What's on your mind?

[JonoBlade]

11 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

You mean to tell me bands will do full European tours and skip jolly old England altogether? What do they make them pay exorbitant fees to perform in the country or withhold all their earnings in the name of taxes or something?

Dude, we built a little shelf next to the shitter so you can lean your phone against the shower glass while you do your business. Because nobody goes to the bathroom without their phone. It's not just for twats anymore.

How old's your daughter now Jon, like 12? When did you guys get her a phone? My kid has been lobbying hard for a phone, all his friends have phones he says, but he's only 10. He doesn't want it to make calls or text, he wants to play games and make goofy videos of himself 'n shit. But he already has a tablet as well as a Chromebook that he can do that stuff on, how many devices do these kids need?

Was wondering where you've been lately. We miss you Jon-O Blade!

And since you've brought up your old buddy Boris, how's this new Labour dude Starmer doing, he seem alright? What kind of a name is Keir anyway? Must be short for something. I was just getting used to saying Rishi Sunak (I just want to call him Ritchie, like the Blackmore) but that dude's gone already.

Oh shit that's thunder, sounds pretty close. Really hope the power doesn't go out again. We had a vicious thunderstorm blow through 2 weeks ago. Lasted all of 3 minutes but it snapped two trees in half directly across the street and the top halves fell over right onto the power lines knocking us offline for about 8 hours. Had to listen to the 10 year old whining by candlelight about not having any power or internet or dinner from 6pm 'til he finally fell asleep on my bed. Then I had to listen to the power crew's wood chipper going all night. I was actually out sitting in my car in the driveway trying to charge my 12% phone at 1:45am when I saw the kitchen lights come on. So I went inside, woke his ass up and asked him if he was hungry. Then we had a 2am dinner.

Brexit seems to have hurt touring by being more expensive and inconvenient for bands to come to the UK. I've noticed it omitted from European tour dates. Not always of course, just often when I see an announcement and think "oh, I'd like to see that," then "guess not."

Nothing to lose sleep over, just a shame.

The new government is simply in "the last government was so shit we have to clean up" mode. Don't overlook that the Starmster was not and never will be popular, the only message delivered by the electorate in the last election was "anything but the Tories."  I voted tactically on that basis. It blows my mind that there was still popular support for that so obviously corrupt and inept shitshow until relatively recently. The baton now merely passes to a slightly less corrupt and inept shitshow. There will be a brief reprieve from the overt business of concentrating wealth with those that already have it, but nothing really changes despite catchy "CHANGE!" slogans.

There is no political party that accurately reflects my superior values.

I could write a 10000 word essay on phones and why you shouldn't let your kid get one, but you will in the end just like the rest of us. 

The world is burning anyway and they have no future, so may as well let them waste their life on Snapchat.

[AlSymerz]

1 hour ago, JonoBlade said:

I could write a 10000 word essay on phones and why you shouldn't let your kid get one, but you will in the end just like the rest of us. 

The world is burning anyway and they have no future, so may as well let them waste their life on Snapchat.

It's always good to have a positive outlook on life.

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

57 minutes ago, JonoBlade said:

Brexit seems to have hurt touring by being more expensive and inconvenient for bands to come to the UK. I've noticed it omitted from European tour dates. Not always of course, just often when I see an announcement and think "oh, I'd like to see that," then "guess not."

Nothing to lose sleep over, just a shame.

The new government is simply in "the last government was so shit we have to clean up" mode. Don't overlook that the Starmster was not and never will be popular, the only message delivered by the electorate in the last election was "anything but the Tories."  I voted tactically on that basis. It blows my mind that there was still popular support for that so obviously corrupt and inept shitshow until relatively recently. The baton now merely passes to a slightly less corrupt and inept shitshow. There will be a brief reprieve from the overt business of concentrating wealth with those that already have it, but nothing really changes despite catchy "CHANGE!" slogans.

There is no political party that accurately reflects my superior values.

I could write a 10000 word essay on phones and why you shouldn't let your kid get one, but you will in the end just like the rest of us. 

The world is burning anyway and they have no future, so may as well let them waste their life on Snapchat.

Yeah we're in a somewhat similar situation over here. We're basically in the process of thwarting the MAGA Republicans from their mission to completely take over our government, abolish the Constitution and turn us into an authoritarian christo-fascist theocracy. I could go on a 57 paragraph diatribe about this, but I won't because FA would have an aneurysm, and no one here really wants to read that anyway.

But yeah, every four years we hear lots of great change slogans, but somehow nothing ever really changes. Currently our presumptive Democratic nominee has come up with "We're not going back" which is at least different than the usual tired old bullshit slogans we've heard a thousand times in the past. I too don't have a political party that represents my left-wing progressive views, and I'm really not expecting all that much from these centrist establishment Democrats. But still nothing could stop me from voting for my girl Kammy in November, because I'm really not too keen on this idea of living under a christo-fascist authoritarian theocracy. And I do love the idea that seeing the first woman POTUS elected who also happens to be half Indian and half Jamaican will make these christo-fascists' heads explode. 

 

George Carlin - Do You Have Freedom of Choice?

 

And now we return to our regularly scheduled program of black metal

Anakreb - Fuir les Hommes, France

 

[JonoBlade]

6 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Yeah we're in a somewhat similar situation over here. We're basically in the process of thwarting the MAGA Republicans from their mission to completely take over our government, abolish the Constitution and turn us into an authoritarian christo-fascist theocracy. I could go on a 57 paragraph diatribe about this, but I won't because FA would have an aneurysm, and no one here really wants to read that anyway.

But yeah, every four years we hear lots of great change slogans, but somehow nothing ever really changes. Currently our presumptive Democratic nominee has come up with "We're not going back" which is at least different than the usual tired old bullshit slogans we've heard a thousand times in the past. I too don't have a political party that represents my left-wing progressive views, and I'm really not expecting all that much from these centrist establishment Democrats. But still nothing could stop me from voting for my girl Kammy in November, because I'm really not too keen on this idea of living under a christo-fascist authoritarian theocracy. And I do love the idea that seeing the first woman POTUS elected who also happens to be half Indian and half Jamaican will make these christo-fascists' heads explode. 

At least they are now fairly open and honest about what they want. The message is crystal clear: you either bow down to he whom God saved from the bullet or you are a devil worshipping scumbag. And if they win, there is a good chance they will get what they voted for. Can you say the same about whoever you've voted for in the past?

I watched a documentary about Einstein last night. He remarked that the people of Germany voted (in a free and democratic election) for Hitler at a time when his message was absolutely clear, with no room for misinterpretation whatsoever. For that reason Einstein could never forgive the German people.

And Hitler vigorously followed through on his promises which potentially could have been brought great prosperity to the German people. That is what they voted for.

Hell, even when both they and the japs lost, they became among the most prosperous post-war nations and Germany remains the greatest economy at the centre of Europe. Win-win. It was worth a shot. Hirohito even stayed on as Emperor in Japan!

The centrists in America have always fumbled to obscure their true mission of appeasing business interests and making sure nothing actually changes. There is no viable left in American politics because it is not what the people want - they want big houses, cheap food and gadgets - practically all of them, whether a San Franciscan liberal douche or a southern Baptist pray the gay away turd. America lead and the rest of the world followed into the promised land of living beyond your means and expecting some peasant in a third world country to pay for it through slavery and destruction of the natural world.

If you take all this into account, you're better off going full-MAGA bro.

Mind you, I agree that now you at least have something with the illusion of being a viable alternative, if for no other reason than to make christo-fascists' heads explode*. 

I take some solace that as we all burn, the Christians will burn too. 

Because, of course, the jews were right.

*I just finished watching The Boys (season whatever) where there is a female vice president character with the power to make people's heads literally explode. 

[FatherAlabaster]

10 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

FA would have an aneurysm

With all the other shit I have to worry about, this is a very minor annoyance. 

We are trying to keep the place chill though. Never harder than during a US presidential election cycle. I'm gonna kindly suggest that you and Jono and whoever else needs to vent about current events start a PM group. 

[AlSymerz]

Wait until we start talking about Aussie politics.

Oh yeah, no one gives a shit, including the Aussies.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Watched an informative video this morning about Wet Bulb Global Temperature. In the comments people were arguing about how the widespread need for prolonged use of air conditioning to combat rising temperatures is accelerating the rate at which the temperatures are rising. Many people are worried about the polar ice caps melting and rising oceans engulfing populated coastal areas. But many don't realize that in 25 years we'll have large swaths of the globe that will be too hot to sustain human life. Places where the slave labor typically takes place. Then how will we get our dirt cheap consumer goods?

I'm now convinced that nothing really matters because we'll all be dead by 2050 or 2060. No way we'll make 2100 unless they come up with some new unforseen technology to reverse some of this stuff. Political theater, Republican/Democrat, Labour/Torries will be the least of our worries. I'm already pretty old, 63 in a couple of weeks, so I'll probably be dead by 2050 and most certainly by 2060. But I do feel bad for you younger dudes, and of course my ten year old and the grandkids.

If I was 30 years younger I'd think about trying to learn Russian and moving out to Yakutsk. Been watching these videos by Eli from Russia who's a 27 year old girl from Perm, a city in the Urals. She travels all over Russia and Siberia and the former Soviet Republics in central Asia making these great videos. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, places they don't teach us much if anything about in American schools. It's really a beautiful and fascinating part of the world. But Siberia fascinates me the most. Because most Americans think it's basically just one big frozen wasteland where no one really lives, but they're wrong. And as the Wet Bulb Global Temps keep climbing one day Siberia will become the place to be. 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

2 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

With all the other shit I have to worry about, this is a very minor annoyance. 

We are trying to keep the place chill though. Never harder than during a US presidential election cycle. I'm gonna kindly suggest that you and Jono and whoever else needs to vent about current events start a PM group. 

This is why I haven't been around posting as much lately. As you've pointed out it's an election year here in the US, and as you've suggested in the past I've found other places on the internet to argue politics, since I do really enjoy that, and you've made it clear you don't want to see that kind of thing here. 

But I wouldn't worry too much, because without the Deadly one here anymore this political stuff doesn't come up hardly at all at this point. Things have seemed pretty "chill" around here lately, from my perspective anyway. Maybe too "chill" some days. I know I'm on your "watch list," but it's honestly not my intention to test the limits. So if I mess up please let me know.

No one loves talking about metal more than I do. But still we all know there's more to life than just music, and sometimes other stuff just naturally comes up when conversing with people you've become friendly with. But believe me, I don't ever come in here intending to discuss politics, and I really wouldn't want to see this place turn into a political forum any more than you would. I sincerely appreciate having a mainly metal focused forum like this to post on. And I think at least 99% of my 2024 posts have reflected that. 

[RelentlessOblivion]

1 hour ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

This is why I haven't been around posting as much lately. As you've pointed out it's an election year here in the US, and as you've suggested in the past I've found other places on the internet to argue politics, since I do really enjoy that, and you've made it clear you don't want to see that kind of thing here. 

But I wouldn't worry too much, because without the Deadly one here anymore this political stuff doesn't come up hardly at all at this point. Things have seemed pretty "chill" around here lately, from my perspective anyway. Maybe too "chill" some days. I know I'm on your "watch list," but it's honestly not my intention to test the limits. So if I mess up please let me know.

No one loves talking about metal more than I do. But still we all know there's more to life than just music, and sometimes other stuff just naturally comes up when conversing with people you've become friendly with. But believe me, I don't ever come in here intending to discuss politics, and I really wouldn't want to see this place turn into a political forum any more than you would. I sincerely appreciate having a mainly metal focused forum like this to post on. And I think at least 99% of my 2024 posts have reflected that. 
 

It’s been hard for me to curve my general tendency towards talking politics as well, how I agree with FA that a politics group chat would be the more appropriate way to discuss things moving forward. We haven’t had any new uses get involved in any of the periodical politics chat just yet but we also don’t want to encourage the false notion that everyone has free rain to espouse their view on politics at will.

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

2 hours ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

It’s been hard for me to curb my general tendency towards talking politics as well, however I agree with FA that a politics group chat would be the more appropriate way to discuss things moving forward. We haven’t had any new users get involved in any of the periodical politics chat just yet, but we also don’t want to encourage the false notion that everyone has free rain to espouse their view on politics at will. 

A group chat wouldn't have much appeal to me because then you'd just be stuck talking to the same 2 or 3 people you likely already mostly agree with. This forum, like most forums I've ever been a part of, is already generally just the same 10 or 12 people interacting, but at least the cast of characters will change a little bit from time to time. I love my buddy Jon-O Blade, I truly do, but I don't need to be all alone in a room with him. That'd get real boring, real quick. And what would his wife think?

I want to be able to mix it up and get into it with a broader cross section of different people including strangers, randos and even the opposition, and get their takes on stuff. And most of all I enjoy the chance to argue with people I don't agree with and set them straight. That's what passes as fun for me on a Saturday night. So now I just do that somewhere else outside of the restrictive confines of the Metalforum, and everyone should be happy now, right?

Not saying I will never ever again espouse a view, and I freely admit I reeeeally don't understand what the big deal is. But I don't ever come here to talk politics the way some people used to do, I come for the metal. And of course to take the piss out of Victorians. Like you Blivvington, I have been trying my best to respect the request to keep politics out of here. And please correct me if I'm wrong, but for the most part I think I've been doing a pretty decent job of that lately. Because I've found another outlet to get that stuff off my chest. Sorry if I stuffed up.

[Thatguy]

I was having what I thought was a polite disagreement with a dude on Threads the other day and he thought he was dissing me by pointing out that I only had 3 or 4 posts there and they all had a picture of my cat and linked to my Bandcamp site. That was like being flogged with a wet lettuce but he had the hide to mock my avatar as a 'corvid'. That means crow or raven I think, and I love crows/ravens, so that was another miss. However the dude is terminally unhip because he doesn't know that it is actually a cuckoo, or rather The Cuckoo from Terra Tenabrosa, so I win.

And the point of this pointless story (of which I have an endless supply) is that it reminded me to point out that in the unlikely event that anyone here wishes to see more of Thatguy's pictures of Arnhem Land, or of his other travels, or of his daily runs in beautiful Canberra, I too have other identities. You will find all that on Instagram - colour_and_movement - places, flowers and the cat.

[AlSymerz]

My parents are in Canberra at the moment, I showed them your picture so if you see someone following you with an axe don't worry, just go peacefully.

 

[RelentlessOblivion]

Well, I’ve been given an enable task of trying to plan a family holiday to Disney World next year, being the massive adrenaline junkie that I am. I’ve managed to work all of the theme parks into this proposed trip so I won’t have to spend eight days roaming the least metal place on earth, but still trying to keep this down to a reasonable cost per person seems almost impossible. 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

21 minutes ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Well, I’ve been given an enviable task of trying to plan a family holiday to Disney World next year, being the massive adrenaline junkie that I am. I’ve managed to work all of the theme parks into this proposed trip so I won’t have to spend eight days roaming the least metal place on earth, but still trying to keep this down to a reasonable cost per person seems almost impossible. 

It's not almost impossible, it is impossible. They dragged me down to Universal Studios about 8 or 9 years ago because my daughter lives an hour away from Orlando and my Kiwi wife just had to see Harry Potter World. What a fucking rip-off. It was like $700 US ($1,050 AUD) to get in for 4 adults, but the 4 little kids did get in for free at least. But there was nothing remotely interesting there, for me anyway. I don't give a flying fuck about Harry Potter, haven't read any of the books or seen any of the movies. I walked about 500 miles all over that place that day with the toddler for nothing, to see a stupid mechanical fire breathing dragon basically. And then I was crippled and could barely walk for the next 3 days it took my knees to recover. They have other stuff there besides the little Harry Potter area and there's rides n shit, but the lines for those are so long it didn't even seem worth it. I was so glad when it started getting dark and they finally decided we could leave.

Of course as you might imagine I'm not one with any tolerance for large crowds of obese unwashed slobbering masses or for doing normie shit like that, so if you are then I guess you can add a few points to my score. I'd rate Disney and all those corporate theme parks like a 1 out of 10. Can't think of a much worse way to waste an entire day and blow a thousand dollars in the process than that. I can't even imagine how much they must bang you for their hotels. And I'd rather sit through a root canal than go on any of these modern rollercoasters, so again if you have a raging boner for rollercoasters I guess add another point or two. Good luck with your planning Blivvington, and have fun if you go, but all I can say is better you than me. At least you'll feel right at home with the weather, its hot as fuck down there.

[JonoBlade]

I went on a road trip to Ireland for holidays this year. Drove to get the car ferry from Holyhead in Wales, across to Dublin. Down to Acklow, via Wicklow and coast road, had a walk in Glendalough, drove up over Sallygap; across to Kilkenny, then back to Dublin (being sure to stop in Kill) and a night in Wales in Caernarfon. Sunday to Saturday so only six days total. Beats working.

Ireland is pleasant because it isn't too busy. Except for Dublin, which was a tourist hell-hole and I didn't enjoy it much.

Like seemingly all of the western world, it is full of fat tattooed people everywhere you look now.

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

1 hour ago, JonoBlade said:

I went on a road trip to Ireland for holidays this year. Drove to get the car ferry from Holyhead in Wales, across to Dublin. Down to Acklow, via Wicklow and coast road, had a walk in Glendalough, drove up over Sallygap; across to Kilkenny, then back to Dublin (being sure to stop in Kill) and a night in Wales in Caernarfon. Sunday to Saturday so only six days total. Beats working.

Ireland is pleasant because it isn't too busy. Except for Dublin, which was a tourist hell-hole and I didn't enjoy it much.

Like seemingly all of the western world, it is full of fat tattooed people everywhere you look now.

 

I love a good road trip. Especially when you leave it somewhat open ended and just take your time, where you have a couple of waypoints in mind but in between those you just kind of go where the wind takes you and see where you end up. You should have popped over to the Isle of Man. I've always been curious about that place. Next time maybe.

The one big downside to road trips is that you're most often with people who don't really want to listen to metal. Especially metal of the extreme variety. Which is a real shame because a metal soundtrack in the car would enhance the road trip immensely.

Thanks for sharing your pics Jon. But jeez man, you could try smiling once in awhile. You look like you want to hurt somebody. Extra thanks for not including pics of any fat tattooed people.

What's the story of the cemetery, does it date back to the middle ages or something? Oliver Cromwell days maybe?

[RelentlessOblivion]

10 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

It's not almost impossible, it is impossible. They dragged me down to Universal Studios about 8 or 9 years ago because my daughter lives an hour away from Orlando and my Kiwi wife just had to see Harry Potter World. What a fucking rip-off. It was like $700 US ($1,050 AUD) to get in for 4 adults, but the 4 little kids did get in for free at least. But there was nothing remotely interesting there, for me anyway. I don't give a flying fuck about Harry Potter, haven't read any of the books or seen any of the movies. I walked about 500 miles all over that place that day with the toddler for nothing, to see a stupid mechanical fire breathing dragon basically. And then I was crippled and could barely walk for the next 3 days it took my knees to recover. They have other stuff there besides the little Harry Potter area and there's rides n shit, but the lines for those are so long it didn't even seem worth it. I was so glad when it started getting dark and they finally decided we could leave.

Of course as you might imagine I'm not one with any tolerance for large crowds of obese unwashed slobbering masses or for doing normie shit like that, so if you are then I guess you can add a few points to my score. I'd rate Disney and all those corporate theme parks like a 1 out of 10. Can't think of a much worse way to waste an entire day and blow a thousand dollars in the process than that. I can't even imagine how much they must bang you for their hotels. And I'd rather sit through a root canal than go on any of these modern rollercoasters, so again if you have a raging boner for rollercoasters I guess add another point or two. Good luck with your planning Blivvington, and have fun if you go, but all I can say is better you than me. At least you'll feel right at home with the weather, its hot as fuck down there.

Haha well being a coaster addict and all around adrenaline junkie. I think I’ll be alright everywhere but Disney. I’m also making sure the trip happens in October so I can throw the extra Normie shit those parks put on for Halloween into the mix.

[Thatguy]

5 hours ago, JonoBlade said:

Ireland is pleasant because it isn't too busy. Except for Dublin, which was a tourist hell-hole and I didn't enjoy it much.

Nice.

I've been to Ireland twice. Once was a road trip with little kiddies when I was working in England. There were many adventures. We had a very good time.

The second time I spoke at a meeting in Cork for my Irish Dermatologist mate. Many years later and just Mrs Thatguy and I. We must have been there at the right time as Dublin wasn't too busy and we had a good time. Then train to Cork - where I had been on the road trip 20 or more years previously but had no useful memories of. The Dermatology meeting coincided (deliberately) with the Cork International Jazz festival so there was music and a good deal of beer and a very nice hotel paid for by the conference since I was an invited speaker. 

I'd like another road trip in Ireland to see more.

I hate roller coasters, but I took the family to DisneyWorld on our way back from Britain an age ago, and we took the kiddies to the equivalent venues in Queensland a few times when they were young. Hot and tiring but I'm not whinging.

[AlSymerz]

Mother Fucker! This lead in to Spring has been fucking terrible. A week and a half of high winds gusting over 100kph. Last night and into this morning they were Cat 3 cyclone strength gusting at over 130kph. A light house not that far from here coped 168kph. The roads are covered in anything from small branches to full trees. The rain comes and goes with anything from a shower to a downpour. Fences are down and I swear the whole town has moved 20 kilometres to the east. Winds are expected to easy into the 60's this afternoon, then drop off tomorrow, before coming up again Wednesday and then getting to damaging strength again on Friday. Thank fuck I don't live further south where Tassie cop the fucking brunt of this weather pattern.

 

[AlSymerz]

Shit, I just spent over $700 on 3 Lego sets, for myself!

It was at one of the kids insistence and as much as she'd been doing Lego for more than a decade now I never thought I'd get back into. Guess I'm going to now.

 

[RelentlessOblivion]

Well, like a real chef, I managed to burn myself today. Turns out trying to use a pallet knife to take fish out of a hot pan was a bad decision who would’ve guessed…

[RelentlessOblivion]

Anyone else finding the site is duplicating their Recent posts in some threads when they go to reply? Could just be a me Anyone else finding the site is duplicating their Recent posts in some threads when they go to reply? Could just be a me problem.problem.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

1 hour ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Anyone else finding the site is duplicating their Recent posts in some threads when they go to reply? Could just be a me problem.

Yeah, sometimes when I open a reply window all the text and YouTube videos from a previous post I made will still be in there. There's a 'clear editor' button down the bottom I use to clear everything out of the window when this happens. It's not happening as often as it used to, a year or two ago I used to have this problem maybe 30% of the time when I opened a reply window, some weeks it seemed to be even more than that. But now I'd say it's probably less than 10% of the time. Just one of those quirky little things about the site. I do really appreciate that it keeps whatever post I'm currently working on saved so that even if I close the window or even turn off the computer completely it'll still be there for me to continue with the next time I come back. I'd rather have to manually clear shit that I've already posted than have it not save whatever I was working on but hadn't posted yet. That feature is quite useful for someone like me who can spend an hour or more working on a post then go make dinner or mow the lawn or something and then come back later or the next day to finish it up and post it.