So, there’s been a lot going on of late.
I went and saw TISM a few weeks back at Metro City on their first tour in 30 years. It was every bit as bizarre as I could have hoped, consisting of a lounge band performing extremely white 20th century classics being repeatedly drowned out by TISM belting out carefully selected examples from their high-brow/low-brow, aggressively offensive oeuvre. The support act – Legs Electric – were also fantastic. It turned out to be an extremely late night and the amount of awkward, middle-aged guy bobbing up and down in place sort-of-dancing I did made my knees intolerable for the next few days, but it was totally worth it.
Staying with music, I’m going to see the Sisters of Mercy at the end of the month. If you don’t hear anything from me after the 25th, please assume I’ve been devoured by Goths.
I finally got around to watching K-Pop Demon Hunters a while back and – as I feared – have become embarrassingly obsessed with it. I’ve added it to my canonical list of favourite movies of all time (Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers, The Fifth Element, and now K-Pop Demon Hunters), constantly find myself whistling or humming the songs, and actively have to stop myself saying kkeuteopsi in casual conversation. On a less frivolous note, some of the themes really cut me to the bone, and it’s motivated me to try and be a bit more open and trusting with the people in my life – y’know, just in case my insecurities somehow lead to a demonic apocalypse. It’s also lead me into learning Hangul, which would be pure, indefensible Koreabooism if it wasn’t for the fact that I have a pre-existing interest in writing systems. I’m very impressed with Hangul – it’s extremely elegant – although it would be a nightmare for languages less strictly CVC structured than Korean.
Oh, my bias? Mira obviously. She’s the best. Love her.
Sir Patrick Stewart passed away last week. That’s a real blow. Jean Luc Picard was my first Star Trek captain and remains one of the measures of true leadership in my head. And beyond his Star Trek work I loved the way he’d happily take on the silliest roles and appear to have an absolute riot doing them. He will be sadly, sadly missed.
And he was only just preceded by Walter Koenig, which leaves the only two original Star Trek alumni as the seemingly immortal William Shatner and the hopefully immortal George Takei. In addition to Star Trek Koenig also appeared in Moon Trap, which is the kind of highly enjoyable B-Grade sci-fi thriller where you take a drink every time the boom mike appears in shot. Fair winds and following seas, Mr Chekov!
The much hoped for Blue Tsunami has rolled across the United States, crippling the maniac in the White House. This won’t fix everything, not by a long shot, but it’s a damn good place to start. The earth exhales. It’s also been schadenfreudelicious to watch the reactions from the American Right. Also Kid Rock swore to stop releasing music if the Democrats took both the House and Senate, so that’s a win for everybody right there.
So that’s it for now. Stay tuned for more ramblings soon.