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increpatio
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« Reply #345 on: 21:03:05, 14-08-2007 » |
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If anyone hasn't seen Threads, or would like to see it again, it can be watched in full here. Highly highly recommended, but if you haven't seen it before, be warned that it's extremely harrowing and depressing. Very emblematic of the fears (not without good reason) that characterised the early 1980s, a time of nuclear build-up. That was fascinating. I assumed, up to a point, that it was a dramatization of the social impact that cold-war conditions had on English citizens. Moving indeed. Probably would have found it insufferable at the time though. |
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ahinton
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« Reply #346 on: 21:07:15, 14-08-2007 » |
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Two weeks ago, was re-watching Threads (still as good as it was back then - if 'good' is really the appropriate term! Certainly reminded me how much an imminent nuclear war was on many of our minds in the early 1980s), and one character, in the post-apocalyptic world, was saying to another how much he used to love a cigarette after eating ..... ARGGGGGHHHH!
Certainly, that was quite a remarkable success; I've not seen it since it was first shown, but it came across a good deal more powerfully than one perhaps had a right to expect, as I recall (no disrespect intended to the goodly folk of Sheffield in so saying, of course). If anyone hasn't seen Threads, or would like to see it again, it can be watched in full here. Highly highly recommended, but if you haven't seen it before, be warned that it's extremely harrowing and depressing. Oh, yes, it's that, indeed... Best, Alistair |
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martle
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« Reply #347 on: 22:45:38, 21-09-2007 » |
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Which reminds me, opi... Ian?  |
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Green. Always green.
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #348 on: 23:04:25, 21-09-2007 » |
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Which reminds me, opi... Ian? Well, still at the 10-15 per day level, haven't got down further than that yet, but it's still a big improvement upon before. Had one relapse day in the last week where I smoked more like about 20-25, and one a few weeks ago, but that's all. How to get down less (considering I really don't want to put any more weight on, either)? |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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martle
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« Reply #349 on: 23:09:43, 21-09-2007 » |
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Ian, repsect. That's a long time now. I am SO sick of sitting in wind, rain and the stultifying presence of especially-positioned 'space heaters' outside pubs by now that I think I may join the cause rather sooner than I'd thought.  |
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Green. Always green.
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #350 on: 23:11:04, 21-09-2007 » |
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Ian, repsect. That's a long time now. I am SO sick of sitting in wind, rain and the stultifying presence of especially-positioned 'space heaters' outside pubs by now that I think I may join the cause rather sooner than I'd thought. Hey, martle, you should, and you can count upon ample support from me and others here. Why not set a date for trying, and report on here? |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #351 on: 23:14:41, 21-09-2007 » |
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One thing I'll mention is that if one is quite a charged, hyperactive person, as I can be, that aspect is significantly magnified when the calming influence of the evil weed is taken away. Not easy to deal with, brings huge sensations of restlessness, nervousness, mild paranoia, anxiety, and so on - not easy to deal with at all. (I'm waiting for the 'so what's new' comments! ) But trust me, this has not been easy at all, and it's been a difficult few months for other unrelated reasons, to do with work pressures, turbulence on the relationship front, and so on. But hopefully, all that stuff should itself be calming down reasonably soon.... |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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ahinton
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« Reply #352 on: 23:32:32, 21-09-2007 » |
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The effects of the smoking ban are felt in high places, as even the Prime Minister is reduced to smoking imaginary cigarettes:  If the possibility of smoking was the only thing that he ever imagined, life might just be that bit easier... Best, Alistair |
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time_is_now
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« Reply #353 on: 23:51:03, 21-09-2007 » |
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Well done Ian. Keep going.
If it gives any comfort/fellow feeling, in my own small way I've been trying too ... Had got to a point where the 1 or 2 a day and occasionally 5 or 6 when I went out had turned into 5 or 6 every day, and now seem finally to have forced myself back to the point where I can comfortably go without for 3-4 days.
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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increpatio
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« Reply #354 on: 21:11:10, 23-09-2007 » |
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Well done Ian. Keep going. Ditto If it gives any comfort/fellow feeling, in my own small way I've been trying too ... Had got to a point where the 1 or 2 a day and occasionally 5 or 6 when I went out had turned into 5 or 6 every day, and now seem finally to have forced myself back to the point where I can comfortably go without for 3-4 days.
Fantastic also. |
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Morticia
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« Reply #355 on: 14:25:42, 28-09-2007 » |
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I suppose this is the best place for this post, since I haven`t got grumpy enough yet for the Grump Room. Anyway, apparently police are now to be given power to stop and arrest drivers seen smoking in a moving car if they consider the smoking to be a `distraction`. Isn`t this getting a bit silly now? Why don`t they just make smoking completely illegal and ban the sale of cigarettes? Think we know the answer to that. ££££££. Cynical? Moi?
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #356 on: 15:11:54, 28-09-2007 » |
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I suppose this is the best place for this post, since I haven`t got grumpy enough yet for the Grump Room. Anyway, apparently police are now to be given power to stop and arrest drivers seen smoking in a moving car if they consider the smoking to be a `distraction`. Isn`t this getting a bit silly now? Why don`t they just make smoking completely illegal and ban the sale of cigarettes? Think we know the answer to that. ££££££. Cynical? Moi?
Nothing new here; the police have long had the power to stop vehicles if they have reason to think that the driver is not exercising sufficient control (as they did with mobile phones before the new laws were put in place). It's just that, on the whole, the great British Bobby has not been inclined to do so, and I guess also that it would not be easy to make this one stand up in court. The fuss now is because the new Highway Code contains a reminder that the police are able to do this. |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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Morticia
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« Reply #357 on: 15:41:24, 28-09-2007 » |
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You`re right, PW. The other distractions are map reading, talking to passengers and fiddling with the radio/CD player, as far as I remember. I suppose what got my goat was the emphasis on smoking, clearly riding on the back of the smoking ban. Mutter, mutter. `s alright I`ll be fine in a minute  |
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increpatio
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« Reply #358 on: 22:17:16, 03-08-2008 » |
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I read this letter in the Irish independent today. Makes one want to wring one's hands with sympathetic frustration, does it not? |
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