Taika's Thor: Ragnarok. Taika got it right… I'm still gobsmacked at the amazingly consistent tone of total anarchy he somehow managed to maintain for the entirety of the movie. You have to wonder what Americans make of it!
Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry just got too mean and awful. I used to absolutely love the 'old' Curb and really looked forward to this new series, but it's just too damn weird. I'll probably go back in again and give it another go but the heart seems to have gone out of it.
The series I binged the fastest:
Narcos 2. I just had to see how it rolled out, which of course is the main reason to binge anything…but the astonishing levels of absolute lawlessness fascinated me. By the way… my idea of 'bingeing' means watching more than two at once… every now and again.
The best thing I listened to:
Leonard Cohen's You Want it Darker? Leonard went out on a high. I never quite believed the old folkie Leonard but have been a big fan since Tower of Song and First We Take Berlin. I actually drove into Berlin with Jude, listening to it loudly on a compilation tape back in the pre-wall-coming-down days.
I wish I'd seen Marlon Williams… because I think he's going to be huge. I actually don't get to a lot of concerts these days, even though I now live within walking distance of the Powerstation. It fascinates me that these days I can read through the list of upcoming acts on that billboard of theirs and find that I don't know any of them!
The biggest let down of the year was:
Valerian. Straining for effect to no avail. Hopeless. I love trash and taught my children that even shit has its own integrity… but sad shambles like Valerian are beyond any such justification.
And my personal highlight was:
Dr Strange's cameo in Thor: Ragnarok. I used to buy all Marvel comics as they came out back in the late 60s…only stopped when Jack Kirby died…and the good Doctor was never a favourite but Cumberbatch turned me around. And the slapstick in the Dr Strange/Thor encounter was sublime. Part of me was amazed that they managed to get Dr. Strange to do the cameo… completely forgetting that he's a cartoon Character and a Marvel one at that!
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