Riding the Waves to Eternity: Hangin’ with the Cosmic Surfer

Another Country

Another week, another change of theme…

The site is changing appearance again, driven by the 1970 music project and the need for user-friedly menus to navigate it. At the time I write this, I know the menu is looking odd on tablets and phones but for the life of me I can’t get the opacity of the drop-down menus to stabilise. I daresay it is a simple fix I haven’t found yet.

I’m happy with the way the project is going, though I underestimated the work needed to keep up a supply of daily content. At present it is pushing other activities, such as writing fiction, to one side. I need to address this, but not quite yet. In the meantime the project led me to spend three days in the National Library of Scotland going through Melody Maker for 1970 and early 1971, and I plan to do the same for New Musical Express, as well as speed through 1969 for a couple of key events and album releases to which I’d like to refer.

Having said how much the project is eating into my time, yesterday we were at the cinema to see JoJo Rabbit. I wasn’t sure what to expect on the basis of the trailer, but it was brilliant. Compelling and moving precisely because of its absurdity, and perfectly cast throughout. I saw some reviews saying how its humour fell flat, but all I can say is that everyone in the busy cinema we saw it at laughed, and everyone needed a handkerchief for those moments when dust gets in your eye.

(added: no sooner had I written the above than the opacity issue was solved–I think, let me know if it’s not–and I drafted down The Teeth of Timothy Trask, which is hardly a major opus but is a short slice of jolly horror that’s been on my mind for a couple of days.)