Amazon exiles discussion
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Your comment ‘and even one by David Grey’ reminds me of something I read years ago. Someone had read a quote from a little known poet and was so taken with it that he searched out a book of his poems. After reading about a third of the way through, he decided that the two lines quoted were the only decent thing the poet had ever written …
Isabella wrote: "Your comment ‘and even one by David Grey’ reminds me of something I read years ago. Someone had read a quote from a little known poet and was so taken with it that he searched out a book of his poe..."Ha ha.. how many times does that happen? I've known films where the best bits are shown in the trailers! And many an album where I heard a single or other track from it first and thought 'Excellent' - got the album and found the rest of the songs a bit flat... or even terrible. A good example would be a band called The Enemy. When I first heard the single We'll Live And Die In These Towns I thought to meself 'Love this record. Ok, it sounds like they're trying a little to be The Jam... but that's no bad thing' - not if yer a Jam fan like meself. Got the album and couldn't get on with it.
Another example... I heard a track from The Dead 60s' self titled debut album called Train To Nowhere and was/am quite taken with it. Album turned out to not do much for me.
And of course that's another excuse for links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzMHg...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0FRt...
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Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks..
(last edited Oct 07, 2023 08:55AM)
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Let me treat yous to a pick-me-up. A nice happy tune (and yet more proof of my musical eclecticism). Imo, it sounds a tad better when BPM's pitched up a little on the decks but even as it is..... such an uplifting track. Listening to it now and I'm singing at top of me voice.... and no, I aint had a drop to drink. Some tunes just put a massive smile on my face.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm0eq...
Just waiting for young un to come downstairs with tolerance dwindling rapidly, saying "C'mon Dad.... there's no need for that. You're getting carried away now."
To his credit, he's yet to put in an appearance... and this gotta be 4th time on trot it's been on and these old lungs getting a workout.
Sod it... some more happy tunes. Well, they do it for me!Another Girl Another Planet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anqGQ...
Mrs Robinson - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvMFm...
Friday I'm In Love - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGgMZ...
It's Alright - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArXtZ...
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Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks..
(last edited Oct 08, 2023 09:29AM)
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As usual, I come to tap into the superior knowledge of y'all. Have discovered a site where they print what ya want on T-shirts. Just upload what you require to said site and then position it on T-shirt as one pleases. Also option to add text and plenty of fonts available.Just wondering if any of yous have had any experience with such sites as this? Would they allow swearwords? I was thinking of having one with a picture of Jeremy Clarkson on front and above picture, simply - 'Tw@'. Without the censorship obviously.
Also wondering about licensing issues. Would they knock me back if I wanted a musical artist or whatever? It's letting me place pics of the likes of Cobain and Sid Vicious onto shirt but have not tried purchasing owt yet.
It's let me design my Clarkson T-shirt without issue. When I clicked on 'Save Draft' tho, it wanted me to log in and of course I'm not a member. If it does indeed not just let me mess about designing stuff but let's me buy it regardless of language or music icons.... I'll be made up! I can spend hours doing this stuff. I just spent the last hour downloading various pics strictly for this purpose! Can see a large hit to me bank account on the horizon. The narcissist in me is even contemplating having my own pic (a bit like this profile pic probably) along with 'DJ Hobsession - Watch yer bass bins' but... several of my other personalities are shaking their heads. : )
Even with the word ‘twat’ next to him, I’d be worried people thought I actually liked Jeremy Clarkson. During the 1979 general election campaign we had a Red Wedge poster in our window of Thatcher with a very unflattering expression on her face and the caption ‘There’s only one loony left’, a witty twist on the tories’ favourite description of the opposition. We had to take it down because people kept saying to us they didn’t realise we were Thatcher supporters.
There’s always at least one person who will miss the point … and maybe you do him more harm by ignoring him completely? (Maybe not so much fun for you, though).
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Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks..
(last edited Oct 08, 2023 07:15PM)
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Oooh risky business there NC.... I reckon Maggie might have been more despised up your part of this island than down here? And that's really saying something cos she was hated with such an incredible passion round these parts. I remember my books at secondary school covered in anti-Thatcher slogans... just like some buildings and walls around the village that'd been introduced to tins of spray paint.Yes I can see how folk might think I'm a Clarkson fan wearing that. Really really wouldn't want that. I do like to watch Top Gear tho it's hard to justify why. It once either won or was definitely nominated for a TV award in the 'Best unscripted' category. Unscripted? That's a joke. It's about as unscripted as wrestling!
How about if I had a pic of him with TWAT written in large running diagonally across the front of him? Or over his eyes in Sex Pistols 'God Save The Queen fashion?? I dunno. We'll see.
Indeed, some people will deliberately miss the point around here I can tell thee.
nocheese wrote: "Quite like the Sex Pistols idea 😀"If they accept it, I shall be sure to to put up a pic on my profile of me modelling it for yous all. : )
Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks wrote: "It's let me design my Clarkson T-shirt without issue. When I clicked on 'Save Draft' tho, it wanted me to log in and of course I'm not a member. If it does indeed not just let me mess about designi..."Hey Blastro. I've used 3 different sites for designing my own band tees and although it's the priciest, I've found Bags Of Love to be the best. Pretty sure swear words are allowed. And they'll warn you if the image you're trying to use is low quality. They do an amazing job and you can get both sides printed. They also print directly onto the fabric instead of using a transfer.
https://www.bagsoflove.co.uk/?utm_adg...
message 8717:
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Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks..
(last edited Oct 10, 2023 04:08PM)
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Collette wrote: "Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks wrote: "It's let me design my Clarkson T-shirt without issue. When I clicked on 'Save Draft' tho, it wanted me to log in and of course I'm not a mem..."Ah nice one Collette. Really appreciate that. I'd love to be able to have both sides done too. Do they let ya use famous folk y'know? I'm thinking of licensing issues, image rights and all that malarkey.
Sorry, upon rereading.. you did say 'Band Ts' so I guess it's alright on that score.
Hey Blastro. Yep, famous folks allowed. My first attempt was a JBJ one. Much happier with my Europe and Whitesnake tees. You can save designs for future purposes as well.
message 8719:
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Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks..
(last edited Nov 01, 2023 04:44PM)
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Hey there Collette. If I remember correctly, you're partial to a good horror book and film? I had a short (cyber) stroll outside a week or so ago.... not too far away from our 'Exiles' front door, lest I get lost, but just over the road and into the woods. I found interesting goings on in those woods. Naked folk dancing around fires and goat's blood scattered around... black cats all over the place and howling that was a little too close for comfort! Turns out to be a couple of forums/groups by the names of 'Horror Afficionados' and 'Stephen King Fans'. Quite large communities and seem a decent enough bunch. I'm told there's no trolling or owt of that ilk either. Suits me just fine as King is probably my fave writer.. and alongside crime fiction, I love a good horror read.I would love to tice everyone over there (while still keeping this place going obviously) but not sure anyone would be interested cos not being into horror stuff. That's where you come in m'dear. Fancy going n having a peep? Be good to see ya over there. Have made one friend already who swaps messages with me regularly and as I say.. they all seem a nice bunch.. but it's still much better to have old friends over there to talk to to.
That goes for rest of yous too! Nowt to stop ya joining. Does anyone else read anything remotely close to horror? If not, then you could just PRETEND to be horror fans! : )
Hey Blastro. That I am. Haven't read a book in a couple of months though as I have bloody cateracts in my right eye (causing total blurred vision) and I'm too scared in case it puts a strain on my good eye. As you know Laymon's probably my all time favourite horror writer, but I've really enjoyed the David Haynes and Amy Cross books I've read, and you can't beat a bit of Masterton (the first time I read Spirit it gave me nightmares). I'm at Mum's at the moment on her phone but I promise I'll go and have a nosy at the weekend when I'm back home again. Might just see you over there. 😘
Yep, be great to see ya over there. I'll pester ya until I see ya pop up on one of (or both) the 'Introduce Yourself' threads that they have. : )I remember you liking Laymon but didn't realize - or just forgot - that you were partial to a bit of Masterton. So with those two, ya got a heady mix of sex and violence with the former... and proper graphic savagery courtesy of the latter. Actually, I'm not proud to admit that I didn't read my first novel until my early 20s. That tho was a Masterton. As I devoured more of his stuff, I saw that it (The Wells Of Hell) was one of his weaker efforts but I was hooked right away. Like... 'Why haven't I been reading years ago?'. Guess that before that I musta thought I was too cool to read! : )
Collette,I agree about Laymon,I'm a horror buff myself.I have all of laymons ,most of Dean Koontz and Jeffery deaver and James Herbert.I have most of Stephen king but not so many of the recent ones.I haven't read a Masterson in many years but I've probably got half a dozen on one of the ten bookcases I have.I do have a serious book problem , theyre starting to just be laying in piles now,oh no,another bookcase!
Get yourself over to those forums Anita. Many many like-minded folk there.James Herbert's Haunted is a classic! How many times has that idea been copied on the big screen? One of my fave Laymon books is probably one of his shortest - The Woods Are Dark. Both those writers sadly gone now. I quite enjoyed Koontz stuff from the 80s and 90s but then got a bit tired of him. Watchers an all-time great book. Always enjoy Masterton stuff. King is probably the boss tho imo.
Blastro,I do go on the horror aficionardos.Stepjen king yes,I think a lot of my problem is time, trying to get through a thick Stephen king book now Is difficult with work.Im on the ice cold heart at the moment.
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Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks..
(last edited Oct 12, 2023 02:54PM)
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Apologies Anita I didn't realize you already visited those forums/groups. Have you read any of King's short story collections? He's done quite a few and nearly every collection is of the highest quality. As I say, they're all good but for me, the best un is Nightmares & Dreamscapes but Everything's Eventual comes close... and Skeleton Crew incl most excellent tales like The Mist and Survivor Type. Then there's his collections of what I'd call 'Long short stories' with four per collection. Again, all mighty fine but best being The Bachman Books imo... closely followed by Full Dark, No Stars and Four Past Midnight. Different Seasons has to get a mention simply for Shawshank Redemption. If you haven't already read em, you might find time to fit in the odd story outta those. I do know what ya mean... many of his more recent books have been on the big side. Revival is quite a thin one tho if that is of any interest. Not one of his better efforts but still something you'll wanna finish.
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Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks..
(last edited Oct 14, 2023 04:31AM)
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Collette wrote: "Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks wrote: "It's let me design my Clarkson T-shirt without issue. When I clicked on 'Save Draft' tho, it wanted me to log in and of course I'm not a mem..."Had a look at that site Collette and it does indeed seem to go into more depth. Also what I really like.. is that it looks like ya can have the pic as large as, and in whatever location, ya want. What I mean to ask ya tho... it's let me use pics I've cribbed off the net but tells me they're poor quality. How do I get higher quality pics? Is it something to do with the original image or is it to do with which format I've used to grab the pic?? Or something else???
Have gone T-shirt crazy of late. Especially Pop Will Eat Itself T-shirts. Am very partial to the Designers Republic style.
I’ve never tried to use images for t shirts, Blastro but it may be that the images have been uploaded to the net in a low resolution format. Photo editing software has provision for you to reduce the number of pixels to the inch to reduce the file size so that when emailing photos it’s quicker. On a small screen it often doesn’t matter (it’s how I send photos to friends). If they wanted to print something to frame or whatever, they would need a much better resolution to make it look good. Some photos have a watermark or copyright mark which might affect efforts to print them. There are sites that have images that are in the public domain, so free to reproduce but I’m not sure if they will have any of interest to you. Hope this helps.
Isabella wrote: "I’ve never tried to use images for t shirts, Blastro but it may be that the images have been uploaded to the net in a low resolution format. Photo editing software has provision for you to reduce t..."Cheers Isabella. Do ya think that lesser quality images wouldn't matter so much for T-shirts as for, say, a poster or something like that? Some basic logos (like ones for record labels which I'm fond of) I'm sure it wouldn't matter but there's a couple of pics of musicians I'd like to have.
Faces can be recognisable even at low resolution - think Che - and anyway, an image on fabric is going to be less sharp than one on paper, so you might be lucky. Perhaps try one and see if you like the result?
Lame joke time...A bunch of people shipwrecked washed up on an island. They were starting to get hungry and one of em produces the remnants of an old map and says "According to this map, about a mile away, through that small forest, there's a whole bunch of bacon trees". Most found this highly amusing but some of the group decided that it was worth a look and better than doing nothing.. so they set off. Many hours later they returned... but minus a couple of their number and many of them walking wounded, bloodied and battered. The group that had stayed behind said "Oh no what happened?" - The injured group replied "The map was incorrect. There wasn't any bacon trees. It was an hambush!"
Hey Blastro if you're out there ..... PostSoviet was asking about books by Graham Masterton over on the reading thread:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I figured you would know.
Cheers Val... will nip over there now
sorry been in bed with the bug from hell this weekend,probably picked up from my football advisor.The post man told me ,,when I'd crawled out of the bathroom that there were about 10 cases he'd heard of in the village.Digging out that bottle of hand sanitiser.Blastro I've just seen your message about the Stephen king books ,I do like short stories,I have most of those you mentioned but not Revival ,I'll pop it on my Christmas list . Skeleton crew was very good,I'll dig it out for a re read.
Anita wrote: "sorry been in bed with the bug from hell this weekend,probably picked up from my football advisor.The post man told me ,,when I'd crawled out of the bathroom that there were about 10 cases he'd hea..."Sadly I only now own one King book. We used to have every book he'd written apart from two or three recent ones but SHE (her name shall not be uttered, typed or even thought ha ha) took the bloody lot! Spirited em away while I was living next door for that few months. What a thing to do to a King fan. Only reason I still have the one (If It Bleeds) is because I was reading it (or at least attempting to read it) while I was round there.
Y'know what the worst part is? She's not picked up a book for quite a few years. She's been reading via her phone or laptop for many moons!! One word. SPITE!
Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks wrote: "Collette wrote: "Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks wrote: "It's let me design my Clarkson T-shirt without issue. When I clicked on 'Save Draft' tho, it wanted me to log in and of cou..."When you do an image search, Blastro always opt for extra large images in the settings. If it's a really good picture you can also enlarge it yourself if it still says the quality is low . If I remember on
Saturday I'll put up pics of my Europe and Whitesnake tees. I always use Bing for my pictures.
Ps I would never use a low quality/resolution image for my tees. Might as well just chuck the 30 quid down the drain.
Ok cheers Collette. See, I wouldn't have known that and just gone ahead and got one anyways. Nice one. Y'know what a technophobe I am tho. What and where are these setting you speak of? Ya mean the general laptop settings? Or does the site have settings?? If that sounds really thick then..... well I have no excuse whatsoever for my ignorance. : )
Bing has settings in the image search so you can choose different image sizes (I always use XL), then when you save the jpeg to the computer you can also change the size there. I'll explain properly this afternoon when I get back home 😊...So on Bing's search bar put your band name in and select images. Then it's 'filter', 'image size and 'extra large'. Click on the image and when it opens press 'view image' under the picture and then you can drag it full sized onto your desktop.
When you open it up on the desktop you should then have the option to resize it, sharpen the colour etc. (My computer is a Lenovo Idea Centre using Windows 11.) Have fun.
Anita wrote: "Collette,I agree about Laymon,I'm a horror buff myself.I have all of laymons ,most of Dean Koontz and Jeffery deaver and James Herbert.I have most of Stephen king but not so many of the recent ones..."Sorry for the late reply, Anita. I gave most of my books away to a charity shop about 10 years ago, but kept a large storage box (Laymon, some Herbert, King and Koontz, Mary Higgins Clark etc) of my favourites. Thanks to my kindle, I imagine I'll never read any of my actual books again, but some I just didn't want to part with.
Collette wrote: "Anita wrote: "Collette,I agree about Laymon,I'm a horror buff myself.I have all of laymons ,most of Dean Koontz and Jeffery deaver and James Herbert.I have most of Stephen king but not so many of t..."How 'bout Herbert's Haunted, Collette? You read that un?? Often copied, never bettered! Hollywood have lifted that idea for some films. A couple that come straight to mind is the one with Nicole Kidman... I forget the name and Sixth Sense also borrows from it.
All a bit tricky at our house tonight. There was a problem with a damaged pipe just outside our garden which was losing quite a lot of water. They came to fix it at lunchtime but unfortunately there was some sort of backflow from the main and our supply is contaminated with soil and grit. They sent a plumber out but the valve in the house where the filter is has been damaged and has to be replaced. The part won’t come for a couple of days so it’s bottled water to drink and rain water to flush. G has to be at the university, so we’ll drive down tomorrow and stay at the flat where at least we can shower! It’s only when the water’s off that you realise how often you turn the tap on in the course of the day. 😕
Spot on there Isabella. I don't envy you n yours. The next house on from what used to be Mother's - next door - was having something done to it re plumbing and such. Not that I was told or even warned... but ya think 'Plumbing' when the water suddenly stops coming outta the taps and there's vans parked at top of said house. Woulda been nice to have been notified so we could at least fill the bathtub up to flush the toilet with and bottle up some water to drink. It was off for a few hours. We do take it so much for granted don't we.... water on tap so easy to access.On the subject of water... didn't any place around your area get flooded over weekend?
I think there might have been some problems down in the valley, G had an appointment cancelled because people couldn’t get through from Worcester but we’re on the side of the Malverns, so don’t flood. There’s a near permanent ‘stream’ along the gutter at the bottom of the drive which is run off from the hills but otherwise no chance of rain flooding us out.Maybe your neighbours didn’t know their plumbing might affect yours. They told us some of ours might be linked to next door’s but as it’s a building plot, we don’t know yet!
The Sydney Opera House is celebrating its 50th birthday this year and Tim Minchin has done a fantastic tribute:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8oui...
Of to see him on Friday night so looking forward to some new material and some old.
From being annoyed with Goodreads because they were showing thousands of "new" posts, I now find that some threads aren't showing new posts at all. I have to carefully look at the dates to see if there's been any activity.
Val wrote: "The Sydney Opera House is celebrating its 50th birthday this year and Tim Minchin has done a fantastic tribute:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8oui...
Of to see him on Friday night so lookin..."
Really enjoyed watching the tribute, Val. We were lucky enough to go to a concert in the opera house when we were in Sydney some years ago, as was my sister on another occasion. It’s a glorious building. Hope you enjoyed your concert.
Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks.. wrote: "Collette wrote: "Anita wrote: "Collette,I agree about Laymon,I'm a horror buff myself.I have all of laymons ,most of Dean Koontz and Jeffery deaver and James Herbert.I have most of Stephen king but..."Hey Blastro. Don't think I ever read Haunted but I saw the film years ago. I like The Ghosts Of Sleath. The Nicole Kidman film is The Others.
Collette wrote: "Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Blastronaut Rocks.. wrote: "Collette wrote: "Anita wrote: "Collette,I agree about Laymon,I'm a horror buff myself.I have all of laymons ,most of Dean Koontz and Jeffe..."The Others! Of course!! Not sure I've read The Ghosts Of Sleath tho it does sound quite familiar. The Rats books of his were quite popular if I remember correctly but I wasn't swept away by em. Not bad but that's about it. Moon was the first Herbert book I read and enjoyed that one. Creed is one of my fave Herbert novels. An underlaying strand of humor help push it along nicely. Def would recommend if ya haven't read it.
Sorry for the late reply, Blastro. I quite liked The Rats trilogy. Another one I enjoyed was Portent. Think the last Herbert book I read was The Secret Of Crickley Hall.
Well, I'm feeling pleased with myself. A while ago, the thing that supports the carousel in the kitchen cabinet came adrift so the shelf couldn't be used properly, we could see the problem but the prongs refused to engage. G couldn't get into the space and I could but didn't have the strength in my hands to push the prongs down. This morning I had another go at it and worked out that my Dad's old hammer that I've hung on to for years out of sentiment was just the right size to fit in the gap and whack the prongs down. Result! I'm now feeling smug about all those life coach types who say don't hang on to stuff that 'might come in useful one day'. I do have a newer, bigger, smarter hammer that isn't decades old and hasn't been repaired but it wouldn't have done the job.
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Spot on Isabella. Some of the so-called 'experts' in the music press really get my goat. A mate of mine passes on his Classic Rock mags to me when he's read em so I get to read plenty of reviews. I find it frustrating that there's certain bands where ya see em featured on the cover and ya just know before you get to the review, that they're gonna get full marks for their latest (or a reissued) album. Just because of who they are! I sometimes wonder if these reviewers know what they're gonna score for em before they even listen to the record. It's like, even if it's not spectacular, they'll find stuff in there where they can convince themselves it's top quality. They either don't do it consciously or they're bare-faced liars. Same with certain band's names highlighted in the reviews section... before ya see the scores, ya know they won't get a top review cos it wouldn't be 'cool' to give certain bands top marks. Makes my arse laugh... pardon me French. Same for music fans. The ones that lord it over us mere mortals because what they listen to is more intelligent. Or the more obscure bands/artists they name, the more a serious fan they must be? Bah! I like what I like.. and that includes Meat Loaf, a Phil Collins song, and even one by David Gray! In fact I shall link it. Perhaps uncool but... I love this track....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BhLV...