I was busy for most of February, so I never got round to writing one of these posts last month. Enjoy two posts for the size of one instead.
All music is linked through hyperlinks!
Books
I've read two books recently, and to be honest neither of them appealed to me that much:
- The first was The City and its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami. I'd had it on my shelf for ages, and was intending to give it a go at some point, but only recently have I been able to get through it. And I can't lie, some of the book was actually quite interesting. The main plot, revolving around a man who's entered a fantasy world which seems so unclear, whilst also being in love with a woman who he met years ago, seemed quite appealing to me. However, the book itself felt like a slog lots of the time. Murakami's renowned for often sticking to the same tropes and themes in his writing, and yeah, lots of the time this book felt like a rehash of Norwegian Wood when it came to the characters. The dialogue didn't really work for me either, lots of the time it felt like the characters served one purpose, and that was to provide clarity to the narrator - otherwise, they were delightfully flat and one-dimensional. One of these characters - the mysterious, non-verbal "Yellow Submarine Boy" - irked me especially. He was introduced halfway and ended up being a massive deal to the book, but I never felt like his character ever went anywhere. On the whole, I'm not sure if I'll be keen on picking up a Murakami novel anytime soon.
- The other book was On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle. This was a more niche pick - I saw it in Waterstones, thought it sounded interesting without ever hearing about Balle beforehand, and bought it. Turns out she's Danish, so perhaps my translation rendered the book flatter than it really was, but I'm not sure. The book's about a woman who keeps on having to relive the same day every day, so kind of like Groundhog Day I guess. Except she's an incredibly dull protagonist. Every chapter is a diary from a specific day, and most of them aren't that interesting. Each entry can be boiled down to "I did this today, and I hope tomorrow isn't the same day", along with some philosophical thinking which grated me lots of the time. Repeat this for nearly 200 pages, along with a vague ending where no, she's still stuck in time, and it becomes an incredibly unsatisfying read. Yet I merely read the first part of a series of seven books; I won't be hurrying to read those.
Music
I've not actually been listening to that much new music lately. I've come to realise that maybe I don't want to listen to as many albums as possible, just to saturate my life with music, so instead I've been revisiting some bands I love lately. Mainly Pavement, but also REM and Big Thief - all of whom carry an indie vibe, mixed with some Americana at times. Really lovely stuff.
Otherwise, I have listened to two new albums, and found both of them mediocre. The first one, U by Underscores, seems to be an indie darling on the internet right now, so I had to give it a go. I've seen people describe it as electropop and EDM, so I thought I'd get some energetic, thrilling music. Instead I got a very boring trip that felt very limited, one I probably need a degree in social media use to fully get. I've had people tell me the appeal is in the lyrics, but having read them, I still don't get the hype.
The other was Kanye West's latest album, Bully. And yes, I know Kanye isn't exactly the least controversial person out there. But I have been listening to his stuff lately and decided to give Bully a listen. On the whole, it was loads of songs that felt incredibly underdeveloped, ending far before they're anywhere near getting good. And whilst there were some tracks I was pleasantly surprised by, on the whole the album never got going, and was spectacularly mid.
Theatre
A while back, I went to see the Book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre. I was vaguely aware of what it was going to be about - the Mormons, obviously - but otherwise, I came in with high expectations that it was going to be great. It's a musical written by the creators of South Park, which I've never watched but I've heard it's funny, so I was optimistic.
And yeah, it was great. Some of the jokes weren't for me, but it was a solid musical nonetheless with some catchy songs and a delightfully absurd plotline about Mormon missionaries in Africa. On the whole, I suspect it's a lampoon of religion on the whole, not just Mormonism, though Mormonism was the centre of their satire. In fact, I really liked how fun the musical was, too - the aim was to make you laugh, and they succeeded most of the time, and if they got you thinking about religion afterwards, that would be a bonus. It was worth the time for me.
TV
I haven't been watching anything lately, I've not had the time to get into any shows. But I have started Twin Peaks...and I don't really get it. I reckon that's just because David Lynch's style of writing is especially absurdist, and also because you follow loads of characters whose lives are all somehow connected together yet you're still a mile away from realising that. Then again, I'm only halfway through the first season, and it's been enjoyable on the whole. The soundtrack's great, too.
Comments
Post a Comment