cyrusr

46 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said:

Had a night out for the 15 year old nephew's birthday this week and we all went out to Cardiff's very own board game cafe/bar Chance and Counters.

Great stuff, nice and friendly staff and a good way to while away a few hours with a beer and a burger which were alright.

There's one in the custard factory which is good fun. Generally have a good selection of beer as well. 

So sorry to hear that @Seat68  

As everyone has said, it is always on personal choice (and I know @maqroll that is what you meant). 

My main purchases remains CDs for shere quantity and accessibility. I struggle to get the time to sit and put on a vinyl but can easliy play around with CDs. However I still buy vinyl but when it is truly special record or fantastic album (or not available otherwise). 3 of my top 10 from this year are on that category (see other thread) but for a "ten must buy" vinyl list I would probably go for some classics along with some that benefit from the vinyl sound/need to be listened to in their entirety.

Classics List: -  

1. Black Sabbath - S/T
2. Iron Maiden - 7th Son of a 7th Son
3. Metallica - Master of Puppets
4. Slayer - Reign in Blood
5. Judas Priest - British Steel
6. Mastodon - Leviathan 
7. Death - Human
8. Enslaved - Vertebrae
9. King Diamond - Abigail 
10. Ramones - Rocket To Russia

Are or would be really good on Vinyl: - 

1. Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
2. Sleep - Dopesmoker
3. Boris - Flood
4. Sunn O)))/Boris - Altar
5. Mansion - Second Death
6. Ihsahn - After
7. Baroness - Stone
8. Reverend Bizarre - II: Crush The Insects
9. Mammoth Weed Wizard B*stard - Yn Ol I Annwn
10. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper

5 minutes ago, GarethRDR said:

Though I tend to find their type of thing a bit of a struggle to get through, they once won me over with endearingly self-knowing patter, thus: [set opener ends] "...and now our second and final song!"

Yeah certainly with the earlier albums that is true, although with the latest album the longest track is just under 7 minutes (as the album closer) so a lot leaner!

That Portrayal Of Guilt album looks cool. Remember their debut(?) album came out on Holy Roar which was decent but not really checked in on them since so will give this a nose. Thanks!  

Zero points last year (unless someone carks it over the next few days) but happy to go again with same (wish)list with 1 substitution: -

Donald Trump

Boris Johnson

Nigel Farage

Vladimir Putin

Rupert Murdoch

Just a feeling that Rupert might be coming to the end of things (finally) and Piers Morgan is probably going to make us all suffer a little longer yet. 

36 minutes ago, Xann said:

Verge

It's also actually not working very well. The database hasn't clicked on the transition to the new format. Lots of incomplete searches.

Thanks. I had thought it had gone up in costs etc but I thought that was more to do with Brexit and import fees/tariffs more than anything.

Shame as Bandcamp and Discogs had been my recent favourite online music shopping.

17 hours ago, Xann said:

Bandcamp, Spotify and Discogs have all recently been fecked over by the suited scum.

What's happened with Discogs?!

On 23/12/2023 at 12:55, GarethRDR said:

All physical purchases i.e. CDs for me, wherever possible. Not a huge fan of digital only releases, I only do vinyl if I absolutely have to, and I don't use Spotify. If I want to listen to something I've not heard before on a kinda try-before-buy basis, I tend to do that from Bandcamp (he said, nervously aware of all the bullshit going on over there at the moment ).

Was not aware of any problems at Bandcamp and now looked this doesn’t look great  

Really like it as a platform and throughout the pandemic they did so much for artists/labels with the Bandcamp Fridays.

1 minute ago, Xann said:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/18/michelle-mone-hits-out-rishi-sunak-ppe-deals

Sunak's taking it seriously?  

Course he is, last thing he wants is scrutiny of his own hand in the till.

It seems she’s realised she is potted and is intent on taking everyone down with her.

What a shame  

Having tried to see what on earth happened; that video from the Brentford stands seems to have best angle. To be honest, it seems a bit of a soft red and seems very harsh in the circumstances. I didn't get the impression anyone else got booked but looking back it seems Emi and Yarmoliuk (Brentford's no 33) got yellow cards as well. To be honest Emi should have not gone near Maupay and just left him to be an idiot and the rest of them should not have let it descend into the chaos that it did.If we appeal and get it, great.

If we don't, well the one we will likely miss him the most in is the Man Utd away game. I have no doubt that Unai will be having words with all of the them about it and that lesson will be the biggest takeaway the players will get from this.

Was watching a best of 2023 video and this came up as that number 1 and its pretty damn good.

Finnish doom band based around a christian cult that was active in the 1930s/40s that admonished sexual intercourse (including within marriage) and generally seemed very crazy. 

Anyway the music is great and you should give it a listen. Smacks of female led bands such as Blood Ceremony but slower (and no flutes) and elements of early Ghost with the anti-religion/mystery about them and of course there is an element of Sabbath worship. 

19 minutes ago, GarethRDR said:

It could be worse, I guess.  We're traipsing up to Leeds for it, as she had initially tried and mercifully failed to get tickets to the London show, to which apparently Ed Sheeran turned up as a surprise support act.  Think I'd have gone postal.

 

Aren't the Darkness from around Ipswich/Suffolk so probably related to him. Next up will be Dani Filth with them as well*. My condolences anyway. 

*I seem to remember that there is apparently a collaboration being made with Dani Filth and Ed Sheeran and yeah google tells me that is true so prepare yourself for something truly terrible... 

11 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I'll be going to see that lot in Manchester, I only know Svalbard, and last time I saw them they were playing in a room to about 80, so excited to see them get to start playing some bigger rooms.

I've also got

• Bury Tomorrow
• Currents
• As Everything Unfolds
• Dream State
• Landmvrks
• Maybeshewill
• Polaris
• August Burns Red
• Malevolence
• Novelists
• Blind Channel
• The Lovely Eggs
• In Flames
• Armored Saint
• Boundaries / Spite
• Beartooth

True to my previous post, quite  a few of them were less than £20 and I think Rock City is the biggest venue in there, not a single arena yet, though I'm tempted by Within Temptation

Yeah I'm going to the Manchester gig too. It was either their or London and think Manchester a touch easier to get to. Enslaved are great, one of the classic black metal bands but an absolute ton more about them than the rest of them. The "Pink Floyd" of black metal if that is considered a compliment. 

Thats a lot of gigs as well! Suspect the In Flames is the Rock City one? 

22 hours ago, Davkaus said:

Take something pretty special for me to shell out more than £50 on a ticket, but I rarely bother with arena shows never mind stadiums, be surprised if my average for the year worked out much more than £25

Yeah I think if it is more than £50, its got to be something special. Was curious at this and worked it out (as procrastinating from work mainly). Gigs that I went to this year: -  

1. Dream Theater
2. Lamb of God/Kreator/Municipal Waste
3. Napalm Death
4. Devin Townsend
5. Mol
6. Carcass/Unto Others/Conjurer
7. Iron Maiden
8. Spiritbox
9. Conjurer
10. Employed to Serve/Pupil Slicer/Going Off
11. Empire State Bastard
12. Lorna Shore
13. Jazz Sabbath

All in all this averaged out at about £35 a ticket. Dream Theater/Maiden/LOG all over the average with Maiden/Dream Theater at about £80 each and LOG at about £40 (although that ticket was bought pre-covid and had been delayed until this year). Most of the gigs have been in the £20-£30 bracket with the Conjurer headline show being £7.50 (special offer; normally would have been £15 instead).  

Next year currently booked up 4: - 

1. Enslaved / Svalbard / Wayfarer
2. Skindred
3. Judas Priest
4. Foo Fighters

Surprisingly the Judas Priest and Foo Fighters tickets were the same price (well, 5p difference) but again just crept over £80. That has bumped up the average ticket price but got eyes on a few others for next year (just not certain yet/got tickets yet). I am not convinced Priest is worth £80 but it has been a long while since seen them and was contemplating getting Ozzy tickets just to see them support so glad for their own headline show; would be surprised if it sold out though. Foo Fighters are at Villa Park so that was a given in the circumstances and also got it slightly discounted as had tickets for the cancelled 2022 show (no idea how much of a discount though. 

Definitely feels like getting back to some normality that is for. 

35 minutes ago, bickster said:

I think it's time we held a sweepstake on the number of Tory MPs at the next election

The upper limit will be 100

I was pissing about with the Electoral Calculus predictor and it's actually possible given a few percentage points either way that the LibDems might actually benefit at the next election from FPTP which is hilarious. If the Tories fall to 20% vote share and the Libdems rise to 14.5%, The LibDems could be the opposition

Its not outside the realms of possibility

 

I'm saying 69, because, well, it would be pretty funny but I think Sunak is providing more and more evidence how incompetent he actually is. 

I also think tatical voting will have a huge impact this election as the distain is more "anyone than Tory". 

1 hour ago, ml1dch said:

I feel that you are over-estimating the chances of Tory MPs voting with their conscience instead of their personal and party interest. 

Agree, but I do think it will be better for them to oppose the plan, certainly in its current state. Beforehand, they could get behind it as it was relatively benign and kept other parts of the party content. In its revised state I think it will lose a lot more of the "central" vote that side of the party relies on and those votes will likely go to the Lib Dems or in some instances will go to Labour. 

I therefore think that, for their own personal political interest, it would be better to go against the policy now rather than support it. If they continue down this path, I genuinely can see the Tories going down to double digits of MPs. 

32 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

We now have a sitting duck Tory leader who is beleaguered from all sides and the possibility of a leadership challenge coming from a group whose main campaigning point seems to be that the Human Rights act is a little bit woke.

They really are astonishingly bad.

 

Sunak will be lucky to survive until even a May general election. Even as it stands its ignoring HRA/ECHR; meaning the "One Nation" Tories will rebel, because they are not that insane. Equally, the throbbers are arguing it doesn't go far enough somehow and as such will probably rebel. If he tries to appease 1 set, it will only reinforce the position of the other side and it seems that they each have at 100+ members each and won't get anywhere. Fingers crossed that the letters have gone in to force the challenge on him and undermine him further. 

It is also utterly bizarre given the legislation/policy is so terribly bad that, even if it managed to somehow beat every legal challenge, will actually have zero impact on what it intends to do. 

Baldurs Gate 3 hands down. Towards the end of 2nd playthrough (probably another 10-20 hours) but already wanting to do 3rd playthrough. Nothing else is coming close. 

Yeah, I get your feelings @chrisp65 and I think what the fallout has been, whether intended or not, sadly suggests that this might come back to bite him in the long term given how toxic Thatcher is as what @blandy. It is also an exceptionally sad state of politics that she remains such an esteemed figure in politics (much like Reagan in America) rather than being tossed into the "we made a mistake here" pile. 

1 minute ago, Chindie said:

The problem with what he said (and I know some posters will be whirring up their rebuttals already of how this is a wonderful thing for a Labour politician to say and/or how it's all just gameplaying and he doesn't really mean it, honest) is a twofold.

Firstly praising Thatcher for anything is a bit like the old Mussolini gag - at least he made the trains run on time. Wonderful, but you kinda miss the rest of it, which was awful and easily arguable is the foundation of why a lot of the country is ****. All the boosting of entreprenurial spirit isn't going to make up for the fact that that was built on **** over millions of people and sending whole communities to the dogs.

Secondly, by praising Thatcher for 'bringing Britain out of it's stupor' he's pointedly throwing his antecedents under the bus. Say something nice about Wilson, Keir, go on.

It also kinda underlines that he doesn't really want to change anything. He's the continuity bollocks. Sorry everything is shit, we'll stamp on your face with slightly softer soles.

To be honest, i read it more as a slow and steady solution rather than quick fixes. The more stable you make the public finance element, the more secure it will be for the future and actually withstand any future tinkering/manipulation.

Quite frankly I am looking forward to some normal politicians actually getting on with the job, not trying to squeeze every penny out of the country for their own benefits. It is not "continuity" its actually doing things properly.

And also, you miss that he comments on Atlee and Blair as well. OK, its not Wilson but again he is praising other labour leaders as well in the next couple of sentences. 

10 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

We have read it but giving even a inkling of praise to a tory leader despised by labour voters is not a good idea. Why not just praise other labour figures?

Also seen starmer say there wont be much spending if labour win. So sounds like more of the same as we currently have then. Yippee

But he does praise other labour leaders in the exact same paragraph that's in my post that you have quoted... 

In relation to spending he says the following. 

Quote

They will bequeath public finances more akin to a minefield than a solid foundation. Labour’s iron-clad fiscal rules will set this straight – but it will not be quick or easy. There will be many on my own side who will feel frustrated by the difficult choices we will have to make. This is non-negotiable: every penny must be accounted for. The public finances must be fixed so we can get Britain growing and make people feel better off.

i.e. the reason why the money won't be much spending is because the Tories have screwed up the economy so much, they actually need to figure out how that can best be spent to sort it out. If we had the money to throw at everything, well the economy wouldn't be as screwed up as it currently is. 

Is he going to provide all of the solutions to fixing the country? Probably not. Is Starmer going to be the best leader in the world? Almost certainly not. Is he going to be infinitely better than what we have at the moment? Absolutely. 

Dem, don't rise to the click bait. The current government/Tory party is probably the most corrupt/ill suited for ruling ever. Almost any incarnation of political party/leader would be better than what we have got right now.

Those criticising Starmer for the comment, have you read what he has actually said rather than articles about what he has said?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/02/voters-have-been-betrayed-on-brexit-and-immigration/

Paywalled sadly but the following is the only reference to Thatcher in question

Quote

Every moment of meaningful change in modern British politics begins with the realisation that politics must act in service of the British people, rather than dictating to them. Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism. Tony Blair reimagined a stale, outdated Labour Party into one that could seize the optimism of the late 90s. A century ago, Clement Attlee wrote that Labour must be a party of duty and patriotism, not abstract theory. To build a “New Jerusalem” meant first casting off the mind-forged manacles. That lesson is as true today as it was then.

That is it; 1 sentence about "entrepreneurialism" and its "praising" that she tried to do that and then goes onto Blair and Attlee. It's not even suggesting in language that he agrees with her policies or thought she actually did right but of course the language has been twisted by the Telegraph in their front page piece. 

The rest of the article is basically a PR bit for Telegraph readers to say we are also going to sort out immigration, small boats, finances etc. etc. etc. all what to be expected; and don't forget the audience that article is intended for. Don't just assume the click bait is anything more than that. 

I think the bigger story is that the Telegraph is actually allowing a different perspective to be held and they seem to know that the writing is on the wall for the Tories right now; might as well get on the side of the winners.