A small update

Hi, all.

I know it’s been well over a week since my last blournal entry. Apologies for that. I’ve been a bit through-other as of late and Storm Amy didn’t exactly help matters on Friday, but now that it’s finally October, I can officially start looking forward to Halloween — easily one of my favourite times of the year outside of Christmas Week and the late June/early-to-mid July period when Glastonbury’s on and the local pubs are doing their annual barbecues.

Regrettably, I haven’t really watched any movies since I went to see the OG Jaws last month (not counting any movies that I watch on TV when I’m in the pub), but I did finally finish my Breaking Bad rewatch-a-thon and… yeah, it’s still a phenomenal show. It’s easily one of the finest examples of serialised storytelling in my humble opinion. Keep in mind, I still haven’t seen shows like The Wire, Deadwood or Better Call Saul as of late, and I’ve only seen a handful of episodes from Succession (which I also think is brilliant, at least from what I’ve seen), so take my opinion with a huge grain of salt, but I still think Breaking Bad holds up incredibly well. Bryan Cranston’s role as Walter White is such a tour-de-force — a deeply flawed and increasingly monstrous “anti-hero” who constantly challenges the audience’s empathy at every turn — but so is everyone else on the show. I know most people love to shit on Skyler White, but Anna Gunn plays the part to perfection and dare I say it, I think she’s a hell of a lot easier to sympathise with than Walt. Yeah, I’m not exactly sympathetic towards Walt. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great character, he’s complex and compelling but I think re-watching this series has all but destroyed any preconceived notions I once had of him being some type of badass criminal mastermind. What can I say? I was still pretty immature when I first saw the show as I had only just turned eighteen.

Good times.

I also watched Queens of the Stone Age’s Alive in the Catacombs performance last week and it was fucking amazing. Obviously, we’ve seen many bands and artists do the whole “stripped back” things, but I love what Queens of the Stone Age do with their particular approach. Using the Catacombs in Paris as a setting not only creates a sense of intimacy that few unplugged performances actually have, but it also creates a unique atmosphere that greatly compliments the music, which is also fucking amazing. The track listing consists entirely of deep cuts from the band’s more recent albums, so if you’re expecting any Rated R or Songs for the Deaf material, then you might be a little let down, but I love these songs and the new arrangements are a big part of the reason why. The songs are packed with so much more raw emotion compared to the original studio recordings and Josh Homme has never sounded better as a vocalist. Definitely worth listening to if you get the chance, and the accompanying film is also worth the watch.

Besides that… there’s not much else going on. My main priority right now is try and get myself focused again. In typical fashion, I’m not entirely sure where to start, but I guess I’ll just do what I do best and wing it… see where I go from there.

So, that’s me done. I’m away for the night. I’ll see you about… eventually.

Take care.

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