in making good music, not in any of the excess or stupidity associated with rock. It also highlights how varied their music has been over the forty-odd years of their existence. I think their 70s output is probably less to my taste, but I'll be looking into the other 80s and 90s albums.

The Good Place (Season 2, 2017)

The big surprise at the end of season 1 seems to have inspired the writers, as this season is more full of twists than a Chubby Checker convention. As a result, although it's entertaining, it's a bit breathless and disjointed us. It's very compelling though, and the cliff-hangers at the end of each episode really keep you skipping to the next (not that Netflix gives you much time to decide otherwise). We started season 3 straight away and we're all watching it together. Which is nice.

Red Notice (2021)

If they've missed any action/buddy/heist movie clichés in making this, I didn't notice. All somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as befits the presence of Ryan Reynolds (who is why I watched this in the first place), with some knowing nods to the ridiculousness of it all, some cute lines ("What are we looking for?" - "A box labelled 'Macguffin'?") and a plot twist at the end that I didn't see coming - although in fairness, I never see them coming. Anyway, not 100% sure why I persevered with it but it passed a Sunday afternoon well enough.

The Good Place (Season 3, 2018)

I rarely, if every, binge watch anything, because it's a massive time sink and I always end up feeling that I could have done something more productive with my time. As David Hepworth says: "[...] they're clever enough to keep me watching but not substantial enough to make me glad I did". However, I've made an exception for The Good Place, as we've all watched it together, the episodes and seasons are actually quite short - and it's entertaining. I have been drawing the line at more than three episodes in one go though.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Season 1, 2013)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a series that had completely escaped me until my kids starting going on about it last year, describing it as "like Scrubs set in a police department" - which is a good recommendation in my book. Inevitably, they've already ground their way through all eight series or whatever, whereas I've been watching it only occasionally, so it's taken me a few months to finish the first season. I'm glad to keep coming back to it though. It's obviously not in the least bit serious or realistic, but it's very well-written and funny, and the characters are entertaining (although I could mostly do without Gina). 

Ode To Joy (2019)

Once I got past Martin Freeman doing an American accent, this was very sweet; a bit more complex than a standard romcom, but not a lot really. Nevertheless, it was nice to see reasonably believable characters, not least Freeman, who has always does an everyman role to perfection. It's nice to see a happy ending for someone with an unusual medical condition, even if, when you start to think about it, it seems more and more unlikely that it would actually work the way it does in the film (see also 50 First Dates). Still, a nice enough film.