TSBMR/0001 :: WHITEOUT No. 1 (Rucka / Lieber, 1998/2007)

First episode of a new, audio take on my erstwhile Wednesday Randoms of eras past: welcome to THE SHORTBOX MEMORY REVUE, in which I pick a comic from the 32 shortboxes that constitute the comics bit of The Collection at random, re-read it, and talk about it - and my sordid history with it - here. Very much ironing out the kinks, but I think I’ll enjoy myself. New episodes probably every Friday. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Art from WHITEOUT, No.1, by Steve Lieber. Carrie walks across a desolate snowscape town.

TOKYO VICE, s2 (2024)

If the narrative and temporal catch-up to Jake and Katagiri's meeting with Tozawa's right hand from the (MIchael Mann-directed) pilot in one of the last episodes of this season is any indication, I'll be more surprised if there's a third season than if there isn't – but what a fantastic ending to a great, underrated show and/or season: more amped up than the first, a steady, pulpier unfolding with great characters (this season belonged to Show Kasamatu's Sato and Rinko Kincuchi's – still one of my favorite actors, her role in Rian Johnson's THE BROTHERS BLOOM being a favorite – Emi and, to a slightly lesser extent, Rachel Keller's Samantha) whom I'll miss – yes, even Engelgort's Jake, whom, like nearly every other character at one point in the show, I wanted to punch (Engelgort's still the weak point of the show; I wish they had kept Daniel Radcliffe in the role from the unproduced film version) – dearly. Great show: if you didn't watch it, give it a binge. (**** / *****)

earbliss/20240404

‘Quintela’, the debut album by Carme López, a performer, teacher and researcher of traditional oral music from Galicia, is a new experimental work for Galician bagpipe. Influenced by the approach of composers like Éliane Radigue or Pauline Oliveros, the Spanish composer creates slowly modulating sound environments, and stretches the sonic the possibilities of the bagpipe to its absolute limit. ‘Quintela’ is structured in four movements, plus a prologue and an epilogue, which serve as a link to the contemporary language of the instrument.