scottyboy

The Magic Numbers is the name of a book I teach to 6 year olds. No, wait. That's Number Magic.

I don't think it is (or was) just parochial commentary, although I imagine that would get on any neutral's tits (I don't watch Premier League games, or non-English language World Cup football, so Scotland and England are about the only examples I have; and I'm not neutral there). The expectation (that we're been talking about here) that England were perennial favourites and the total bewilderment whenever they didn't win the World Cup was just asking for the schadenfreude, IMO. There's a quote on Wikipedia from a player talking about England's "God-given right to win the World Cup". I can't figure out whether he said that with a straight face or whether he was complaining about the fans' expectations: a casual reading of Wiki throws up quotes throughout World Cup history of players/managers being amazed they didn't win, angry at their fans for being amazed they didn't win, and the taunts that followed players around for the rest of their careers for having "lost the World Cup". There's also the fact that alongside all this, England fans were still smashing up foreign cities into the late '90s. The coverage may (may) have been over-sensationalised, but all else being equal, England were always the worst for this, in the 20th Century at least. Speaking of sensationalism: before the Internet really became a daily (hourly, minute..uh..ly) fixture of everyone's news and entertainment diet (so including the latter 90's and earlier noughties that I'm thinking about), aside from the few terrestrial TV channels if you didn't have sky, you at least had to walk past blaring tabloid headlines. So all the crap about each England team being the second coming and the manager/goalkeeper/Beckham being the antichrist after they went out, was probably amplified by them. Forget '66, those guys were bringing up World War II. (most of this comes from some legit academic bit I read: http://www.sirc.org/publik/fvexec.html (I don't think the '66 thing is a myth either, but turns out watching some highlights on Youtube won't give you much of a representative picture of media coverage, only heard one mention. I did see that 4-4-2 magazine thinks an England quarter final shootout exit is the best game in the history of the World Cup and that someone gave Frank Lampard an interview on why "England's Golden Generation failed"). And. Someone's gotta say it: there is a large slice of the Scottish population who have a genuine antipathy towards England. Some of it is rational(ised) by the (arguably legitimate) feeling that another the populace country decides in large part how their country is run, and in opposition to their own choices. Other cases it's just inherited "fuck the English basterts FREEDOM bs"; but if those idiots could read, they'd probably formulate the same arguments. Anyone like that is probably latently hoping England does badly at sports; and if there's bombastic media coverage about how great England is, how (not if) they're going to win, and some amazing butthurt when they don't - they're going to be bombastic in their opposition to the England team and gleeful in their shadenfreude.

I've not been subjected to it for a few years, but yeah, I remember it being that bad. I expect the domestic punditry of every country is just as biased, but with the UK you have an unusual situation where the one state has a few different countries and teams, but the same language and broadcasters. Bazillion ethnicities in India, say, all of whom can play for or watch the India cricket team. If you're from Scotland and they didn't qualify, you don't want to hear biased commentary (probably every other country does the same, but media from England is what a Scot will hear). Soda Jerk also mentioned there was a hubris which dissipated in the last few years, so maybe there's something to that with regards to how I remember it.

I think if Flash turned up and posted that now, we'd think he was a bot, promoting some unknown band. Franz Ferdinand were the epitome of meh.

If the double negative was good enough for Ben Franklin it's good enough for you.

I'd probably chuck a fiction book somewhere between 20-50% if it wasn't any good. Doesn't happen often though; must have great taste in choosing books. I think Norwegian Wood was the last one I wanted to set fire to, ended up finishing it (after first giving up at 50%) because of the 50 Book Challenge thing. A non-fiction book (for years I read little but; not so much now) I might persevere because I'm trying to learn something or hear an argument, even if it isn't stylistically great. If not it's more likely to sit on a shelf with a bookmark for months/years rather than actually tossed. I've only dunked 1 in the non-fiction column this year, because I've been on chapter 3 of a pop-economics/politics book, that the Baffler guy wrote, for about a year. Maybe I'll drop kick it now that's occurred to me.

A bot, no?

The 50-a-year-challenge thread was going strong for a couple of years... only fizzled out at the start of this one, as everyone seemed to fail last year. Your list will be catnip to Spoony if he happens to turn up though. I had a look and I'm only on 11.

No World Cup thread this year? Everyone else boycotting it because it's held in Russia? Still... How am I going to pick my avatar for the next couple of years?

gonnae no dae that.

Somewhere between 5 and 6 PM, when the sun goes down. Fucking obviously. Oh, seasons, you say? Other than "hot" and "hotter"? Thinking back to staying awake all night with it never getting dark (or the normal business of "all day" with the sun barely up) then... depends... back of 5?

Yeah, you're right; all this MMW stuff was a decade or so ago. I think I got at it somewhere in that huge thread, but the internet and cheaper/more accessible pro recording/production gear has allowed people from all over the world to put out awesome metal (or math or post-rock, etc.) over the net. Great as a listener, as there's so much (often free; like really legally free) to choose from. Might be scary if you're trying to get into (even say full-time at whatever level, forget "star") it as a band/muso, though. If you can even get big playing metal.Something like Animals as Leaders or Periphery, maybe (I don't listen to a vast range of stuff across the heavier end of metal); who obviously aren't as big as Metallica or Linkin Park. A lot of stuff I like (more instrumental prog or post-rock), seems to work professionally (international tours and such) but no idea how comfortably or if some aren't working day jobs (a lot of them are anywhere from the Czech Republic, to Russia - seems to be lots of Russians actually - to the Philippines. Internet again).

Excellent, on the better life/career path than rock (metal) star thing. OP hasn't replied with any input/feedback at all so far, so I don't think there's concrete now to anything to derail, tbh.

I had time to look at that flow chart a bit and I definitely think Guards, Guards is the best place to start (I got an essay below on the Watch and related Ankh-Morepork city arcs below, If you want). The Death books: don't think I read Mort (which I think is about someone who is Death's apprentice, and marks the shift as Death as a straight-up antagonist to a more sympathetic character), but again no duffers after that, even if Hogfather and Thief of Time are the better ones (and some of the series best; bit more on Death below). The Witches arc is, as I said, definitely the most consistent in terms not just of quality (all good; a few great including the best, as I remember) but also in terms of characters and setting (they're the rural, fairy tale-like, side of things; Ankh-Morepork, the world's largest city, is the setting of most of the other threads and they get blended up and criss-cross because of that). They again probably build to the final non-teen fiction one, Carpe Jugulum, being the best. The Watch books do get better (around the Fifth Elephant and Night Watch, maybe Thud! being the best ones) but I don't think there's a duffer in there. They later get mixed in with the "Industrial Revolution" ones which I wouldn't have first thought of as a discrete sub-series or arch; but thematically that makes sense (after I typed the stuff below it occurs to me that there is a literal if fictional industrial revolution, in the biggest city at least, of Discworld's previously generic-Middle-Ages-ish fantasy universe. Relatively late on in the series). Reading back and forth and dipping in and out like I did: they ("Industrial Revolution") are more like standalone novels where the Watch characters make sort of heavy cameos (or are involved as non-protagonists, maybe semi-antagonists - you get to see how some of the central figures look to others. The most central guy in the Watch, Vimes, in particular. The Patriarch of the city is all over both of those arcs in that respect, too I think). The "Industrial Revolution" books are more complicated, while being obviously direct parodies of real world historical/political topics (Making Money is literally about the generic-middle-ages-fantasy Discworld city printing cash, and from there modern monetary policy and political economy; Going Postal is actually about a postal service; and so on). The Watch is generally about social justice, inclusion, and progress in that. If you had to pick one theme (the first too are more like parodies of crime fiction and real world police; which again makes it hard to split out the Ankh-Morepork threads as discretely as the chart does). "Feet of Clay" is literally about getting a troll or golem into the watch. "Monstrous Regiment" is similarly about vampires and werewolves who drink only (bovine?) substitute-blood in. Obvious parallels with racism, homophobia etc. and the reversing of. But lighter, more optimistic Zootopia kind of world view... The Death books also read like stand-alones: definitely Thief of Time and I think the Hogfather, because he isn't a protagonist. They (definitely Thief of Time) have I'm pretty sure one-off protagonists, with sections from Death's POV (so a POV-character, in a Song of Ice and Fire-speak). Death turning up at some point is also the "they killed Kenny!" of Discworld. Cameo at minimum in every one, I think. The Rincewind ones, which started out as the centre, look like the weird black sheep sibling now the whole thing's done. The Last Continent (where he goes to a fictional Australia which is so heavy it stops the flat plant from tipping off the elephants' and Turtle's back. Ahem) is the only really good one, with Interesting Times being worth it. First couple are borderline guff, as you've discovered. Even Unseen Academicals (a football parody in Ankh-Morepork; again the parodies make it such as that I couldn't have thought of a flowchart like this. As a start), written after all the good stuff (but TBF, into his illness) I thought was a mixed bag and nothing special. The fact I read it years after my first (years' long) binge and at the tail end of dipping in now and again (and all his teen-fiction phase), I wondered whether he'd lost it, his illness had caused him to lose it, or it wasn't that good in the first place and I'd improved my taste. Its place in that chart does make me more confident in recommending the above as "great" and so on... ...and to make me want to read the science ones, at least. Oh, and the Ancient Civilisations odd couple are in the "worthwhile", though not "great" pile. Is what I thought when I read them.

I ddn't like Colour of Magic, and other than maybe The Light Fantastic (I think I read, and also didn't care for) was the only one of the first 10 that I read. I randomly jumped in at Thief of Time ( I think 21?), which I didn't realise was the last "Death" novel; I thought it a stand alone one, and also the one I liked best). The problem is IMO, that the guy really took a while to get good and the later (I think around 20 was his peak; maybe 15-25 for the best range) ones are better; with maybe going downhill in the latest ones (maybe his illness; writing mostly teen fiction; or maybe I just went off him and would dislike everything else if I went back to it; wouldn't be first time... Murakami) going downhill. The witches novels tend to be good yeah, but they are also out of the way, both geographically, in the universe and in the overall plot/thematic scheme of things. Rincewind is the earlier staple and the Watch the later ones. The Watch I tend to think of as the archetypal Discworld novels, as there are so many of them, mostly in the "good" stretch (as I see it); cover a bunch of characters, and all take place in the city. Rincewind is in the equivalent of Australia at once point, and I think literally almost falls off the edge of the world. Rincewind is in some not-so-great novels, being the earlier "main character". He also reminds me of Blackadder in the way his character changed (Death is known from going from a baddie, to a central, sympathetic character; but I never read those earlier ones). The Witches are maybe the ones you can't really go wrong with, though. I tended to read them backwards, and get to the good stuff first, and then it was like reading loads of prequels until it got a bit naff. Some of the latest ones, though, a bit sub-par (which may be because he was literally losing his mind; but also I went back after reading up until his latest books and going back when he published more... and my tastes might have changed and this all might be the subjective opinions of maybe 16-20 year old me). Anyway: I'd say grab something randomly at 15-25, maybe push it to 30, to get something good, and just discover the threads for yourself. If you don't like the mid-range, you're probably not into it, and not going to like the bookends. I'm reading Blood Meridian atm as it happens. Like if Tarantino asked Hemmingway to write a Western for him to adapt in his ultra-violent style. It drops into the and and and Hemingway style mentioned on here a bit, but otherwise is pretty good. (and that spare is style is largely great, IMO). Dialogue is excellent. Some flowery bits which don't quite fit and feel forced (it's blurbed as something profound and "epic", but doesn't feel like that to me: essentially aimless, kind of the point, and maybe could have been shorter. Though it's not long, so again doesn't feel epic. I've a few chapters to go and it's a pretty good read for someone who isn't into Westerns, serious or otherwise, or Gothic much).

Yeah, was genuinely interested. At the time I assumed internal drama (but then, I deal with drama in a job and whatnot; what might I put up with do make my job "metal guitarist"); but then with all the discussion, it occurred to me maybe impossible to quite that happen from Aberdeen. If it was indeed internal tension then, yeah, woulnd't be worthwhile going more into it: I already dunno who Jamesy and Nick are (I remember maybe multiple changes, with one being now? ; if it was after the biggest release and there was only one on a label out with Aberdeen, that'd make sense... but I couldn't be sure who it was I was thinking of). Anyone else I mentioned I know only the nicks on here, maybe a real name if I liked a band they were in; not the real people. I was 99% sure I saw Browne walk out of a guitar shop next to or ahead of me once, yeah. Don't show him that post though if you actually know him. olol The rambling tangents I was probably just trying to bore myself to sleep, basically. Aside from being in another time zone, I have an "unsociable hours" job and am, really, frequently both awake and knackered at stupid o'clock. While my significant other doesn't, so I can't quite just live like a vampire (nor could I just get tanked at home, posting online, if I were inclined). This happens to be the case (i.e. it's late and I can't sleep) atm, but I'm trying to keep this sane to clarify, yes, was very interesting; but don't want to have maybe (re)started an argument among some guys I don't know. And I got yelled at for posting that at night; I'm going to do some work shit or read a book to sleep...

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html Bourdead. Best I've got.

Insomniac. So it's more or less the same at 3 am.

TBF: There's a "top 5" thread somewhere in general discussion which sooner rather than later turned into comedy and there's a "top 5 am-mus posters" which largely ended the thing, on a piss-take, AFAIK. I was thinking, nevertheless, that I'd stick Dan G (or... Dan Weapon? Was it also once Dan Atom, or am I thinking of someone greater :P ? ) for coming back after years and years and getting some good discussion going. Definitely GBOL (you miss that one? Site has not been *completely* dead. Please. Taking and turning something - and in this case a 2nd hand meme - into a years' long running joke is still alive and healthy on this site, if nothing else). And this Dan guy isn't even posting from Poland, claims he's still actually IN Aberdeen (you can probably get that one... but not the extent to which we've been milking it and in practice turning into a site rule). More seriously: the MMW-related input in this thread was really interesting and enlightening, definitely vis-a-vis the OP's question (from someone who was always just trying to get into a band, any band, as a guitarist; without ever getting to worrying about this shite; and as someone who was impressed by MMW but noticed that it was always an inch short of - here we go! - "making it", only to have a line-up change). The stuff in this thread, though, makes a lot of sense for anyone not just wondering in hindsight about XYZ back in the day, but also for a band or promoter (like the OP who may be taking notes but hasn't replied) who's in a similar position and might have gotten a rude but possibly career-making proverbial bucket of cold water. Also FWIW: The singles MMW put out I found very impressive. The videos... I think you said something like "this is, as I understand it, the director's literal understanding of the symbolic lyrics", to put it politely... But then who now gives a fuck about music videos. Not even MTV. If you're a K-Pop band trying to sell in SE Asia, yes, need an MV; but also need to be a literally plastic - or silicon, minimum - bunch of ladies. Not applicable in all boxes. Confusion over the repeatedly screamed lyric "discourse" and, uh, "Tesco's" is something that sticks in the mind and as being VERY CONSTRUCTIVELY critiqued and may or may not be in a bunch of other nostalgia threads... ...But, I genuinely did not get why a guitarist (and "touring" was definitely mentioned in the press release, if we could call it that) would leave just when the band was seemingly bigger than ever. Nor why the singer might (less sure about this one). I knew neither the singer (a Ben?) personally, nor did I get into any arguments with (Mmm... Bladeola? Something?) his online persona. Those threads with him and either Jake or Scourge (neither of whom are around any more on here, also) are lionised on here (I think you noticed. If not indulge in more nostalgia and search more) as best-threads-ever and long-gone BANTER LADS but honesty, as a newcomer at the time, I thought them toe-curling. Especially when it got to "you don't say shit when we're going in and out of Tom's to practice!?!11" territory. But anyway. Where was I going with this... the common denominator with people talking about MMW (not in this or any similar thread; the feedback threads at the time) was that no one liked the vocals (yes, got it, that's why I made a whole point about not having anything against the singer personally... because it seemed a lot of people did). Now that I am reasonably into djent and prog metal, I run into god knows how many youtube comments that say stuff like "thank god, no vocals" or, conversely, "instrumental plz". Monuments would be an exemplar: gone through multiple vocalists (sometimes 2 at a time) with people still begging them to do instrumentals (and it seems, in this odd but outstanding case of a band, that the auteur of the band genuinely could not do anything great with a lead guitar driven track or album; genuine rhythm guitar virtuoso. I actually ran into the guy coming out of a guitar shop in London; he was texting on his phone the whole way up to Tottenham Road, I think it was, then went the other way. Didn't want to bother him, not my style. Almost posted it in the "lame celebrity meetings" thread, but didn't. Walking obliviously past Bill Nye was another London one. The thread about lamest celebrity meetings. You in there? The nostalgia man!). Someone called (on here) Keeno (I think; anyway he was in my top 5!) turned me onto them... I *think* I remember you mocking him for getting an 8-string and saying he should have got a 7-string and rigged it to play Meshuggah because it was entirely feasible. I think my last memory of you on here is saying that you totally got the hype about Meshuggah despite thinking that the guitar parts sounded easy enough if you've heard them; but there more so the respect for the drummer and the composition in the first place. To which I thought "yas! I'm not crazy". Are you aware that Soda Jerk said their songs sound like a million intros stuck together (I'm paraphrasing)? I'd find the quote but you're more of the nostalgic bent. Anyway: you're not talking horseshit, running your mouth and pointlessly talking back-in-the-day (conversely: clearly, what I've written above is a masterpiece that field). I didn't really get why MMW, while touring and putting out music/videos on serious, if not "major", pro labels, did not move to actually doing its thing full-time. And that every new high seemed to bring about a line-up change. The singer I could understand (critically; not anything to do with who, how, whatever he was trolling on here or anywhere else, or whatever), but he was defended through all of that (musical criticism; nothing else), AFAIK. So that's all legit great info. Not to torture you, but one wonders what might've been if MMW had moved to Glasgow or Brighton; even if the members all got day jobs in Glasgow or within an hour (say) of each other in England. Might've been Aberdeen metal's X-Certs. On the other hand: as the internet gained speed, would've faced (in lined with increased youtube views or bandcamp downloads) yet far further increased requests to fire your singer; and scarily good, globalised competition (to the point where I wonder if admiring MMW's music and chops is unrealistically nostalgic; haven't done so in posting this). And the site really didn't fall off a cliff, there's been good stuff while it declined over a decade or so.

The X-Certs were the "indie rock band" to which I referred, as it happens. But yeah, geography. I've never been there, but Bristol seems like a weird place. As someone mentioned, it's got a bit of an artsy, hipster reputation; I'd guess partly because its university is probably the best in the UK that wouldn't immediately come to mind. I see job ads (or saw, when I actually thought maybe I could get a job in the UK. Ahem.) in Bristol; had a friend from uni working there; Soda Jerk works there now (?). I'd hazard (especially if real estate development and prices are going up; that's going the opposite direction in even London atm) that companies put themselves there 'cause it's seen as out of the way and hence is cheap, but, as pointed out, is not really that out of the way. Like tech companies setting up in Oakland because you have to outbid every billionaire in China to be in San Francisco. Or something. Lots of smart young people with money might sustain a gig-going culture. Phenomenon. Environment. (that s-word...). Aberdeen should in theory have that too, though; maybe that's why it did once have a thriving but isolated scene (ah, said it). And maybe lots of micro sub-sub-genre ones in the days of the Internet. Having a "scene" and a band "making it" are two different things, though, as Teabags pointed out (and one may not do any good for the other). Does Bristol churn out bands to big record labels?

I've not lived in or even visited Aberdeen for several years but, to echo what's been said above: geography, population and the internet. As noted above, you haven't defined what constitutes having "made it"' but, let's say, something like becoming full time pros? It happens: off the top of my hear - a producer on here quit his day job, moved to Brighton to be close to his record company and presumably play London a lot. An indie rock band several years ago did the same thing (these are years apart, but statistically is it likely to happen more often? Aberdeen's the 3rd biggest city in Scotland, but how about compared to the rest of the UK? Or the world (and with the internet one has access to the world. Travelling to see better bands is an option if you have the money; staying at home to listen to music much better than you could see locally is too, whatever the case). Aberdeen is a major city in Scotland because of oil, and the universities. But geology (rocks. oil) is a heavyweight in the universities' appeal, which maybe doesn't attract the most arty and/or muso types. And the location: it's just way out of the way of everywhere else. A pro (even semi-pro... though if I hear "semi-pro", I probably think wedding and pub covers bands... maybe even amateurs with day jobs that can tour as a hobby and break even) band will have a Glasgow date on a tour (assuming not huge enough to ignore anything but a capital city) and then wonder about whether an Edinburgh gig is worthwhile (second biggest; capital city; heavyweight university; arts and history Mecca... but 30m or something from Glasgow). Going hours north to a yet smaller city with a only trip straight back down (compared to touring, I dunno, Birmingham-Liverpool-Manchester-Glasgow-Newcastle, with Leeds and/or Sheffield fitting in there. Even ignoring London). If you're imagining someone making a demo or 3 in a bedroom in Aberdeen and getting it into the hands of a big London label and then signed... again, it happens, but I don't see why there needs to be a scene for that to happen (internet again). And likely there's an intermediate step of being in Glasgow (or, say, Brighton...) if someone is playing music full-time without quite "making it". Aberdeen is inordinately expensive (very small city with oil) and (again) geographically peripheral: so if someone has a foot in the door of being a pro musician/band/artist/etc., relocating to get further (professionally and financially) seems only sane.

"Whales" is a term used in gambling, also... Golf is an expensive sport because courses are completely fucking absurd things: massively water, pesticide intensive, etc. etc. I'm a cunt hair away from thinking golfers should all be shot, tbh. It's also considered a rich man's game anywhere but Scotland (even there...), but that's kind of the point: it's a place to schmooze with other rich businessmen, government officials, top cops and so forth, so the money you spend is more an investment in getting even richer rather than an expense for a hobby.

Open source (it's on Steam though, I believe) spaceship game called Endless Sky (apparently a spiritual successor to an Escape Velocity series that was big on the... Mac). Sort of like a combination of a nomadic version of a 4X strategy and a horribly addictive sandbox sim. And free.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/30/europe/russian-arkady-babchenko-ukraine-television-intl/index.html That would've been a weird one....

I am going to answer this without googling it to test my smarty-pants-ness. Then I'll google it. It's duct tape (its used for taping up pipes, or their insulation foam, in air ducts and attics and similar). Duck tape I think is a brand name, Duck Tape, of duct tape. So like blu-tack or bandaid; except in this case the generic name came first (is my guess). ....and googling "duck tape" brings up duct tape (for Wiki, certainly). But down the first page is Wallmart selling something called Duck Tape. Got a duck logo. Doesn't say if it's duct tape or gaffer take or something else though. Just adhesive tape. Exciting.