Zombie

”It had more than four legs…”  50 years ago BBC TV began a tradition of showing creepy ghost stories on Christmas Eve intended to scare the bejeebers out of young children and send them off to bed screaming and gibbering. Mostly these were short movies, shot on film (usually around 35 minutes) of ghost stories written by the Victorian antiquarian scholar, Montague Rhodes James. M R James was educated and lived his entire life in the academic world of Eton College and Kings College Cambridge. When he became Provost of Kings College he began writing ghost stories, using his extensive knowledge of ancient artefacts and manuscripts. James was very sociable towards his (all male) students and joined the Chit-Chat Club where, on a dark autumnal evening in 1893, he first treated a small gathering of eager boys to a reading of two ghost stories in his oak panelled college rooms. In the flickering candlelight, warmed by the open fire and generous measures of port wine, the students enjoyed the thrill of terror that became an eagerly anticipated annual event in the club’s calendar. In this film the late great Christopher Lee recreates MR James telling his story The Ash Tree. Watch it with the lights turned down, when it’s dark outside, and you’re alone…

Stevie Wonder”s Innervisions album is 50 years old (released 1973) and these songs are still being covered because they’re so damned good I was lucky to snag a very late return ticket for Prom48 in August where Cory Henry covered the entire album (plus many more of his songs). Songs like these are our “classic” music for the future.

interesting (encouraging?) comment by Altimexis has been posted in that thread: ”We should probably wait a few days before beginning a frank discussion of the future of the site, and under a different thread. I would like to see the site continue, but there is much to consider before that could happen. At the least, the stories must be preserved for all to enjoy.”

Irritating singing troupe irritates the authorities and then does a runner 🏃‍♂️🏃🏃‍♀️

The “N” word would never be “commonly used” in UK MSM or by those of non African heritage but it may well be in African heritage British cultures who, as you say, have “reclaimed” the word. It’s a bit like Jewish jokes - only Jewish comedians now tell them because there’s an unwritten rule that they are “allowed” to and likewise with Irish jokes. My own experience is that “queer” is the prime word that has been reclaimed in the UK because that has been the default pejorative term eg “You f*cking queers!” or, a decade or so earlier, “poofters”. “Fag”, as an American import, has less resonance in British English and writers for a British audience need to understand this. Of course, both sides of the pond continue to adopt each others words +phrases but this can be transient and stories can quickly become very dated by the author’s choices in written dialogue

“SELF-STUDY” - maybe “meat” is the main course..

Guess I’ve not seen it but I’ll chip in another Grumpy old woman mutters snarky comments and waves her stick (menacingly )

cuuute!

I’d love another but I’d hate leaving him/her when I’m away *removes Gromit’s needles for sharpening *

love the dogs! 💕 when I was very young we had a dachshund just like the one on the right (she was lovely but moody ), then a corgi just like the middle one (she was a poppet ), then a tricolour like the last but one on the left (he was very handsome and loved rough games )

Satisfaction guaranteed…

Perhaps this needed just a teensy bit more thought…

looks like the smile of a killer before “lights out”

he’s lucky they didn’t give him a red one…

the first Star Trek movie… Turkey style https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ömer_the_Tourist_in_Star_Trek

“good” Sometimes you come across a word meaning you’ve never previously encountered

It was a throwaway line referencing typical endgame exchanges I’ve seen Social media - it’s commonly used in, er, social media…

Smokers Not in the “developed” world, but this is negated by the reverse lottery mentality “it won’t happen to me” (kinda like STDs + HIV?) plus the desire to do what your mum + dad don’t - and they probably don’t smoke ‘cos their mum’s + dads did . Which leaves everywhere else, the “developing” world, for Big Tobacco nicotine-addiction-pushing Big Profits because healthcare education / awareness is so lacking. Obese people SM + MSM is awash with “big celebrities” promoting their body image as “successful role models” + trashing criticism (however measured + rational) as “Fat Shaming”, and who (together with their followers) reject any suggestion of personal choices + responsibility being causal (and heaven forbid any personal “blame”…) I don’t buy it’s “instinctual” I think it’s conditioning. We are all conditioned in our beliefs + attitudes by the environment in which we grow up. And in your case that probably included experiencing constant disapproval /condemnation /mocking by family+friends of anyone “gay” in any way, maybe also reinforced in your country by fear if gay sex was a criminal offence and reading / hearing about people being prosecuted and jailed?

now why did that make me think of this…

surely BAU for US MSM companies where it’s just another product line produced by a production line? don’t think I’ll be watching

creatures with beaks can’t mutter …but they can give a nasty peck

Watermelon Man 😎

there’s a lot of nefarious purloining goes on in a particular thread on this site

the bottom two look like a warm-up act for The Full Monty