New Amusements: December 2024

Wednesday, 25 December 2024

Cancelling

Disclaimer: this post was written in December 2023, and scheduled for future posting. Its contents may no longer be accurate or appropriate.

For anyone who is, for whatever reason, not with the person or people they want to be with this Christmas.

Tuesday, 24 December 2024

Angel

Disclaimer: this post was written in December 2023, and scheduled for future posting. Its contents may no longer be accurate or appropriate.

This isn't about a Christmas angel, of course, but it's close enough for blogging purposes. This is Angel by First Aid Kit, from the Swedish sisters' fifth album, Palomino (2022).

It's not really my usual bag, but is nice enough, I guess. Amusements Minor liked it when it first came out, before he decided he was all about Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem - he's probably disavowed it now. But my YouTube Watch Later list has a longer memory.

Merry Christmas, you filthy animals...

Sunday, 15 December 2024

Was That The Year That Was? 2024

Disclaimer: this post was written in December 2023, and scheduled for future posting. Its contents may no longer be accurate or appropriate.

This would normally be the fourteenth time I've recapped a year like this (for completists, here are the others) ... but here's the thing. As you'll remember from this, I've been on a blogging sabbatical, and every post you've read here in 2024 was actually written and scheduled during December of last year. So how can I recap the year, twelve months in advance?

Well, I can't, obviously. Instead, as 2023 draws to a close (This might get confusing - Ed.), I'm going to write about the things I'm maybe looking forward to for 2024 and then, when this actually gets published in twelve months time, maybe I'll drop into my own comments section and update with how reality compared with hope. Because there's always hope, right? Even for this desperate blog...

So enough prevarication - let's get the crystal ball out.

Best album?

The Libertines, All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade

Well, if the advance singles are anything to go by (especially Night of the Hunter), then the forthcoming Libertines album All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade might be alright, and certainly better than the health of its chief protagonists might have led us to hope. What else? Well, by the law of averages Paul Weller will probably have a new album at some point in the year, that I will inevitably buy and find something to like on. And this is in hope rather than expectation but I wouldn't mind another solo album from Graham Coxon, but I might be pissing in the wind on that score. Who knows?

Best song?

This looking forward lark is hard. Most of the new songs that have featured on this blog in recent years have been serendipitous finds, and how do you predict that? So I'm going to take an absolute punt and say that my best song of 2024 will be something I haven't heard even a snippet of yet, by some band that is completely new to me, and will probably be on Bandcamp. I know, brilliant insight, eh? Bet you're glad to be reading this...

Best gig?

Well, this might be a little easier to look forward to, because I've already started booking tickets and planning trips. For example, I already know that I will be seeing The Smyths and From The Jam, and I can confidently state that I will enjoy both very much. I hope to see Sea Power too, touring the anniversary of Do You Like Rock Music? (which is on the Every Home Should Have One masterlist, lest we forget), although the nearest they come to me is on Valentine's day, so that might prove challenging, let's say. There's a chance I may also get to the Suede and Manics double-header tour, which is bound to be something, plus I note Pixies are touring briefly, playing Bossanova and Trompe le Monde in full. Plus hopefully there will also be some festival action, either Latitude (with Duran Duran headlining one day, no less) or CarFest. So there's lots of potential here, basically. More good gigs to go to than I can realistically afford. And I haven't even mentioned the annual pilgrimage to see The Wedding Present, which is bound to happen at some point...

Best book?

Another one that's hard to predict. I know that Stephen King has a new collection of short stories coming out in May, because I've already pre-ordered You Like It Darker. And I already know that I will like most if not all of it, because I always do - even when he's not firing on all cylinders King keeps the pages turning like few other authors do for me. I'd also love it if there was also something new from the simply wonderful Sadie Jones and the criminally underrated Michelle Paver, because I love their respective bodies of work. It might be a bit soon after Amy & Lan for Sadie, but there hasn't been any new adult fiction from Michelle since Wakenhyrst, so fingers crossed there...

Best film?

I'm going to cheat a bit here because Wonka has just come out at the time of writing, but I haven't seen it yet. Based on trailers and the fact that the team behind it gave us the Paddington movies, I'm not really going out on much of a limb here when I predict it will be quite good. But what else? Well, novelist-turned-director Alex Garland's new film Civil War looks interesting (and hopefully not prescient), and stuntman-turned-director David Leitch is bringing The Fall Guy to the big screen, hopefully without dumping on our childhood memories (I'd like a Lee Majors cameo please, David). Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black will either be terrible or excellent, as will Beverley Hills Cop: Axel F (yes, really). Actually, 2024 looks like being the peak year of sequels, most of which, on paper, leave you scratching your head and wondering "why?" and "please don't be terrible", to whit: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Beetlejuice 2 (only 30 years too late), Joker: Folie a Deux, Gladiator 2 (yep, really), and an as yet untitled Alien franchise movie. Leave the horse alone, why don't you, it's dead already... And director Richard Eggers is remaking Nosferatu for 2024 ... really, what could go wrong? Oh, and spoiler alert from December 2023 - I don't actually get to the cinema very much any more, so I probably won't even see half of these. Boo.

Best television?

Well, I'm going to need something new to fill the holes in my televisual life left by Ghosts and, since I've just given up my Disney+ subscription because of ridiculous price hikes, Only Murders In The Building. I don't yet know what that something will be. The final series of Stranger Things is coming, and had better arrive in 2024, else the young cast will all be too grown to pass for teenagers. The second series of Wednesday is coming too - so far, so Netflix. In the interests of balance, apparently Blade Runner 2099 is coming to the small screen courtesy of Amazon Prime, with Ridley Scott involved, so hopefully that will be good. Oh, and there's a live action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender coming too (Netflix again) that will be a must-watch for Amusements Minor (and, by extension, me), so hopefully that is better than the famously awful film adaptation from 2010. On terrestrial TV (do people still say that?), the BBC brings us series two of The Tourist, which I plan to watch, and the intriguing premise of Nightsleeper, a six-part real-time thriller set on a sleeper train from Glasgow to London. I have high hopes for that.

Best sport?

Well, I'm going to go out on another limb here and predict that the best sport of the year will also, in a way, be the worst, as England threaten to win the Euros but ultimately fall agonisingly short, probably on penalties. Staying with football, I'm hoping for a Liverpool title in the Premier League, but won't mind if it's Arsenal, not least because my old man's a Gooner. Moving down the pyramid, I'm also hoping that Norwich City will somehow (and despite themselves) sneak into the play-offs, but if so they'll undoubtedly revert to form and miss out, whilst watching their noisy neighbours from down the road get promoted as champions. Sigh. In other sport, I hope that Ronnie O'Sullivan prevails at the snooker world championships in May, to stand alone on eight titles in the modern era. And I'm praying for some kind of comeback from Emma Raducanu - such talent, such promise, hopefully to re-emerge in 2024. And of course it's an Olympic year, so I'm hoping that Katarina Johnson-Thompson scoops the heptathlon gold her career so richly deserves. Oh, and is one more title for Lewis Hamilton too much to ask? Probably, but it doesn't hurt to hope.

Person of the year?

Well, it's Keir Starmer, hopefully. Since the next general election must take place on or before the 28th of January 2025 at the very latest, I really need Keir to have a good year, because we need the Tories out more than ever. I know Starmer is not perfect, occasionally misses open goals, and perhaps lacks some charisma ... but I also think he is, at a fundamental level, a decent man, and that's what we need right now. So here's to a year of no gaffes, no own goals and no scandal, a year of side-stepping the offensives the right-wing press will inevitably launch against him, a year of Labour by-election victories and Conservative implosion, and a year that ultimately culminates in a landslide electoral triumph, with a compassionate party of the people back in government, where they remain for a generation. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, internationally, I'm also desperately hoping Joe Biden has a good year because otherwise...

Tool of the year?

As I type this post, at the tail-end of 2023, I have an awful and inescapable fear that repugnant man-child and morality-vacuum Orange Don will somehow evade all attempts to rein him in, whether in the courts or in the Republican party, and that not only will he contest the 2024 presidential election as a free man but that he will also win it. It chills my heart to think of him back in power, but I can see it happening, I really can. I just pray that in the twelve months that elapse between me writing this and you reading it, something legal, conclusive and incontrovertilbe happens to prevent him: either he is convicted of something, or the Republican party realise they don't have to remain in his thrall, or the Democrats find a way to beat him, or the US electorate come to their senses. I can't think of too many things more dangerous for the world than a stupid, immoral, entitled person with ultimate power but little accountability and even less care. It is a hideous, but very real, prospect for us all.

Well, that's the future foretold. Hardly a cheery note to end on, but really, what else did you expect from me? I wonder what you'll make of all this in December '24? Blimey, I wonder what I'll even make of it...

Monday, 9 December 2024

People skills

Disclaimer: this post was written in December 2023, and scheduled for future posting. Its contents may no longer be accurate or appropriate.

'Tis the season. The workplace Christmas "do" season, that is. This, from David Mitchell and Robert Webb, is for anyone with/without people skills, who loves/hates mingling at social events. You know who you are.

May not be entirely SFW, linguistically.

"...as relaxed and friendly as a serial killer doing a police interview whilst still wearing his last victim's skin." Genius.

Monday, 2 December 2024

I'm in the final now, you know

I had hoped not to have to break my sabbatical for any more RIP posts this year but sadly I have to, for one of my first sporting heroes has passed away.

Terry Griffiths was a coal miner, bus conductor, postman and insurance salesman before trying his hand on the professional snooker circuit. He'd had a very successful amateur career but it wasn't until he turned 30 that he thought the sport might be able to support him and his young family. At the time he gave himself three years to make a go of it.

In 1979 he won the world championship at his first attempt, beating Dennis Taylor 24-16 in the final (the last year it was played over so many frames). This was only his second professional tournament, and in winning it Terry became only the second qualifier to scoop the world title (after Alex Higgins in 1972). He went on to win many other tournaments, and became only the second player (I think) to complete snooker's triple crown of world, UK and Masters titles. There are still only eleven players to have done this. He would have won so many more titles too, if not for a certain Steve Davis. Terry once said that, after losing 13-10 to Steve in the 1980 world championships, he had to contend with the idea that there might be someone better at snooker than him ... and he found that hard to accept. Over the years that followed he tried everything to keep up with Davis, tweaking his technique and altering his stance, all in pursuit of technical perfection. In the 1982 season Steve and Terry contested five major ranking event finals - Steve won three, Terry two. But this pursuit of technique kerbed Terry's natural free-flowing play and he became the methodical player he is somewhat sadly remembered as now, as known for slow play and late-night finishes as he should be for his tournament successes in snooker's golden era.

As a boy growing up in the 70s and 80s, yes, I had Kenny Dalglish on my wall but I had Terry's books Championship Snooker and, later, Complete Snooker on my shelf. I read and re-read them, and learnt to play the game from them, and from him. My first cue had Terry's name stencilled on the side. My interest in the technical side of the game was all from him. The occasions I met him, got his autograph, left long and lasting impressions. My love of the green baize has lasted ever since, even if failing eye-sight means I can't play as well as I used to.

With pleasing symmetry, Terry ended his professional playing career by qualifiying for the world championships in 1997, where he was drawn to play fellow Welshman Mark Williams. Terry lost 10-9, though had chances to win what would have been a tremendous upset. I don't think Terry would have been too upset though, as he had been coaching Mark up to that point. I think he would just have enjoyed playing at the Crucible one last time. Coaching became his career from then on, and the list of top players he worked with is as long as your arm. Interestingly, over time his coaching became more about the psychology of the sport than the technical - it is, after all, the cruel game. Maybe that's why Terry never achieved quite as much as his talent deserved - you won't find anyone in world snooker with a single bad word to say about him.

Terry's family announced his death yesterday. He was 77, and had suffered with dementia in the last years of his life. Of course the Beeb and the Grauniad have obits, but for me he'll always be more than just the sum of his professional record. To me, he was a genuine sporting hero. I wanted to do what he did, and I wanted to play like him - not Davis, not Higgins, not White, not anybody else. I'm not likely to ever improve on my highest break, not with these eyes, but if I ever did, even now, it'll still be down to him.

I'll just leave you with this video of Terry returning to the Crucible, 40 years after his world championship win, and then a clip of him doing what he did best, in a different age. RIP Griff, and thank you.

Sunday, 1 December 2024

Saving you from Mariah

Disclaimer: this post was written in December 2023, and scheduled for future posting. Its contents may no longer be accurate or appropriate.

Those that have been reading this for a long time will remember that I used to make musical Advent calendars for the blog. Well, they were a lot of hard work in terms of coding, so I don't do them anymore.

Instead, to save you from overdosing on Mariah, Wizzard, Slade and the rest, here's a list of the less commonly heard festive songs that filled those old calendars, plus a few extras that I've posted in the years since, all with clickable links...

76 songs! More than enough to get you through even the dullest works do...