Yesterday evening, I still had no idea what this week’s blog would be about. Then, the hand of history reached out across the British Isles….
Crowds gather, waiting for Boris’s column to be posted. Make sure your children are with you. Memory to treasure pic.twitter.com/p9RVhMZTuw
— Robert Harris (@Robert___Harris) February 21, 2016
Hold on, isn’t this an episode of Threads? Continue reading Will This Do?
Hello, and welcome to apoplectic.me’s occasional round-up of strokes in the news. It’s been quite a week….
I saw #TheRevenant. Leo drags a useless leg around for ages, while grunting incomprehensibly. Aah, memories. #stroke pic.twitter.com/VKK1qYNnWC
— Ricky Brown (@ricky_ballboy) February 15, 2016
[More stroke blog inanity and whimsy here.] Continue reading Digesta Plaga #8
There are a lot of potential things to write about on the stroke blog this week. The Fabulous Beth and I went to see the National Theatre of Scotland put on the first two of Rona Munro’s James plays. And I’ve been reading about the translation of the Christian Bible conceived by James I’s and II’s descendant James VI of Scotland. So I suppose you could say I’ve been thinking about Survival in its many forms.
Out, damned spot. Those Stewart and Douglas boys had a bloody rammy while @NTSonline tried to put on #JamesPlays. pic.twitter.com/SiUA8JqDT8
— Ricky Brown (@ricky_ballboy) February 4, 2016
[For more apoplectic.me off-cuts, check out my Tiny Letter.] Continue reading Survival
Before last week’s jaunt to Germany, I’d been zooming out from the origin and reinvention stories of stroke survivors. Instead, I was focusing on the origin stories, anthems, and mottoes of countries: (1, 2)
[Get apoplectic.me’s more whimsical and personal cousin here.] Continue reading The State of Origins, Pt. 3
Stroke Bloke and The Fabulous Beth spent Thursday and Friday nights
in Düsseldorf, Germany…
…and our little break means a pause in considering how countries relate a vision of themselves through anthems (1, 2). ‘Cos that’s a big subject, as illustrated by The Prof’s awesome comment to last week’s post.
As we dashed headlong through Düsseldorf, I was instead reminded of #strokier posts. And, indeed, a tweet tweeted from my bed at The Hospital for Joint Diseases during my in-house rehabilitation:
Goal for end of the year. Jogging in Prospect Park.
— Ricky Brown (@ricky_ballboy) November 15, 2012
A blog established in the aftermath of a catastrophic stroke necessarily dwells on issues of personal identity. There have certainly been plenty of those sorts of posts over the past three-and-a-bit years.
But last week found me thinking about the origin stories and “values” of various countries. The French and the Americans have theirs, of course. Forged in, respectively, the white hot heat of revolution and, er, revolution. Eras that demanded flags and symbols and identities around which to rally. Their own spasm-ing bouts of apoplexy, if you will.
So, where does that leave national constructs closer to home?
[Get apoplectic.me’s more whimsical and personal cousin here.] Continue reading The State of Origins, Pt. 2
It was quite a filmic weekend.
On Friday night, Beth and I went to a packed Filmhouse 2 to see The Hateful Eight. Definitely in my top three Tarantino movies.
Although it’s reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs in its bunch-of-desperados-trapped-in-a-room central conceit, a number of Leone-esque shots of a mythic American landscape pepper the movie.
On Saturday, we stayed in and (finally) watched There Will Be Blood. Like The Hateful Eight and Once Upon a Time in the West (both scored by Ennio Morricone), it’s got a great score that carries long, dialogue-free stretches of film. In this case, the score is by Johnny Greenwood (or Radiohead and collaborations with the terrifying Krzysztof Penderecki).
Watching these two movies in quick succession got me to thinking…
[For more thoughts, sign up for the Apoplexy Newsletter here.] Continue reading The State of Origins, Pt. 1
Each year, The Fabulous Beth reaches five time zones across the ocean on Hogmanay to wish folks a Happy New Year from the future. You’re all here in the future now, right?
Well, welcome. Come on in. Have a cigar. Or don’t. There are resolutions to think of. Or not. Continue reading 2016 AD – Welcome to the Future
What a busy week it’s been, on and around apoplectic.me.
Of course, if you’re on the distribution list for the Apoplexy Newsletter, you’ll be aware of all of this.
So, how could anyone possibly remember where we were last Monday, at the end of Lies, Lies, Lies, Pt. 1…? Continue reading Lies, Lies, Lies, Pt. 2
In which I reflect upon the true story of meeting a hero….
The signs tell me to descend deep into a mammoth stone bridge that supports the weight of a town, into a venue that shouldn’t exist. I do as I am told, make my way down the black steps of the black stairwell, and pass through a black door into a wide, black-walled space with a black floor and a low, black ceiling. So the grime won’t show, I guess.
The only contrast is provided by a handful of handbills dotted around, advertising a forthcoming show. A single, black mitt on a white background, tattooed with an inverted image of the radio waves from pulsar CP 1919 — the cover of Unknown Pleasures. I smile, partly because it’s funny; it’s the first time I’ve seen a representation of a Joy Division Oven Glove. And partly because I’m patting myself on the back for knowing that this means the authors of that song are coming to town.
Continue reading Broken Mirror – The Collected Bird’s Fate Posts