Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda - Monstress - Vol 1: Awakening & Vol 2: The Blood

Marvellous story, rich in action, world-building and (to a lesser extent) characterisation; notably, nearly every character is female. Lots of violence, present and past. Has a denseness that feels like depth, not mere obliqueness or detail. Puts the graphic novel form to great use; fittingly, given that Monstress basically fits in the fantasy genre, the drawing art is particularly outstanding.

Fiona Staples and Brian K Vaughan - Saga volumes 8 & 9

Volume 8 moved a bit slowly for me, and probably also suffered from my hazy memory of who was where and up to what, but volume 9 brings together all of the major characters (as far as I can remember) while disposing - or seeming to - of a couple by the end and is right back on track.

(1-7)

Lucy Dacus - No Burden

There are some nice, crunchy alternative rock moments here - I especially like "Green Eyes, Red Face" and "Strange Torpedo" (tracks 3 and 4 respectively) - but I'm not sure I would have listened twice were it not for Historian.

boygenius - boygenius ep

This is quite the treat. Lucy Dacus's Historian has sunk in more and turned out to be really excellent, Julien Baker I'd only listened to one song by and been suspicious (in conjunction with the video) of the highly wistful, melancholy and pretty vibe that I'd got from it, and Phoebe Bridgers was altogether unknown to me, but either way their collaboration all hangs very nicely together. All six songs are well-constructed, sharp and emotive, but I'm most drawn to the three louder ones - "Bite the Hand" (which I think is one of Dacus's), the crescendoing "Stay Down" (which seems to be one of Baker's) and "Salt in the Wound".

Bad Times at the El Royale

I'll admit I was interested to see what would happen and who would make it out alive, and the movie has a certain high-gloss murkiness to it which works effectively, but taken as a whole it seemed more interested in seeming cool than anything else, and - 1969-era American darkness elements notwithstanding (government corruption, Vietnam, cults and drugs) - too basically amoral without sufficient narrative or other payoff to be any good.

Rogue One

I was interested to see this again (previously) after Felicity Jones's performance in On the Basis of Sex. On a second viewing, it's a bit blockier and more heavy handed in its structure but still quite good.

The Underground Railroad Game (Malthouse)

Terrific. Depicts and lays bare how race and racism continue to infect societal and personal relationships, all mixed up with lines of power and desire. I liked the looseness of the structure and it's impossible to doubt the commitment of the two performers/creators.

(w/ R and Cass)

Song list

I still listen to most of my music on an ipod so itunes keeps track. Fifty most listened to:

	Jan ‘16	Jan ‘15	Jan ‘14	Jan ‘13		Plays
1	1	1	1	1	Different Worlds - Brittany Cairns	224
2	-	-	-	-	Happy & Sad - Kacey Musgraves	209
=3	3	3	3	-	100 Million Little Bombs - Buddy Miller	156
=3	-	-	-	-	Runnin’ Just In Case - Miranda Lambert	156
5	16	-	-	-	Vez Primera - Carla Morrison	153
6	2	2	2	2	This World Can Make You Happy - Amaya Laucirica	152
=7	7	8	9	-	Useless Desires - Patty Griffin	150
=7	4	4	6	43	State of Grace - Taylor Swift	150
9	-	-	-	-	Loner - Margo Price	146
=10	-	-	-	-	The Mother We Share - CHVRCHES	140
=10	14	-	-	-	Learn To Say No - Lydia Loveless	140
12	-	-	-	-	Don’t Pass Me By - Laura Marling	139
=13	-	-	-	-	Summer Pillow - Kasey Chambers	138
=13	-	-	-	-	Sweet By And By - Miranda Lambert	138
15	-	-	-	-	Pay No Mind - Beach House	137
16	6	7	7	5	23 - Blonde Redhead	136
=17	5	5	5	4	New Year - Beach House	133
=17	-	-	-	-	Heartache Is An Uphill Climb - Tift Merritt	133
=19	8	6	4	3	It Must Come Through - Jen Cloher & The Endless Sea	131
=19	-	-	-	-	Slow Burn - Kacey Musgraves	131
21	14	15	17	37	No Bad News - Patty Griffin	127
22	11	10	10	-	Starry Skies - Laura Cantrell	125
23	-	-	-	-	Vice - Miranda Lambert	124
24	10	15	14	15	Slow Show - The National	123
25	-	-	-	-	Bad Reputation - Haley Bonar	122
26	-	-	-	-	Dirty Dream Number Two - Belle and Sebastian	115
=27	13	12	12	8	Aeroplane - The Everybodyfields	111
=27	12	11	8	6	Out Loud - Mindy Smith	111
29	21	19	29	-	Red - Taylor Swift	109
=30	26	23	23	-	Manchester - Kishi Bashi	108
=30	23	25	36	-	From This Moment On - Shania Twain	108
=32	18	15	20	-	Don’t Tell Me - Buddy Miller	106
=32	26	28	36	-	Wild Old Dog - Patty Griffin	106
=34	18	13	13	7	Coming Home To Me - Patty Griffin feat Julie Miller	105
=34	-	-	-	-	Burn The Witch - Radiohead	105
=34	24	25	-	-	Afraid of Nothing - Sharon Van Etten	105
=37	17	14	14	-	Sweet Talk - Jessie Ware	104
=37	-	-	-	-	Nonbeliever - Lucy Dacus	104
=37	26	37	45	29	Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National	104
40	-	-	-	-	Best Years of My Life - Pistol Annies	104
41	36	45	49	29	Let’s Get Out Of This Country - Camera Obscura	101
42	18	15	16	11	Godspell - The Cardigans	100
=43	-	-	-	-	Drunk in LA - Beach House	99
=43	22	20	26	-	You Keep Me Hangin’ On - Janelle Arthur	99
=43	41	34	36	-	Don’t Let Me Die In Florida - Patty Griffin	99
=43	29	28	29	-	I Couldn’t Be Your Friend - Tegan and Sara	99
47	32	25	26	19	The Bleeding Heart Show - The New Pornographers	98
=48	39	45	-	-	Abducted - Cults	97
=48	36	35	29	17	I Got Nothing - Dum Dum Girls	97
=48	32	28	26	-	I Don’t Ever Give Up - Patty Griffin	97