Whew!

I just looked at my last post and I am so so embarrassed. I can't believe I was that mad at A---! Thankfully, that is all ancient history, now that I'm in France, and everything has changed so much. That was almost a year ago - well, about 5 months short of a year. So much has changed, but I don't need to go into that, because this blog is primarily for me and mines, and I know what happened. I upped sticks to France for my Year Abroad, and though there were as many trials and tribulations as you might expect with that, it's also been a huge learning experience for me. I got a lot closer to people I never thought I'd be friends with - Trish and Tom - and made new friends (Matt, Kirsty, Fahad, Sophie Cameron...). Trish, Matt and Kirsty are leaving - well, Trish went this morning - but it's not the end of the world, and I feel a lot more grown up than I was for dealing with it. I was really sad this morning when it hit me in full that Trish is GONE, PERMANENTLY GONE to Bologna. Mais c'est la vie... and so I have to deal with it. I'm treating the departure of my favourite people to chat to here as a blessing in disguise, because it'll mean I'll get more work done. I'm making slow progress on that front, but progress at all is something to be glad for.

Christ, I am KNACKERED. These 10.30 starts are a gift compared to last semester, but I haven't yet got the hang of sleeping before 1 or 2. Therefore, even a reasonable time like 8.30 comes on like waking death with head aching fuzzily and my eyes prying themselves open as if there's a crowbar at work. It is lovely to wake to sunshine though - yesterday was the first sunny day for some time, as is today, and it makes even the littlest acts of 'going about your day' something infintely more bearable, dare I even say, FUN. I'm very happy because I did a naughty thing which I can't talk about here for fear that S--- will read it. Well OK, it wasn't a NAUGHTY thing, but it was fun, and now I will shut up and say no more.

Comic of the moment: I won't necessarily always have one of these, seeing as I tend to binge on comics, much to my shame, but for now - 100 Bullets. Oh my goodness. This series has far exceeded my expectations of what a comic could be, and yet it does do complete justice to the term 'graphic novel' that is generally applied to all the comics I read. It is, in many ways, the total opposite of my first love in comics, Preacher. It has the sex, the violence and the one-liners, but that is where the similarities end. Where Preacher defined itself by being rude and crude, balanced with a hidden heart of gold - in short, strongly reflecting the main protagonist, Jesse Custer - 100 Bullets is subtle, complex, and extremely... disjointed. I'm not totally happy with that term, since it has quite negative implications. However, what I mean is simply that Brian Azzarello juggles a huge cast of characters, and several storylines simultaneously, without breaking a sweat. Stylistically, it is much more ambitious and ingenious than most comics try to be, I think. I don't mean to insult other books, but where most sell themselves on a new/individual style of, or particularly beautiful, artwork plus good writing - 100 Bullets doesn't.

See, I can't help thinking that this is not just for people who aren't so keen on books, and/or taking a break from films (some of the others give me that impression). This is a consummately literary masterpiece. Take the storyline 'The Crash,' for example. Nothing much happens. Agent Graves meets up with some of The Trust and is made an offer, while a young couple discover a crashed car and a dead man clutching the winning lottery numbers. And yet it turns into a masterfully disturbing look at humanity, with Agent Graves / Javier's dialogue overlapping into the 'crash scenes.' When the couple struggle to choose a course of action - take the money and run? Ease their guilt by paying some to the family of the crash victim? - it is a situation we have all been in, where to help ourselves is to deny another, and what should be an easy choice becomes a guilt-ridden nightmare once our sense of responsibility gets involved. The two scenarios reflect each other - in both cases, an offer of sorts is being made, a huge decision must be taken.

However, it doesn't end there. The very premise of the series is recalled - Graves presenting strangers with 100 untraceable bullets, a picture of someone who has ruined their life and proof of this in the signature attaché case. It is a troubling decision which has huge consequences for everyone who ever has to make it. The niggling question arises once more: just what is Graves up to? Whose side is he really on? And the plot only thickens when you proceed further, to where Graves attempts to stitch up his apparent associate, Mr. Shepherd, by inciting Wylie Times (who is BLATANTLY a former Minuteman, c'mon, I'm not stupid!) to use the magic bullets on him. I realised what was going to happen after reading 'A Crash,' but was still shocked - and delighted to be right - when it did.

Shepherd himself is a gloriously seductive character who makes me think powerfully of Philip Marlowe (Raymond Chandler's uber-famous private eye). I suspect this is deliberate, what with his trench-coat, constant smoking, and wistful hangdog air. Also, if you look here, it lists some of the influences, and surprise surprise, guess who's in there? Shepherd is wonderful because you know nothing about, nobody seems to trust him completely, he is apparently playing for both teams - and yet the man has a downright graceful air of 'don't fuck with me' about him. He's not particularly menacing - not in the way that psycho-hound Lono is - but it's clear he's no rookie either, what with the fact that he's apparently 'on the fence,' and still alive in spite of it. He also becomes more appealing as we start to see him pitted against Graves more and more explicitly. Where Graves seemes to be defined by his ruthless single-mindedness, Shepherd seems to retain some sense of principle, some sense of right and wrong. And apparently he's got feelings for Dizzy, one of my other fave characters! In short, he is the man-in-the-middle, yet the only real 'moral compass' (thanks, A---!)... and apparently a former Minuteman. I look forward to knowing more.

Album of the moment is AIM's Hinterland. This fella is from the U.K (yay!), and he is on that trip-hop shit... but GUESS WHAT? He does it well! I also think that his is one of the few cases where you can legitimately apply that label, being as it is a blend of trippy, electronic and hip-hop elements. So you get insistent basslines, and braggadicio rapping (The Omen, featuring Diamond D) and soulful female vocals with sweepy classical violins. There is also a neat use of weird, slightly distant-sounding samples, such as during my favourite track of the album, Linctus, where a woman in the background croons 'Bay-beh'... or so I think.

Right, well the first 10 tracks are very good, with some utter stand-outs (The Girl Who Fell Through The Ice, Good Disease, The Omen, Linctus and Vipco come to mind here). Then comes the album's first - and thankfully, only - huge mistake. A Twilight Zone. What was he thinking? This could serve as the music to some mobile-phone or insurance advert, and I wouldn't care. The next one, From A Seaside Town, wasn't too memorable either, but the last track, Hinterland is better. I guess he had to get its name from somewhere!

Well, that's about it for today folks. I'll smell ya later (when I've got the time!).