Off Topic The Review Thread

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Steelmonkey said:
We used to get the bus (it was mental, exactly as you would expect with chickens and goats and kids hanging on the the roof rack!!) to Cancun for weekends when I lived in Belize nearly 30 years ago - a lot has changed, as we went back about 10 years ago. It was just a small fishing village that was "invaded" by the American tourist industry, and I was lucky to be there just before it became as commercial as it is these days.

Have a great break - you deserve it! But do go to see the pyramids......
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Steels, did you get to visit Tikal in Guatemala while in Central America ? Amazing place
 
Staines R's said:
Steels, did you get to visit Tikal in Guatemala while in Central America ? Amazing place
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No, didn't get there pal.

Spent a lot of my down time out on the cayes of the reef off of Belize, especially San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. Trips to La Ceiba in Honduras, Chetumal just over the Mexico border (both mental - that's a story for another time), and a couple of trips to Cancun.

Working was mainly near the main airport, or out in the jungle - there's a lot of things out there that are designed to kill you, which makes life interesting........
 
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Staines R's said:
Already sorted mate. One of the places I wanted to visit while here. Don’t think it’ll be on the scale of Tikal, which is my all time most amazing place in the world....but should be impressive
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Report back - I was there in 1987, I’d bet that things have changed a bit. There’s another Mayan city at Palenque in the jungle further west, but I think it’s too far for a day trip from Cancun. It was still mostly overgrown with very few visitors when I went.

Wanted to go to Tikal but the Mexicans I was hanging round with very forcefully told me it was too dangerous at that time. Mexico by contrast felt much safer than the US, I travelled from the US border to Yucatán by local bus with plenty of stops on the way in fantastic places and never felt threatened once. Brilliant street food, staying in faded colonial mansions turned into hotels, everything dirt cheap. My favourite place in 14 months of travelling.
 
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Steelmonkey said:
No, didn't get there pal.

Spent a lot of my down time out on the cayes of the reef off of Belize, especially San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. Trips to La Ceiba in Honduras, Chetumal just over the Mexico border (both mental - that's a story for another time), and a couple of trips to Cancun.

Working was mainly near the main airport, or out in the jungle - there's a lot of things out there that are designed to kill you, which makes life interesting........
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Superb mate, bet you’ve got some mad stories :). I did Las Ruinas de Copan in Honduras. Another amazing place but being devestated by some of the people there....just fly tipping lorry loads of rubbish into the valley ‘cos they know no better...all very sad.
That trip shaped my views in a way as I encountered young kids begging not for money, but food. And there was someone like me who would never feel that kind of hunger in my life. Made me think how unfair and unjust it all is.
 
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sb_73 said:
Report back - I was there in 1987, I’d bet that things have changed a bit. There’s another Mayan city at Palenque in the jungle further west, but I think it’s too far for a day trip from Cancun. It was still mostly overgrown with very few visitors when I went.

Wanted to go to Tikal but the Mexicans I was hanging round with very forcefully told me it was too dangerous at that time. Mexico by contrast felt much safer than the US, I travelled from the US border to Yucatán by local bus with plenty of stops on the way in fantastic places and never felt threatened once. Brilliant street food, staying in faded colonial mansions turned into hotels, everything dirt cheap. My favourite place in 14 months of travelling.
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Mate you really missed out on Tikal, as I say an amazing experience Funny I was with my ex girlfriend at the bus station in Guatemala City and didn’t feel phased at all, whereas she, a local, was petrified and wary, warning me 100 times to be careful..,,.but I never got that vibe at all.
Central and South America are great.
 
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Staines R's said:
That trip shaped my views in a way as I encountered young kids begging not for money, but food. And there was someone like me who would never feel that kind of hunger in my life. Made me think how unfair and unjust it all is.
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When I was.trekking in Nepal we handed out pens, pencils and notepads to the kids - the joy on their faces at receiving such miniscule things (to us) was life affirming. They would run off to all their.mates showing off with the stuff. We would then walk alongside them on their way into their classes in the morning.
 
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Bored of Avengers shows - try alternative super-heroes show "The Boys" on Amazon at the moment - quite enjoying it. It's a different take on the genre, where superheroes are run by a corporation, treated as celebrities and are contracted out to protect cities - at exorbitant rates. Political opponents are dispatched, the "Supes" have issues ranging from drug addiction, alcoholism and pure vanity.

One of the "Supes" kills a normal guys girlfriend by running straight through her at 1000mph - leading to a group of guys determined to expose the corruption within the corporation that runs the Superhero franchise.

Some good performances, especially Karl Urban, who plays a washed up ex-cop/FBI agent with a gruff cockney accent! Enjoyable watch.
 
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Whilst on hols I both Mrs TR and I read this book, The Wych Elm by Tana French, here's a review of it from The Guardian that does it far more justice than I could......put simply it was one of those books that you can't put down as you know that there's a twist in every chapter....

One thing that made us smile is the use of Irishness in the writing and the occasional use of the word "yoke"......this is something to describe anything that you might be talking about at any given time, be it plumbing or building materials, as in "Did you get that yoke?" to in this case part of what the detectives are looking into....

A very smart book , well worth a read......


https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/19/the-wych-elm-tana-french-review
 
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Uber_Hoop said:
I'm a good twelve months behind the times it would seem, but hasn't John Lydon piled on the pounds?
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I assume you might of been watching ‘Punk’ on Sky Arts. Great series that I’ve just started watching.
The history of Punk rock (obviously) from its beginnings in NY with The MC5, Iggy and the Stooges and New York Dolls, through the English revolution with the Damned, The Clash and The Sex Pistols..then on to the hardcore of Black Flag and Bad Brains.....and I guess ending with more mainstream like Green Day.

Well worth a watch.

And yes, Johnny Boy has definitely been eating too many pies :)
 
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Staines R's said:
I assume you might of been watching ‘Punk’ on Sky Arts. Great series that I’ve just started watching.
The history of Punk rock (obviously) from its beginnings in NY with The MC5, Iggy and the Stooges and New York Dolls, through the English revolution with the Damned, The Clash and The Sex Pistols..then on to the hardcore of Black Flag and Bad Brains.....and I guess ending with more mainstream like Green Day.

Well worth a watch.

And yes, Johnny Boy has definitely been eating too many pies :)
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Yes, that’s the show.

I was disappointed there wasn’t any Splodgenessabounds. :)
 
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Steelmonkey said:
Bellahouston Park in Glasgow - part of the Summer Sessions up here, fab support too - Mogwai and Twilight Sad. Then Foo Fighters the following night!!

It'll be their first gig in Scotland for 27 years. Never thought we'd see them so flew down to London a couple of years ago to see them at Wembley, and now they're playing just down the road!!
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Tonights the night - The Cure at Bellahouston Park. Set timings are in, and they are on for 2 hours 30 minutes!! Weather is a bit **** at the moment, but it is due to calm down later on.

Review tomorrow.....
 
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Staines R's said:
I guess they would of struggled to get all the great bands into one show.....great programme
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Yes, true, although I was being a little tongue in cheek about Splodge. I was surprised that there wasn't any Crass in there, though, although it was very much US-centric, so only really featured those UK bands that had made it across the pond to some extent, such as the Pistols, The Damned and The Clash.
 
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Uber_Hoop said:
Yes, true, although I was being a little tongue in cheek about Splodge. I was surprised that there wasn't any Crass in there, though, although it was very much US-centric, so only really featured those UK bands that had made it across the pond to some extent, such as the Pistols, The Damned and The Clash.
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Yeah just the second programme that talked about the UK scene. They missed a lot of the great bands we produced over here (or mentioned them only in passing) like XRay Spex, Crass, The Exploited, Conflict, Anti-Nowhere League, Angelic Upstarts etc etc......

I also thought Jello Biafra has eaten a few too many pies also :)

Btw, Steve Ignorant has recently done a tour (I presume doing a lot of Crass stuff)........they are still about
 
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