scottyboy

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Entertainment/wireStory/philip-roth-fearless-celebrated-author-dies-85-55370680 Um... Exit Roth's Ghost? Edit: The Ghost Writer!

Gaffer. That's how it's spelt; someone from down sawff would pronounce it without a discernible "r", natch. Gaffer and duct tape are different things, apparently; I think the average non-plumber is more likely to be holding gaffer tape.

I had to watch the scene again on youtube (think I covered my eyes all the previous times) and I gather it's the waxwork-like face, which is indeed pretty bad. But still, the shot of the scalpel. Then he's sticking it in his eye *cringe*. And then the close up of the swivelling red eye itself is great. I think I end up noticing his whole face for less than a second. I actually think the monster puppets are the best effects (that I've bothered to go back and watch) of Star Wars. It's more large scale vehicular battles (especially but not exclusively involving aircraft and laser "blasters") that I think are pretty bad. Also agree that Jurassic Park is still a great sci-fi film, and the effects along with it.

Najib Razak lost an election (first time his coalition has lost in the country's history) and was prevented from fleeing the country. Seems they didn't take him and quietly shoot him in the jungle, though. Ah, progress...

Children of Men. Bit late to the party but amazing, like a visceral commentary on Western (well, Anglo-Saxon, in the movie, ironically - the French and Germans are right next to all the Easterners) and the Syrian civil war, a decade early. Bit ambivalent about the Christian/Messianic weirdness, which I gather was more the original idea; but I've forgotten how to put in spoiler tags, so I'll just leave that.

Since so much of the stuff mentioned above involved nights out and alcohol, as well as Jekyll & Hyde personalities: not to defend them, but I'd hazard that these guys had genuine problems with alcohol, and maybe/probably mental illness (even if just depression). If they were turning up to day jobs and functioning as nice guys, obviously not full-on physiologically alcoholics (which is a difficult and lethal state to descend to, as far as I understand it). But if they were determinedly drinking more than everyone else on a night out (in Scotland, as a student - ? - quite a feat), who knows whether they weren't also getting quietly pissed at home every other night. Doing that will make a person ill and depressed, and then, alcohol being the pretty nasty drug that it really is, turning it up to 11 among other people... (although, yeah, I might have murdered someone over that underwear incident, whatever the circumstances and whoever it was). I've never seen anything as extreme as that, but 2 of my uni flatmates had 2 friends who had a rep for being borderline alcoholics and violent while drunk. They seemed nondescript nice-but-dim types when I talked to them sober, and never saw them do anything nuts. But once I was at a birthday party for another of their friends - guy had booked *I think* Kef and being a muslim (straight outta Mogadishu!) along with half the guests, and thinking the other half sane people, had reluctantly paid for the minimum 1 bouncer. I didn't see it or anything leading up to it, but apparently one of these clowns clocked the bouncer; no second to step in, so the party was cancelled; guy was arrested, and it turned out for the third time, so last I heard of it prison was an option. /not-so-cool-story. Since all these were so dark: the closest I have actually has its lighter side. One of my oldest childhood friends (who I also don't see directly any more) was also an ultra-macho, wannabe hardman type. He started drinking in his early teens and got in a bit of trouble over that; but when everyone went to elicit house parties at age 15-17 or whatever, he had the biggest bedroom and the most laissez-faire parents. And when we turned up there were also all these goth girls no one knew all kissing each other. Which wasn't so terrible. (To my knowledge he's never come out as anything but straight, but) he dated at least one of them; and there a few gay guys in tow, too. Apparently he kissed one of these guys in front of everyone while completely smashed; and the following Monday everyone had heard about if not seen it and re-evaluated their opinions on male homosexuality, even if merely for fear of being murdered. Since so many of the drunken arseholes mentioned above seem to be homophobes, I thought I 'd mention that; along with the fact that the most aggressive I saw him get, without attacking someone, was threateningly shouting down someone for "slagging homos". He did end up getting reliably, recklessly hammered in our student years, though (though, he wasn't really a student; he had a full time job interspersed with vocational courses, amazingly enough). I'd only see him now and again when back home from Aberdeen: but I remember him so hammered, that in the midst of running into another long-lost primary school friend and her introducing her partner, in a club, he fell of a table. Which we thought hilarious. On another night, he was throwing me around in a bit-o-banter way, to the point where I wanted to either beat him up or just run and leave him there. The other guys wouldn't go along with that so we got into a taxi to get him and us home, going out of town (again not Aberdeen), through the most backwoods, unlit country route possible. By the the time it was me and him left in the taxi, the driver was visibly pissed and asking why the hell we'd taken that route (despite the hugely inflated fate it netted him); when we got to the motorway junction he ordered the driver to go back into town. I insisted I was cool and practically dived out a couple of miles from my house. Fuck that he's-a-mate-shit. At the last small house party I remember he managed to get into another friend over god knows what, and everyone got up one-by-one, made excuses (or told him bluntly he was out of order) and left. Maybe that sobered him up a bit, metaphorically. But: Begbie, Defender of the Homos, like I said. (Hopefully not giving him away here) I think these days he works around Aberdeenshire, and ditched the work he was doing great at to work in retail (and again seems to have done fine at that). Apparently to be able to work 9-5 but I suspect also so that he couldn't get away with drinking so much. /another cool story

"Beggar's fucking psycho man. But he's a mate, so, you know, what can you do?"

I recently got into Missed in History Class too. They do sometimes lapse into just taking turns to read from a script; but the episodes are usually short and sweet, which I like sometimes. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is the best (I've listened to a whole 4...) of the How Stuff Works network. It's like Stuff You Should Knows better, harder (science-wise) brother. Although, even though its pretty much science (no true crime or conspiracy theories, I don't think), they do take a lot of mythical monsters and movie stuff and trying figure out how close you could get in the real world. Star Talk Radio for more science stuff. They have a spin-off Playing with Science, which covers US Big 4, football and more obscure stuff. Though I don't listen to that. Costing the Earth (BBC environment and natural history stuff) is great, but I haven't managed to listen for a while: the Man has it in for everything BBC over here. Guardian Science Weekly. One which I listened to for a bit (I dropped it after they did a Corbyn special after his election "victory"; they're American, maybe I should've let it slide) is called El Chapo Trap House. A(lefty )GFW recommended it and some of it was good. Left wing take on US politics, but from a comedy angle. Some of it I couldn't follow but some on here might like it. They did have a couple of gonzo interviews which were pretty insane: one was a journalist who'd infiltrated a right-wing border militia, and another with a guy who was fighting with the Kurds against ISIS in Syria (not even the mainstream Peshmerga, but some far-left splinter group). They also have a cool model whereby there are no ads, but only the second episode is released for free (otherwise you subscribe somehow; not Patreon I don't think). It was nice not to hear about US stamps I'll never use. That Corbyn one, though... though I do wonder what they had to say then the Tories cosied up to the DUP. Those are the least nerdy, or which haven't already been mentioned.

This morning I was pining for the days of discussion forums and lamenting their demise at the hands of facebook groups and status updates and tweets, as discussed earlier in the thread. The politics discussions could sometimes get circular and/or nasty (and/or Dave...), but at least there was space for a legit debate. I responded on FB to an ex-AGFW posting a 9-ways-to-reduce plastic (reusable straws and cups and that), which is fine, but it was marked as things employers should be striving to do to save the planet. I gave him a 101 on all the other stuff that should be higher priority for company managers and why just telling people that buying a bamboo straw and a bag-for-life will save the ocean is possibly counterproductive ('cause it won't). Now even that paragraph above, on a facebook page (sandwiched in by menus, "suggestions" and ads), and probably viewed on a phone, probably swallows a whole screen's worth. AGFW laughed it off as me "rambling" and I said fair enough, but, no, really it's "realistic". Nothing about environmental science, or probably anything else, is simple enough that you can converse about it via exchanging tweet-length comments and pictures. The really scary thing is I think I now see how Trump can conduct diplomacy, "debates" and formulate policy via twitter; no one can handle a paragraph or two any more. (I also deleted FB as in the ace-ic thread a while back; I reactivated it 'cause I need a new job and you kinda need FB for that too now, it seems. "Deleted" is bs anyway, I just entered my login and back it came, along with all the notifications I would've got when my account was "deactivated"). If I ever get paid again, and the EU (oh. wait.) enacts yon law allowing people to have their data actually wiped, might go for that. So yeah. When a forum was actually a forum and facebook was 3rd in line behind myspace and bebo....

Maybe. Someone stopped me exactly around there saying her boyfriend/husband had kicked her out and she had no money and nowhere to go. Don't think she asked for a specific sum though. Being a student I didn't really have any money either and said so. She apologised and seemed pretty upset, though, so maybe it was legit. Classy place, that section of King Street. I was waiting for my flatmate to buy a sandwich or whatever from the Tesco Express, and some woman sauntered up and asked if I "was waiting for someone" (if only she'd made the Dr Evil scare quotes...). I said, uh, yeah, why? To which she replied "come aroond the corner then...". At which point I realised I was talking to a real life hooker. At like 11am. Whereupon my flatmate came out with his sandwich and it dawned on her that "oh, you're actually waiting for someone!". I was mortified (flatmate asked why I'd turned crimson). She thought it was hilarious.

(I probably once did, but now) I don't use that as a barometer (was going to type "measure", but a shot of whisky flashed into my head, olol) any longer. For one the beer here is the cheapest in the world, last time I checked; secondly in Malaysia (say) the price of booze is well out of whack with the (much cheaper) cost of other things, consequent on Islamic mores. It's like the Economists' notorious Big Mac Index: Angola or somewhere tops the list despite its destitution, because only expenses-paid foreign oil workers want a Big Mac there... Still, I did a quick check and a Coke sized can of Tiger (don't really do pints here) from a convenience shop costs 88p. A few years ago I and some friends bought 5 litres of booze for less than two quid (I could go back through my FB posts to find the exact number, but another time).. We got it from a pub; it was home brewed on the premises, and they poured it into a 5 litre (empty!) mineral water bottle for us. It was great. Moonshine my tits. One of the guys I was carousing with was just starting his (now successful) craft brewing company; if my mate is a "brewer of craft beer" so too, then, were these guys. ./cool story.

Not sure about Winton, but I think I read he'd been really ill and had multiple surgeries recently. The announcement on Troyer's FB page alluded to suicide (though it didn't come out and say he'd killed himself). He was recently hospitalised for alcohol-related things, also.

Don't think anyone had Troyer, but looks possibly like a double-whammy unnatural causes (though only hinted at as of yet).

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/18/barbara-bush-former-first-lady-dies-aged-92

"I got a tick from my head to my feet, that's Nike... and that's pricey."

Oh, I got a legit one. And turns out it's probably TL:(DR), so skip to the bottom if you don't care for an anecdote. When I was studying in Aberdeen, I got into a drunken brawl with my flatmate. We'd been needling each other all night (at some house party), and it escalated all the while under the pretence of a bit-o-banter, as UK humour can. Back at the flat, I and a few other guys were mocking him trying to play his favourite online game smashed, as he kept dying and pulling hilarious faces and noises. He then warned me specifically (as opposed to the other guys) to stop and stay out of his room. I thought he was "joking" again, and walked into his room laughing next time he died. He then shoved me and, he being genuinely twice my weight (mass) at the time, I went flying through his door onto my back. Red mist finally triggered, I got up, nutted him and punched him enough times to make his face look different for a bit (next day he said "all right", completely naturally, with a few bruises and I felt like cringing in embarrassment more than anything). On the other hand, after he got a grip (both figuratively and literally) on me, he stopped me punching him and physically took me into my own room and threw me into the wall. Can't remember if he just left it, or if it was broken up by the other guys. One way or another it got broken up, but I came back yelling for more after he gave some threat, or whatever it was. At this point he slapped me around the head, and unbeknownst to him my ears started ringing, and I felt like I was underwater. His slap perforated an eardrum. So with the other friends trying to break it up, I though let's call it a draw. Main point: in a few days I went to see a doctor who was looking for any infections. Nothing to do with the above: I was supposed to start a particular medicine course, and couldn't start it before I it was determined that I wasn't ill (I mean in terms of infections, excluding say, blows to the head. He asked if I had any ENT problems recently, which I did. But I told the guy, yes, I'd been feeling weird in 1 ear for a few days, but my guess was that I'd been playing football, got elbowed, maybe started then. Eventually an x-ray really did turn up an (asymptomatic, I guess) chest infection, and the doctor told me that likely this had gone up to the ENT and caused the perforated eardrum (cause even his student found that right away), and that I'd probably falsely attributed getting hit in the head as the cause. But before the x-ray, he told me of a patient whose girlfriend had slapped him, covering the ear and forcing trapped air into piercing his eardrum. TL;DR: I had one (probably minimal though, not sure) and it healed itself, but after, I dunno, a few weeks? After that it was fine. I did notice that I had tinnitus after this, but I now know that I suffer it in both ears, and that the perforated eardrum in one can't have caused it (just noticed it then).

Loads of typos there. Can't edit. Please forgive...

I just also read the Star Wars and the fantasy/sci-fi debates above. Also just don't get the mania for Star Wars. I saw bits and pieces of the originals in the early 90s on my rich mate's (dad's) big TV, so got some idea of the scale of the forest hoverbike waterthefuck chases, and a sense of what it might've felt like to see that in a cinema in the, uh, 70s? I've since seen the original 3, the first 2 prequels; don't utterly dislike them; but don't get it. I saw the Battle of Hoth named as "no.1 sci-fi battle" on WatchMojo (I think) recently in addition to I think the Battle of Endor and (although I instantly thought opening scene of Terminator 2, even if too short; which nevertheless got in there, so kudos for that) I went and watched both and mostly just laughed. The ATAT walkers are just fucking stupid... the tactics Luke uses to take down 2 single handedly is why having a talk on stilts is just a terrible idea. The scenario (flat wasteland all around, can see anyone coming) is the one place where fielding these would be less than suicidal, with the raised turrets/cockpit being useful for firing down into enemy trenches (but then if one has aircraft, just use that). But they had the balls to then call it "all terrain". And when I watched the battle of Endor (the forest, Ewoks one, anyway), there are only two-legged walkers: reading the comments, I saw someone ask why there were no ATATs. The answer is of course is that these ("all terrain") vehicles can't operate in a forest... Star Wars pew-pew effects (while doubtless impressive when it came out) are just way to close to Sindbad the Sailor than to something believable today. My favourite sci-fi movies are both Terminator and Alien(s) ones (yes, there are only 2 of each respectively; don't watch or play anything past the first sequel - basic life skill), as the effects still almost entirely hold up, while it still feels legit and scary (a Terminator is scary, but you can kinda see/guess what it can and can't do, and thus is believable and thus scary). With yer current typical superhero blockbuster, guys in spandex are flying around throwing/punching each other through buildings, with the building collapsing (helps sell tickets. I guess) but the other guy just gets up. So it's ludicrous, and yes these aren't necessarily sci-fi, but it, in any case, leaves one just bored and waiting for the dues ex machina of the bad guys Achilles' Heel. With sci-fi, I (though hardly just I) think there's a spectrum of fantasy films in space (Star Wars falls closer to this) to "harder" sci-fi where you have a mix of existing technology and tech that is projected or hypothesised and/or hasn't been disproved. And the everything in between. Fantasy: Game of Thrones isn't Lord of the Rings, or anything like it. I loved LotR when I read it around 13-14, and loved the films as they subsequently came out. Right up until Frodo/Wood explains with joy: "the eagles are coming!". I watched a few clips recently and it was pretty naff (borderline embarrassing) at a time when everyone's seen GoT. (although tbf: Tolkien had day jobs as a pro linguist, invented his own languages, and then thought what the hell, write some stories to have people use those languages. He'd written The Hobbit, but he couldn't have known how massive the intended sequel - which would be LotR - would become, it terms of size, scope and influence. The invented languages I think/hope also are the reason for the weird dialogue). Anyway Game of Thrones: better idea of what GoT is intended to be would (e.g.) be the novel Pillars of the Earth (I think that's the title). It's "historical", not fantasy, but is really about looking at England in the Middle Ages from all angles and perspectives (knights, tradesmen, merchants, farmers, aristocracy, clergy, etc.) This is mostly what GoT is about, except that the 2-continents fictional world allows juxtaposition of Middle Ages Europe (Westeros) and (in Essos) the Classical ad/or ancient (pre-Rome or maybe pre-Greco-Roman) Med (both would've been a match for each in the real world, despite the temporal distance: bloody Dark Ages and Christianity...). Martin, who wrote the novels, has said that he wanted magic to make it fantasy rather made-up history, but that he wanted it used only sparsely (in a nod to Gandalf, who can fight a demon to mutual destruction or remove curses from individual people; but if there's an army in front of him, he needs to be in an opposing army and sit on his horse like a regular person). But my beef with the magic in GoT is I tend to to see it as an excuse for deus ex machina, with exception of dragons and (with a few quibbles) the White Walkers: one can see that these are coherent in how they work, even if their motives are unknown. Other magic just seems to pop up to land a plot twist. Anyway, all that above I think is why people who don't like more trad fantasy nevertheless love GoT (I'm included in both those). /unplanned wowfuck essay

Quick once over: Tesla (best not disappoint the name...) is basically pretty great but totally repetitive and undeveloped. It’s a great couple of bars repeated over 4m, except for the ride or open or twatted hi-hat (whichever it is, not a drummer). 2m in at most, I was rocking out in my head with the fat riffs I was e xpecting... uh, cause it reminds me of some great post-rock I love, but needs a 3rd, 4th section at the same pace before im really in. 2nd track had a more complete feel, definitely in terms of structure (though bit-by-bit Tesla has the best riff). Agnostic on the vocals, and they feel overwhelming sơmtimes... might grow on me, probably not). If it’s just for demo purposes, maybe doe sn’t matter much. Tesla starts out as something that I might really listen to, if I found it on youtube or whatever, but do sesn’t go anywhere; 2nd is pleasant as it is, but not enough to come bạck. The weird spaces and other errors are câuse this polish keyboard is a pain in the đít...

The film was originally written as something unrelated (like anti-war, black humour; maybe Catch-22, sci-fi, no-enemy-in-particular style), without the fascism. But it was close enough (the verbatim expression "Bug Hunt" was in the film's original screenplay title, in particular) that someone spotted that they should buy out the Starship Troopers novel or face being sued. The director apparently hated the book and tried to satirise the fascism; while people criticise the film for having weirdly ambiguous fascist undertones (or in the age of Twitter, maybe it's just fascist, not sure). The story of the former explains the latter, IMO. The novel was actually used for "Aliens" more than the titular film, believe it or not. Required reading for all the cast members apparently and "just another bug hunt" was inserted in the dialogue (don't think Aliens paid or got sued). But none of the fascism.

(I am not a neuroscientist disclaimer but) that happens. Your brain, or memory certainly, can't actually tell the difference between dreams and reality (generally, though, you can deduce whether something was a dream - e.g. if you have a memory of someone you know suddenly growing fangs and claws and leaping on your throat, before waking up in bed - probably didn't happen... yes that's one of mine.) The other thing is, though, the memories you have that didn't happen maybe/probably just didn't happen. Your memory is an unreliable source, basically. Though a clue (to how wrong your memory actually was), I'd hazard, is if something kind of like it did happen, but you got some (maybe obvious or crucial even) details wrong. Things (good or bad) that are particularly memorable, I think, will change (i.e. the memories will) the more you think about them. This kind of thing is why, when reading about crime or disasters or whatever, eyewitness accounts conflict on details and people change their stories over time. Not always for deliberate or rational reasons. Watch (if you're feeling morbid) the 9/11 we-interrupt-this-broadcast news footage of the moments after the first tower was hit (this was 5+ years before smartphones would have been filming all around anyway; only 1 docu crew happened to catch it) with people disagreeing in real time about what they'd just seen. Completely false memories are possible, I think in a way similar to how people can be manipulated by hints, the way something is worded, etc., etc., although I dunno much about this. /cool story. Acting on daydreams though... maybe doctor time?

I can't remember much about writing that post ahem. I don't think I genuinely meant to suggest I disliked you.

I didn't join until 2006 (I'm not an Aberdeen native; although the maternal side of my family is). I was never friends with any other forum members, but I sold CDs and pedals to, and jammed with, not a few members. I remember an instance where a band was looking for a replacement guitarist, and, while insisting it was an established and successful band (by Aberdeen standards - it may or may not have had a record deal at that point; in any case it gained one shortly after, if not prior to, the exchange), refused to give its name. I know this because I jammed with them for a bit (sadly, it came to nothing, otherwise it would doubtlessly have conquered the world with I playing lead guitar....). IIRC, Alkaline gave them a serious ribbing for this determined anonymity ( I can see why, but the thing is that) Alkaline had also previously highly praised the band (before they fired whichever member) when it posted its work for feedback. I almost sent a PM to Alkaline tipping him off to the fact that he wasn't questioning a SHUTTERSPEED band, but one he'd expressed admiration for, and which he seemed to have admired and praised. Didn't though - I may have found Alkaline irksome in some way (of course I don't remember why; this was c. a decade ago ffs), but he is/was a Dundee United fan (sure sign of a GBOL). Or perhaps I thought bands should always be judged on their songs rather than their names and/or for ad hominem reasons . Where was I going with this...? Oh, yeah, that was an amusing exchange from my point of view. Otherwise, off the top of my head, Stripy (or Striphy), I miss now and again. It's true that he broke the site's rules re. civility as if he were exempt, and , even if he were, was long overdue a permaban by the time it happened. But otherwise he brought a different musical preference and insight to the site (and while he seemed to be regarded as an elitist snob, this did't seem to be the case when he was critiquing a hip-hop or maybe an electronic group). He was talking about dubstep and so on, years before it (or some wank version of it) became chart-topping via skrillowpad and whoever else. (and his angry political posts were easily dismissed as nonsensical or, uh, nonsensical) . He posted very little of his own music (having, he claimed, a record deal in the USA'; which seemed to be verifiably true). Assuming this was not a skilled a hoax, in the profile published by his US employers, he lauded Aberdeen's music scene and applauded its diversity, believe it of not. Other than that, I got a few jams with various bands and was introduced to quite a bit of new music . Bought and sold some nice bits of gear. Cam't complain.

My man Abbas narrowly avoided an unlucky 13, unnatural causes score after someone tried (and failed) to blow him up on Tuesday. Very relieved for him... https://in.mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idINKCN1GP112

Hawking In case your not checking the FB group (puns there), or the news.