The Sound of [Young] Scotland

April 19, 2017Art, Edinburgh, Pop Music, ReviewsBig Gold Dream, Fast Product, Fire Engines, Josef K, Postcard, Scars, Winricky

Mrs Stroke Bloke and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary this past weekend.

The Third Firth of Forth Bridge — Where it all went down – over by the Irn Bru coloured one

And what a pleasant day our anniversary was. We started off at the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, which was featuring a Bridget Riley exhibition. I found that some of the impact of seeing her work for the first time in New York many years ago had faded. YMMV, obvs.

For more uninformed opinion, check out the Apoplexy Tiny Letter. Or BBC politics correspondent Norman Smith trying to talk about Scottish politics on the PM show.

Continue reading The Sound of [Young] Scotland →

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Digesta Plaga #9

April 11, 2017Digest Post, Digesta Plaga, Healthcare, Science, Strokehealthcare, Mechanical thrombectomyricky

It’s been over two years since the last stroke news digest on apoplectic.me. Which must mean something, I suppose. But yesterday, I was revisiting some old posts from the January immediately following Strokefest 2012, and strokes have been all over the news during the past week. So I thought today might be a good time to reclaim my Stroke Bloke identity.

Oh. Fair enough. — Hold on, that’s not Strokefest 2012. Isn’t that…?

[For The Stroke News That’s Unfit To Print, check out the Apoplexy newsletter.] Continue reading Digesta Plaga #9 →

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Everybody Needs a 303

April 6, 2017Great British Strokes, Mindfulness, Pop Music, Science, StrokeFatboy Slim, Ikutaro Kakehashi, Marvin Gaye, Orange Juice, Rolandricky

Ikutaro Kakehashi died on Saturday at the age of 87. A check check of the Interwebz doesn’t reveal the cause of his death, and he was Japanese – but he has to get a Great British Strokes-shaped post.

Y’see, this…

You may need one of these — Roland TB-303 Bass Line

[For more repetitive beats, check out the Apoplexy Tiny Letter.] Continue reading Everybody Needs a 303 →

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A Ray of Sunshine

March 28, 2017EU Referendum, Football, Healthcare, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Referendum, ScienceBrexit, Coldplay, football, Kingsleyricky

It has never been hard to tell the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine, PG Wodehouse once wrote. And today, as the Scottish Parliament debates the merits of approaching Westminster regarding another Independence referendum and just under half of the MSPs grumble about the Scottish Government manufacturing grievances, maybe it’s time to change the stereotype?

"Is it no, aye?" — (A) A Scotsman, (B) a ray of sunshine, (C) the mighty Kingsley, or (D) all of the above?

[For more sugar, spice, and nice things, check out the Apoplexy Tiny Letter]

Continue reading A Ray of Sunshine →

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Moonage Daydream

March 21, 2017Composed Music, Dr. Who, Mindfulness, Movies, Reviews, Sci-fiClint Mansell, Duncan Jones, Moon, Mute, Tony Bennricky

Long-suffering readers of the blog may recall that a couple of years ago I went through a bit of an obsession with the moon. (1, 2)

Yeah. Not Mark Kozelek’s Sun Kil Moon, messiah claimant Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church, or even Ban Ki-moon, eighth Secretary General of the United Nations.

[More, occasionally stroke-related, whimsy here.] Continue reading Moonage Daydream →

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The Old Man of Storr

March 14, 2017Fiction, Sci-fi, TravelMorecambe & Wise, Philip K. Dick, Skye, Talisker, Viginia Woolfricky

Hi there! Sorry to miss you last week – Mrs Stroke Bloke and I had just spent the weekend in Skye. I’ve been particularly keen to get there since I read Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse during my creative writing degree.

This recording is mental — Over the bridge to Skye

That linked recording of The Skye Boat Song is bonkers. The production, for a start. Then there’s the incredible whistling of Roger Whitaker – you’ve never heard anything like it. Take that, Otis Redding. And I’ve not even mentioned that someone thought it would be a good idea to get Des O’Connor in to sing it?!

[You’ll need a palate cleanser after that. Why not try the Apoplexy Newsletter?]
Continue reading The Old Man of Storr →

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Death Mettle

February 28, 2017Death, Healthcare, Nerd Bait, Podcasts, Pop MusicBullseye, death, Gravediggaz, Jesse Thorne, Laurie Kilmartin, Ste Hewlett, Too Poeticricky

Death Mettle. That’s some Punderdome 3000 level shit right there! Amirite?!

Carcass are not amused — “Stop it. You’re killing us.” – Carcass

What I’m saying is, gird your loins, y’all.

Y’see, in the aftermath of last week’s laughfest about the movie Ghost and the experience of death, Paul pointed out that there’s a deep vein of pop culture death to be mined when it comes to the subject of death…

[This week’s Tiny Letter tuneage isn’t death metal, I promise. Probably.] Continue reading Death Mettle →

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Ghosts

February 21, 2017Death, Movies, Reviews, StrokeGhost, Ray Woodhallricky

I heard a story on the radio last week about a man who had suffered 27 heart attacks in a day. These sort of things are always of interest, partly because of the prevalence of heart disease in Scotland and also because of the similarity between strokes and heart attacks. Particularly haemorrhagic strokes like mine that are caused by high blood pressure.

Basically how it went down

Anyway, Ray Woodhall’s story is pretty amazing…

[Need another does of stroke-related whimsy to get through the week?]

Continue reading Ghosts →

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‘Til Tuesday

February 15, 2017Blog News, Rehab, Science, StrokeAmazon Echo, Christine Hyung-Oak Lee, Mastermind, Spinal Tap, Wednesday Addamsricky

Hi! I think I’m going to change apoplectic.me’s regular posting day to Tuesday.

Over the weekend, there are weekend things to do, and then by Monday all the other things to do have built up and there are regular weekday things to do and I want to do all the things because if I don’t do all the things the to-do list will just get longer and longer for ever and ever amen.

[More whimsy and more personal reflections are available in the Apoplexy Tiny Letter.]

Continue reading ‘Til Tuesday →

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Time Is On Your Side

February 7, 2017Mindfulness, Science, StrokeClaudia Hammond, reminisscence bump, time, TimeWarpricky

1. Superbowl LIe

Long-suffering readers of the blog will know that I’m more than a little obsessed with time and how it works and how it’s expressed. If time is more elastic and less concrete than we imagine – and it is – then that would just about explain Sunday’s Superbowl LI.

"It's a collision sport. *Dancing* is a contact sport." — “It is committee meetings, called huddles, separated by outbursts of violence.”

And that diagram doesn’t incorporate an extended half-time show, overtime, etc. I assume the Superbowl is still going on, although Mrs Stroke Bloke seems happy about the current score. Oddly. I mean, who could root for a man who lies about eating strawberries? Continue reading Time Is On Your Side →

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Apoplectic Me

the scribblings of a bloke who had a stroke…

The Sound of [Young] Scotland

Digesta Plaga #9

Everybody Needs a 303

A Ray of Sunshine

Moonage Daydream

The Old Man of Storr

Death Mettle

Ghosts

‘Til Tuesday

Time Is On Your Side