Category Archives: Movies

My Name is Joe – Pt. 1

May 16, 2016Books, Mental Health, Movies, Podcasts, Sci-fi, Science, Strokericky

A search of apoplectic.me for the word “memory” comes up with 50 hits – almost a quarter of the posts on the blog. Hardly surprising, when one thinks that in the weeks following The Event, I couldn’t remember my age, where I was, who the person in the chair next to my hospital bed was, or whether or not I was the Vice President of the United States.

Needs to stay clear of D.C. till some shit blows over. — “I’m in Mexico, and if anyone asks, my name is Ricky Monahan Brown. If you catch my drift.”

Eventually, memories come back. Even now, Beth notices that my memories of thirty or more years ago seem to be more readily accessible than those from this week. Maybe you find the same thing. Continue reading My Name is Joe – Pt. 1 →

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Highlander

March 28, 2016Composed Music, Fiction, Movies, Nerd Bait, Poetry, Pop Music, Reviews, TravelDavid Bowie, Highlander, Queen, Sean Connery, Strontianricky

Mrs Stroke Bloke and I spent this past weekend in the Highlands. More precisely, we were visiting family in Strontian, on the banks of Loch Sunart. One of my cousins asked if I would be writing about our trip in the blog this week. And since she took me to see David Bowie’s Sound and Vision tour stop in Ingliston in 1990, I could hardly say “No.”

It's looking a bit past its best, Dave. — “Scotland, stay with us. I mean, do you know how much this coat cost?!”

But first, please note that on Monday, 4 April, I’ll be presenting Nerd Bait’s latest (and maddest) concept EP, The Gospel of Unicerosaurus, as part of Illicit Ink’s show at the Edinburgh International Science Festival!!!

Continue reading Highlander →

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Digesta Plaga #8

February 15, 2016Digest Post, Digesta Plaga, Dr. Who, Great British Strokes, Mindfulness, Movies, Nerd Bait, Politics, Science, Strokejunior doctors' strike, Richard Dawkins, The Revenantricky

Hello, and welcome to apoplectic.me’s occasional round-up of strokes in the news. It’s been quite a week….

Awards Pour In!

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 →

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The State of Origins, Pt. 1

January 11, 2016Composed Music, Movies, Politics, Referendum, ReviewsAll the Pretty Horses, If...., O Pioneers!, The Hateful Eight, There Will Be Blood, Tracksricky

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.

World Cup, European Cup, Academy Award treble — Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West – Best Actor: Spain, as a mythic America

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 →

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YOU are the next James Bond

November 9, 2015Dr. Who, Lists, Movies, Podcasts, ScienceDavid Eagleman, Inside Science, James Bond, Neurologyricky

Last week’s post, The Man Don’t Give a ****, kicked off with a visit to the new James Bond movie, SPECTRE, before running off on a Brosnan-in-a-tank rampage through British foreign policy. But really, what I wanted to post was more in the vein of a classic, Moore-era romp.

"Ooh, Betty! I gone done blown something up!" — I got yer metaphor for British foreign policy right here.

So, let’s try this again, shall we…?

[More bite-sized whimsy and absurdité from Stroke Bloke here.]

Continue reading YOU are the next James Bond →

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The Man Don’t Give a ****

November 2, 2015Dr. Who, Movies, Podcasts, Referendum, Reviews, ScienceLabour, Radiolab, SPECTRE, Tridentricky

Beth and I went to see the new James Bond movie, SPECTRE, last night. Long-suffering readers may recall that Bond has a cameo roll to play in the story of my massive haemorrhagic stroke. More about that in Being a Man Again: Strokes, Power Tools and James Bond.

The Ninth Doctor wears his leather jacket for the first time. — “So, Doctor, do you expect me to talk?” “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to divert resources from combating shadowy Eastern Europeans to fighting Daleks.”

It feels like seeing the stark, terrible beauty of Glencoe in Skyfall serves as easy reference for all of the parts of my life that were coming together to direct me back to Scotland. The Glen eventually served as a major character in a short story I wrote for the first issue of Brain of Forgetting.

Saw #SPECTRE tonight. Here’s the review. (Spoiler alert!) A lot of things happened. In no particular order. It was pretty. 2 stars.

— Ricky Brown (@ricky_ballboy) November 1, 2015

Continue reading The Man Don’t Give a **** →

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Reflektor Reduks

September 28, 2015Art, Brooklyn, Death, Edinburgh, Movies, Pop MusicArcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Orpheus and Eurydice, The Reflektor Tapesricky

[Long-Suffering Girlfriend of the Blog Beth and I went to see Kahlil Joseph and Arcade Fire’s The Reflektor Tapes this past weekend. So, today seemed like a good day to repost some reflektions on the album Reflektor and… other stuff.]

And it just got spacier from there — Weirdly, the entire movie theatre lobby was an Italian restaurant

One of the many rubbish things about having a massive haemorrhagic stroke is that the ever-present factor of fatigue, and the whole brain lesions thing, militate against a quick return to the traditional, full-time workforce. Continue reading Reflektor Reduks →

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Stroke Bloke – Year Three

July 27, 2015Comics, Movies, Nerd BaitBatman, Superman, Wonder Womanricky

The band of which I’m a member, Nerd Bait, has been working on its latest big-banding, Scottish-rapping, disco-jiving long-form concept single. For ease of use, let’s refer to it by the codename I’ve just made up, Aquaman – The Musical.

Is that a trident in your pocket? — Hey! That’s *not* what I wrote! (Monica Ras for the A.V. Club’s Loser Superhero Week)

Actually, Aquaman only came to mind in this relation a few minutes ago. But Nerd Bait’s Prof Paul also sent along some comic-related material as we were discussing the new material. Quite unrelated to the stuff we were writing, you understand. But he had identified a certain apoplectic flavour. Probably partly because of the level of apoplexy evident in Batman is a Corny Dingus. And maybe also because comics are one of the many areas of popular culture in which I regularly display the butterfly-worthy shallowness of my interests on the blog.

[Yeah, like a Tiny Letter distribution – get more whimsy here!] Continue reading Stroke Bloke – Year Three →

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The Jazz Singer

July 20, 2015Death, Movies, Reviews, Strokericky

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that “sometime this week, Beth and I are going to see Asif Kapadia’s documentary, Amy.” I saw his movie about the late Brazilian Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna on a plane last year, and thought it was very powerful.

Compelling. Forceful. Potent. — More adjectives

Well, it turns out I was lying. Or, I didn’t have the full facts to hand. We went to see Amy last night.

[Sign up for the Apoplexy Tiny Letter here, for more words to while away the day.]

Continue reading The Jazz Singer →

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Kraken Post, Gromit!

July 13, 2015Movies, Relationships, Reviews20000 Days On Earth, kraken, Nick Cavericky

Recent posts here at apoplectic.me have evinced my current obsession – mythical sea creatures from the Loch Ness Monster to mermaids to sirens. If one was of an apoplectic bent, one might even see evidence of perseveration.

Wallace and Gromit in A Close Wave! GEDDIT?!?! — Gromit runs into the sea to avoid poor puns

[It’s even extended into the Apoplexy Tiny Letter distribution – here.] Continue reading Kraken Post, Gromit! →

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Apoplectic Me

the scribblings of a bloke who had a stroke…

Category Archives: Movies

My Name is Joe – Pt. 1

Highlander

Digesta Plaga #8

Awards Pour In!

The State of Origins, Pt. 1

YOU are the next James Bond

The Man Don’t Give a ****

Reflektor Reduks

Stroke Bloke – Year Three

The Jazz Singer

Kraken Post, Gromit!