In January, I took part in a Twitter thing where people nominated a different favourite album closing song for each day of the month.
Albums closers make for perfect playlists, because you’ve got a selection of tracks aiming to distill a closing statement for a full album. Play ’em on random, and the intensity should be unchanged and unabated.
My selections are on Apple Music and Spotify.
Continue reading Edging Closer(s) I
I haven’t written much on the blog recently that’s directly about Brexit. Partly, the reason is that I’m continually hearing news stories and vox pops and politicians and business leaders on the radio banging on about it and I’m thinking –
Why do I keep hearing about this? What has this got to do with me? Why does this affect anyone I know?
Then I remember and I’m absolutely furious.
But, hey. Brexit isn’t all bad…
[Read on to find out the good stuff. But first, check out the Apoplexy Tiny Letter]
Continue reading Tusk
This week, Mrs Stroke Bloke and I are in Rhode Island, the home of legendary Scottish band Talking Heads.
[When you go, will you send back/A Tiny Letter from America?]
So, this happened this week:
As a veteran of a #stroke-related #trephination/#trepanning, I’m stoked to listen to this episode of Out Of The Ordinary on @BBCRadio4: https://t.co/MENIEnyhgU
Check out “Trephination” from @NerdBaitBand‘s The Treacherous Brain here: https://t.co/c6AOO49KuG pic.twitter.com/hi1xoGXVBU
— Ricky Monahan Brown (@ricky_ballboy) February 16, 2018
Well, not The Treacherous Brain live. Nor my own trepanning, trepanation, trephination, or trephining. Both of those events happened a while ago, now.
[You need this week’s Apoplexy Newsletter like a hole in the head.] Continue reading Fontanelle
Death Mettle. That’s some Punderdome 3000 level shit right there! Amirite?!
What I’m saying is, gird your loins, y’all.
Y’see, in the aftermath of last week’s laughfest about the movie Ghost and the experience of death, Paul pointed out that there’s a deep vein of pop culture death to be mined when it comes to the subject of death…
[This week’s Tiny Letter tuneage isn’t death metal, I promise. Probably.] Continue reading Death Mettle
Well, nobody found the Birds Fate Ruins Xmas EP during the past week. Which is hardly surprising, given the story of its creation and deletion. Besides, Prof Paul, Mouthsounds Steph and I have made a point of scouring car boot and stoop sales, second-hand record stores, and record fairs for Birds Fate material for more years than I think any of us care to remember.
But you know how it is with your favourite bands – you don’t listen to them for ages, and then you put ’em on and remember why you loved them in the first place. So it was that the Prof went back to his Birds Fate archive after reading last weeks post.
[More whimsy, more material, more secrets at the Apoplexy Tiny Letter.]
Continue reading Our Christmas Gift to You
I’ve just opened the doors on my advent calendars for the sixth of December. “Tobacco” beard oil, a jasmine green tea light ale, and a piece of chocolate bearing the countenance of an appropriately sceptical elf, since you ask.
I swear, I’m not making this up!
[For more festive good cheer, sign up for the Apoplectic newsletter.]
Continue reading Birds Fate Ruins Xmas
The other day, apropos of something, Prof Paul asked Mouthsounds Steph and I
How well 1-10 do you guys know Dark Side of the Moon? I’m about 12.
[Read on – it’s not about conflict, greed, the passage of time, and mental illness. Promise!] Continue reading Dark Web
My love for BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, as hosted by Eddie Mair, is well-documented on this website (1, 2). During #indyref the first, I remember him conducting one of the better interviews I heard with Scotland’s First Minister.
However, it’s becoming increasingly apparent – from, for example, the Today programme’s coverage of yesterday’s news that the Westminster government is mulling making substantial payments to the EU to retain financial services passporting rights for the City of London– that The Herald‘s chief reporter has captured a larger truth about the BBC’s output.
I think the talking heads who review newspapers on London TV shows like Marr are running out of excuses for not understanding Scotland.
— David Leask (@LeaskyHT) October 16, 2016
[Yes, somehow I’ll pivot this into strokes and art. Read on to find out how.] Continue reading Thought For The Day
If you’ve ever visited the About Me section of apoplectic.me, you may recognize this picture:
(Actually, it could do with a bit of an update. I’ll do that when I’m done here.)
That’s four years ago, and I don’t really remember anything about the circumstances. Well, y’know, I had recently suffered a catastrophic haemorrhagic stroke. I’m pretty sure about that. But, other than that….
[For more whimsy and an eclectic weekly song selection, get the Apoplexy Tiny Letter here.] Continue reading Bang!