12 April

Weekend. Read comic books.

 I am now up to date (in terms of Marvel Unlimited) with post reboot Star Wars comics. It also means I have read all currently canonical material apart from the novels. I think I feel good about this.

Doctor Aphra remains the most enjoyable of the Marvel comics, probably because it is the only one about a unique to comics character, and fairly deliberately pitches itself against the expected movie style. (One of the supporting cast is a torture droid with C3PO's appearance and personality.) The series of one-shots about canonical characters were also fun; although there is a law of diminishing returns when you are filling in the gaps in established continuity. (Yoda has to have been doing something quite interesting just before a certain X-Wing crashed in his swamp; Han and Chewie had a fairly interesting conversation between running away from Yavin and shooting down Darth Vader.) 

I don't know what I am going to read next. I have a wild idea of reading right through the various Thanos comics that I have missed over the years. Dave Sim has been doing Cerebus in Hell, but that way madness lies, probably literally.

 Mandalorian remains an object lesson in how to remain interesting even though practically nothing is happening. I have not watched to the end, so don't spoilerize me, but I bet it turns out that the Child is a reincarnation of the person he looks quite a lot like, and not merely another of the same species. 

Decided I had better give Alasdair Grey's second book, 1982 Janine, a look. I have really very little idea what it is about, but it is annoyingly well written. (The digression in chapter 2 about why pornography isn't more like war stories, and about how monotonous the Marquis de Sade is made me chortle out loud.)

 It occurred to me that Janine was rather Joycean, and remembered that there was a certain very famous long book I have never read. I read the first page and remembered why. It would allow me to be very Thatcherish when I emerge from lockdown, though, wouldn't it? 

"Read Joyce! Read Joyce!"

 L and I watched the Godfather Part II. It is widely regarded as being greater than the original. It is certainly much longer. Despite its complexity -- the double narrative is really very cleverly done -- I actually found it easier to follow than the first movie. The contemporary plot really boils down to three character -- Michael himself, the Jewish gangster in Cuba, and the old New York guy. There were a couple of moments when I said "hey, isn't he dead?" but it was generally explained on screen. The moment before the intermission -- how many films still have intermissions, for goodness sake! -- where Vito picks up baby Michael and says "your father loves you very much" in Italian remains one of my favourite cinema moments. And, of course, the great big confrontation between Kay and Michael at the end. But I have to say that I have seen the film at least three times before, and I still have no idea how Michael works out that Alfredo is the traitor in Cuba. I look forward to seeing Part III which I have heard is just as good. \\IRONY\\

Probably taking the Facebook game of "listing the ten albums which most influenced your musical tastes" a little bit too seriously.

Writing this on my shiny new MacMini which I realise will trigger certain segments of my fanbase.