Category Archives: Edinburgh

Heigh Ho!

Back in January, I wrote briefly of Moritz Erhardt. He’s rarely far from my mind, if I’m honest.

Moritz was a 21-year-old intern at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London who, ten-and-a-half months after my haemorrhagic stroke, died after working three nights in a row. Early each morning, he would pop home for a quick shower while his taxi waited outside, before returning to the office. As a news report at the time wrote, “this procedure is so commonplace that it has a name: the magic roundabout.”

But let’s ruin a different childhood memory this time….

Just call me Grumpy. Or Strokey
What are you looking so happy about, you silly sods?

[Want a beautiful memory? Check out Nerd Bait‘s retelling of The Tale of The Little Mermaid with a bunch of talented people in attendance at Illicit Ink‘s Happily Never After as part of the Jura Unbound strand at the Edinburgh International Book Festival tomorrow.]

Continue reading Heigh Ho!

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Free Fries Here!

Nerd Bait’s Prof Paul pointed me to an interesting article the other day. But before we get to that, here’s a track he wrote that has apparently been generating a lot of hits in Japan:

We’re not entirely sure whether this is because we’re getting hits from real people, or a Japanese robot. Nor are we quite sure which which would be cooler. (Spoiler: the answer’s at the bottom of the page….)

Anyway, about that article from The Atlantic Continue reading Free Fries Here!

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Standard Deviation

Last week‘s visit to Coda Music’s event for Record Store Day was a reminder of the late, lamented branch of Avalanche Records on West Nicholson Street. Not that I need much reminding, as regular readers will know (1, 2, 3).

Hardly knew ye? Hardly!

[Interested in how recorded and composed music is created?
Check out the Prof’s new post at nerdbaitband.com
] Continue reading Standard Deviation

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Moon Hop

Phew! What a week!

16 April was the deadline for turning in my Spring semester portfolio. And of course Illicit Ink’s Apollo 21, co-starring Stroke Bloke, premièred the prior night at Edinburgh’s Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill. I’d like to think that Apollo 21 wouldn’t have been possible in its final, polished form without – in addition to great performances and writing by the whole team – the contributions of my super-talented Nerd Bait bandmates Steph the Brain and Professor Paul, who soundtracked the whole thing.

When I say it’s difficult to listen to this without crying, that’s a good thing. But don’t just take my word for it – thanks to 1 Proton 1 Electron for this lovely review.

[You can check out the rest of the soundtrack on Nerd Bait’s Soundcloud page.]

Continue reading Moon Hop

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The One With Chandler In It

When I was a teen bandaged heads scared me I read a lot of crime fiction. I wrote a book report on the granpaw of Scottish Noir, William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw. I read a bunch of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels. And I got into Parker because he was asked to finish the Marlowe novel, Poodle Springs. And I loved Chandler.

“Well, I do see The Whole Nine Yards as a continuation/commentary on the hard-boiled genre. Don’t you, Bruce?”

[More reflections in the Apoplexy Tiny Letter here.]

Continue reading The One With Chandler In It

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Local Heroes

A week stuffed full of different types of culture in Edinburgh this week. On Wednesday, I went the art school for a music industry session organised by Edinburgh University’s careers service as part of their Creative and Cultural Careers Festival.

Now, of course, becoming a writer isn’t necessarily the best step to take for career purposes.

I’ll become a partner in an asbestos factory, if it’s all the same to you.

Don’t let Stroke Bloke fall into a Kafka-esque slough of despond –
sign up to the apoplexy newsletter!

Continue reading Local Heroes

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OutRun

As hashed over ad nauseam on this blog, there are different types of time. Newtonian time. Relative time. And of course, NFL time. Where 3 hours, 12 minutes =  11 minutes.

“And that’s why this doofus didn’t have time to learn his moves….”

But one rarely reads about Astley Ainslie time. Y’see, I went to the Astley Ainslie Hospital for a driving assessment last week. When I first checked in with my GP upon my return to Edinburgh in 2013, she told me that due to my stroke, I’d have to take a driving assessment test before resuming driving.

[“What are these weird conversations below the line?”
“Sign up for the apoplectic Tiny Letter and find out.”]

Continue reading OutRun

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The Beguiled Mind

On Saturday, I was walking past George Heriot’s School on Lauriston Place again. This time, with Longsufferinggirlfriendoftheblogbeth. We carried on behind the back of the National Museum of Scotland, and the dome of the Old College seemed to both hang directly and vastly above us, and stubbornly remain blocks away.

It was neither, of course. The dome was at the far end of the quad as usual, as we approached the Old College from the south-west.

So, not this angle, then.

[Click here to get an extra dose of apoplexy every week.] Continue reading The Beguiled Mind

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Hello to Jason Isaacs!

One of the first things you’ll notice strolling around Edinburgh is the collection of private schools that seem to have dropped out of context and out of the sky. Pudgily gothic Fettes. The ersatz Red Square on the Thames of Stewart’s-Melville.

Fettes: James Bond’s alma mater after getting kicked out of Eton

Last week, I was wandering along Lauriston Place, heading in a roundabout sort of way towards Cockburn Street to see if the t-shirt shop had replenished its stock of John and Yokos. Heading east along the street, I was distracted from George Heriot’s School looming from an Edinburghian distance by the sounds of Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review on BBC Radio Five Live.

[The apoplectic.me Tiny Letter distribution usually riffs off in a different direction from the week’s post. Check it out here.]

Continue reading Hello to Jason Isaacs!

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