A Cover Of A Comics Magazine Presented Without Comment
Download Codes
I mostly buy music on physical format because… I don’t know. I’m old? Right. So included in the latest batch was the new single from 80s phenomenon Soft Cell:
And as is often the case these days, there’s a download code included so that people presumably can avoid actually listening to the vinyl:
Now, I usually ignore these download codes, because my experience with them is pretty negative: You usually get a badly-organised zip file with some crappily encoded mp3s, and no cover artwork or anything, so it’s just a lot less work for me to just sample the vinyl, really, since I’ve got that pipeline set up nicely.
And besides, mp3 eww dude!
(The exception here is the excellent Bandcamp site, which gives you perfectly-organised zip files of high quality FLAC files, including nice cover artwork. Virtually all the music I’ve bought online is from Bandcamp.)
But this download code said “download the free digital album”, and I though “uhm, there’s an album? The vinyl is just two songs but perhaps there’s an album included somehow?” I mean, it’s unlikely, but it’s possible. Things are weird in music these days.
So I go to The Sound of Vinyl, and there’s this page:
So I tried clicking on the “enter this code field”… but that turns out to just be a picture.
But there’s that big red button! Let’s try clicking it!
…
So to get the “free” “digital” “album”, I have to do a social media hookup thing? Or give them my email?
Yeah right.
But?
Argh.
So the scam here is to gather contact information, I guess? Well, fuck you then, The Sound of Vinyl.
Feel free to use the secret code if you want to. I guess it’s first come first served?
It’s not a very good single.
December 1942: A Night To Remember
Oh, this is just perfect. It’s a screwball comedy about a couple moving into a haunted tenement house… OR IS IT!??!
Things move at a brisk pace, and if all the individual gags aren’t exactly genius, it all just kind of works.
“Jeff! Don’t be a fool!”
“Don’t be silly. I’ve always been a fool.”
See?
It turns into a marvellously convoluted mystery and it’s hugely amusing. Loretta Young and Brian Aherne turn in wonderfully over-the-top performances.
It’s an almost perfect little thing.
A Night To Remember. Richard Wallace. 1942.
Popular movies in December 1942 according to IMDB:
| Poster | Votes | Rating | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 5434 | 8.0 | Random Harvest |
 | 2442 | 7.6 | Went the Day Well? |
 | 215 | 7.5 | 4 passi fra le nuvole |
 | 13966 | 7.4 | Cat People |
 | 543 | 7.2 | Journey for Margaret |
 | 445 | 6.9 | Thunder Rock |
 | 3091 | 6.9 | The Black Swan |
 | 386 | 6.8 | Whistling in Dixie |
 | 376 | 6.8 | Tennessee Johnson |
 | 1617 | 6.8 | Keeper of the Flame |
This blog post is part of the Decade series.
November 1942: Once Upon a Honeymoon
Ginger Rogers! Cary Grant! In a romantic Nazi intrigue comedy!
Director Leo McCarey was a veteran director with films like Duck Soup on his resumé, but hadn’t really been super-successful. (He did do An Affair To Remember later, though.)
And… this movie tries so hard. It’s got so much going for it, like Rogers’ preposterous English accent, and Grant hamming it up, and a bunch of scenes that are screwier than a Black & Decker. But somehow the pacing is just off. Instead of jokes landing, I find myself going “Yes, I can see that’s a very good bit. Quite amusing”.
Everything should just have been faster and wilder. It’s like they could have excised one third of the frames out of every scene and this would almost have been a classic.
Well, for the first third, at least. Then it kinda goes totally off the rails. And this DVD restoration shifts between scenes that have pretty good film quality and some that are atrocious, and the latter bits are scenes that are painfully bad. So was this put together from footage found on the editing room floor?
Once Upon a Honeymoon. Leo McCarey. 1942.
Popular movies in November 1942 according to IMDB:
| Poster | Votes | Rating | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 406184 | 8.6 | Casablanca |
 | 2496 | 7.7 | Gentleman Jim |
 | 8779 | 7.7 | The Palm Beach Story |
 | 4205 | 7.3 | Road to Morocco |
 | 2426 | 7.3 | You Were Never Lovelier |
 | 541 | 7.3 | ‘Neath Brooklyn Bridge |
 | 469 | 6.9 | Springtime in the Rockies |
 | 2014 | 6.5 | Once Upon a Honeymoon |
 | 247 | 6.4 | Seven Sweethearts |
 | 257 | 6.2 | Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood |
This blog post is part of the Decade series.
October 1942: Now, Voyager
Ooo! Bette Davis!
I thought that perhaps I’d seen this before, but if so, it must be a long, long time ago, because scenes seem familiar in vague flashes. Perhaps I saw it as a child?
But, man, Davis is amazing here. Didn’t get the Oscar, of course.
Isn’t it weird how it’s more difficult to find something to write about good movies than bad movies? With bad movies you can just kvetch away with abandon, but this is a kinda perfect movie. Well, you could quibble with the clichéd portrayal of the controlling and venomous mother, but it’s done so perfectly that you just have to admire the artistry.
Oh, and bonus: This has Mary Wickes as the enterprising nurse.
Now, Voyager. Irving Rapper. 1942.
Popular movies in October 1942 according to IMDB:
| Poster | Votes | Rating | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 11715 | 8.1 | Now, Voyager |
 | 1724 | 7.8 | Who Done It? |
 | 2308 | 7.2 | For Me and My Gal |
 | 4940 | 7.2 | I Married a Witch |
 | 1143 | 7.0 | George Washington Slept Here |
 | 2783 | 6.8 | Flying Tigers |
 | 836 | 6.8 | Eyes in the Night |
 | 611 | 6.8 | The Moon and Sixpence |
 | 519 | 6.5 | The Falcon’s Brother |
 | 660 | 6.4 | Night Monster |
This blog post is part of the Decade series.