Year: 2019

Gahan Wilson

I just heard that Gahan Wilson passed away earlier this week. Here’s something from the NY Times, and an article from the New Yorker, and finally a blog post by Neil Gaiman.

From the New Yorker:

Weird was his specialty—he thought that way, and he drew that way. Wilson was part of a select group of cartoonists who own their style, who deliver on paper what seems to be a good piece of themselves. (…) The work is somehow inseparable from who they are, and that’s part of what makes it so memorable.

I’m not sure where I first saw his work, but it was probably in National Lampoon, since I was buying that occasionally as a teenager, but definitely wouldn’t have been buying the New Yorker or Playboy, the other two magazines that published most of his cartoons. Though, now that I’m thinking about it, he also drew cartoons for F&SF, so maybe that’s where I first saw his stuff. Either way, I’ve always loved his work.

A collection of his F&SF cartoons is available from Comixology, as is a large collection of his Playboy cartoons, both published by Fantagraphics. A couple of other collections, Still Weird and Even Weirder, are available for Kindle, at a pretty low price. I really should pick up one or more of those. I could use a little more Gahan Wilson in my life right now.

There’s also a documentary about him, Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird, that can be bought or rented from Amazon or iTunes. I haven’t seen it, but I might rent it tonight.

Buffy comics

I’ve been on a Buffy kick lately. I finished reading the Dark Horse season eight run not too long ago, and that got me interested in picking up and reading season nine and a bunch of the other stuff that came out from Dark Horse along with that.

I’d picked up the first trade paperback of season eight way back in January 2008. I read through the first half of season eight in trade paperback form, though I’m not quite sure when. I donated those trades to a library sale or something like that back in 2015, so it was a while ago. I bought the second half of the series in digital form from Dark Horse in 2012, probably after I finished reading the trades. Then, I just never got around to reading the rest.

So, at some point last month, I was in a mood for Buffy and started reading those digital issues. The whole arc of season eight was pretty goofy, but it was a lot of fun. I’m glad I finally got around to finishing it. Then, of course, when I started looking into buying season nine, I realized that Dark Horse had lost the rights to Buffy, so none of their stuff was in print anymore. I have a little bit of season nine from an old Angel and Buffy Humble Bundle from 2016, so that gave me a starting point. But the back issues, trades, and hardcovers are all getting hard to find. I wish the current publisher, Boom!, would get this stuff back in print. I don’t know if they actually have the rights to the old stuff though. Maybe they just have the rights to print new comics. Either way, I managed to snag a full set of the Angel and Faith season nine TPBs from eBay for a reasonable price. And I managed to find all of the main Buffy season nine series, though maybe I shouldn’t mention how I got it.

So I’m reading season nine now. I’m hoping I can talk myself into stopping at the end of season nine, and maybe moving on to something else, or going back and reading some of the older stuff that was in that Humble Bundle. But I’m enjoying season nine so much that I may wind up hitting eBay again to find season ten, and maybe paying a little too much for it.

On a related subject, I started listening to the first episode of the Buffering podcast recently. It’s pretty good. I’ve been a fan of Jenny Owen Youngs for awhile, and heard about the podcast through her Twitter feed. It looks like they’re up to season five now, so I don’t think I’d really be able to catch up, but maybe I’ll listen to a few more episodes at random. Of course, that may lead to me actually wanting to re-watch Buffy, which would be even more of a time sink…

AirPods

I finally broke down and bought myself a pair of AirPods yesterday. I didn’t get the fancy new AirPods Pro, just the regular AirPods, with the regular case (not the wireless charging case). They were on sale for $140 at Costco. I’ve considered picking up a pair a few times over the last year, but never quite talked myself into it. But I’ve been reading and watching a bunch of headphone reviews recently, and stopped at the Apple Store over the weekend to try out both the older AirPods and the newer AirPods Pro. The “Pro” model didn’t fit my ears well, though I only tried the medium tips. But it was the kind of thing where I was pretty sure that none of the tips was going to be quite right. (And I didn’t want to pay $300 either.)

The AirPods don’t fit my ears that well either, honestly, but they’re good enough. My “use case” for them will probably be for listening to music at my desk at work, podcasts and audiobooks at home, and maybe podcasts & music on the train occasionally. So I’ll usually be fairly stationary when I’m using them. Still, I may pick up a pair of these tips from Comply or these Earhoox things to get a better fit.

I had a lot of resistance to adding a new battery-powered device to my life. I feel like I have too many of those already. I had a lot of resistance to the Apple Watch for that reason too, but I’ve really gotten to like the watch. I suppose I’ll get used to the AirPods too. I plan on charging them right next to the Watch, on my computer desk, overnight. I had to buy a new two-port USB charger so I could do that, since I didn’t have a spare AC outlet near there. (And the AirPods don’t ship with an AC adapter anyway, just a Lightning/USB cable.)

I used the AirPods a bit at work today, and they worked well. The sound quality is similar to the old Sony earbuds that I’ve been using at work, but maybe a little better on the bass end. I listened to some rock, classical, and ambient music today, and they sounded fine on all of that. The ambient music sounded best, probably because it had the most bass. The classical (some Itzhak Perlman Mozart stuff) was not terribly impressive, but I wouldn’t expect it to be. You need good headphones or speakers to really get the full effect from something like that.

There are a few semi-interesting things that you can do with the AirPods that you can’t necessarily do with other headphones. I played around with Live Listen for a bit yesterday, and I’m curious to play with that some more. I do have some problems hearing, and I feel like that might help me out in certain circumstances.

I’m also curious to try them with my Apple TV. I do sometimes use headphones while I’m watching TV, but the way I do it now is a little inconvenient. (I’m using wired headphones connected to my stereo receiver.) I’m curious to see how the AirPods would work when watching a movie on Apple TV.

I haven’t used them for a phone call yet, but I’ll try that at some point. And I need to look at the Apple documentation to see if there’s anything else I can do with them that might be worth trying.

Overall, they’re fine, but they’re not life-changing, and I’m not sure they’re really worth more than $100. (But hey, what else am I going to spend my money on?)

MoMA and WNYC follow-up

Here’s a quick follow-up on two subjects I’ve posted about recently. First, WNYC announced today that they’re keeping New Sounds, after previously announcing that they were canceling it (and all their other music programming) a couple of weeks ago. This is really good news, and I think it might inspire me to actually listen to New Sounds more often.

Second, MoMA is now open to the public, and the NY Times has run a couple more articles about it:

The Times may have overdone their MoMA reopening coverage. I think I’ve seen six articles about it so far, and I’m not even really looking for them. I probably missed a few. But hey, it’s still interesting to me, and I guess it really is the kind of thing you’d expect the Times to cover thoroughly. I really did enjoy the member preview. I’ll probably go in again at some point in the next month, if I can. Hopefully, the crowds won’t be too bad.

Paperback Writers

I just noticed that the Paperback Writers series on BBC Radio 6 features Warren Ellis, today at 1 PM, in whatever time zone the BBC uses. So that might be in ten minutes, or possibly an hour and ten minutes. I’m not sure. Either way, I’m going to try to listen to it live. (I also need to go back and listen to Neil Gaiman’s episode before it disappears.)

New Sounds

I read in the Times last week that WNYC is dropping New Sounds, after 37 years on the air. I think I started listening to New Sounds when I was in high school, so I guess I was in on it almost from the start. It’s always aired at 11 PM on weeknights, so that’s usually past my bedtime. But I used to stay up late sometimes, back when I was a lot younger. I know that I discovered a few artists on New Sounds that I still love, like Brian Eno and Harold Budd. I remember first hearing their album The Pearl on New Sounds. Coincidentally, I just heard Late October from that album on BBC Radio 3 a couple of days ago (via my Sonos One). It was an unexpected surprise, and a nice way to start my morning.

Both New Sounds and a show called Synthetic Pleasure on WFMU were responsible for me expanding my musical horizons beyond classic rock and getting into electronic music and other experimental stuff,  back when I was a kid. These days, I get most of my electronic/ambient music from podcasts, like Monday Graveyard and Future Astronauts, and from recommendations in Warren Ellis’ newsletter.

If there was an easy way to time-shift New Sounds and listen to it as a podcast, I’d be listening to it regularly too. It’s easy enough to listen to it online, but no easy way to download it. And there’s a 24/7 New Sounds stream that I can listen to on my Sonos, but it’s not quite the same as listening to the actual show.

It’s kind of amazing that the show has lasted so long, at the same station, in the same time slot, with the same great host, John Schaefer. But I guess all good things must come to an end. The Times article says that WNYC will work with Schaefer “to find a new home for the New Sounds brand.” I hope they come up with something to keep New Sounds going, in some format. Clicking around on Twitter and Facebook, I see that there’s some grassroots efforts going on to save the show. I hope that leads somewhere positive, whether it means the show stays on WNYC, or moves to WQXR, or even if it goes online-only.

Streaming Ghibli

I blogged about Studio Ghibli (specifically Miyazaki) films back in August. I was thinking about trying to catch up on any Miyazaki films I hadn’t gotten around to seeing. I was surprised at the time to discover that none of them were available digitally in the US, either for sale or rent, or on one of the pay-per-month streaming services. Since then, I’ve watched a few, by the relatively old-school method of checking them out from my local library on DVD.

Just a few days ago, Otaku USA posted an article with the title “No Plans for Studio Ghibli Films to Hit Streaming Services,” so it looked like they were still holding out. Then yesterday I saw an article in the Times saying that the films will start streaming on the new HBO Max service starting some time next year. I guess that’s cool, if it allows more people to see great stuff like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. But I’d kind of liked that Ghibli was still holding out, and that you had to make at least a little effort to “find” their films. Once the films are on HBO Max, will we still have stuff like Ghibli Fest? Or the cool special edition Blu-Rays from GKids? (Eh, ignore me, I’m just a cranky old man. I’m sure GKids will be happy to keep selling Blu-Rays to weirdos like me. Or I can always hit eBay for used DVDs.)

NJ Transit

I stumbled across this headline in the NY Times yesterday, and briefly thought that they’d actually come up with a deal to replace or repair the Portal Bridge: “This New Jersey Bridge Will No Longer Sabotage Rush Hour.” But no, they’ve only come up with a deal to avoid opening it during rush hour. So it’s still going to sabotage weekend riders like me. (The NJ.com headline is more direct: “The rusty, commute-killing Portal Bridge will never open during rush hour again.”) The current status of the Portal Bridge replacement project is still, basically, stalled and going nowhere, as far as I can tell.

Meanwhile, the North Jersey Coast Line 2606 has been declared “the Very Worst Commuter Train in America” in a NY Times article. And NJ Transit has canceled as many as 29 trains in one day, due to a lack of engineers. But, hey, they added seven new engineers yesterday, so that’s a good sign. But, as the article points out, “they need a staff of 400 qualified engineers to avoid service interruptions. The current complement is 343.”

post-MoMA trip report

OK, so this isn’t really going to be much of a “report,” but I needed a title for the post, so here we are. Per my earlier post, I did indeed head into New York for the MoMA reopening preview. My verdict: I liked it! (Keep in mind that I’m a computer nerd and not an art and/or architecture critic.) There’s a lot more space, and they’ve certainly used it to display a lot of art. Some of it is stuff I like, and some isn’t, and that’s all OK. I managed to locate most of my favorite stuff from the “old MoMA,” including Monet’s Water Lilies, a couple of Pollocks, and Ruscha’s OOF. (Somehow I completely missed Starry Night. I know it’s in there somewhere though.) A lot of the new stuff (or at least “new to me” stuff) was interesting. Some was puzzling. Some was funny. And some was just “meh.”

The preview was well-attended but not too crowded. (And it’s always nice to visit MoMA on a day when there aren’t going to be any tourists there.) It’ll be interesting to see what the new MoMA is like on a “normal” day, with the usual crowds of tourists. Will the larger space allow the crowds to thin out a bit? Will the crowds congregate around the popular exhibits and leave some other areas a bit sparse? Will the larger space just attract bigger crowds? (Probably that last one is most likely.)

I’ve uploaded some random photos from today here. And the last one is a photo of my lunch. MoMA’s two cafes weren’t open for the preview, so I had to go somewhere else to eat. I decided to go to La Bonne Soupe, a small French restaurant I first went to back when I was in high school. It’s only about a block from MoMA. It’s kind of cool that a restaurant I went to so long ago is still in business, in the same spot, and with nearly the same decor and menu. (Well, OK, there are a bunch of changes to the menu, but they still have some of the old classics.) I had a $22 lamb burger and an $8 beer. Both were good, though maybe not “$30 total” good.

The last thing I want to mention: The NJ Transit train broke down on the way home, and I had to take an Uber the rest of the way home. Initially, I waited on the train to see if they’d get it working again, but decided to bail out after 10 or 15 minutes. I figured they’d probably get it running again right as my Uber showed up, but I just checked, and nope, they had to cancel it. So if I’d stayed, I’d have been stuck for a full hour. Not a big deal for me, but I feel bad for people who rely on NJT these days, and don’t have a lot of spare cash for Ubers and Lyfts. They’re having a lot of these delays and cancellations lately, and it doesn’t seem to be getting better.

a bit more on the MoMA reopening

Following up on yesterday’s post, here are two more articles from the Times on the MoMA reopening.

First, Holland Carter’s general review of the new MoMA. It’s a pretty positive review. He gets a little cynical near the end:

My guess is that in some hopefully ever-improving version, this 21st century MoMA will work, if only for self-preservative reasons. Multicultural is now marketable. To ignore it is to forfeit profit, not to mention critical credibility. And the new MoMA is obviously tailored to a new and younger audience, one that has no investment, nostalgic or otherwise, in the old pre-Taniguchi model, which now lives on mostly in the memories of a fading population (…).

I guess I’m old enough to be part of that “fading population,” but I am interested in seeing what they’ve done with the place. As long as I can still find Monet’s Water Lilies in there somewhere.

The second article, Backstage at the Modern, is a short piece from the Times Magazine.

I plan on hopping on a train today and going to the member preview, so hopefully I can share my own opinions later today.