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. 

Reading - February 2022

Falling Hard by Stacy Finz (2017)

I can't quite believe I've made it to book eight in this series, but here I am anyway. There's plenty to like about the stories, and the characters are now familiar, which is nice, and means I can overlook the similarities between novels. I get the impression that Ms. Finz is getting a bit bored herself though, as the non-romantic elements of the plot are a bit more prominent, including in this case an extended and rather out-of-place coda that's more like a mediocre crime thriller.

Hope for Christmas by Stacy Finz (2017)

This is an interesting (for relative values of "interesting") aside in these "Nugget romance" books - not actually a romance, but a closure on something that was probably intended to be merely backstory in Finding Hope - a missing child from years before the story itself. My speculation is that enough people got in touch wanting to know how it panned out, and so this: book 8½. Shorter that the other entries in the series and a bit perfunctory, but resolution for those who need it.

So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson (2016)

I'm not quite sure why I chose this book, as it is predictably disheartening. Intelligent people can be incredibly stupid - not just sometimes, but very, very often. Here Ronson describes how the indiscriminate, self-righteous fury of the Twitter mob has had disproportionate, real-world effects on those who happened to catch its fleeting attention. Even more depressing is the coda for this edition, which describes how the same twerps, with a complete lack of self-awareness, turned on Ronson for having the temerity to suggest (in this book) that perhaps their targets might not deserve an online lynch mob. Well and engagingly written, but, as I say, unfortunately this doesn't stop it being depressing.

What If? by Randall Munroe (2015)

Most striking this time round is a question that ask, presciently, "If everyone on the planet stayed away from each other for a couple of weeks, wouldn't the common cold be wiped out?" Turns out the answer is "no". What If? 2 is due out in September; B and I very excited.

Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel (2021)

This slim book was simultaneously an easy and hard read. Baddiel is an entertaining and acerbic companion, but the behaviour he describes is depressing. I've felt for a long time - in my usual, "I can't really be bothered to look into this properly" fashion - that the political left wing is just as intrinsically anti-Semitic as the right wing, just in a different way. This is the focus of the book: how the "progressive left" (whatever that is) dismiss Jewish concerns as unimportant or invalid, using a range of reasons. Baddiel deconstructs those arguments easily and the points he makes are irrefutable. Unfortunately that doesn't stop ideologically one-dimensional nitwits trying - the kind who can't understand how they can possibly be guilty of any kind of discrimination because, hello, they are anti-racist and anyway aren't all Jews rich white people?

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (1988)

As always, just an astonishing vision of another world. Peerless SF.

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (2021)

As I said about the first of Osman's books in the Thursday Murder Club series, this is a very well-written, engaging and compelling book that nevertheless has a feeling of having been precisely engineered to maximise its appeal. This time, the mechanisms feel a little more obvious and Osman leans on two characters in particular: Elizabeth, who can outwit anyone, and Bogdan, who can defeat anyone. Basically, any time the characters get into a scrape, one of these two will sort it out. It doesn't stop the book being a great read (I charged through it in about two days) but it's not quite as good as the first.

Reading - January 2022

The Storyteller by Dave Grohl (2021)

By reputation and general agreement, Dave Grohl is one of the nicest, most genuine people in rock, driven by a real love of and enthusiasm for music. This comes across in the book in spades, even if it does bear the slick signs of a professional writer being fairly heavily involved. Dave's life (it feels wrong to call him "Grohl" somehow) has been far more varied than I realised, but the unifying thread is his passion for what he does. What's also apparent, although he either too modest to say it or just doesn't realise, is that he's a amazing communicator and leader. All in all, a slightly breathless, but incredible dash through some stories in his life - eminently readable and surely crying out for volume two, if he's ever inclined.

First Time In Forever by Sarah Morgan (2015)

The rather generic title masks a superior romance about life in a small town and the people who settle there. First in a series - woo! I was amused to note that although Sarah Morgan is British, she mostly sets her books in the US. She obviously knows her market!

How Pleasure Works by Paul Bloom (2010)

Subtitled "Why we like what we like", this is a pleasant skim across the surface of research and literature about the science of pleasure, and why, for example, humans take pleasure in things that are not obviously pleasurable. We're not just talking about masochism here, but things like smoking, or drinking beer (which, however much you may like it now, was almost certainly an acquired taste), or watching scary or sad films. I'm not sure I've come away with any lasting conclusions or knowledge, other than that the human mind is a complicated and strange thing - but this failure is probably mine rather than the book's, as I mostly read it last thing before I went to sleep.

The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams & John Lloyd (1983)

Despite having been a fan of Douglas Adams since the very beginning (I listened to H2G2 with my Dad on Radio 4 in the late 70s), for some reason I've never read this before. It's a stocking filler really, albeit a very superior one - slight, disposable and amusing in a sort of "I've forgotten the joke already" way. In a sense, it's in the wrong format - it would make the basis of a very good comedy routine. Oddly, despite ostensibly using obscure place names as words, many of them are actually pretty well-known. Anyway, I don't know if it's ever been updated but I'm pretty certain this is the original edition (on loan from the library), not least because of the datedness of the cultural references and occasional but noticeable sexism and borderline homophobia.

The Sacred Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre (2002)

Not sure what I can say about this that I haven't already! I probably first read it soon after it came out and have read it a dozen or more times since. Just great.

One-Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewell (2001)

Oddly, the day after I finished this, I read about Betty Boo: how her second album was a flop and she dropped out of the music business to look after her ill mother. I have no reason to believe that Bee Bearhorn, the one-hit wonder of this book's title, is based on Betty Boo, but the similarities are striking - well, up to the point where Bee dies alone in a rented flat off Baker Street (this hasn't happened to Betty Boo, thankfully). But the book's not really about that. It's about what happens afterwards, and how her younger sister finds herself while trying to find out what happening to Bee. It's a very sweet story, notwithstanding the tragedy at the centre of it.

Watching - January 2022

A Life in Ten Pictures: John Lennon (2021)

I like the idea of this series (I've watched the Freddie Mercury episode too), but with the proviso that it can't be a telling of the whole life story of someone, merely an illustration of specific points in time. A picture tells a story, but the interpretation of the story is another thing, and, knowing a little about John Lennon's life, I think some of the interpretations here are not giving the whole, er, picture. Anyway, some of the photographs are new to me and some of the stories told new also, so interesting. I do wish they'd credit the pictures in the programme itself though.

Williams: Formula 1 In The Blood (2017)

A touching and moving documentary about Frank Williams, but also about his wife, Virginia. He comes across as someone who, if he hadn't had the kind of success he did, would be considered a very odd man. Funny how successful people are "driven", while perhaps less success would result in being called "obsessed". In this case, the latter seems much more appropriate. Nevertheless, fascinating.

Christmas at Dollywood (2019)

Possibly the cheesiest Christmas film yet - and the last until next December, I promise! (OK, maybe October ...). Very romance-by-numbers, so if nothing else it proves the resilience of the formula, as I enjoyed it despite it being entirely predictable every step of the way. Having Dolly Parton in it (briefly) raised it a smidge - maybe - although the presence of the "queen of Hallmark movies" herself, Danica McKellar, is more of a draw for me personally.

Living With Yourself (2019)

An amusing (and short, thankfully - I don't have time for seasons with 20-something, one hour episodes!) series on Netflix, based on the simple idea: what would happen if you were cloned, and there were two of you? Some of the ideas aren't particularly well developed, and the ending is unconvincing; there's an uneasy mix of  simple lessons (appreciate what you have, look after yourself etc) and more surreal comedy. It's like it can't quite decide whether to be a morality tale or a darker comedy. But Paul Rudd and Aisling Bea are good, and I enjoyed watching it.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

Following our mini-marathon last week, we ordered the third film on DVD (it's about £1 more than "renting" it on Youtube or Prime). It's a bit disconnected but the story keeps moving at a reasonable pace, and it kept the family entertained. Also on the DVD are the short films Bilby and Bird Karma - both mildly entertaining, but not as good as the Pixar shorts and probably won't be watched again.

Isn't It Romantic (2019)

K knows how much I like my romcoms and so she recommended this. It's a funny idea - Rebel Wilson is a woman who hates romcoms, gets hit on the head and wakes up in a romcom - and very similar to a couple of episodes of Scrubs that played on similar ideas ("My Life In Four Cameras" and "My Musical"). And in fact, that's probably about the right length for the material here. There's plenty of fun taking the piss out of romcom clichés (I thought it was funny when any non-PG13 moments get "bleeped" out by passing cars), but it gets a bit repetitive. Amusing, and Rebel Wilson is very good, but overall the story is a bit lacking. (As a side note: I spent the whole film trying to figure out why Chris Hemsworth looked slightly odd, until looking at the credits afterwards and realising it was Liam Hemsworth.)

All The Stations - The Documentary (2018)

I wouldn't normally write about the shit I watch on YouTube, but this is a full-length, albeit obviously home-made, documentary. Now part of a series, the original here was an undertaking  by Geoff Marshall and Vicki Pipe to visit all 2,563 stations on the National Rail network in Great Britain. They published daily updates and videos while doing it, but this is a summary and reflection upon their adventures. Unassuming, sweet and engaging, it makes a gentle point about the state of the railways without lecturing: you can get so many places on the railway, and perhaps we should have more of them because they are an important public service.

Vivo (2021)

Lin-Manuel Miranda seems to have been everywhere recently, and the kids are big fans of Moana and Encanto (Z listens to the latter soundtrack constantly at the moment). However, no-one was bothered by this, and we didn't actually make it more than about half an hour through before, by consensus, we switched off.