Bzangy Groink

Year: 2017

  • Yet More Shitty YA Posing As Adult Drama

    I’ve been watching Salvation on UK Netflix and it’s just making me miss HACF. Why is mainstream US telly so emotionally vapid, so silly and plastic? In one scene, a character is literally waterbaorded. Half an hour later, he’s totally fine and making jokes about it. You know, like any of us would be after…

  • HACF S4E7 – Who Needs A Guy (SPOILERS)

    Originally posted by sunnydisposish SPOILERS BELOW I’m in fucking pieces. Just when everything was perfect for Gordon… I can’t believe it. It’s so horrible and random and unfair. Which I guess is why HACF is the most lifelike show on telly. Seeing his girls and Donna weeping on the sofa…. that just fucked me up.…

  • Casting My Hand

    Today, I thought I’d have a go at casting my hand in plaster of paris. Obviously, this wasn’t a sudden whim because you need more than household ingredients to do this. I’d already bought several bags of Baby Rice alginate plus some mixing jugs that could serve as hand moulds. So, I mixed the first…

  • Panasonic DMC-LX15 Test Night Shots

    I recently got an LX15 to replace my trusty Sony RX100Mk3 which, sadly, has been dropped one too many times and is a bit grumpy and temperamental, like a certain R2 unit. So far, I’m loving the LX15. It’s rocking the same 1″ sensor that all the high-end compacts have been forced to move to…

  • Racists On Facebook

    So, I’m scrolling through my newsfeed and I read this “joke” above that’s actually the most sick, dehumanising racism which *two* of my white “friends” have liked. What the fuck? I post it up, call them out and instantly another white male leaps to their defense, saying that I need “to chill” and that he “needs context” for…

  • Kraftwerk Live!

    Last night, I saw Kraftwerk live at the Theatre Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. The whole evening was surreal for me as I veered between awe, sadness and happy lost-in-popness. I went with my mate Nate and you can see us above, looking AMAZING. As a slight background; Kraftwerk have been my favourite band since 1981.…

  • Election 2017

    Rob and Nat came over to hang out for ELECTION FEVER NIGHT. When we called it a night, it was with trepidation of what the morning would bring. Well, JOY TO THE WORLD! Theresa May is FUCKED! It’s a hung parliament, she’s having to run round in dark corners making shady deals with extremist nutters…

  • Class Hatred

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nick-clegg-conservative-school-funding-cuts-children-lose-free-hot-lunches-election-2017-tory-a7742131.html I feel I’m drifting towards ulta-left unreasoning class hatred. The latest news about May cutting school meals for poor kids – how can someone be so utterly fucking evil? These are the kids at the very bottom of society. Often, their school dinner may be the one proper meal they have a day. And…

  • Loneliness

    Isn’t it crazy how many of us are lonely? Not just occasionally, a bit in-need-of-company, at-a-loose-end kind of lonely but deep, existential loneliness. I had an old friend round a while ago. I actually had to ask him if some of my memories of my first girlfriend were true. They’re so long ago and I’ve…

  • On Racists And Sea Lions

    The ignorance of some white people just staggers me. If anyone raises racism or cultural appropriation, they immediately flip into full-on sea lion mode or, even worse, into dismissive troll mode. Here’s how I see it: Imagine I’m in a public space, say waiting in line at a cafe. Someone prods me and says, “Ow! You’re…

  • The Last Ever Episode Of Grimm

    I watched the first ever episode of Grimm. And just now I watched the last ever ep. I feel soo sad now that I’ll never experience new eps of this universe again, the same as I feel about Falling Skies, Continuum, Warehouse 13, Eureka, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse and sooo many more. On the…

  • When Is A Terrorist Not A Terrorist? When He’s White!

    A man has been found guilty of trying to cause “maximum damage” by making a bomb filled with ball bearings and leaving it on a Tube train. Damon Smith put his homemade device into a rucksack and left it on a Jubilee line train in October. The 20-year-old had admitted perpetrating a bomb hoax but…

  • Peter Kay’s Car Share

    The quiet genius of Peter Kay reaches perhaps its purest expression in Car Share. Nothing happens. It’s just two coworkers sharing a car to work. And back. That’s it. Nothing bloody happens. And that nothing is everything. Kay is better than Beckett, better than Bennett, better than Camus. There is not a wasted word, every…

  • Husky Musky

  • I Miss My Dad

    Today is the first anniversary of my Dad dying. I can’t believe it’s been a year. I haven’t slept properly the past few days. I keep waking up every hour or so, like I’m anxious about missing a train or flight or something. I’ve had such a lonely year without him. I miss arguing about…

  • Spicer Agrees With Hitler

    White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has been criticised after he declared that Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons during World War Two. “We had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons,” he said as he criticised Russia for supporting Syria’s regime. Critics pointed out gas was used…

  • The Smallness Of Racism

    Out in the universe, there are… Galaxies colliding. As ours will with Andromeda in around five thousand million years. Think of that, actual fucking galaxies colliding. (Pic is of the Antennae galaxies, a pair of interacting galaxies located 45 – 65 million light years from Earth. Credit: Hubble / ESA) There are pulsars, as discovered…

  • An History Of Progress

    During the last 510 years of the European/Euro-American capitalist/patriarchal modern/colonial world-system we processed from the 16th Century ‘Christianize or we’ll shoot you,’ to the 19th Century ‘civilize or we’ll shoot you,’ to the 20th Century ‘develop or we’ll shoot you,’ to the late 20th Century ‘neoliberalize or we’ll shoot you,’ to the early 21st Century…

  • Monet, Manet, Minget

    I just fell asleep, old man style, and had this crazy 30-second dream. I was laying next to this beautiful naked woman (well, naked except for a garter on her right thigh) and we were edging towards the beast with two backs when she suddenly looked up and through the window of the cottage we…

  • Grand Budapest Hotel Made Me Cry Again

    Gustave: I suppose this is to be expected back in… Where do you come from again? Zero: Aq Salim al-Jabat. Gustave: Precisely. I suppose this is to be expected back in Aq Salim al-Jabat where one’s prized possessions are a stack of filthy carpets and a starving goat, and one sleeps behind a tent flap…

  • Cultural Appropriation Is Not New

    “White people began to come to Harlem in droves. For several years they packed the expensive Cotton Club on Lenox Avenue. But I was never there, because the Cotton Club was a Jim Crow club for gangsters and monied whites. They were not cordial to Negro patronage, unless you were a celebrity like Bojangles. So…

  • Format Festival DJing 25/3/17

    On Friday night just gone, I did a little set at a shindig for Format Festival. Here’s what I played: Knocked Loose – Oblivions Peak Stromae – Tous Les Memes Brakes – Heard About Your Band A Tribe Called Quest – The Space Program Yussef Kamaal – Black Focus Kvelertak – 1985 TRIM – RPG…

  • HDIF DJing 18/3/17

    HOO BOY! Another lovely night DJing for Ian Watson at his lovely HDIF night. We had a good crowd in, a load of mods, some rudeboys and, obviously, plenty of indiepop and soul kids. Here’s what I played: Band Of Gold – For You The Free Design – 2002 – A Hit Song Public Service…

  • Wolfgang Flür

    Forgot to say… When I did a promo tour for EMI Germany, I asked them if it was possible for them to introduce me to any of Kraftwerk, my fave ever band (they were on EMI too). Well, I ended up having a lovely dinner with the EMI Germany peeps and Mr. Wolfgang Flür (seen…

  • Stand Up To Racism National Demo, Saturday 18th March, 2017

    This is the protest I took part in on Saturday, the national Stand Up To Racism demo. It was a great turnout in London, around 40,000 I’d say and there were other demos in Glasgow and Cardiff the same day. Have a look through the photo gallery above! ????

  • Marilyn Vamproe

    That’s the whole thing. Right there.

  • Fran First Shoot

    First shoot with Fran, had loads of fun and she’s an awesome model. Hopefully we’ll work together again in the future.

  • Canon M5 First Test Shots

    Sooo… I went to town for a wander and came home with an M5… Yeah, I know. Like I need YET ANOTHER CAMERA. But, in my defence, it’s very tiny and basically an 80D crammed into a minuscule chassis. I am going to test the shit out it this week at the anti-Trump protest and…

  • 24 And 27 Club

    This popped up on Facebook and for a moment I wondered if Curtis was in the 27 Club. But, no, he isn’t. Ian Curtis would be 60 now, he died at 24 so not a 27 Club member.   Of the actual 27 Club members ~ Kurt Cobain would be 50. Jimi Hendrix, 75. Janis…

  • For A Free Scotland!

    Yes, run from Tory England as FAST AS YOU CAN, Scotland! And then, when there’s an INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND that is also still part of the EU, watch companies and personnel drain north of the border. Face it, if you were a bank, where would you rather have an HQ ~ xenophobic, Brexit England or Free…

  • The Forgotten Cohort

    If you fall into either of those camps, you’ll doubtless have strong opinions. If you don’t, then come and join me on the sidelines as the two sides limber up for the mother of all battles. I’ve got popcorn, it’ll be fun. And who are we, if we’re not boomers or millennials? Why, we’re Generation…

  • Netflixitis

    So, I’m currently trying to watch the pilot episode of Legion, a new TV show based on the Marvel character. But… I’ve already lost interest. Because, even though this is being shown on Fox, the show has been infected with the new scourge of TV: NETFLIXITIS. The infection was first spotted in a very benign…

  • Derby Anti-Trump Demo, 30/1/17

    Today I found out that there was an anti-Trump demo on in Derby so I scrambled to get ready and made it into town. It was a good turnout for such sort notice and we all chanted and listened to the speakers. I was most moved by the guy talking about his family’s history of…

  • Michael Nesmith, Country Rock & (The) Eagles

    I just watched the long doc on the Eagles which was fascinating, in the way that all rock docs are. You have the origin story, some kids sparking off each other, loving the music. Then they get success and become addled by the drugs and the sex and then, inevitably, along comes Mr. Creative Differences.…

  • Channing Tatum

    (This is from a Tumblr thread where people were defending Tatum. Well, I had to add something, didn’t I?) He IS brilliant in Hail Caesar, not least because he’s also having sly fun with popular notions about him as an actor. Takes a brave actor to do that and keep on point. May I also…

  • True Love

    I keep having the most vivid dreams that I’m with my ex and I’m begging her not to leave, like I did in real life when she said she wanted a divorce. I know that person doesn’t exist any more but when I see her in my dreams, it’s so disturbing. Her skin feels as soft,…

  • A Beautiful Picture

    Now, I’m not a fan of Obama. He’s murdered innocent people with his drones so how can I be? I am, however, a fan of this photo: (Source: BBC News) At the top, you have the crowds for Obama’s 2009 inauguration. At the bottom you have Trump’s 2017 ceremony. You know, the neo-Nazis currently re-branding…

  • Veronica Mars

    SO, I’m bingeing Veronica Mars and I’m too entertained. Like, I expected it to be good but not *this* good. The writing is snappy, the dialogue entertaining, the plots all sewn up with each ep…   If this was a Netflix series, I feel like forty minutes of each ep would be her just staring…

  • Gargling Other People’s Shit

    Friday night, I went to Mosh. The music was good, most of the people were fine. But there was a scattering of people there who I absolutely can’t fucking stand. Fair dos, Derby isn’t massive and the alt scene is basically one hundred people at any one time, you’re gonna bump into them cos this…

  • Backstrom

    Fucking hell…. just tried to watch the first ep of this and, apparently, casual racism is the NEW EDGY on Netflix. “BUT HE’S OBNOXIOUS, YOU DON’T GET IT!!!” Oh, but I do. It’s yet another excuse for punch down humour. Why couldn’t he have been an obnoxious black cop making fun of crackers? Why couldn’t…

  • Israel Threatens UK Minister

    Israel’s ambassador to the UK has apologised after a senior member of his staff was secretly filmed saying he wanted to “take down” Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan. (Source:  BBC News) Take down how? Politically? Physically, with an assassination via Mossad?   Can you imagine *any* other government getting away with this kind of…

  • White Town, Always

    (On seeing this post on diversity in alternative music) You know, it’s made me ridiculously happy to see my band in this list, thank you! White Town has *always* been on the outside of the immensely white, middle class indie(pop) scene since I first formed the band in 1989. The third gig we did (I…