Buds, Cold Rain

The last day of March
Despite the cold rain and wind
Vine buds are growing

The Holy Bible by Manic Street Preachers

Welcome to the world of the Manic Street Preachers. There is no room here for warmth or ambiguity. Every song is a meticulously crafted manifesto written with icy moral certainty, just in case you hadn’t realised that all right wing politicians, Nazis and serial killers are BAD PEOPLE, m’kay? To sweeten the pill, the music is generally banging rock but interspersed with on the nose sound bites about concentration camps and prostitution just in case you start enjoying it too much.

It’s impossible to listen to this without a profound sense of sadness. When this was recorded, guitarist Richie Edwards was severely depressed and suffering from alcoholism, anorexia and self harm. It seems that the band were happy to put up with him starting drinking first thing in the morning as long as he wrote another song about pain and suffering. 

The music press also colluded with this. A notorious incident saw Edwards cutting himself with a razor blade to prove that the band were ‘4 real’ and the response was just to write articles about how edgy the band were instead of getting the poor guy some professional help. 

It was not really a surprise that Edwards disappeared after the recording, never to be seen again. Draw your own conclusions.

https://album.link/gb/i/942562485

Chore of Enchantment by Giant Sand

The first two tags on the word cloud of reviews for this album are ‘Interesting’ and ‘Boring’, and for once I think that sums it up pretty well. There were definitely moments when I thought it would pique my interest - I always like an album with an overture and there were some snatches of opera thrown in too, as well as some nice bits of glitchy noise. However, it would soon drift back into a sort of Lou Reed style pastiche.

Also, this album wasn’t in my edition of the book - always a worrying sign when a comparatively recent release (and yes, I’m old enough that 2000 does count as recent for me) is bumped for something else.

In the words of the Chernobyl plant manager - not great, not terrible.

https://album.link/gb/i/1668346488

Crocus

Submerged shoots surface
Slowly seeking spring sunshine
Surprising saffron

Superman

Superman is the archetype for comic book superheroes. He has been brought to life in film and tv many times, but do we really need another version? This recent incarnation wisely skips the origin story and assumes a reasonable level of knowledge of the character and associated cast, starting the story in media res with Superman crashing to the ground, beaten and bloody after his first defeat in a fight. He is rescued by Krypto the Superdog which immediately sets the tone - this is not another grim dark take on the character, rather this one is the big Boy Scout with his pants on over his tights.

The plot of this film revolves around Superman becoming involved in geopolitics by stopping a war between rival nations somewhere on the other side of the world, purely to save lives. That the invading nation is a US ally and has been well supplied with arms by Lex Luthor is the thing that is going to get him into trouble.On top of this we have a supporting cast of all the usual suspects of a Superman story - Lois Line, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, as well as Green Lantern, Mister Terrific and Hawkgirl as members of the "Justice Gang". 

Cue much mayhem with monsters to fight and evil schemes to thwart, played with a light touch and a satisfying number of twists to the story. Some parts don't entirely work - some of the cgi effects feel a little bit floaty and lightweight in places, and the subplot with Lex Luthor's social media influencer girlfriend and a somewhat unlikeable version of Jimmy Olsen is a bit reductive. 

On the whole, it's an enjoyable film for a bit of light hearted fun and a James Gunn's take is pleasant change from the previous brooding and dark version of the character from Zack Snyder. 

Till

Constant vigilance

Unexpected items in
Bagging area

Look Who It Is by Alan Carr

Alan Carr is now well on the way to the rarefied status of a national treasure, but this autobiography goes back to his roots as an awkward teenager and fledgling standup comedian. I was interested to read it after watching the entertaining sitcom Changing Ends which is loosely based on Carr's experiences of growing up in Northampton in the shadow of his father Graham who was manager of Northampton Town Football Club (aka the Cobblers) in the 80s and took them to the dizzy heights of the third division for a season. 

The book covers this formative period of being bullied for being effeminate and rubbish at sports, before moving on to studying (in the loosest sense of the word) for a drama degree, a series of dead end call centre jobs, a bit of travelling before finally knuckling down and discovering his calling as a standup comic and chatty man. 

The early chapters are almost painfully honest, but the latter sections lose a bit of steam with some star struck celebrity anecdotes and occasional waspish asides, and a steady rise to his own stardom, finishing as he is about to start hosting his breakthrough show The Friday Night Project with Justin Lee Collins, who has now turned out to be a massive wrong 'un. 

An entertaining read in the most part.