Let me know about any that you would recommend. I'd suggest trying anything from F. Stephen Millier.
Off Topic The Review Thread
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Let me know about any that you would recommend. I'd suggest trying anything from F. Stephen Millier.
Got rather excited by finding out that Madness are touring next December, with special guests…….Squeeze! Top quality British songwriting and a proper party atmosphere.
Excitement tempered by noticing that they are playing in huge, 10,000 plus, arenas. Not my thing at all, and these lads are ideal for old variety/music hall theatres.
Further tempered by seeing prices of £130 a ticket! But these are from those scum Viagogo, don’t think the official sales window is quite open.
Excitement tempered by noticing that they are playing in huge, 10,000 plus, arenas. Not my thing at all, and these lads are ideal for old variety/music hall theatres.
Further tempered by seeing prices of £130 a ticket! But these are from those scum Viagogo, don’t think the official sales window is quite open.
They don't go on general.sale until Friday at 9am, so the ones on Viagogo have been pre-sale tickets or scammers. Either way, I'm no that fussed - they're playing the Hydro up here, huge souless arena. Mrs saw them there a couple of years back and said it wasn't great so we'll.be giving it a miss
Us too I suspect. Shame, I don’t blame them for boosting the pension pot but can’t imagine having a memorable time with 15000 others watching the bands on a screen in the Birmingham Arena while some dots move about on the stage.
The Bridge was brilliant and got me and the missus hooked on foreign dramas. Just started The Killing on i-player. Another Scandi noir series. But this one is twice as long. 20 hour long episodes in season 1 and the person we assume to be the killer has finally been revealed in episode 18. The acting really is first rate. Only two more series to go after that. At some point, we might get back to watching a bog-standard UK or American crime drama although there is a dearth in quality at the moment especially if Adrian Dunbar is no longer going to bag all the best lines as Ted Hastings in Line of Duty.
And after all that, The Killing had a proper ending to it and the suspected killer at the end turned out not be the killer after all and the straight honest politician turned out to be just as corrupt, devious and self-interested as all the other politicians.
A review in advance. GB News, the long promoted news channel which through its name, its use of the Union Jack as its logo, its loud trumpeting of being anti woke, pro Brexit and defiantly British, might actually broadcast something by the end of the month. Clearly it’s not aimed at ‘citizens of nowhere’ like me, and that’s fair enough, everybody should have access to a news service which reinforces their own biases. Haven’t found one aimed at me yet, sadly.
For transparency, this patriotic endeavour is owned by 4 individuals/companies none of whom are British, based in Dubai, New York, UAE and New Zealand. Of the company’s 8 directors, 6 are resident overseas, including Andrew Neil, who lives in France.
It’s a brave thing to launch a news channel at a time when news services are suffering from huge decreases in viewers and advertising revenue, plus competition from internet/social media sources. GB News will, apparently, need to turn a profit within 3 years. It’s Freeview/Freesat channel numbers are so high that people are unlikely to stumble over the channel accidentally, so the speculation is that it will try to generate controversy and spread this via viral social media. The downside of this is that advertisers might not be so keen on the strategy.
Will be an interesting ride.
For transparency, this patriotic endeavour is owned by 4 individuals/companies none of whom are British, based in Dubai, New York, UAE and New Zealand. Of the company’s 8 directors, 6 are resident overseas, including Andrew Neil, who lives in France.
It’s a brave thing to launch a news channel at a time when news services are suffering from huge decreases in viewers and advertising revenue, plus competition from internet/social media sources. GB News will, apparently, need to turn a profit within 3 years. It’s Freeview/Freesat channel numbers are so high that people are unlikely to stumble over the channel accidentally, so the speculation is that it will try to generate controversy and spread this via viral social media. The downside of this is that advertisers might not be so keen on the strategy.
Will be an interesting ride.
As someone who hasn't watched any news since last March, I won't be watching it regardless of what the bias is (pretty certain it's not aimed at me anyway). No doubt there will be a few on here who will be fully signed up and swallowimg it whole though
Watching the streamed Glastonbury...
Wolf Alice - Excellent
Michael Kiwanuka - Very Good
George Ezra - Meh
Idles - Irritating
Haim - OK
Going downhill a bit, but Coldplay and Damon Albarn to come, both of which I like.
Edit:
Coldplay - Same as Usual
Mullet- Sporting Damon Albarn - Worthy but Boring
Wolf Alice - Excellent
Michael Kiwanuka - Very Good
George Ezra - Meh
Idles - Irritating
Haim - OK
Going downhill a bit, but Coldplay and Damon Albarn to come, both of which I like.
Edit:
Coldplay - Same as Usual
Mullet- Sporting Damon Albarn - Worthy but Boring
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Just got back from seeing the pink Floyd experience
Did animals and the wall
Great night out
4000 people at the show
Did animals and the wall
Great night out
4000 people at the show
I've seen Australian Pink Floyd a couple of times, and their shows are phenomenal. Are these guys an off-shoot, or something else? We've got a Floyd tribute band that tours Scotland every year doing a different album, MacFloyd - smaller scale but musically as good as Aussie Floyd.
Th
Been playing for over twenty years now
They tour Australia and south Africa as well
This lot are the kiwi version
Been playing for over twenty years now
They tour Australia and south Africa as well
Start the Week with Andrew Marr.
This week Andrew goes all literary with Salman Rushdie, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and a biographer who’s name I didn’t catch, discussing DH Lawrence. Endlessly.
Now I like reading, fiction and non fiction. I’m sure I’ve read some DH Lawrence, many years ago, clearly didn’t make much of an impression. I can see the case for literary criticism and book reviews etc, but I’ve never really respected critics/reviewers dating back to being forced to over analyse books, plays and poems at ‘O’ level (grade D. Revision for George Bernard Shaw’s hateful play Pygmalion consisted of half heartedly watching the film My Fair Lady which by some fluke in those pre Internet days happened to be on telly over Easter). Luckily I already knew that I liked reading before this, I can understand why many people don’t bother with books if they were forced to study like this, before they had got into it themselves I’m also sure that there are many inspirational teachers in this field (not sure if mine was good or bad, she certainly wasn’t inspirational, more likely that I just didn’t get on with the subject).
The English have a justified reputation for being anti intellectual. This programme is exactly the reason why, 4 people residing at the apex of everything which is patience testing **** (thank you Stewart Lee) droning on and showing off (Marr in the most cringe making way) and contradicting themselves - Rushdie and Armitage mithering on about divorcing the work from the author (which has interesting ethical implications and makes me wonder what these two have to hide) and then proceeding to gas on about Lawrence’s personal life for another ten minutes.
This is a real shame, programmes like this are likely to put people off reading rather than encourage them. I certainly have no urge to reacquaint myself with the work of DH Lawrence, who I will suspect will be remembered for being working class and having books banned rather than the quality of what he wrote, or Salman Rushdie (Midnight’s Children was great of its type and time but is horribly dated now, I have never bothered with his other stuff). Rushdie of course will be remembered for the unforgivable fatwa, not his work, and I have no interest in Armitage, based on the snippets I have heard him read of his poems.
I suspect the book club type broadcasts - I think Sara Cox is doing one on telly and Graham Norton has a podcast - are actually much better at helping people read for enjoyment rather than as some miserable academic exercise and opportunity to show off. I’m certainly more likely to follow the recommendation of a genuine reader than somebody paid to ‘critique’.
Sorry, this pissed me off a bit. Turned the wireless off after about 25 minutes of this self referential claptrap.
This week Andrew goes all literary with Salman Rushdie, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and a biographer who’s name I didn’t catch, discussing DH Lawrence. Endlessly.
Now I like reading, fiction and non fiction. I’m sure I’ve read some DH Lawrence, many years ago, clearly didn’t make much of an impression. I can see the case for literary criticism and book reviews etc, but I’ve never really respected critics/reviewers dating back to being forced to over analyse books, plays and poems at ‘O’ level (grade D. Revision for George Bernard Shaw’s hateful play Pygmalion consisted of half heartedly watching the film My Fair Lady which by some fluke in those pre Internet days happened to be on telly over Easter). Luckily I already knew that I liked reading before this, I can understand why many people don’t bother with books if they were forced to study like this, before they had got into it themselves I’m also sure that there are many inspirational teachers in this field (not sure if mine was good or bad, she certainly wasn’t inspirational, more likely that I just didn’t get on with the subject).
The English have a justified reputation for being anti intellectual. This programme is exactly the reason why, 4 people residing at the apex of everything which is patience testing **** (thank you Stewart Lee) droning on and showing off (Marr in the most cringe making way) and contradicting themselves - Rushdie and Armitage mithering on about divorcing the work from the author (which has interesting ethical implications and makes me wonder what these two have to hide) and then proceeding to gas on about Lawrence’s personal life for another ten minutes.
This is a real shame, programmes like this are likely to put people off reading rather than encourage them. I certainly have no urge to reacquaint myself with the work of DH Lawrence, who I will suspect will be remembered for being working class and having books banned rather than the quality of what he wrote, or Salman Rushdie (Midnight’s Children was great of its type and time but is horribly dated now, I have never bothered with his other stuff). Rushdie of course will be remembered for the unforgivable fatwa, not his work, and I have no interest in Armitage, based on the snippets I have heard him read of his poems.
I suspect the book club type broadcasts - I think Sara Cox is doing one on telly and Graham Norton has a podcast - are actually much better at helping people read for enjoyment rather than as some miserable academic exercise and opportunity to show off. I’m certainly more likely to follow the recommendation of a genuine reader than somebody paid to ‘critique’.
Sorry, this pissed me off a bit. Turned the wireless off after about 25 minutes of this self referential claptrap.
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I read a lot, mainly fiction, and I can't be arsed with this high-brow "you must read this" lecturing of the academia. I read for enjoyment and peace, not so that I can become a snotty **** who waffles on about the intellectual quality of what I'm reading.
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Most of the so called intellectuals who pretend to love people like Mozart probably haven't even seen any of his paintings
The Arabella Cabernet Sauvignon was tasty, and two whites - Chenin blanc and Sauvignon blanc from the same maker both very good.
The Christian Patat Pecorino was really drinkable and he put a free bottle of his appassimento into my next order thanks to my positive review.
Now drinking the La Voie Corbieres, a very powerful and tasty red, almost amarone strength. Will be good with the lamb, which is smothered in garlic and Rosemary.
Really liking the Naked Wines experience. Haven’t had a bad bottle yet.
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I hadn't bothered to post reviews but I will now I know that they generate freebies.
This one sounds good and is my basket as a freebie with my next order.
San Cassiano Valpolicella Ripasso 2018 | Naked Wines
Mrs Steels has a friend who is an artist, does mainly stuff associated with Glasgow. We've purchased one of her latest commissions - sure there's a couple of you that'll appreciate "La Pasionaria"....
More stuff available at her website, some quite funky stuff - we've got a few pieces dotted around the house.
https://paintspylons.com/
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More stuff available at her website, some quite funky stuff - we've got a few pieces dotted around the house.
https://paintspylons.com/
Mrs Steels might like to encourage her friend to share some of her work with the National Grid. My wife used to work for them and reckons they could well be interested in the Plyon art. Not sure how this squares off against La Pasionera though………
Celtic Park AND Ibrox? Fence sitter!
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We bought one of the Celtic Park ones for a friends birthday, who loved it.
You could get yourself a funky Hibs one if you want...
Might ask her to do a special commision of the KPF, would be interesting.