HiWire

Richard and Linda Thompson at the BBC (1981)

Anyone else spend a lot of their childhood reading gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure, Fighting Fantasy, Be An Interplanetary Spy, Time Machine, etc.)? I've been looking for this series for years and I finally found it: https://archive.org/details/Star_Challenge_1_Planets_in_Peril/page/n1

The Grave's a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley Just starting the ninth book in the Flavia de Luce mystery series. Each one has been a riot of cleverness, humor, and deadly murder in the 1950s English countryside and they are some of my favorite books. There are a lot of references to classic literature as well as music (organ music in particular), but the best part of the books (other than the ridiculous characters and situations) is the 11-year-old protagonist's fascination with chemistry... especially poison.

The Police – Ghost in the Machine Wikipedia: " The cover art for Ghost in the Machine features a seven-segment display-inspired graphic that depicts the heads of the three band members, each with a distinctive hair style (from left to right, Andy Summers, Sting with spiky hair, and Stewart Copeland with a fringe); the band was unable to decide on a photograph to use for the cover. Wire bonds can be seen on the original issue vinyl album cover, suggesting perhaps that the display is a photographic collage. The album's cover is ranked at No. 45 in VH1's 50 Greatest Album Covers. The graphic was designed by Mick Haggerty." Me: Stares at album cover for a while – "Ok, that's kind of clever. And also brilliantly cheap. Why can't I have ideas like this?" and "What an incredible album. The haters can suck it."

Eagles

Yes, I find the dungeons and battles repetitive too. I don't know if "grind" is built into the JRPG psyche – a lot of the other activities are similar (building your stats by exercising, reading books, increasing "guts", etc.) – their commitment to consistent self-improvement is admirable, but it pads the game unnecessarily. I haven't finished Persona 4, which I started years ago on the PlayStation 2. I looked into the OVA animation (there were two anime series based on Persona 4) yesterday, but I lost interest when I found out they changed some of the voice actors. I'd rather go back and finish the game instead of passively watching the shows. It turns out you can get the soundtracks on CD so I might look into those.

I just started playing Persona 5 and it is incredible. You don't get a lot of games with this level of style, deep storytelling, and variety. Persona 4 also had a killer soundtrack and I'd say this is one of the best reasons to get a Playstation. The only weakness of the games is their linear design and the slight repetition of the battles. In a way, I think the Persona games tell you more about modern Japan than Sega's Yakuza games (which are also legendary).

Sky – Piece of Paradise A flawlessly brilliant album of soul-pop. A few of you may remember their singles from the late 90s-2000 period. Sadly, I just found out that their ex-lead singer, James Renald, passed away last year.

Italo disco(!) Clio – Faces Clio – Eyes Oingo Boingo – Dead Man's Party

Chromeo – Un Joli Mix Pour Toi Saint Etienne – Tiger Bay

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace:

A new tv show from Cinemax, set in 19th-century San Francisco, premiering April 5: More info here: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/03/fists-of-fury-warrior-channels-fierce-fighting-spirit-of-bruce-lee/ Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior_(TV_series)

Hall and Oates

Annie – I will get on Tuff City Kids with Annie – Labyrinth

Red Oaks – hilarious so far. An old-school sex comedy set in a 1980s New Jersey country club. An Amazon series – I hate these digital exclusive restrictions.

Goldfrapp – Black Cherry This album never gets old for me – listened to it three times in a row (trying to sort out battery issues on my portable CD player)

Pulp – Different Class

Phonogram: Rue Britannia by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (I was reading The Wicked + The Divine last week but I wanted to go backwards for a bit... the trade paperback releases take a while, so I usually forgot what happened in the previous issues) Lots of Britpop references – time to catch up, starting with Pulp and Kenickie

Yes, I've been reading about MQA since the hype train left the station, but it seems to be a controversial format (there could be licensing issues I'm not aware of). I have trouble understanding the technology, for all the claims that have been made. The number of manufacturers that have decided against implementing MQA is also a matter of concern. http://bobtalks.co.uk/blog/mqaplayback/origami-and-the-last-mile/ https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/mqa-time-domain-accuracy-digital-audio-quality

Found this Techmoan video on MQA-CD when I was checking out Meiko's latest album from Chesky Records, Playing Favorites: I'm going to sit this one out for a while. It seems to be a Japan-only phenomenon for a while, and there are no mainstream players.

Happy Birthday!

RIP Daryl Dragon

The Alan Parsons Project – Days Are Numbers (The Traveller)

The Avalanches – Since I Left You Eclectic dance party ear candy from Australia... somewhat similar to Bran Van 2000's albums.

I'm pretty sure I dismissed it as dork fantasy in 2007. Finishing the first disc of Season 1 and the show's writing has surprised me with its combo of smarts, humor, and sheer entertainment value. And Sarah in her underwear... less surprising with each episode, but much appreciated nonetheless. Something else I noticed recently... when I'm reading Wikipedia entries on older tv shows, a lot of them are starting to mention the soundtracks getting pulled or replaced due to music rights. That's one reason I prefer to watch some things on disc instead of streaming.