Category Archives: Movies

Mermaids

July 6, 2015Death, Movies, Nerd Bait, Pop MusicAmy, Mermaids, Nick Cavericky

Sometime this week, Longsufferinggirlfriendoftheblogbeth and I are going to see Amy, Asif Kapadia’s five-star-reviewed documentary of Amy Winehouse’s life. I saw Senna, his similar movie about the late Brazilian Formula 1, last year and thought it was very powerful. Given the interest in death often expressed on the blog, that’s maybe not surprising. Even if that interest itself is. To me at least.

There never were such devoted Sisters — Stroke Bloke and L-SGotBB prepare next week’s blog

[“A particularly apposite week to sign up for the Apoplexy Tiny Letter.” – Stroke Bloke.]

Continue reading Mermaids →

Share this:

Apoplocalypse!

June 1, 2015Movies, Sci-fi, Science, StrokeChampion the Wonder Horse, Finding Nemo, Seriously?, Wall-Ericky

Before my stroke, I hadn’t written any creative prose – other than short pieces for my girlfriend – for years. Decades, even. After writing a bunch of stroke-related stuff, the first post-stroke piece of fiction I wrote concerned a guy waking up in the Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh with no memory. Quite fitting, I think, for someone who had ~~spent his teenage years among the pubs of Auld Reekie~~ recently woken up from a major brain injury unable to remember the President, the Prime Minister, or his age. As befits a first effort, Dunedin was a little overblown, but I liked it.

MINE! — “The first sound was the prehistoric cawing of a cacophony of gulls.” Really?!

But we can get to that later. First….

[First? First, sign up for the apoplectic.me Tiny Letter here.
More stroke, more absurdité, fewer pictures of seagulls.] Continue reading Apoplocalypse! →

Share this:

Dead Air

April 13, 2015Movies, Nerd Bait, Science, StrokeApollo 21, CVAs, EVAs, Gravity, Illicit Ink, Nerd Baitricky

I’m really excited about performing over some awesome new Nerd Bait music later this week. My super-talented bandies have made an OST for the Illicit Ink – Skyground production at the Edinburgh International Science Festival, including a branch into the ambient for my particular segment of Apollo 21: Into the Stars.

Beth exists. Really. Some of you have met her, right? — Hey, that’s my imaginary girlfriend!

[Be my imaginary gf, even if you’re a 500lb hirsute trucker –
Sign up for the apoplectic tiny letter here.] Continue reading Dead Air →

Share this:

Ben Stiller Is My Avatar

March 30, 2015Brooklyn, Movies, Pop Music, RelationshipsBen Stiller, Noah Baumbach, When We're Youngricky

Hi there. I think that last week’s post, Damages, was intended as the first part of a pen diptych. But now a week has passed, I’m not entirely sure what the second half was meant to look like. Maybe it will have come to me by next week.

It's about a ranch he bought from a lawyer — It’s yer age, duck

[Sign up for the apoplectic Tiny Letter to get the perfect soundtrack for today’s post.]

Continue reading Ben Stiller Is My Avatar →

Share this:

Hello to Jason Isaacs!

November 10, 2014Death, Edinburgh, Great British Strokes, Movies, StrokeEdwyn Collins, John Fowles, Mark Kermode, Tony Bennricky

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.

Not Tommy Connery: the *real* one. — 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! →

Share this:

Why Fidelity?

September 8, 2014Books, Lists, Movies, Pop MusicDerek Jarman, High Fidelity, The Birthday Partyricky

Last week, one of the amalgam of Andys who make my Facebook page such a pleasure to visit (see last week’s post) put up a post “listing 15 movies that will always stay with me, and tagging the shit out of 15 people to do the same.”

Uh... Marah? — I’ve got one. Quick — top five most Hornby-esque blog topics!

[Are you the sort of saddo who makes top five lists? Are you the type of cool guy who doesn’t make top five lists? Sign up for more personal apoplectic.me tiny letter distributions here.] Continue reading Why Fidelity? →

Share this:

Restless Natives

August 25, 2014Books, Edinburgh, Movies, ReviewsEdinburgh Festival, Restless Natives, Trainspottingricky

Today, the Edinburgh Festival will shut up shop for another year, more or less signalling the end of our first full year in Edinburgh. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean the city is pulling down the shutters. Last February, I wrote to Tiny Letter subscribers that even in the depths of January, Edinburgh maintains a wide range of treats for the arts enthusiast, and that Longsufferinggirlfriendoftheblogbeth and I had recently seen The Lanterns Of Terracotta Warriors in the quad of the University of Edinburgh’s Old College.

Oh no they weren't! — The denizens were more handsome in 1996

[You can sign up for apoplectic.me Tiny Letters here. It’s a chance to read some more personal thoughts and join the conversation. I’d love to hear from you.] Continue reading Restless Natives →

Share this:

Inside Strokey Blokey

March 17, 2014Art, Movies, Strokericky

Does anyone remember that old post about memories making us what we are?

Yeah. Neither do I.

How can you not remember his name? He's a beautiful man! — Stroke Diet’s going well, Stroke Bloke.

Thursday was an awful day for that. Mrs Stroke Bloke and I sat in the movie theatre, chatting before the show started. In discussing the events of that day and the previous day, there were large chunks I couldn’t remember. Continue reading Inside Strokey Blokey →

Share this:

Reflektor

February 10, 2014Art, Brooklyn, Death, Edinburgh, Movies, Pop Musicricky

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.

Sez me — Voted Funniest Thing On apoplectic.me 2013

Continue reading Reflektor →

Share this:

‘Nuff Said

October 28, 2013Edinburgh, Movies, Reviews, Strokericky

Last week was pretty stressful. I had to spend an hour here and there doing stuff that looked not entirely unlike my old job. I won’t bore you with the details. But even those couple of hours were exhausting and stressful. So much so that my blood pressure was elevated to the point where my physicians have previously indicated that I should sit quietly in a dark room.

Can you see me now? — Stroke Bloke, last week.

Continue reading ‘Nuff Said →

Share this:

Apoplectic Me

the scribblings of a bloke who had a stroke…

Category Archives: Movies

Mermaids

Apoplocalypse!

Dead Air

Ben Stiller Is My Avatar

Hello to Jason Isaacs!

Why Fidelity?

Restless Natives

Inside Strokey Blokey

Reflektor

‘Nuff Said