Mark

I've been asked to provide the music and soundtrack for a new podcast being launched by a friend of mine, so I've been doing a fair amount of atmospheric post-rock stuff lately. Having fun overdubbing feedback and suchlike, which Malin really doesn't appreciate at all, so I have to do all my recording while she's out. These are a couple of samples - the second one in particular I'm quite pleased with.

 

Skåratinden

Cold Law

Yeah - it'd be a shame if that didn't make it into the TV version, just because unlike hair colour, or even Britishness, it really is quite an important aspect of the character (at the very least they'd probably struggle to do a decent adaptation of 'Dangerous Habits' without the cigs, and that story arc seems like it would be a bit of a gimme). Other than that, they seem to be making all the right noises about this. I remain cautiously optimistic.

Yeah, I really like the plan for the Utøya memorial. Elegant, appropriate and rather beautiful.

You are dead to me.

Which element has the chemical symbol 'Ah'?

 

 

 

Bet they pronounce his name wrong, though. Bastards.

(In other words, I suspect this is largely a semantic disagreement - it's not as though I'm denying that the differences in the way the character is written in the new book are really quite substantial. Most importantly, I'd imagine that the take on John you're hoping to see on TV is pretty similar to mine)

You're still looking at context and genre more than character, though. Again, it's like Batman. Clooney and Bale are playing the same character, but he's handled completely differently because he's been placed in two completely different settings. Clooney's version is what that character looks like when you stick him into a campy, over-the-top cartoon fantasy world (and then write him very badly). Bale's version is what that same character looks like when you play him according to the rules of a more realistic, grounded and gritty setting. It's the same with John - the reason New 52-John looks the way he does is because he's being written according to the rules of a crap superhero universe. His magic is of the rather less interesting fireballs-and-teleportation variety because that's the way magic looks in that sort of setting. "Our" John is what that same character looks like when you put him into a more realistic, well-rounded and interesting world. For that matter, Swamp Thing-John is, retroactively, that same character interpreted according to the rules of a rather more interesting and multi-faceted superhero universe on which an intelligent writer was able to put his own spin.

 

Until we know what sort of tone the TV writers are aiming for, there's not really any way of knowing exactly what their version of John will look like. But we can probably take some comfort from the fact that, looking at recent trends in television drama, it's likely to be rather a lot closer to the Hellblazer universe than the New 52 one.

So which of them is Ben Affleck's Batman going to be adapted from?

But that's down to the fact that he's being written badly. If you were describing the basic concept of the character to someone who'd never read either title, both could still essentially be boiled down to the same as it was when he was first introduced in Swamp Thing lo these many years ago. You won't have to persuade me that Hellblazer-John is a richer, more interesting character, but that's because he was being written better, by writers with more autonomy to actually tell the stories they wanted to tell. The underlying shape of the character, though - and that's what any adaptation will ultimately be based on, far more than any specific iteration - is the same. Try explaining to someone who doesn't read comics that they're, like, completely different characters and they would look at you like you were mental. Yeah, there are specific biographical details that differentiate the two, but he represents the same archetype. Besides, as I said, there's just no way they aren't going to be drawing more inspiration from Hellblazer than from the new version - there's over ten times as much of it, and it would be manifest lunacy for that much material to be ignored or overlooked by the TV writers.

 

Think about it this way: pre-Crisis Superman, All-Star Superman, post-Crisis Superman, Justice League Unlimited Superman, Christopher Reeve Superman, even f'ing Man of Steel Superman...there are huge, huge differences in tone, characterisation and context between them all, every bit as substantial as the differences between Vertigo-John and New 52-John. But only a fully certified crazy person would deny that they're all recognizably Superman.

I enjoyed that - charmingly odd. Do you have a plan for them, or are you just going where it takes you?

 

Your voice doesn't sound exactly how I'd imagined. Not sure how I'd imagined it, but it was slightly different from this. That's voices for you, though. I approve - it's a nice voice. You have my permission to keep it.

Nice one. Congrats are, presumably, in order. I'd drop in, but, you know, Norway. Hope you have a good one.

The whole "will it be based on Hellblazer or Constantine?" thing really doesn't make a huge amount of sense outside the context of the 20-30,000 people max who actually read either book, though. So far as absolutely anyone else is concerned - and I strongly suspect that "anyone else" in this case includes most of the people making the show - it's just not an important difference. The bare bones of the character are broadly the same anyway - aside from the quality of the writing it's only really the universe in which he lives that makes any significant difference between the two versions (and following Milligan's run, even quality isn't a really decisive difference). Since the TV show isn't going to have him teaming up with the Justice League Dark or wandering into shit crossovers every other episode, that's not a huge concern. While it's hard to tell exactly what direction they'll be taking from that summary up thread, it appears to have more direct nods to "our" John - more Ravenscar + haunted-by-the-loss-of-a-young-girls-soul, markedly less Nick Necro.

 

Short of adapting specific stories, I'm buggered if I can think of any really *important* way in which the show could be recognizably a direct imitation of either version (or, indeed, of the Swamp Thing Constantine, who's a different beast again) - there's just as much difference between, say, Jamie Delano's Constantine and Brian Azzarello's as there is between Milligan's and the New 52 version. TV John is undoubtedly going to be a sort of hybrid of all of the above, plus some new stuff that doesn't come directly from any existing source, just as it was every time a new writer took over Hellblazer.

 

Besides, if they actually are taking significant amounts of inspiration from the comics then they're almost certain to draw far, far more from Hellblazer than from Constantine, if only for the fairly obvious reason that there's so much more of it.

An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman walk into a pub.

 

 

 

- My dog has no nose.

- Really? How does it smell?

 

 

 

How do you turn a duck into a soul singer?

 

 

 

How many people does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

 

 

 

What do you call a man with a spade in his head?

 

 

 

What do you call a man without a spade in his head?

 

 

 

Did you hear about the magic tractor?

 

 

 

You know the narcissistic hipster?

 

 

 

And finally, my favourite joke in the history of comedy...

 

What sort of game can you play with a wombat?

 

 

Heh, they don't really. Especially if it's true, in which case it's the sort of information that would almost certainly leak in a more concrete and unavoidable manner eventually anyway. I was just joshin' with ya. As it were.

 

It would be good, though. For myself I'd like to see John Simm get another shot - I liked him a lot during RTD's tenure (I had some issues with aspects of both stories he appeared in, but Simm himself and the characterisation of his Master were consistently ace), and it'd be interesting to see what he'd bring to what would, presumably, be a rather different approach under Moffat. But if there's going to be a new Master, Charles Dance would be - to put it mildly - an eminently acceptable choice.

 

 

Speaking of rumours, there's a rather bothersome one doing the rounds at the moment which would make me rather sad if it's true. It's apparently strongly suspected that

 

 

 

I have no idea, but I've been trying hard to avoid any and all information about the next season, because I'd prefer as much as possible to be a surprise. So if it is true, a) awesome, and b) thanks a lot for the spoiler, you jerk :-)

You all need to go and see the Lego Movie.

 

That will be all.

I don't think I've seen him in anything either, but looking at pictures, he seems a reasonably good physical fit for the part. I remain cautiously optimistic about this show.

Love for Trondheim definitely and firmly seconded. I've only been there once, but it's a beautiful town.

Indeed. Congratulations, Lou - hope the next 18 years are even better.

That was rather cool, yes.

 

Pedal update: in conjunction with judicious over-use of the amp's own gain, reverb and chorus settings, I can now make my guitar sound like a shrieking choir of a million dead souls howling from the very depths of the Pit. Needless to say, Malin is delighted.

Pair of Boss pedals - the CH-1 chorus and SD-1 overdrive. I've been after a decent chorus pedal for a while for playing live (for recording I've been using the chorus dial on the built-in digital FX board in my amp, which does the job a lot better than it has any right to, but it's not really the same thing), and I wanted a bit of gain boost on tap because...well, who doesn't? I don't generally play anything metal-ly enough to get much use out of a heavy-duty crunch/distortion pedal, but the SD-1 is an absolute joy - piece of piss to adjust, and a lovely warm tone.

 

Plus, you know...there's

, which is a definite selling-point if you break shit as often as I do. These fuckers cannot be killed with conventional weapons.

Indeed so. In this specific instance I figure the universe sort of owed me one after the preceding couple of weeks.

I was just about to make exactly the same comment. He'll always be the actor Kevin Eldon to me.

:-( :-( :-(

 

 

Better news - I was gifted a fairly generous sum of money by a colleague at work on Wednesday, as a thank you for the admittedly considerable effort and time I put into finding him a good apartment when he arrived from Egypt a few months ago. GOOD THING #1.

 

He insisted that I buy myself a present with the money (GOOD THING #2), so I nipped into the guitar shop to pick up an FX pedal I've been looking at for a while. When I got there it turned out they were having a stock clearance, with a box of out-of-the-packaging-but-new-and-completely-unused pedals on sale for half price or less. So, completely unexpectedly, I was effectively able to get myself two guitar pedals without having to spend a single krone. GOOD THING #3: VERY GOOD THING.