150 - Pointing

 So, next on the list of super-hero movies was meant to be Venom, but I don't have a DVD or a Blu-Ray and it appears not to be on any of the streaming services I have a subscription to. Though I'm sure, last week, when I looked it was showing on Just Watch as available on Netflix... but apparently not. So, for the moment I'll skip over it and head to Spider-Man; Into the Spiderverse...

The thing this does really well, is that it does something different with the Spider-Man mythos that we've not seen before on the big screen. Here we get multiple versions of Spidey combine to defeat a common enemy...

...and the main Spidey here isn't Peter Parker, it's Miles Morales, an alternative Spider-Man who made he debut in the "Ultimate" range of comics, which gave a different spin on the old classics. 

He's not just a Peter Parker clone, and is very much his own character, and this does mean we don't need to be tied too closely to the traditions of the comics (I can't comment on how close he is to the Ultimate comics, as I've never read them). I mean, for one thing... a version of Aunt May who essentially acts as a version of Alfred to an alternate Peter Parker...? Anywhere else that wouldn't work, but here it's great. 

The various different Spideys all work well together, and even when one of them's cartoon pig it somehow manages to pull it off. 

As it is an animated film there's much larger than life interpretations of some of the characters - the Kingpin is built like a double decker bus, and when we see the Green Goblin briefly he's some oversized giant beast. But, again, somehow it works. 

It's just a great, fun, film. And it's got Nicolas Cage voicing a monochrome Spidey. What more could you want???

---*---

So, next time, if I've acquired a copy it'll be Venom. If not, it's on to the Fantastic Four films... Flame on...!

149 - She

 So, we get to the third in the series of songs, and today it's;

She, by Angel Pie

This is another one here just because I like the song. I recall I heard it first on a Channel 4 music programme fronted by Caitlin Moran called Naked City, which had the contrivance that it was being broadcast from her flat. Which looked suspiciously like a TV studio... Collins and Maconie had something to do with it as well, I recall.

But they played this song, and I loved it. The CD single stated it was from the forthcoming album, Jake; almost 30 years on, and it's still forthcoming. I get the impression it's never going to get here.

Just enjoy this great song...

(List is up to 13 now... keeps growing!)

148 - Banksy

 I really should have taken a picture of it, but I guess as it's all over the news you can look it up if you want, but that picture Banksy painted on the side of Reading Gaol is damn fine.

The sheets coming out of the typewriter look like a long sheet of paper, rather than a bedsheet, and has text typed on it. It's very swish, very stylish, and can only do a good thing in raising the awareness of the sale of the Gaol and its subsequent use.

'Cos it can't be converted in to yet another block of flats. There's at least 5,103,208 of them in the town already. We don't need more. Heck, literally opposite Banksy's painting there's a whole new development of flats going up on what used to be HomeBase and Toys 'r' Us... we don't need more.

What we need is a whopping great arts centre. With a gallery, a theatre space, a cafe maybe, places where people can come to create art as well as see it, take classes and workshops. All sorts of things. Something that can add to the culture of the town, to enliven the place a bit. A venue that can be something good. 

Something more. 

Just not more damn flats. Or a flamin' hotel. 

147 - 147

 Part of me thinks I should write a post about snooker given the number of the post, but really there's only ever been three snooker players I've ever really cared about, Alex Higgins, Jimmy White, and Ronnie O'Sullivan. All three have at various points been rather exciting in their play, and whizzed around the table showing natural flair. And all three at their peaks - especially Higgins - when given the choice between a safety shot, or a risky attempt at a spectacular pot would always go for the latter. 

'Cos when I'm watching a frame and it's 4,109 safety shots after the other it does get very dull indeed. 

Thing is, Alex is dead, Jimmy's past his peak, and how long can Ronnie keep going? Where's the next exciting player? Where's the next one who's going to shake things up? 

Hmm...

146 - Idea

 So, I mentioned the other day that when I was listening to a particular song that I came up with an idea that to do a strand of posts about songs... well, this is the song I was talking about... I told you the title then, if you were paying attention...

I Really Like The Idea, by Scarlet

This one's very much one of the songs I just happened to like, rather than it being because of anything of a more personal nature. Scarlet never had that many hits, in fact probably only one, which was Independent Love Song. That's the one that charted highest of theirs. Probably the only one that actually charted.

But it's their earlier single I like best. 

I Really Like The Idea is a fairly basic pop love song, but somehow it's always stuck with me. It captures the feeling of falling in love, and of just makes me smile when I listen to it, and fills me with hope for the future...

I was sure this one should have had a proper video... but I couldn't find it.

145 - La

 I guess perhaps the hardest thing about re-watching Russell T Davies' latest TV show, It's A Sin, is that you know all the twists and turns already, so you anticipate what's coming and start to well up about impending unfortunate events before they happen. 

The thing is, though, it doesn't diminish the show's power, in fact it probably enhances it. 

And upon re-watching it, I am even firmer in my opinion that it's the best thing he's ever done. Especially part five, which is truly stunning, from Keeley Hawes stalking the hospital corridors, to Ritchie's "It was fun" speech, to the punch in the guts that follows, it's TV that absolutely tears you apart. 

'Cos by the time you get to part five you're so invested in these characters that you don't want the inevitable to happen... but of course it does. 

Part of me thinks I may end up thinking it may be the best British TV drama ever made, but Our Friends in the North is so embedded in my psyche that it'll be hard for it to be topple off its perch. 

Oh...