Category Archives: Death

Life’s What You Make It

Earlier this week, a friend who makes a brief cameo appearance in my survival memoir, Stroke: A 5% chance of survival, sent me a link to this recent article celebrating the original release of Pavement’s album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. Here’s the tl;dr take:

C'mon, man. The kids are really... nice.
I was there, kid. That’s not how it went down.

I mean, I was there. Not James Murphy. Though he probably was, too. I saw Pavement touring their first album, the epochal Slanted and Enchanted, at Edinburgh’s late and legendary venue, The, er, Venue.

That’s quite enough sub-muso-journo dross from me. Get to the human reflection below.
And in the Apoplectic Tiny Letter.

Continue reading Life’s What You Make It
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Treasure Islands

Happy RLS Day! Robert Louis Stevenson is 168 today.

Hoping flattery will get me everywhere
Don’t worry, Bob. You don’t look a day over 43.

He really doesn’t though, does he? Look at the light in those wee eyes! To look at him, you wouldn’t believe that he would be dead by the end of the next year.

[For more personal and whimsical reflections, check out the Apoplexy Tiny Letter.] Continue reading Treasure Islands

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Gold Strikes

I finished that bit on Le Corbusier, the godfather of Modernist architecture. When I said the bit would be more serious and more absurd than last week’s post, I was half-right.

Le Corbusier: Stealth Scot
“Absurd? I’ll take ma open haun off yer face, Sonny Jim.”

Sure, some nuggets of truth are hidden among the 6m 40s of A Story Is A Machine For Living In, but there are plenty of nuggets of sweet absurdity to keep folks engaged.

This got me to thinking about how, sometimes, the medium is the message.

[Talking about absurdity, check out the Apoplexy Tiny Letter] Continue reading Gold Strikes

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The Spectre

I’m starting to think in more detail about what I’m going to do for Death Awareness Week this year.

Man, I have *got* to fix my post-1981 Disney blind spot
Everyone’s at it, you know.

I was originally turned on to Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief‘s work when Mrs Stroke Bloke and I attended a Death Café back in 2013.

[Pass the minutes before death below. And if you’re still waiting,
check out the apoplexy newsletter.
]

Continue reading The Spectre

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Life Is Life

So, in last week’s post I had a little laugh at the expense of Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

"That's quite lovely!"
“Dude! We’re in charge of naming British titles!”

Then I learned some new stuff. It’s good to learn new stuff. So, why not read on?

[And “Learn” “New” “Stuff” at the Apoplexy Newsletter!]

Continue reading Life Is Life

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Dragons

They say, You’re never too old to learn. And I’m worried that I may have to cast aside one of the touchstones by which I live my live.

Not that I’ve got anything against dragons, you understand. Just everything they stand for.

[Boycotting this post due to a love of dragons? Check out the Apoplexy Newsletter instead.] Continue reading Dragons

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Immortality

It occurred to me this morning that, maybe, this blog is about death. A near death experience will do that to a person.

Or maybe, I just haven’t recovered from watching The Thing last week. Or maybe Mrs Stroke Bloke and I just went a little hard on our binge watching of The Good Place.

You're basic, byrraway
Off: Middle-aged Scotsman tries to figure out how to pull off his new jam

Except of course, The Good Place isn’t about death, really. It’s about life.

And the tsunami of famous deaths since Bowie kicked off the craze in early 2016 just keeps rolling with the death last week of Mark E Smith of The Fall…

[Have a wee apoplectic aperitif over at the Apoplexy Tiny Letter, or read on…] Continue reading Immortality

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Resolve

Phew! Between a dose of the Dreaded Lurgy, travel, and the end-of-year festivities, things got away from me a bit for a couple of weeks there.

Could say the same thing about the Twelfth Doctor, really
“Started well, that year.”

So it’s thank goodness for the New Year.

Or, is it? Alongside the usual end-of-year reviews and goals for 2018 that I’ve been seeing on my soshul meeds, there’s also been a bit of sniffiness about New Year and New Year’s resolutions. But perhaps nothing quite as scornful as this 1916 column from Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci:

[Be sure to catch more lighthearted japes in the Apoplexy Tiny Letter!
Oh, and there’s some actual stroke stuff if you read on!]

Continue reading Resolve

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Digesta Plaga #10

Isn’t it always the way? You wait over a year for a Stroke Digest post, then two come along at once.  Last week’s Apoplexy Tiny Letter – accompanying the post Muppets – featured Loretta Lynn performing her 1971 #1 Country hit One’s on the Way with the Henson crew. And that’s how we find ourselves at Digesta Plaga #10

Continue reading Digesta Plaga #10

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Outward Bound

Phew! That was quite a weekend! On Friday evening, I had the great pleasure of co-hosting the launch of the chapbook In Failure & In Ruins by my friend, former Into the Void Poetry Competition winner Mark Bolsover.

BOO! Go back to the shaved head, Stroke Bloke!
“Pure sex for a particular niche market”

The next day, Mrs Stroke Bloke and I headed through to Glasgow to see the latest production from Kneehigh Theatre, whose Mayday Mayday had such an effect on us in the months after my stroke.

[For more whimsy and reflections, check out the Apoplexy Tiny Letter.] Continue reading Outward Bound

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