Sun, 1 Sept: Weekly Review 26

Started Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. It begins with a brief profile of what had gone before, particularly those who had died in Titus Groan and were now ghosts haunting the halls of the keep. Very mordant, very delicious and a great way to do exposition. Ah, the journey begins!  

Bought a PS4 game called That’s You! at EB Games. I found it needs an app that I can’t download coz it’s too old for my version of Android. Typical. Otherwise, it might be a good party game. Time to take it back for a refund!  

Started reading the Steely Dan mag. First article was on Can’t Buy a Thrill, their first album. The review, by Tom Pinnock, disses co-vocalist David Palmer as ‘bland’. I think his vocals are great. Check out his singing on Dirty Work.  

Read more of Steely Dan mag, the Countdown To Ecstasy album review by Sam Richards. The story of My Old School, where Fagen‘s girlfriend was incorrectly busted for drugs at his college. An all-Fagen vocal album, David Palmer is gone. I like this quote: “…it’s the seam of extreme cynicism…that aligns them, in terms of world view, with the punks and the new wavers to come, rather than their ’70s rock contemporaries. When listening to Dan on streaming services, their simplistic algorithms will tend to punt you The Doobie Brothers and Fleetwood Mac, when really your next stop should be Elvis Costello and XTC.” A terrific, insightful review.

Encountered a very eccentric character in the library who wanted some books on Donald Trump with the proviso they be ‘positive’ about him, but there were none of that ilk. He said he was going to go to America to vote for him. I explained he needed to be an American citizen, but he seemed to think he could bypass all that. I finally found one book, Too Much and Never Enough by Mary Trump, but he couldn’t believe the photo on the cover of the young man was Trump. I had to explain to him we all get old and look different. He said he had faith in me (that I wasn’t lying). He was exactly the kind of crazy who would vote or Trump. It’s scary.  

Read more of Tarot book with Major Arcana card The Lovers. It’s all about choices, the wrong ones and the right ones. Sometimes it’s about sacrifice, or about integrating our shadow self in the shape of a partner. Then re-read the intuition/sensation chapter from Discovering Yourself Through Tarot, because it was so deep. Cups and Pentacles are female, and to do with water and earth, wands and swords are male and to do with air and fire.  

Listened to the Bluejays album (Justin Hayward and John Lodge, 1975) in the car. Some dramatic music, the opener This Morning and side closer Nights, Winters, Years. I’d forgotten how dramatic they sounded. This Morning’s instrumental coda is wonderful. I’m starting to warm a little bit to the John Lodge songs which, except for Saved by the Music, I never much liked. Final track, When You Wake Up, always sounds to me like a Mike Pinder song. It’s very cosmic.  As always, RIP Mike. An album that’s buried deep in my soul. 

Saw a trailer on Youtube for Ranma One Half anime remake on Netflix coming October. It looks great. I guess I’ll have to resubscribe to Netflix.

I retweeted a funny meme from Wernher von Braun about the Boeing Starliner astronauts who are stranded in space for another 80 days. “Humanity has about six months to purchase 8 billion ape costumes for the ultimate prank”. Actually, a couple of hundred should do it.

Watched another ep of Hozuki’s Coolheadedness. Real good one about Hozuki having a mural painted over by one of his artistically talented minions. Only, the mural being painted over is a Hokusai masterpiece.  

Made some op shop purchases. The three original Star Wars films on dvd with extra discs. I had the first two, but not the doubles, with their original unaltered feature versions. I’m so glad Lucas allowed these to still be seen. It’s just a pity they’re in a smaller format than the remakes. I watched a bit of the Empire original to check for quality and got caught up in the narrative as usual. Hans’ ‘Don’t get mushy on me’ to Leia always brings a smile.  

Watched the rest of the Twice concert disc one. It’s just the main songs, no solos or spin the wheel, which is on disc two. Fave bits Feel Special (band is introduced and Jihyo does that solo) Don’t Blame It On Me/Queen of Hearts and Alcohol Free. Pity about the crowd.  

Finally listened to my (G)-Idle cassette. It sounds good. Also listened to Aespa’s Savage mini. Lucid Dream is good. Made an Aespa playlist.  

Aespa are playing here on Monday. I tried to get tickets when they went on sale, but nothing good was going, so I figured I’d wait for resale just before the concert. Problem is, not many are giving up their tickets. I also realised I’d put in for an evening shift that day. So today at work I mentioned this to my colleagues, and they all agreed I should curtail the shift for the chance at seeing Aespa, coz it was too important. I compromised and got the 5 to 8 portion dropped. Rostering were fine with it when I explained why (couched in the lie ‘I have tickets for this gig’). Now I’ve just gotta get a ticket. Oh, and (G)-idle will be playing at the same venue in November.  

Back at the library my colleagues were feverishly getting ready for tomorrow’s big comics/cosplay extravaganza to promote our new acquisition of the Comics Plus app. We have a Tardis, a police box (for Superman, my colleague Ike who I worked with yesterday), and an entire couch made out of soft superhero toys, and so much more.

Had a night playing pool in the garage with some friends and rellies. For music I relied on playing Spotify from my phone hooked up to an amp and speakers. Worked well. I used to play a jukebox program on my computer out there, but it’s limited to the tunes that are on it. Think I might ditch that old jukebox collection. Do I really need it anymore? Spotify and other streamers seem to have made it redundant. It’s a pity some of the people there had such bogan tastes. Ended the night with a run of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Carol King’s Tapestry when I got tired of programming single songs for people.

Listened to Latest kpop purchases playlist in the van. Added Nmixx’s Stick Out. Love Is Lonely could be a western hit if they did an all-English version.