VITA TRANSPLANTARE

Vol 2 Number 6 Whole Number 15 A journal of opinion, reviews and diatribes as pertaining to the thought process of John Nielsen Hall Produced in February 2021 You are now leaving The Valley of the Shadow of Death. Come again soon!

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe; they were reading VT of course. In this issue, apostrophe's may well be misplaced, and possibly worse. But that's all part of the fun, right? Strap yourself in then for our usual or even unusual roster of correspondents on what they have watched , read and thought about.

First this ish, it's the six monthly communication from Claire Brialey Croydon:

I was thinking about you in the shower this morning.

No, of course that’s no way for dignified middle-aged people (and I don’t know how much of that description you identify with) to correspond. What dreadful ambiguity!

Please allow me some ambiguities Claire. But for my part, being now on the State Pension, if someone calls me middle-aged, I am flattered. Even more so if they think of me while in the shower.

I realise that it doesn’t help at all if I clarify that this morning, I was thinking about you while I was in the shower – nor that this reflection (although I couldn’t see the mirror because I didn’t have my glasses on) came after I’d first thought about Nic Farey. Who probably doesn’t go along with the ‘dignified’ bit either.

And this inevitably puts me in mind of a convention more than twenty years ago – when many of us were not yet middle-aged or dignified – where one of the con committee invited us all at the opening ceremony to imagine him in the shower.

Never fear, though; this wouldn’t have been a code of conduct issue if we’d had them back then. The convention was held on a college campus, and at the time student accommodation was functional but a bit basic. This meant that it didn’t run to luxuries like non-slip mats in the bathrooms, and consequently Patrick McMurray (for it was he) had slipped and fallen in the shower and then had to go off to the local hospital casualty department where he was checked for concussion. He was released back into the collective bosom of the SF community several hours later, having been warned about what to do and what not to do with possible concussion – which all seemed incompatible with attending, never mind running, a convention – and about what signs to watch out for, which were generally indistinguishable from the normal appearance of most people at a convention. It was partly to help us help him to stay safe but mostly to protect us from similar experiences that we were later exhorted to visualise the accident.

I should really get on with the actual comment part of this LOC before it becomes a pale imitation of one of Skel’s – and I was possibly moved to that because he emailed yesterday to let us know that he has once again been visited by the Beer Fairy, who is by the way an actual person. With actual beer.

Pah! I have a Gin fairy. He brings actual bottles of (expensive)Gin.

And of course that reminded me that I should write to Skel about his previous fanzine too, because I do enjoy ALL NEW OR REPRINT and I’ve particularly liked getting little fanzines over the past year; even when they’re quite frequent like yours and Nic’s THIS HERE..., it still seems a more manageable task to write back at least sometimes, perhaps because the fanzines feel more conversational and so the letters can too.

But I had to pull myself together because what with you, Nic, Pat, Skel and the Beer Fairy it was getting very crowded in the shower, and there was about to be a risk that I’d introduce Weetabix. Again. And all this thinking meant I was staying in the shower which, despite meaning I should be particularly clean by the time I got out, was possibly unwise given that Thames Water are digging up the road only a few houses down from us and, although neither the leak in the middle of the road – which emerged a few days ago – nor their current attempts to fix it (and mend the burgeoning pothole and other damage to the road surface that rapidly developed) have so far resulted in a loss of water supply or even pressure there seems no need to take unnecessary risks.

I’m telling lots of people about the leak and the pothole, since it’s the first new thing that’s happened around here for ages. A bloke I know from the residents’ association told me the intriguing local rumour that it’s not actually a burst pipe but rather the stream that used to run down Shirley Road; apparently a century or so ago there was a bridge…

Some years ago, I tried to interest you, or possibly Mark, in bridges in your area. Also goats. If you proceed along Shirley Road,in what may well be to you the wrong direction, away from Croydon centre and towards Addiscombe Road and Long Lane, there is a junction called Goat House Bridge. I thought it odd because, there is no bridge, but presumably there might have been once, and also because I think you were in need of goats at the time, possibly to make inroads on the Great Savannah that lay at the back of your house. But you may well have solved that problem by now.

Inevitably this put me in mind of Ben Aaronovitch’s RIVERS OF LONDON series, and the prospect that we’ve really pissed off the spirit of the local stream. And – for we’re in Addiscombe actually here – I can’t imagine that a Croydon river deity would be quiet or gentle about it. (I gather that the River Wandle makes at least a passing appearance in the eighth novel, FALSE VALUE, which is the next one I have to read; I’ve got a bit behind with the series, and haven’t even got into the graphic novels yet.)

I too have lost track of which ones I have read. It could be that that is the next one I have to read too. The graphic novels are only for fans of the graphic novels. Now that I’m out of the shower and dressed, I’m still a bit distracted by the street drama. My study is at the front of the house, so whenever I hear an intriguing noise I find myself meerkatting up at the window. The giant lorries performing U-turns at the crossroads with two residential side streets are quite interesting; the long-suffering person in a hi-vis suit propping up the fallen ‘Road Closed’ sign yet again perhaps less so.

So that’s what’s going on round here. And all I’d wanted to say by way of opening was that I really had meant to write before, both on other issues and on this one, but there’s just enough time between issues for me to think that I’ve got loads of time to get it together and write something more topical nearer the deadline, and my last letter to you was in July last year so we can all tell how well that’s going. And Nic will probably be publishing again this weekend but I did at least acknowledge his last one, and you pointed out on his birthday Zoom that I owe you a response rather more, so maybe I can get this to you before it’s too late and just annoys you instead.

Although it might already be far too late for that as well.

You worry too much, Claire. Had you missed the deadline, I would simply have put it in #16. It's the fact that you put fingers to keyboard at all that counts.

Anyway. Thank you for Vita Transplantare issue 14 (and also issues 9 to 13, to all of which I failed to respond in a timely way, and you and any readers on whom you choose to inflict this can breathe a hearty sigh of relief that I’m not attempting to go back to capture all the conversational threads from those).

We watch quite a lot of TV, I always think – we binge several episodes of whatever series we’re on each evening after dinner when Mark’s working the next day, and more on other evenings unless we’re video-chatting with friends; we only occasionally get round to actual films although that’s been helped by joining a virtual cinema group this year as an offshoot from our virtual theatre one – but we’re not in the same league as Gary Mattingly.

Like Gary, though, we’ve recently seen and enjoyed the new seasons of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY and especially HIS DARK MATERIALS, which seems to have the characterisation and the general look and feel of the books down very well.

HIS DARK MATERIALS was just brilliant. I loved it so much that the last episode was greeted with “Oh Fuck! It's the season finale!”

I agree more with Sandra Bond, however, in finding both the TV series as well as the film of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS highly entertaining; I thought the shift of the action from Wellington to Staten Island, as well as the shorter format, has worked although I was particularly pleased by the episode in season 2 that also featured characters from the film.

Like virtually everyone, we saw and thoroughly enjoyed THE QUEENS GAMBIT. Also like virtually everyone – perhaps a slightly different subset – we recently watched BRIDGERTON and enjoyed that too, for all that it’s more obviously my sort of thing than Mark’s. (I’m the only one in this household who’s started reading the books on which it’s based, mind you; but I enjoy historical smut.) Another friend described the TV version of BRIDGERTON as being ‘absolutely uninterested in historical accuracy, but good on ambience and mood … less of a historical drama than a depiction of the experience of reading historical romance’. I think she has that right, and that it made for engaging TV although I’d expect that from Shonda Rhimes: funnier than GREYS ANATOMY, less far-fetched than SCANDAL…

(Editors Note: That's the TV series about Washington D.C., not the Profumo Affair. Which actually happened.)

Most recently we’ve seen DEUTSCHLAND 86 – interestingly and to my mind erroneously written without the abbreviating apostrophe – on All4, having remembered that we’d missed it only when adverts started to appear for the third series in the sequence, DEUTSCHLAND 89, which will start airing next month. Also gripping stuff, partly for the period feel (and musical nostalgia) but also because it feels so long ago while still being, of course, within living memory. I did keep needing to remind myself that 1986 is in fact 35 and not just 25 years ago, though; this feeling old thing isn’t going to get any better, is it?

Nope.

It was also interesting that some of the action was set in an AIDS hospice, and in a nightclub which was at least a gay-friendly bar, after having seen IT'S A SIN a few weeks ago. I’m not always a fan of Russell T Davies' work, especially more recently, and I found that the further away I got from being immersed in this the more I noticed elements that didn’t ring true for 1980s London at all; but nonetheless I found it moving, with compelling characters, and naturally I enjoyed all the pop music. I laughed – in good ways – even more than I cried, too.

I just paused for lunch, at which point we found that the water had been turned off… Since this was apparently to enable the work crew to mend a very large hole that they’d found in one of their pipes, on the whole we have to count it as a good thing. And the water was back on by the time we wanted to wash up and – most importantly, of course – make more coffee. Whether the hole, and the leak, has actually been fixed is another question, as is the ensuing state of the road surface. Suddenly there’s a lot of traffic heading along the road towards our side of the road block, and it seems that in the afternoon drivers are a lot more tetchy about anyone and anything getting in their way.

Which reminds me that in an Anzapa mailing towards the end of last year I found a reference that made me think of you: ‘I saw a bloke driving a Subaru (the car of choice for stolen getaway vehicle) …’ Maybe that’s only the case in Australia, but maybe it is another reason for you to be pleased you’ve got a Range Rover now.

You say that, but in GANGS OF LONDON there is a hilarious scene where a funeral is being held, and suited and booted nasty villains, their nasty wives, trollops and offspring all emerge from a long line of slowly moving black Range Rovers.

Back to Gary, to me his hiking aspirations for Peru and Bolivia in a few months’ time seem even more than usually intrepid, although that’s as much due to the risks of travel in a time of plague and only partial vaccination as it is the camping. If it turns out to be possible I look forward to the vicarious pleasure of seeing his doubtless excellent photographs, at least.

I recently looked out some pictures a friend had sent me from his two hiking trips to New Zealand, and in the process also found the more extensive set from his Appalachian Trail hike nearly five years ago. There are some incredibly beautiful places on the planet that can best be seen by walking a long distance, often upwards; I suspect the accomplishment (and the endorphins from the exercise) adds a lot even to the impressed reactions of armchair travellers. Gary evidently appreciates the benefit of the exercise as well as being willing to share the views, so it seems like a win all round whenever he’s able to travel again. As for the least accessible places that humans shouldn’t really risk but still want to see, it seems best to send in the drones.

I have been reading some books recently as well as just watching TV and not sending LOCS to people, including a few recommendations picked up from other people’s reading in advance of nominating for the Hugo awards. España Sheriff just sent us a copy of THE VANISHED BIRDS by Simon Jimenez, which both she and John Coxon enjoyed, and at Ian Stockdale’s suggestion we both read and enjoyed COMET WEATHER by Liz Williams; it’s fantasy, rooted in English folklore, and set in territory which will be very familiar to you. The sense of place is one of its real strengths, I think, as well as the characterisation of a large ensemble cast led by four sisters whose viewpoints share the narrative. It’s the first of a series, inevitably, but for anyone comfortable without total resolution I reckon it also stands alone pretty well.

Familiar to me personally, Claire? Or to us Britfans generally? Amazon or Kindle have pushed this at me, but it is not the sort of thing I would generally be motivated to read.

Then I got distracted by the next-to-me instalments of Genevieve Cogman’s INVISIBLE LIBRARY series and Jodi Taylor’s new TIME POLICE series, a new Elly Griffiths novel (THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS, which is enjoyably about crime writers and amateur detectives as well as signalling that DS Harbinder Kaur, first seen in what seemed to be a stand alone modern gothic mystery, THE STRANGER DIARIES, is going to be an ongoing character), and the third in Sarah Bailey’s mystery series (featuring another female DS, Gemma Woodstock) which is set mostly in rural Australia.

I really must read PIRANESI soon, although there are so many things I want to read soon. Next up should be a memoir that Yvonne Rousseau sent us (Gwen Harwood’s BLESSED CITY) in memory of Yvonne herself, as well as because Mark mentioned that the book is very good. The final collected volume of the SEX CRIMINALS comic, by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, is out and that’s prompting me to re-read the whole set first, and I’m currently partway through two thought- provoking non-fiction books: FACTFULNESS by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, and Carlo Rovelli’s bite-size SEVEN BRIEF LESSONS ON PHYSICS which I was reading over lunch; I stopped partway through quantum mechanics and must finish that quickly before I lose the thread. Although I had planned to make some cheese scones this afternoon, and I’m not sure that quantum mechanics will help with that.

Clearly I should stop and send this to you, for all the good that’ll do either of us. But mostly I wanted to say thanks for all the fanzines, and in case it’s not obvious that’s what this was about.

Don’t mess up my punctuation, now…

****************

As if! Thanks Claire. I always thought Quantum Physics was in everything, but maybe not necessarily helpful with everything. Next up, it is the aforesaid Gary Mattingly of Dublin CA:

Your comments on my LoC included mention of "Beeb". I had to look that up. BBC? Yes? Yes! Also known as Aunty Beeb, or just Aunty. It is a giant broadcasting mega-beast that even has it's own channel or two in your country, as well as owning stakes in others, and being in a relationship of some sort with PBS. And despite this, we Brits have to pay for it. Don't get me started.

And relative to writers changing the stories in movies and TV series, I rarely get offended when writers change the story from the way it happens in books unless they make the new show or movie particularly horrible. If it is interesting and enjoyable I just have another new story to see. Also if they were to truly follow most books it would be much longer. That's not a bad thing, as far as I'm concerned, but most networks or streaming services wouldn't go for that.

It's when we get what is said to be the work of a given writer, only to find that the work of the given writer has a different ending, new characters and the whole thing told in flash back or in some different linear mode. That really, really annoys me. Better to have credited the film or TV series to it's actual writers and acknowledge the book as 'inspired by' or something like that.

Regarding your indication that you were unfamiliar with the TV series YOUNG SHELDON, I give you the explanation from Wikipedia: "Young Sheldon is an American period sitcom television series for CBS created by and Steven Molaro. The series is a spin-off prequel to and begins with the character Sheldon Cooper at the age of nine, living with his family in East Texas and going to high school." Of course, for it to make sense, you have to know what THE BIG BANG THEORY is. The older version of Sheldon does voice-overs for the show with respect to what young Sheldon is thinking.

Miserable old crusty that I am, I have never understood THE BIG BANG THEORY, or laughed once. But thanks for the explanation.

Relative to your comments on BMI, I know BMI is real close to baloney, or, in other words, not something one should base their life goals on. However it is easy, so I play with it anyway. With respect to you doing any of the things I do, like interval/intermittent fasting, calorie counting, and all the exercising, my belief is each person should do what they like as long as it doesn't cause other people harm. Everyone should be comfortable with their body and whatever they may decide to do or not do with respect to their body. Their choice, not mine. Now I will note that I prefer my friends to live as long as possible in a manner that is physically and mentally comfortable. In other words, don't die and don't get sick, if possible.

That's fine Gary. I agree with you for the most part. It's simply that I have been told often that I am overweight according to some NHS BMI chart, and Lo! What we find in the end,is that I am overweight BECAUSE I am sick, not the other way around. I am still angry about it. I am sure everybody does their best not to die, but it never seems to work out.

With respect to your question about the movie PROXIMA, it is a mission to Mars. I don't know why they called the movie or the mission PROXIMA. I can't immediately find the reasoning behind it.

From Jerry Kaufman: "Although Gary may have grown up in Kansas, I'm pretty sure THE LAST PICTURE SHOW was set in East Texas." Yes, quite true. I usually watch the supplemental material on DVD's (except for many really bad movies or the non-classic action movies whose background, more often than not, doesn't interest me). The supplemental material for THE LAST PICTURE SHOW does include information about its setting, the background novel, and much more. Interesting stuff for me.

And I still haven't watched THE UNDOING.

Jerry wondered if Eszter Balint, who appeared in STRANGER THAN PARADISE was in other movies and that IMDb probably had that information. Yes, it did. IMDb does indicate that Eszter Balint had 15 credits in other movies, TV-series, and videos.

With respect to Jerry's notes about Scott's expedition and the final intended use of horses as food for the dogs after a certain point in the journey. Please close your ears now while I scream. Sorry. I don't like animals being used in this manner. Of course, that's not Jerry's fault

With respect to John D Berry's note on the Facebook challenges for naming the top ten TV series, I quite agree that such challenges are annoying. I don't think I answered that one and usually don't answer or respond to such challenges. It is really difficult for me to limit myself to a "top movie" or top ten movies or series or top ten anything. There are too many excellent movies, series, books, albums, etc. out there and more often than not my feeling about them varies dependent upon the particular moment of my existence. In addition to that, each one may be the top in one aspect or another or one genre or another. I simply can't limit myself in such exercises.

I tend to agree. Not being on Facebook myself, I am not beset by such things, but generally I have to confess that if I am so challenged, I will respond. Just so long as no one thinks these are my definitive forever choices, fixed and immutable. Next week, I could be asked again, and come up with a different list. It's daft but fun. Sometimes.

I was amused at Nic Farey's comments about you publishing a Gary Mattingly fanzine. Nope, I'm not lapsing into silence although I am a little late in writing a LoC to VT14 (and every other fanzine that is out there). I do not recall ever hearing the expression "get the hump" in the past but figured it out from context. The internet seems to agree with my figuring, "UK informal. To get upset and annoyed with someone because you think they have done something bad to you."

Or, more often, said something bad about you. It's not a very current term, but Nic and myself are of the generations that would know it and recognise it.

Also, the photos which Nic included of himself and others of an, um, similar likeness, are interesting.

Others?

And now onto, I think, notes from you, Mister John. I never understand why some people, in addressing me in conversation, call me Mr. Gary. It seems so odd to me. I don't criticize them but in the first place I don't like being called Mr. and then to use my first name following the Mr. part brings to my mind films from the past where the use is frequently not necessarily good or socially appropriate but maybe that's just my own brain over-thinking things.

I apologise if I ever did that to you Gary. I can't find anything in VT14 that may have given rise to this complaint, but I may overlook things, being as I am over familiar with the contents I have assembled. I'm glad you haven't caught any of those diseases from other people (or any other diseases, for that matter). I too have been spending most of my time on my own but I have always done that, other than going to the yoga studio (which I am still not allowed to do) or the gym. I do get to the grocery stores and other stores for necessary items but I seldom talk to anyone or get that close. I hope you have received your COVID 19 vaccination or at least the first of two (um, if you're getting the "two needed" variety). I received my first shot a week or two ago, as of the time I am writing this LoC, and have an appointment next week for the second one. It is of the Pfizer variety.

Yes, I am pleased to report that I have had my first dose of the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine. Boy, am I relieved! But in relation to being on your own, are you not married to Patty? If not, who is married to Patty? And has she had the vaccine?

I don't believe I have watched DARK WATERS although it sounds interesting. I'm pretty certain that I have watched BLITHE SPIRIT in the past but have no recollection of its content or my feelings toward it, at the moment.

I also continue to watch THE EXPANSE and have, I believe, watched all the episodes of this current season 5. I too wondered about the jumping into space without a spacesuit bit but just kept on watching anyway.

Yes, so did I, but swore at the screen along the lines of “Oh, not that fucking stupidity again!”

I found it interesting that the actor, Cas Anvar, has been dropped by Alcon Television Group from the supposedly final season (season 6). His [character's] demise on the show is rather abrupt and not really very heroic. This is due to allegations against him. "They (the allegations) include harassment committed in person and on social media, over the course of years, and sometimes involving underage targets. Anvar allegedly pursued fans aggressively and vindictively tried to punish people who spoke out against his behavior. (Anvar has denied the allegations.) After the stories surfaced, the show’s production company, Alcon Television Group, conducted an independent investigation. ..." Alcon didn't note what they found but due to their findings or public outcry Anvar was dropped.

Yeah, I knew about this. Since I have never read the books as far as we have gotten in the TV story I was not very bothered, but I understand that some people are. It was however very sudden, and somewhat underplayed. Could have been done better.

I have watched all the episodes of RAISED BY WOLVES and enjoyed the initial episodes. I wasn't that enthused about the later episodes. I took issue with the way things played out and the actions of or storyline related to Mother. Many, many other people, including you, obviously like it much more than I do. Despite my issues with it, I will continue to watch it next season (there is another season, right?) and see what I think.

I shall be very disappointed if there is not another season. Mother's storyline did seem to take an abrupt left turn, but at the same time it is intriguing that even androids can mistake dreams for reality. What that flying conger eel thing is going to do, I am utterly agog to find out.

I'm also watching A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES and have watched all the episodes up to this point. It is on Sundance. Now here which one can pay for on its own or as part of AMC+, through, um, Roku or Amazon. This seems rather convoluted. Roku seemed to have issues with showing and/or updating their listing for new episodes so I switched over to watching it through Amazon. Admittedly probably no one cares but it was one of my little irksome problems with which I had to deal. A number of years ago I did read all the books on which the series is based. I quite enjoyed them. I will admit the whole thing is "tosh" but I still enjoy watching it.

If I hadn't already admitted in print that I was watching it, I would be too ashamed to. But since I did, I will confess that I am still watching it. My old brain gets confused when anyone mentions AMC. When did they stop making Ramblers?

I haven't read Susannah Clarke's PIRANDESI so can't really comment on it. I do believe I have read and enjoyed JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL but wasn't that enamored of the TV mini-series based on it. Honestly, I read the book so long ago that I can't remember anything about it.

Oops, have to stop here for a little bit since my fasting timer says I'm a minute away from finishing my 18 hour fast and I think I feel like eating something, probably a large bowl of cereal, berries, and a banana, plus lots of vitamins and supplements to take into my body.

With respect to what I've been listening to, well I continue to listen to lots of various and sundry on Spotify and YouTube. I listened to Tidal again for awhile. Rich Coad quite likes it. It still doesn't seem any better than Spotify and doesn't seem to provide some of the things I do like on Spotify, so sorry Tidal and Rich, I dropped it yet again (before I had to pay for it). On Spotify I've listened to a number of songs by Sun Kil Moon. I enjoy his music and he's usually telling a story in his songs. Just thought I would note that.

I have bought and listened to Diana Krall's new CD THE DREAM OF YOU which I enjoyed. I saw her once live. I like her voice. I like her presence. I like the new album.

Also bought and listened to David Guetta's NOTHING BUT THE BEAT. He's a DJ so obviously quite different from Diana Krall. It has lots of sampled stuff, bass and fast beats. Good for exercising and I find it moderately entertaining.

I have to pay tribute to the breadth of your listening Gary. I would guess that you and I are the only people in this select band of VT readers who have ever heard of David Guetta, let alone bought his albums. Although I haven't yet bought NOTHING BUT THE BEAT, but it's on my list. And then you mix it up with Diana Krall, who, in all honesty, I would rather bang myself over the head with a rubber mallet than listen to. But that's how it goes. Good on yer, anyhow.

And then there's BACH: 6 CELLO SUITES performed by Janos Starker. I bought the vinyl release. I actually already had the one mastered at 33 1/3 but this one is at 45 rpm. I quite enjoy it although I need to tweak my turntable. It doesn't seem to be tracking properly. I blame the guy at the store who supposedly "fixed" it several months ago and put in a new spring which is under the tone arm and is for lowering it slowly. I don't think he put in the right spring. I don't think he set the tracking properly. I am not happy with him but now must decide what to do about the situation. Otherwise, the record is marvellous.

I finally finished reading THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE by V.E. Schwab. I liked the premise. I liked the ideas. I liked the ending. It just took too long to get there. I know some people loved it and the writing. However, I thought there was a bit too much of it. I felt there was repetition. Making a point is one thing. Making it many times is something else. I liked it but definitely did not love it.

I continue to plan my trip to Peru and Bolivia. I'm a bit disappointed that I can't ride the Peru Rail train between Cusco and Puno. It is closed down until July due to COVID 19. Of course, it is still up in the air whether I'll be able to go. I will have my vaccination but currently, Peru is imposing a two-week quarantine on anyone entering the country and I think I will cancel my trip rather than spending the time and money to spend two weeks in a hotel room in Lima.

I went in for my annual physical, a bit early. Usually, I go in March, the month of my birthday, but scheduling at Kaiser, my medical provider, seems messed up so I found an open time to see my doctor this month, February, and decided to go early. It seems since my last medical in March 2020, I'm down 17 pounds from their recorded weight. Their s cales (with my shoes and clothing on) said I was at 152. My scales at home (with nothing on me) says 146 up to 148, over the last few weeks. Actually, my current goal is 149 and I don't think I should get much below that. All my new blood tests are in the normal range and my doctor says he wishes he had an award to give for me keeping myself in such excellent health. I noted that my triglyceride level was 45. Looking at my history over ten years, which is what Kaiser shows (I know their records go back farther than that, 45 is the lowest it has been. Actually, it has always been over 100. On the internet, I find no indications that being low is a problem but there is a likelihood it is caused by interval/intermittent fasting and low-calorie intake.

I watched the first episode of WANDA VISION. IMDb's brief description is "Blends the style of classic sitcoms with the Marvel Comics Universe in which Wanda Maximoff and Vision -two super- powered beings living their ideal suburban lives-begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems." The first episode did look as if it took place in the home of Rob & Laura Petrie in the Dick Van Dyke show. It was amusing although, for me, not that wondrous. Many seem far more enamored of it than I do.

I have seen trailers for it, but even if I had Disney+, I don't think I would understand it, let alone laugh at it.

Hm, I've watched all episodes of THE WATCH. Again, from IMDb, "Based on the characters from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, a group of misfit cops rise up from decades of helplessness to save their corrupt city from catastrophe." It is not a great and wondrous classic but I enjoy it. They have a tiny dragon, fantasy, magic, and odd things happen.

I have seen that. It was okay. Watch it again? Not sure.

Then there's RESIDENT ALIEN with Alan Tudyk. It follows a crash-landed alien named Harry who takes on the identity of a small-town Colorado doctor and slowly begins to wrestle with the moral dilemma of his secret mission on Earth. I was amused and enjoyed it. The humor was not particularly subtle but I laughed anyway. I knew I'd seen the actor, Alan Tudyk, who plays the alien before. It seems he has been in a lot of series and has done a lot of voice-overs also . I think I remember him from Firefly though. He played Hoban 'Wash' Washburne. He was also in ROGUE ONE, I ROBOT and A KNIGHTS TALE.

Of course, there were the less than entertaining actions of a bunch of idiots, nationalists, fascists, racists, QANon crazies, etc. on January 6 here in the United States when they stormed the Capitol building and the current impeachment trial based upon Trump's inciting them with his words. Of course, he denies everything and his lawyers say he was speaking figuratively. BS. And so many of the conservatives say, no, no, it wasn't Trump supporters that attacked It was. Antifa and BLM. They are crazy.

Trump getting kicked off a ton of social media sites has also been entertaining. Then there's Marjorie Greene who was kicked off a bunch of House committees by the Democrats due anti- Semitic conspiracy theory "saying that one of your devastating wildfires was caused by Jewish laser beams fired from outer space." referring to the California wildfires.

Marjorie Greene is one of those figures that I, and no doubt many others,would love to laugh at were it not so serious as well as stupid. I wondered if she had joined the N3F? Hence the SFnal nature of her anti-Semitic delusions.

As for Trump, since you wrote, the Senate has failed to impeach him and the worst consequence of that, that I can think of, is that that leaves him free to run again in 2024. Please, somebody, do something!

Gee, I won't send along all the photos I took of myself with all of my hats that I posted on Facebook. I know you will be heartbroken to not see all of those. And there's all the music and links to articles I posted on Facebook. Oh well.

Since the last issue of VT too many people have died, including Phil Spector, Mary Wilson, Leon Spinks, Hank Aaron, Cloris Leachman, Cicely Tyson, Christopher Plummer, Steve Clay Wilson, and many others.

And two SpaceX Starship rockets exploded. And I understand Pepsi-Co changing the name of Aunt Jemima syrup and pancake mix but why did they change it to Pearl Milling Company? Seems like an odd name.

Don't ask me, mate. I actually had an Aunt Jemima, but everyone called her Jim. If she ever made pancakes, I never had any.

****************

Thanks Gary. Wide ranging and authoritative as always. Next,we go up to Seattle and check in with Jerry Kaufman:

I can enlighten you regarding YOUNG SHELDON. It's a half-hour comedy spin off from THE BIG BANG THEORY showing us the childhood of Sheldon Cooper in Texas. Jim Parsons, who played the adult Sheldon, narrates. Sheldon's mother is a dedicated Christian (as in BIG BANG), his father is a high school football coach, his twin sister is an ordinary girl, and his older brother is something of a regular teen, but with entrepreneurial instincts. (The older brother was also featured in BIG BANG.) I didn't want to watch it at first, as I thought it was just milking a cash cow, but more recently have discovered that it's pretty funny without (I think) being condescending.

As I have already remarked to Gary, I never found THE BIG BANG THEORY funny to begin with. But thanks anyway Jerry. Consider me enlightened.

You are right - we have a classical music station here, but I don't turn it on very often, and I've heard very little choral music from it. But I can find Whitacre's work on Spotify, and have just done so.

To my surprise, Radio 3 played a piece by Whitacre the other day that wasn't choral. I'd need to hear it again, but it wasn't unpleasant.

I guess Clouds Hill was spartan - we visited it several decades ago, and recently watched a video tour of it, on YouTube. Aside from the lack of indoor plumbing, it looked very comfy to me. And I don't think Lawrence discouraged visitors very much, and had some of his service buddies come for visits from the camp he was stationed at in the 1930s.

As for THE UNDOING, I enjoyed watching Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Donald Sutherland, and the other actors enough to offset not getting the usual melodramatic pay off of discovery of the Real Killer. By the next-to-last episode, there were more hints that Grant's character could be a sociopath with the ability to act like an innocent well enough to fool anyone.

I should remember to find that movie of BLITHE SPIRIT because I was in a youth theater production of it when I was a teen. This was a teen-aged acting class at my local Jewish Community Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and as there were only two males in the class, I got to play the lead. We only did two performances, and in the first one I had such stage fright that I forgot all the opening scene's dialog, and the girl playing my wife had to feed me hints. I recovered myself and mostly did okay with the rest of the play. I was much better in our second performance, and was even able to help the other actors with their lines. But I remember very little about the play now.

It would be interesting to hear if any of the film accords with whatever memories remain of the production you were in Jerry, which I assume was the original Noel Coward play. The new film has added and subtracted but, so far as I recall, the story is basically the same. Getting hold of the Margaret Rutherford version would be interesting too.

Suzle and I both like THE EXPANSE a lot, and we were sure that Naomi would not survive her trip through vacuum, but even though it strains credulity, we are glad she survived and even overcame further difficulties in her disabled ship. I wonder if this development came from the books - I've read the first three, and found that the TV series follows them faithfully in some ways but not in others.

Yes, I read the first three, maybe four books,and the TV adaptation is, as far as I can see, pretty faithful, but not slavish. With the departure of the Alex Kamal character and the fact that series six will wind it up, I imagine that the difference with the books will now be wider. But I don't think I will be reading them again to find out.

I haven't tried some of the other series you have - and probably won't try THE BOYS, but maybe will try RAISED BY WOLVES or A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES. As for PIRANESI, that's a book I hope to get to, as I really liked JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR.NORELL. If you liked that novel, you might also enjoy the work of Ellen Kushner. Several of her books also play with the idea of a civilization in which magic was once once practised but was then forgotten. SWORDSPOINT is the first of three, as Wikipedia tells me.

Thanks for that, Jerry I will bear it in mind.

****************

Now, what you have all been waiting for, Nic Farey of Las Vegas NV:

John D Berry nails the ethos so well that you're obliged to quote him again later: "the VT Review of TV, Movies, & Gratuitous Apostrophes" indeed, although I reckon at this point we're all apostrophised out, pending, as you say, definitive rulings from Falls Church containing the sagacity of the T'ed.

Despite my mild bit of snark about doing a "Gary Mattingly fanzine", I do enjoy reading about what the lads are reading and watching, since there's a few items in there I'll be considering myself when not delving into the Erle Stanley Gardner collection, an obsession I apparently share with dear old Dave Cockfield who has to pay serious quids for the astonishingly out-of-print author whereas I either get gifted knackered old paperbacks or am able to scoop some up at second-hand bookshops for mere pennies. Mind you, I don't think any of his volumes are held together with sellotape.

As mentioned in the pages of a lesser fanzine than this one, I gave up on watching THE STAND after three or maybe four episodes, pretty much because it's just not very good at all, and I found myself continually making unfavourable comparisons with the 1994 version, also observing that in this new one Whoopi Goldberg has to be one of the laziest performers on the planet, imbuing the central character of Mother Abigail with absolutely fuckin' zero character at all. The other thing I noted was that compared to other stuff I've clocked the last few months (nodding approvingly at your mention of RAISED BY WOLVES) the editing is consistently abysmal - just about anything else that's employed flashbacks as a narrative device (something which seems very du jour) has done it rather well (I'll mention AWAY in particular) whereas THE STAND just seems to royally fuck it up.

Well, I never started it, but I am very surprised to read criticism of a performance by Whoopi Goldberg.

I can agree that THE BOYS wouldn't be everybody's cuppa (clearly not Gary's) due to the excess of verbals and violence, but I'd contend that you yerself, old Unc, are closer to the underlying Meaning Of It All than many. Part of the point is that as fairly horrible as Billy Butcher is, the supes are worse - Billy does have some semblance of a moral centre, if an obsessively-driven one, and, although this seems odd to say, a core of humanity, albeit twisted - he's actually nastier in the source comic book than you'd ever get to see on the screen, although I await season 3 to see if any of those storylines get in. Homelander has no redeeming qualities at all by contrast. I'll be eternally fond of Butcher's simple philosophy of life, even though it would draw that look from the pure C Brialey : "Don't be a cunt".

I should remark on your editorially magnificent photo captioning, but I'm not at all sure about the third one, naming as it does a person who does not generally subscribe to the Butcher axiom.

My excuse, such as it is, is that the last time I saw Jimmy Streaky, admittedly a very long time ago, he looked not at all unlike that third picture which, I admit, is actually you at some con or other, probably a ZZ one, back in the mists of time. I have no wish to stir up old unpleasantness, trouser presses or the like, and anyway I have no address for Jimmy and presently believe him to have gafiated following a brain explosion brought on by the Dublin Worldcon, but please permit me my own twisted humour in my own fanzine, I beg. Anyway, as lovely as always to see your delightful ancient smiley mug at my virtual birthday piss- up, curtailed eventually and early - about half six - by the concerned Jen on the grounds that I was massively langered by then. Guilty as charged, yer honour, and I'd like several other similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Your connection was pretty langered an' all,freezing you in many odd poses at this end , though your sound continued unabated. Still, I hope you had a good one. I enjoyed it.

Still attempting and failing over here to sort a vaccine appointment, despite assurances that taxi drivers are somewhere in a higher tier of qualification for the jab since we're transportation professionals with the associated inevitable contact with variously diseased members of the public. It seems that, in what's perhaps typically Merkan crapulence, that you've got a better shot (ahem, falls off chair) by just turning up at the end of a day and getting a leftover vaccine because someone no-showed, otherwise it's the over-70s getting the lot. I can't moan about that really, since supplies are limited and you've got to start somewhere and prioritize the more vulnerable, although you would like to think that being in contact with potential carriers day in, day out ought to count for something ey?

Having, as prophesied by Her Majesty's Government, received my first dose within the time frame set out, I can only feel smug, and wish that on the one hand you do get a shot, and on the other that you remain in good health, or as good a health as you are generally accustomed to, at any rate. Thanks Nic.

****************

Lastly, a guest appearance in Apostrophe Corner from Paul Skelton, Stockport, Greater Manchester

Not sure what you and Nic Farey are on about. Yes. "1980's band WHAM' s a possessive and belongs to a band called WHAM associated with the year 1980. Now I have no idea who or what comprised that band, nor what material may be associated with them.

Fibber.

Their name has somehow impinged upon my consciousness however, and to a degree that makes me feel they must have been more than a one-year phenomenon. In which case "1980s' band WHAM" would be the correct possessive. What's difficult about such basic grammar?

I dunno. However, I think that two mentions of 1980s' band WHAM in successive issues of this fanzine lowers the tone, don't yer know. Also, I feel constrained to point out that they did not trouble the pop charts until 1981,and that therefore, while it is possible to say of them they were a 1980s' band, they were not associated with the year 1980. So there.

So, what's your favourite Guy Ritchie movie? He has worked on some varied subjects, being a writer as well as a director, but I love it when he comes up with an English crime caper, and I have only recently seen THE GENTLEMEN, which is even better than THE SNATCH, which was previously my favourite, featuring as it did such great performances from Brad Pitt, the late Mike Reid and Alan Ford. THE GENTLEMEN however features amazing performances from just about everybody, and the cast includes Matthew McConaughey , Charlie Hunnam, Michelle Dockery, Colin Farrell, and, best of all, Hugh Grant, who I feel must have invested his slimy journalist cum blackmailer character with all the venom he is known to reserve for the denizens of Fleet Street. There is very bad language, much violence and wonderfully dark humour, even causing me to laugh out loud, which almost never happens. A really good film, I loved it.

WEATHERING WITH YOU directed by Makoto Shinkai is in many respects your average teen romance anime, but two things, I think, make it stand out. One is that the plot revolves around a girl who can change the weather, in a perpetually rainy Tokyo, which ends up mostly flooded. The other notable thing is the drawing of cloudscapes and rain, which is stunning. And heights too. I'm afraid I had attacks of vertigo, and it's an animation for heavens sake! Worth just 1 hour and 52 minutes of anyone's time, I think.

On the TV, I have come late to THE SERPENT, which has been occupying the Sunday night 9 o'clock BBC1 slot for a few weeks. I am catching up via iPlayer slowly. It is a very grim tale of the 1970s' ( Is that one right, Skel?) set mostly in Bangkok. It is claimed to be based on real events, and indeed I can attest that I have heard some of this story before. It is in English,Thai, French and Dutch so subtitles are involved, and the narrative jumps around in time quite a bit, to keep tabs on which you need to keep your eye on the bottom left hand corner of your screen where an old fashioned departure board type thing tick-tick-ticks away. I find that slightly annoying, but in all other respects it is a gripping drama, and in it Jenna Coleman, I think, finally gets out of the shadow of her Dr. Who role.

It has finished on the Beeb now, but ENGRENAGES or SPIRAL season 8 is now on Amazon, and in case you have never seen it, it is a very gritty cop and lawyer thriller set in Paris. I have watched it from the first series and it is brilliant. But it is pretty hard nosed and the thing, I think, that nobody seems to pick up on is that it is a terrible indictment of the whole French police and judicial system. You keep thinking, 'no, this really cannot happen' but over La Manche, it is apparently, no more than they expect. Well, season 8 is the last, so that's it, sadly. It's subtitled, and believe me, you may think your French is good enough to do without, but it isn't. The language is idiomatic, rapid, and contains many references that I suspect are something like the equivalent of rhyming slang in English. Or maybe I don't understand as much French as I think I do. Subtitles are your friend.

On the reading front, I have just finished the latest Mick Herron espionage thriller, featuring the nest of spies-with-personal-problems, SLOUGH HOUSE. This one ends on something akin to a cliff hanger, and as usual the whole is presided over by the dark sarcasm of that master of disgusting personal habits, Jackson Lamb. That is a part for Timothy Spall, I'm sure, if it ever gets put on a screen. I can't tell you about the plot, it would all be spoilers, but if you have ever read one of these before , and this is Book 7, you will recognise the bad guy as a politician from an earlier story, now out of office, but determined to upset the Westminster apple cart, and some real life events in our national life get referenced, particularly the goings on in Salisbury a couple of years ago. It's good stuff , with many smiles along the way.

I have downloaded one of the best classical albums I have heard in years. J.S.BACH:WORKS AND REWORKS by the Icelandic pianist, Vikingur Olafsson. Poor old Johann Sebastian, were he living at this hour, would hardly recognise what has been done to his work over the years, modern symphony orchestras, synthesizers and even the modern concert Grand Piano being completely unknown and unheard in his own time. So, probably, what we understand and appreciate of his music is a kind of distillation. I think that's what Olafsson does on this album. He doesn't attempt to give us any sort of authentic rendition. He can't do on a dirty great Steinway recorded in the steel,concrete and glass concert hall of Reykjavik (I think). What he does instead is to serve up a super-strong spirit of some of Bach's greatest work. I particularly enjoyed his transcription of the Aria from WIDERSTEHE DOCH DER SUNDE, BWV 54. It puts me in mind of that famous old record by Myra Hess of SHEEP MAY SAFELY GRAZE recorded in an empty National Gallery during the war. There is that same soft and slightly echoey ambience to to it, adding to the sublimely simple melody. The same piece appears again in the REWORKS set, where the pieces feature electronic instrumentation added or mixed with the piano, and again you can hear that echoey softness, this time with fuzz ( I wouldn't go so far as to call it distortion) that allows an edge or even an accentuation to Olafsson's masterly playing. I know I am getting old, but if you haven't heard any Bach lately, you should ignore the blandishments of the purists and hear this. It is balm to the soul.

Well, the goings on in the U.S.A. even Trumped ( sorry!) Covid news on our screens over here for a while, but we are back to it day after day now. We have a “road map” ((c) Boris) out of this latest lock down that will see some semblance of normality return, maybe, by the end of June. But I feel that the BBC ( them again) News has descended to navel gazing in last couple of weeks, since the ignominious failure of the U.S. Senate to impeach that bloody criminal who used to reside in the White House. There are other things going on in the world, other than the pandemic. There is the shocking overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, which, frankly, is a naked assault on democracy, in this case a democracy being strangled almost at birth. We don't hear or see enough about that. We should also be paying attention to the Gay Horseman in the Kremlin, I feel. If people outside Moscow and Petersburg are willing to come out in the ice and snow to demonstrate, something is happening beyond the common disgust of the Russian people with the last twenty odd years of skulduggery. We should be seeing more of that. But probably it's only old white hairs like myself that even care these days. What's so funny about Peace Love and Understanding?

Deadline for next ish, March 19th approx.

Not 'arf, pop pickers.

UNCLE JOHNNY