Bzangy Groink

Year: 2016

  • Albums Of The Year 2016

    Woah! This year I bought 86 albums… so, I’ve had to delete 46 albums I liked enough to buy just to get to the list below. There are NO losers on this list, every one deserves your ears and money! (Once again, thanks to Robin Newman for spotifying this list) 40. Beacon – Escapements Floaty,…

  • Israel Ignores UN Resolution

    Barack Obama appears set for a final showdown with Benjamin Netanyahu after Israel said it would ignore a UN Security Council resolution and push ahead with the building of more Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas. Last week, in a rare condemnation of Israel, the UN said it settlements had “no legal validity”. The criticism went ahead after the US…

  • White Town – Oh, David

    I’m so happy to announce the you can now buy my new single, ‘Oh, David’ from this link at iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/oh-david-single/id1167689514 It’s also available on Amazon, Spotify and every other kind of digital doobrie. I hope you like it, buy it and finance me finally getting that yacht! 😛

  • Sexing Up The Day Of The Dead

    Mexico City has held its first Day of the Dead parade, complete with floats, giant marionettes and hundreds of dancers and performers. Mexican tourism officials say the inspiration came from the opening scenes in last year’s James Bond film, Spectre, which was shot in the city. Bond is seen chasing a villain through crowds watching…

  • I, Ryan Ray

    “I, Ryan Ray, released the MacMillan source code. I acted alone and nobody told me to do it. I did this because security is a myth. Contrary to what you might have heard, my friend, you are not safe. Safety is a story, it’s something we teach our kids so they can sleep at night,…

  • Destination Star Trek 50 @NEC, Birmingham, 7-9/10/16

    After the original series was cancelled, there was no Star Trek on television until the animated series in 1973. When the producers were casting the cartoon, they initially decided not to use George Takei and Nichelle Nichols. It would save money to get their roles played by other actors. But Leonard Nimoy refused to work on…

  • Synthfest UK 2016

    Yesterday, I caught the train up to lovely, leafy Sheffield and had fun wandering around Synthfest UK 2016. Now, pretty obviously, there were many synthesizers there. Rare old analogue beasts like this EMS Synthi: And the latest digital doodads like this nifty Modal hunk: There were three areas, all of them packed with geeks playing and…

  • WE NEED A WAR ON BEDS

    When you next worry about DANGEROUS TERRIST MUSLAMIC RAYGUNS just look at the stats for America.   The media is whipping up fear internationally. You have to ask yourself: why? And who is making money out of it?   Always follow the money…

  • Indiepop Fanzines From The Early ’90s

    So, I finally had time to take some pics of the fanzines I have left from the earliest days of White Town and indiepopness around then. Possibly a couple are from ’89 but the rest are def early ’90s. They’re amazing. The hard work and love popkids used to pour into making these is overwhelming…

  • Halt And Catch Fire – Spalding Gray

    Bosworth: “Looks like you’re in a performance of your own, hah? More of a one man show kind of a thing?” Joe: “Yeah, I’m a regular Spalding Gray…” THIS is why HACF rules. THIS is why it actually IS the ‘80s and doesn’t merely present a copy of a copy of a parody of a copy as most ‘80s…

  • Happy 50th Birthday, Star Trek!

    First, HAAAAPPYYY BIRTHDAAAAY, STAR TREK! WOOHOOO! The following is an essay I wrote for part of my sociology degree. Obviously, it’s a little dry and academic but I think you can still get my love of Trek coming through. Enjoy! UTOPIA – THE FINAL FRONTIER “It speaks to some basic human needs, that there is…

  • Japan – ‘Quiet Life’

    As I was driving home from visiting my Mum (still feels weird that it’s just her, that my Dad isn’t there), Japan’s ‘Quiet Life’ came on in my car. It was the long, 4.52 version, not the single edit. It’s a perfect pop single. The introductory arpeggiator over the drone note is lovely and spooky.…

  • Humans – You Gotta Love These Guys

    (Archive article: Facebook’s Drones – Made In Britain) “It was in the early ‘2020s’ that the ubiquitous net finally arrived and with it the associated exponential increase in neurons (what humans perceived as net nodes) that was required for the first true Intelligence to develop on Earth. Humans themselves sadly became extinct in the next thousand years,…

  • Menace Beach, Pet Crow And Babe Punch @ The Hairy Dog, 21/7/16

    Woohoo! Even though it was so hot that I nearly drowned in my own underboob sweat, I had a fabulous time last night. Three brilliant bands for a fiver! AND I caught a Porygon! First up were Babe Punch who I’ve heard a lot about. Do they live up to the hype? Yes, definitely, easily. Their set…

  • Nat Setting Sun

    Click the pic to see them properly!

  • Grawl!x DJing Playlist

    I had loads of fun DJing the Grawl!x album launch party on Saturday night! Here’s what I played: The Operators – Cold Light L’Orange & Kool Keith – Dr. Bipolar Menace Beach – Tennis Court Handguns – Sleep Deprived Baths – Miasma Sky Such Gold – Two Year Plan Brood Ma – Sex Compressor Boo…

  • Fat Women = Sexy, Fat Men = Losers

    Found this charmer on Ok Cupid: What a catch, eh? Needless to day, I hid the fat-shaming moron. Nice double standard there, too, what’s that shit about?

  • Death & Helga

    I think I’m going really weird at the moment. I’m getting obsessed with porn stars and nude models which is not unusual for me but obsessed in a sad kind of way, not a healthy wanking way. Death and sex, sex and death. That’s all there is. At the minute, Helga Lovekaty just haunts me.…

  • Dr. Radha Mohan Mishra

    Today was my father’s funeral. It’s surreal to be typing that, it feels like I’m practising or writing fiction as his death still seems not right, not real to me. My Daddy (which is what I called him, never, never Dad ~ it’s an Indian thing) was and is my hero. He arrived in Britain with…

  • The Spike Of Popularity

    So, this is my activity view when I’ve actually had something get notes. You can see how much that brief spike towers above my normal activity. It reminds me of my musical career. 😛 I’m waiting for the flurry of notes to die down so normal bucolic service can be resumed.

  • Prince Isn’t Dead

    Prince isn’t dead. Did you see 2012? That amazingly mad CGI fest about the coming end of the world: I remember watching it and thinking, alternately, ‘HAH, THEY JUST FLEW THROUGH A SKYSCRAPER!’ and ‘why is Cusack in this? I mean, Harrelson I get, he’s goofing off on doing this totally gonzo character. But Cusack?’ And then ‘HAH,…

  • Weird Nosebleed

    I slept fairly well last night, the usual cinematic dreams in Atmos with full sensesurround. I woke up kind of with a start. I was lying on my back. Then I rotated and sat up, legs over the side of the bed. Immediately, I felt water running down my face and chest. I looked down,…

  • Mouna Traoré

    Now, I love Murdoch Mysteries… It’s light and playful and I love the Canadian-ness of it, much as I loved the Candadian-ness of Continuum. But every since Mouna Traoré joined the cast… well, I’ve been hypnotised by her beauty. I think I have a crush. LOOK AT THOSE EYES… omg… It’s all too much for my…

  • COMMIES IN SPAAAAACE

    protozoaradio @bzangy what do you think of post-capitalism (ha, i guess post-work) via automation? (note: i’ve only read nick srnicek’s book) xxx bzangy   I’ve not read that, gimme a pointer! The trouble with capitalism is that it’s an economic system whose time has passed. It’s as relevant and progressive as feudalism now. The profit…

  • Pulsar JO437-4715

    I find it outrageous that pulsar JO437-4715 rotates at 173.7Hz. This is a star almost twice as massive as our sun, whipping itself around, a full rotation every 5.75ms. What’s the fastest you can spin yourself round? I’m guessing it’s a lot less than 174Hz and you’re considerably smaller than JO437-4715. I dunno. Astrophysics is…

  • Popular

    Someone posted this on Tumblr: This is from Popular! I used to love that show. And this is the first ever time I’ve seen it on Tumblr! It was created by Gina Matthews (Urban Legend, What Women Want, Jake 2.0)  and Ryan Murphy (AHS, Nip/Tuck, Glee) and is soooo ‘90s. It’s like every ‘90s high school teen drama…

  • Running On Empty, Pt. Um

    So, I’ve slept for a million hours since all the hospital stuff last week… …but I still feel so emotionally drained, just shattered. It’s made my usual loneliness crystallise into spikes, poking at me whichever way I turn. Rationally, I realise it’s just my normal sex drive, coming at me another way. This immense, overwhelming desire to…

  • Destination Star Trek Europe

    OH YESSSS! IT’S ON! The 50th Anniversary UK Trek Con is a go! And SHATNER WILL BE THERE! AND IT’S IN BRUM AND NOT LONDON! (Birmingham’s only an hour drive from me, 30mins on the train!) And guess what? OH YES I AM! Please reblog this if you’re going, would like to go, love Trek…

  • On The ’80s

    (a comment I added to an ’80s discussion on Tumblr) I would add that the English ‘80s was probably very different from the Canadian or American or Vietnamese or Ghanian ‘80s. When people try to sum up a decade, it’s an impossible task so they end up sketching a zeitgeist instead. Often, this sketch is what becomes…

  • Cameron Monaghan Talks About The Joker

    Have a read of this SPOILER-FULL article: Cameron Monaghan On The Joker SPOILERS AFTER BREAK

  • Big Five Personality Test

    Sadly, not linked to anything Agatha, a personality test. This is what I just got: I a little surprised by how how I scored in extraversion; I am a musician and I am very social but I know plenty of drama students who make me look like a trembling wallflower. And I thought I’d score…

  • Top Five (2014)

    I’ve *just* finished watching this (the credits are still rolling) and I want to get my review down while it’s all fresh… PICO VERSION: good romcom with actual rom and com. See it! Now, onto the long version. Chris Rock is Andre Allen, a hugely successful comedian. The trouble is that his success is based…

  • RIP Bowie

    I was recording till around 6am last night so I woke late and the first thing I saw on Insta was pics of Bowie. My heart fucking sank as I unplugged my phone from the charger. You know when you’re trying to will something to not be true? Then, once I got my laptop out,…

  • Old And Loving It

    Today, I’ve been posting up comedians who were stars 30 or 40 or more years before I was born. So far, there’s been The Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. I expect I’ll get into Laurel and Hardy next. I saw most of those stars when I was a little kid. BBC2…

  • Chaplin (1992)

    I’m just watching Attenborough’s biopic of Charlie Chaplin. It’s an embarrassment of riches. The first is, of course, a young, impishly handsome Robert Downey Jr. As Chaplin. Now, if you’ve only seen RDJ in his more recent roles, it’s not like he’s got any worse as an actor; he’s tremendously assured and mature. Possibly only…