Best thing at the moment: The Immortal Hulk (2018 - )

The Immortal Hulk is not your friendly MCU Hulk. The Immortal Hulk is phenomenon in comic books at the moment. It on going series which gains readers as it goes on. Usually on going series loses readers as it goes on. Last summer it sold more than Batman which was kind of a big deal. I don’t know current numbers but that is not the point. The Immortal Hulk is best thing at the moment no matter how much it sells.

Bruce Banner was killed during big event earlier. There was another person being Hulk. But Bruce Banner didn’t stay dead. Real life reason was new Hulk probably didn’t sell well and Bruce Banner’s Hulk was popular in MCU movies. I don’t know what happened to other guy. But that is not important.

Return of Bruce Banner’s Hulk could have been terrible idea. I wonder if they had planned where this series would go when they started the series. What the series is now is not something you sell easily to guys who want to bring back good old Bruce Banner’s Hulk. If I try to tell what is going on it would sound too weird to be one of the best selling comics.

What makes The Immortal Hulk so good is you can’t expect what happens next. It started simple. Bruce Banner had risen from dead. He turned to Hulk every night. He became Bruce Banner next morning. He was hiding from the world. Previously Bruce Banner couldn’t die. He turned into Hulk when he was about to die. This time he can and will die but he will return as Hulk next night. Because death doesn’t matter to Hulk the series goes to full body horror.

Hulk isn’t only one not staying dead. Other gamma monsters and heroes come back from dead. Could be terrible idea if done poorly. This isn’t done poorly. Hulk and other gamma monsters gets different perspective when they know they will live forever. Maybe they don’t want humans to destroy the climate and pollute the Earth. It isn’t that simple either. Team Hulk has human reported who wonders how Hulk can get away with everything he has done in the past and become beloved hero when he is needed. Hulk destroyed her home when she was kid. She is there bringing human perspective among gamma monsters causing destruction when secret military sections try to take them down.

It wouldn’t make much sense if I tell everything what happened during first 25 issues. It makes sense if you read those issues. When you start issue you have no idea what to expect. It could feel like it has nothing to do with on going story. It could be one small event told from perspectives of persons involved with their own biases. But at the end of issue it makes sense. I have hard time seeing how all this could be merged to what happens elsewhere in Marvel Universe. I hope that doesn’t happen.

I recommend starting from first issue. Series isn’t that long yet and it is worth reading as whole. One arc ends in 24th issue. So after that could be good jumping on point but 25th issue is really weird and I haven’t read 26th issue yet. If you do this you don’t know why characters are where they are and some places may feel too weird.

Best Albums of 2019 (First non-Japanese edition)

If you have read my blog before you might know I have praised Japanese music lately. This is first non-Japanese list best albums of 2019. These are in no specific order.

Orville Peck: Pony

It is small miracle I found Orville Peck. It was one random Facebook status mentioning mask wearing country artist. Post didn’t mention he is openly gay. Well as openly as masked man can be. But that isn’t important. Music is. It is said this is country but it does remind lot of Roy Orbison. When I found Orville Peck he was most amazing thing ever. Good music and whole weird world of Orville Peck. You should check him even if you don’t like country.

Heilung: Futha

First time I heard about Heilung was at Tuska Open Air festival. When I read their introduction on Tuska’s site they sounded interesting band. I went see them without listening anything before. I thought I made big mistake going to near front row during first ten to fifteen minutes. Then it just started to work and I loved rest of the show. Video is from older show but song is from Futha. I wanted to show this video because it shows what Heilung’s live shows look like.

Protou: Anomalies

I guess it is time to add Cryo Chamber records here. I have bought almost everything they have released last few years. My relationship with the label is I trust everything they release will be something I like. Those few albums I haven’t bought are collaboration albums with hour long song. That long songs would mess up my playlists. Protou is one of my favorite artists on the label. Anomalies is her 2019 album.

Sur Austru. Meteahna Timpurilor

I have Avangarde Music subscription. They are not as reliable as Cryo Chamber. But when ever I think should I cancel my subscription they release something like Sur Austru’s Meteahna Timpurilor. Never heard of the band before but when I listened them I was completely blown away. Black metal is most interesting genre at the moment thanks to bands like Sur Austru.

Lana Del Rey: Norman F***ing Rockwell

I guess this is good point to have Lana Del Rey if I want to show I like all kinds of music. I was bit disappointed of her previous record but started to like it more as time has gone on. I didn’t have same problem with this one. Maybe all the time they took to make it paid off. I remember checking for ages when this come to preorder on iTunes.

Tool: Fear Inoculum

There was running joke “Tool releases new album before X happens”. Now we have that album. And it sold more than Taylor Swift which Swift’s fans didn’t like. I really hate the cover but I don’t have to watch it unless I am searching for video to add to this list. Music wise it was like they didn’t have the break. I don’t say it was worth the wait. There aren’t many bands who can make this kind of weird music work. I hope we don’t have to wait for next one this long.

Council of Nine: Davidian

I am running out of things to say about Cryo Chamber artists. All music they release aim to get you to similar mental state. Artists have differences. But if you play them back to back you have hard time telling which song is from which album unless it is one of those few albums which have something special on them or you don’t listen anything else than this genre. This similarity is not a bad thing. It is more of mark of quality and high standard label has. Council of Nine’s Davidian is one of the better Cryo Chamber releases.

Ghaal’s Wyrd: GastiR – Ghosts Invited

I waited for ages second God Seed album. It will never come. Ghaal’s Wyrd is Ghaal’s new band. I hope it releases more than God Seed. But you never know with Norwegian black metal projects. Artists make all-star bands which release one album and then go to next band. Ghaal’s Wyrd have same feeling I liked in God Seed and more really good songs. Not sure if this is all-star band, real band or Ghaal’s solo project.

Danko Jones: A Rock Supreme

Danko Jones released new album this year. Of course it is one of my favorite albums. I am not too much into basic rock n roll. Danko Jones is one of few artists in the genre I like and he has interesting podcast I have listened since the beginning. This either works or doesn’t. I guess it works for me since I have all his albums.

Julia Kent: Temporal

I might be little biased. Julia Kent liked one of my Instagram post. But I had her albums before that happened. I have soft spot for cellists’ solo albums. Should I say female cellists’. Or maybe I should say female cellists’ who are former members of Rasputina. Maybe not that last one. I like other cellists than Julia Kent and Zoe Keating too. Cello’s sound has something which makes it work as only instrument on a song or the main instrument. And cellist ladies make interesting cinematic music with it.

Ï guess this is good place to end this post. There will be at least two more best albums of 2019 posts coming. Current plan is one will be Asian edition and another Western edition. I might split the western edition two because there is probably more than enough good albums for it. Both are waiting albums to be released. I might not separate them by geography. Not sure yet.

Upgrading from Sony A6300 to Sony A6600

I am one of those who dared to buy Sony A6600. This is what I have to say about the camera after having and testing it for a week. Whole video is shot outdoors with Sony A6600. You don't have to endure my talking face waiting for sample footage. I mainly shoot video so I talk from that perspective.

Best thing at the moment: Green Lantern (2018-)

I don’t read that much new comics. If I do prefer buying trades. That comes cheaper and I like to read more than single issue at the time. At the moment Immortal Hulk is only new comic I follow from trades. That was before I found Grant Morrison’s Green Lantern. Justice League Dark may get to that list too. I got first volume from sale but haven’t started it yet. I got first volume of Green Lantern (2018-) as single issues because it was cheaper. So I am currently at issues six waiting for second volume to be released. I know something big happens on twelfth issues and story continues under different name at least for a moment. But first issues of Green Lantern (2018-) is where you should start.

This run of Green Lantern is closer to old time science fiction comics than superhero comics. It has the feeling of old European science fiction comics. Some times it remind me old Star Wars comics I read as a kid. Some of the panels could easily fit into pages of 2000 AD. This feeling comes from writing and glorious art. Character designs are really out there. There is humanoid volcano and sapient insect species looking nothing like humanoids. Green Lantern concept allows really weird characters.

Green Lantern works as pulp science fiction because in the end it is intergalactic police force with fancy power rings. As long as Superman and others stay away from comic it can easily pass as science fiction. Having regular superheroes in different kind of superhero comics tend to break the mood of said comic. This has happened with Immortal Hulk, New 52’s Justice League Dark and Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing. Moore probably was forced to have them appear but was wise enough to downplay their impact.

My favorite issue so far is third issue which has surprisingly lot of social commentary about climate change without saying words climate change. What happens in issue should have huge impact on every character on Earth but I assume those couple days when everything was different are forgotten and never mentioned again. At least outside Green Lantern comics. It is ok because I like to think this series happening outside other DC continuity.

I really hope Grant Morrison can keep this as pulp science fiction series of intergalactic police force and Superman doesn’t appear in any issue. During first six issues there haven’t been any superheroes or super-villains whose powers can’t be explained by science fiction concepts.

Problem with Polar Flow's Cardio Load Report

I got Polar Vantage M few weeks ago. I have generally been happy with it. Even more after last update which fixed some issues and made it measure activity like M430 and other models did. But there is still one thing I have problems with. It is Cardio Load Report. It is either bug or way it is counted which makes it work weirdly sometimes. I assume bug because I had years ago similarly calculated report which didn’t have this problem.

I know I don’t train that much.

Cardio Load Status sometimes go up for no good reason. Cardio Load Buildup shows I haven’t trained today. Yet. But Cardio Load Status goes to overreaching. After three days of not training I shouldn’t be overreaching. This report is calculated comparing short period of training data to long period of training data. Long period gives you tolerance and short short gives you strain. This could be because at first Vantage M counted lower activity levels than M430 and now Tolerance calculation doesn’t use M430 data any more. But I this isn’t first time this has happened.

I had similarly calculated report years ago. I could trust it perfectly. If I went to train when strain/tolerance level was at certain point or above it I got ill. But this time I am pretty sure I have no problem going training even when graph shows I am already overreaching. What makes me even more sure is another graph I still have in Polar Flow.

Older superior report.

You don’t get Recovery Status report with Vantage M. I have it because I still have M430. When I open this Flow wants me to use Cardio Load Report. It should give better data but it doesn’t. I have used this for years and at this point it still seems to be superior. Here time brings bars down and activity brings them up. This report changes status levels based on you previous training. I am not sure how it is calculated but it does that.

I can see how Cardio Load Report should be better and more informative report. Similar report I had in other program years ago was that. But this doesn’t show changes in tolerance levels very well and it works weirdly. Like I would go to overreaching without doing anything and then to detraining in one day if I don’t train today or tomorrow.

Best thing at the moment: Hikaru Utada - Nijikan Dake No Vacance (feat. Sheena Ringo)

Another post praising Japanese music. There will be more coming later. I found Sheena Ringo and Hikaru Utada from Sheena Ringo’s latest video. It was their duet on Sheena Ringo’s upcoming album. You can expect that album to be on my favorite albums of 2019 list. However I can’t get enough of their older duet from Hikaru Utada’s album.

I love everything about this video. Song is good. If I listened more of this kind of music it might not stand out so much as it does now. Video fits perfectly to smooth jazzy song. At least if you don’t understand the lyric. Which is the case with me. This whole thing gives me 60’s optimistic science fiction feeling. Someone should make a movie or tv-series heavily inspired by this music video. If there already something giving similar feeling I really want to see it.

It could be mix of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Barbarella with more optimism and less sexual content. I am science fiction fan but I don’t remember seeing anything like that. Or have I? There is a movie called Space Station 76 which tried to be something like that. Maybe it wasn’t as optimistic as I want.