One of the cool things about being a Canadian is that I get a check every year from the Public Lending Right Commission just for having my books in libraries across the country. They do a random polling of 7 locations (for each eligible book) and you get credit based on the number of times it’s found. There’s a depreciation factor, so you don’t get as much for older books over time, but I’m still doing well with The Road to the Dark Tower a dozen years out. I even get credit for When the Night Comes Down from Dark Arts books, because I contributed ¼ of the content, which is the minimum amount to be eligible. I’ve made as much from the PLRC as in royalties for that particular title! Unfortunately, the check arrived when the Canadian dollar is in the sub-basement. Think I’ll hold onto it for a few months to see if it rebounds.
I became a US citizen in time to vote in the last Presidential election, but I’ve never voted in a primary before. The Texas primary is next week (on Super Tuesday), but we went to early voting last Saturday, when the line was small (read: non-existent). There were several referenda on the ballot. I was also surprised by the number of Democrats running for president. Who are all these people? Star Locke?
I finished my binge rewatch of the X-files, polishing off Season 9 and the 2008 movie and the new Season 10. I’d never seen the movie before. I hear it was a commercial and critical failure, but it wasn’t all that bad. I’m glad I refreshed my memory about Reyes so I knew who she was when she returned in the finale of the new season. The last episode was a hot mess. Way too much crammed into way too little time, and not a lot of it made sense. So they managed to shoe-horn in the 2012 prophecy from the end of S9, but I think they should have done a two-hour final instead of cramming all that action into 45 minutes. The mythology episodes were generally the weakest of the lot anyway.
I’d heard good things about Jessica Jones on Netflix, so I decided to give it a shot next. I’m not a superhero fan, in general. The only movies I’ve seen in recent years are the Iron Man ones. I know nothing about the character’s history. Doesn’t matter: this is a decent contemporary noir where the main character (Kristen Ritter from Breaking Bad) happens to be extraordinarily strong and she can jump from considerable heights. Getting David Tennant as the nefarious nemesis, a guy who can compel people to do things, was a stroke of genius. I especially liked his scene where he negotiated to buy a guy’s house without using his superpower. It was a challenge for the character. I’m only five episodes in, but liking it very much.
I have to confess that I was a naive young man who thought the Neil Young song was about vinyl records being scratched by the tone arm needle! There’s a new show on HBO called Vinyl, starring Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Mick Jagger’s son, the Danish actress who was the reporter on Borgen, Olivia Wilde and a host of others. It’s set in the seventies, with Cannavale as the head of a failing record company that’s about to be bought out by Polygram. He’s in a bit of a spiral, falling off the wagon. Oh, and there’s also a brutal killing and a building collapse, all in the first episode. Plus Andrew Dice Clay—remember him? And, to top it all off, it’s directed by Scorsese and co-written by Mick Jagger. Among the characters we see: Lou Reed, Andy Warhol and, I think, David Bowie, plus a young punk musician who seems like Sid Vicious (played by Jagger’s son). There’s a lot of jumping around in time, leaving you to figure out when it is based on the state of Cannavale’s hair. But I’m enjoying it so far.
Oh, and we saw the Bill Murray movie Rock the Kasbah. My advice: don’t.
