Internet Citizen

Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party by Graham Greene Doctor Fischer is a multi-millionaire who toys with his group of ‘friends’ and shows them up as greedy sycophants who’d do anything to be richer still. Told from the point of view of estranged daughter’s husband who he’s started to invite to his infamous parties. Thought it was the weakest of the Greene books I’ve read so far but it’s interesting enough and only about 140 pages.

Fresh out of uni about 15 years ago, I responded to a job ad requesting graduates in a few different disciplines. A few minutes into the interview it became clear the job was door to door sales for an electricity company. I didn’t respond to them asking me back to shadow someone for the day. The thing I remember most was going to the interview and there were at least 20-30 other mugs waiting to be seen at the same time I was.

The Lottery - Shirley Jackson Short story set in a small American town which holds an annual lottery - you don’t find out what the lottery is until the end. Themes of blind tradition throughout; it’s a quick read but well worth your time. My Life - Anton Chekov Follows the life of a man in a provincial Russian town who decides to be a labourer despite being born into relative nobility. Pretty interesting themes that’re in part relatable, even growing up in small town/village Scotland.

The Power and The Glory by Graham Greene. This is my 4th Greene novel this year and it’s another good one. A priest on the run from authorities in Mexico as they try to drive religion out of the region. It feels more of a character study of the priest and his own inner thoughts but Greene also builds worlds so well that it all just feels complete.

My left one had drift so I bought a kit off Amazon for about £10 and it worked a treat. There are a few YouTube videos that walk you through it. I was nervous the whole time incase i ruined it, though.

Finished Brighton Rock a couple of days ago and it’s another to recommend. As @coprolitesays, it’s dripping in threat from the off, and is relentlessly menacing but it kind of has to be. I’m on a roll with Greene so I’ve started on The Power And The Glory after the recommendations on here.

Just caught up with Wednesday’s episode. The writing was on the wall for Kevin and Claudia early on by the amount they were spending on taxis etc.; shame they didn’t make it to the end, all the same.

Did you enjoy the Graham Greene book? This year I’ve read Our Man In Havana, and The End of The Affair, both by him and both completely differently written books. He seemed to do some pretty serious subjects then much lighter books. Enjoyed both right enough. Currently making my way through Brighton Rock.

Gotta Serve Somebody was the highlight for me; it sounded incredible and much bigger than the album version, if that makes sense. On him reworking, the way he pretty much just kicked into I’ll Be Your Baby, Tonight with the band seemingly having to catch up was pretty funny. They were still getting their instruments ready.

I thought Bob Dylan was fantastic last night. He’s a bit of a hero of mine and there’s a big possibility he’ll never be back, so it’s great to finally see him. Played the majority of Rough and Rowdy Ways with a few older songs thrown in; absolutely no hits… As an aside, it was a phone free gig, so your phone was put in a locked wallet that you carried around with you for the time you were in the Armadillo.

Growing up in the 90s Britpop was everywhere; headline news stories and everything, so it was pretty inescapable. I’m the same; it’s amazing how cool I though Oasis were as a 10 year old kid. I don’t think I’ve listened to them, or most of that era, since I was in my mid-teens around the turn of the millennium. I went through a big hip hop phase around my mid to late teens and, while I still like some of it, there’s a lot of it I just couldn’t listen to anymore.

I don’t think it helped that they played Intervention on the small stage then had to walk over to the main stage for then next tune, so there was a bit of a gap between the first two songs. I thought it was a subdued start, too, but even by the time they were playing Ready To Start or Reflektor it was starting to heat up. I thought playing The Lightning I,II straight into Rebellion was great and, as you say, everyone was up for it by then.

I didn’t think the Jim Kerr bit really worked last time, or fitted with the rest of the show. Count me in for tonight too; I’m still going. I still think they’re one of the best live acts going so, if this is the last chance for a while, I want to see it.

How is it so far? I’ve read Alone In Berlin and was thinking of picking up another of his books as I really enjoyed it.

Despite not having watched Neighbours for more than a decade I still had a kick of nostalgia last night as a lot of the cameos as they sat in the Kennedy house watching the video were from the era I watched it in the late 90s and early 2000s. Found it funny that Kylie and Jason Donovan’s characters appear for no reason whatsoever, in terms of story, and no one even bothers to ask them why they’re even there, really.

I enjoyed this season much more than I thought I would but agree.

End of Empire I-III is particularly bad; IV is passable, imo. There’s a bit in I-III that sounds like Imagine by John Lennon; made me audible sigh the first time I heard it. The rest of the album is good enough; agree about the comparison to Neon Bible; it’s clearly them trying to recapture their early albums. I reckon there’s at least 3-4 songs on it that will sound good live, so I’m looking forward to that.

What’s the excuse for gig tickets rocketing in price? Covid? I’m sure they were something like £40-50 the last time they played the Hydro.

This album feels like they’re trying to recapture what they had in the first 3 albums and it doesn’t quite hit. It’s not bad, and I enjoy it enough, but it’s a bit too sentimental imo. Tour tickets come out this week, so I’ll look forward to that.

Just pretend they’ve already disbanded and the last decade or so didn’t happen. I saw them just after Girls in Peacetime came out and it was really telling that they only played one song from that album, that night.

On a similar note, I recently read The Accidental Footballer; Pat Nevin’s autobiography. It’s an interesting read too, and he doesn’t sugar coat the era and issues he and others encountered as a whole, but he doesn’t half lay it on thick that he wasn’t your ‘typical’ footballer. We get it Pat, you don’t need to tell us again in almost every chapter.

He’s taking it well

It sounds a lot more like The Suburbs than the last two albums, which isn’t a bad thing at all. I thought Everything Now was a bit of a misstep, although the tour was probably the best I’d heard them, so I’m hoping this is them back on form, album-wise.

Someone above mentioned Disney films; I was watching Peter Pan, with my son, the other week and it’s portrayal of indigenous Americans wouldn’t get near a story board nowadays, not to mention a song called ‘What Makes The Red Man Red’.

There’s a podcast series called Harsh Reality which looks into this series and Miriam in general, which is definitely worth a listen.