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Marka Ragnos

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Everything posted by Marka Ragnos

  1. I think the critics respected Marriott. But sometimes that's the kiss of death. In '76 and '77, Frampton and "Framptonness" were inescapable in America. I wonder whether part of it was how the record labels chose to promote or not promote the artists. But in the end, with the crazily talented Steve Marriott, I have to throw up my hands and say America can be kind of thick sometimes.
  2. It’s a hard question, and an interesting one, too. I feel like anything I say, that attempts to be serious, sounds really pretentious, but I do think it has something to do with the more distinctive English identity of Small Faces with very English cultural references? Maybe? Entirely different music, but a bit like Blur, who never really caught fire in the USA. Frampton in United States was a little more at least at first, of a kind of teen idol, but a little more mystical and deep, somehow. The lyrics aren’t exactly Chaucer.
  3. How come Britain never really embraced Peter Frampton? What’s the matter with you people? I don’t get it.
  4. Sometimes I wonder how young adults in different countries measure up to one another in terms of maturity. Since COVID-19, I feel like I'm seeing more younger people whose emotional growth seems sort of stunted. At the same time, sometimes I meet young people from abroad -- particularly, from poorer countries -- who are just far more grown-up and able to grapple with big responsibilities obviously out of necessity. Being able to take one's time to grow up is a privilege, I feel, and not one I take for granted, but I do wonder how some people might fare in a crisis? Anyway, it's an interested topic to me!
  5. Wait, are there actually some England supporters around here? That's so ... sweet. I'd forgotten that still happens.
  6. Konsa, Luiz, Watkins, Tielemans, McGinn -- any other Villa playing in the last week? That's quite impressive when you think about it.
  7. He is ridiculously exact -- but yes, he sort of turtles around the pitch sometimes. But those passes. The passes shine.
  8. OK, Ollie didn't score earlier this week, but doesn't this feel a little like sweet revenge to have Tielemans carrying the Villa torch a bit? And Ollie may yet come on and score.
  9. X has become truly useless these days. Can't believe it still hobbles along.
  10. I feel like a lot of world cuisines are way overrated -- and many, way underrated. Mexican and Central American food in general, and I might add Colombian cuisine, for example, are all terribly overrated in my opinion. They're a lot less balanced and creative than so many other cuisines I know, and there's just a lot less refinement in how things are done. East African food, in my opinion, is way underrated. It's far more complex and subtle than I think it sometimes gets credit for, and it's a lot harder to do correctly. A dish such as beyanetu is incredibly challenging because everything is subtly spiced and herbed in separate little operations, and it's just -- hard. And it tastes amazing.
  11. I don't know. No disrespect meant, but that almost sounds a bit paranoid/conspiracy-theoryish. Couldn't it just be that Southgate values loyal relationships and personal experiences with players over individual standout skill, and in recent years, Villa haven't offered dozens of English players who were so skilled that he was willing to risk tipping over the awkward basket of squirming codfish that is England football for the sake of working in someone new? It could be that Southgate lacks ruthlessness more than England possesses some kind of anti-Villa, decades-old secret agenda. I just don't buy it. Sounds a bit self-pitying.
  12. I'll see your cabbages, and raise you a set of dingly dogheaded reasty-fingered yamyams.
  13. Canto 22 in the Inferno is actually quite hilarious. Really enjoying Dante's sense of humour as I wend my way through Hell in Robert Pinsky's translation. Pitchforks -- ouch!
  14. My guess is that as soon as you actually change any rooms in your house to maximalist, the next day minimalist will be the thing.
  15. Truly baffled by why anyone would want to inhabit such a house. I mean, if that's what floats your boat, great, but it looks like someone who ate a giant bag of confetti vomited and then offered free Anna Wintour haircuts and shower-curtains and old sweaters to clothe any takers.
  16. A list of music shops in Birmingham from the 1970s. Ringway is where "Ozzy Zig" put up his notice as a singer looking for gigs. Tommy Iommi answered. And the rest is ...
  17. I hear you, but I don’t think we can say that the regulator is not going to be “involved in football” and is going to be regulating … football. I recognise I’m probably in the minority here. And I am a half-American interloping whelp. The Guardian weekly football podcast just told me that “most people agree” that a regulator is necessary, unless they’re people who are “thinking with their own greed.” So that settles it. I think we often hear a very simplistic and stereotype–driven description of the views of people who would oppose a government regulator for football. I see some key areas where governmental regulation is not only necessary, but productive. I wish there was a lot more government regulation of weaponry in the United States, for example. I think the pharmaceutical industry, because it connects so closely with life and death situations in people's lives, improves through government regulation. But sport? I just think government has more important things to do. I don't oppose all government regulations, but I also don't think government should be regulating everything.
  18. What does the government really know about football? Nothing.
  19. I sort of agree. The bill represents a certain failure. Don't think government on principle should have its hands on sport, apart from consumer safety-related issues (ensuring that safe gear is used -- cricket bats don't have toxic handles, etc.). Historically, football has prospered without government hand-holding. Can't see it assisting the game in the end, and I can definitely see it undermining it. But I do understand that commentators have been calling for it for years, and I respect many of the people who have been calling for it.
  20. It feels like it's impossible to just buy one thing, watch one game, attend one event, get one service done nowadays without being pressured to sign up for something or shamed into thinking you're doing something wrong if you don't take the upsell or join a "plan." I know that this ship sailed long ago, but I find the retail approach of "upselling" has infiltrated every pore of our society. Where does it end? I went to get a simple bicycle service -- a brake adjustment. -- at my local bicycle shop last week. I can do this work myself, and I have, but I also sometimes appreciate having another set of eyes and experience level on an adjustment because I sometimes forget what "normal" is, if that makes sense? Well, the kid at the shop also talked me into getting some nice new bar tape. Fine. No problem. But then I get a phone call five days later from the chief mechanic claiming my bicycle is a danger and citing "liability issues" with his claim that I need more than £400 of additional parts and work on my perfectly operating bike if I don't want to kill myself and sue his shop, etc. I said no, and he seemed very angry. This shop has a rep for upselling, I like to support local business, but I can do virtually every one of the bike repairs etc. myself; but it's messy and takes time, obviously, so I appreciate getting a shop to do some things.
  21. I'm seeing more and more students at US universities whose reading skills have deteriorated badly, particularly in the last five or six years. It's striking. I know this thread tends to be (wonderfully!) more about reading suggestions, but I thought I would mention that reading itself is threatened globally. It's especially clear, I think, if you're an educator, a parent, or someone trying to hire people -- people just aren't reading for pleasure anymore.
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