TheBaronOfFratton

Its ironic in light of our gay discussion that a friend of mine just chose my birthday party to come out to his family. I later read that celebrations are actually one of the most popular occasions. I think the disappointment in this case wasn't as much homophobia as the fact that he was the III and his father always really wanted the name carried on . That said, I must admit that I do have one issue aside from the prison rape thing and that's the overcompensating closet homosexual *coughs* on the other hand. That's not to say I have any more tolerance for overcompensating heterosexual males though .

^Of course she is! That's a nice sight to see on my thread return. Just for you, I have this new picture but no genesis for it (so I won't post it 'officially' yet). The makeup (I presume) is by Richard Wilkinson - a South African artist, whose site I found it on. I hope it's an upcoming editorial :

I concur, I only started drinking whisky 3 months ago but it has torn a hole in my wallet. I'm not really one for blended whisky though, unless its really good. I'd rather stick with single malts.

What do you drink? I'm a fan of Lagavulin and Highland Park. Haven't had anything above 20 years

That´s some incredibly great shot, B thank you for posting it again

And now, tell me something positive, I think I need it more than ever!

Or you might just post more Behati pics

A'ternoon Baron! I was curious as to your thoughts on this tune?

A little - they're an as-yet unsigned trio from Tampa with roots in the Florida punk scene and a shared Jesus & Mary Chain, Smiths and Cure obsession. Apparently, physical copies of album ‘Children Of Desire’ are sold out everywhere, but it's still available as a (completely above board) free download. Here's another good one...

All that and news of a possible release for that long-awaited new My Bloody Valentine album! It sure is fun here in the 90s - I'm even on the verge of digging out my old hypercolour t-shirt.

Hey there So did you end up going to see Django?

^Highland Park is my uncle's favourite, and I'm sure to get a dram of that whenever I visit! For me, I'm a fan of the Islay malts - Laphroaig and (newly discovered) Bowmore are fine (Y), but my favourite is Caol Ila which I highly recommend if you are OK with "peaty"?

And now, tell me something positive, I think I need it more than ever!

^What do you mean, like George Michael circa the Faith album with his "manly" stubble and filling his videos with that era's Supermodels?

^I forgot to mention the Ardbeg actually. I'm with you on that - actually my father received an 18 year old on his 60th a few years ago from a friend, I don't know how much that cost or where it came from as the distillery doesn't do that anymore. Anyway, we had some then () and it's remained pretty much tightly closed since!

Well, those are my favourites but whisky, like everything, is subject to change in our tastes. Maybe one day I'll really appreciate Lima or Upton or any other model people seem incapable of accepting that you might not like. If we all liked the same thing it would be boring, no?

All that and news of a possible release for that long-awaited new My Bloody Valentine album! It sure is fun here in the 90s - I'm even on the verge of digging out my old hypercolour t-shirt.

Holy repressed memories, the last time I heard of Carter USM was when their guitarist attacked Phillip Schofield!

P.S. Did you hear, the aforementioned My Bloody Valentine album finally landed! It appeared on their website (which promptly crashed) late last night, since then it's been uploaded to YouTube in it's entirety. Up to now, I think this is my favourite track. It just encapsulates everything they were brilliant at first time around...

'House of Cards' with Kevin Spacey is supposed to be pretty good. Anybody hear of it? I am downloading the first 6 episodes as I speak..

^I don't know exactly what you want from me here?!

I mean, call it 'indoctrination' if you will, but my politics are left-of-centre - and the comparison of 'socialists' to 'libertarians' and my own standard of living would be apt. I am, after all, a travelled freelancer with social-mobility (and it's inherent selfishness) but a strong sense of looking after those in society who need it. I appreciate that your knowledge and experience sees things differently... Please bear in mind that this is your specialist subject, whilst I'm operating on the very precipice of my comfort-level on this. If my pontifications are naive and ill-informed to you then so be it, but I think there's a difference between that and being ignorant of the whole thing?

I am interested in seeing how circumstances can shape the aggregate opinions of a population. So for instance, in 'Motorcycle diaries', it's naturally the poor itinerant day-laborers who say that they are communists. It's entirely their self-interest to do so, and it's understandable.

Likewise, I know how various groups of Americans think and perceive reality, and where their areas of experience or total ignorance lie.

But the mystery of hard left 'socialism' is something that I don't fully understand- I only know bits and pieces on why a person could be so enthusiastic and committed to such a thing. Vice-versa, it's kind of how non-Americans wonder why european-style socialist candidates are verboten in the US.

So I want to know.

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No, no I'm not saying that you're naive. I am assuming that you know things that I don't know, since you are the one in Argentina. With politics and macroeconomics I award little respect to their more aggressive claims as a science. It's a bit like musing about the universe to me- interesting for the moment but not awfully productive. So nobody has much credibility. It is 'how little you know', not 'how much you know'. I have seen that the religious, libertarians and statists tend toward arrogance, so they think in the opposite direction.

^Obama (and Democrats in general) are seen as being more Conservative in comparison, yes. In turn that's probably why Republicans are feared so much.

Republicans and libertarians are spectacularly uneducated, hick, and incompetent in their moral philosophy but, as a US citizen, I can see why they exist and from a policy-making standpoint...I have realized (besides in war) that they aren't that dangerous. In fact, if I were to think from the nation's standpoint: I consider them to be less harmful than the opfor..

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This is interesting to me as well- I've had political conversations with British, Dutch, German, French, Canadian and Russian people, and I noticed how they tend to have a strong opinion about American politics even if they had only been in the country for a short period of time. So they have a few years at most. To me, I can see that the bulk of their knowledge and biases are developed from watching TV or the written word- especially internet/newspapers...rather than anything more than that. There's no credibility, and it's a bit odd (as likewise, as typical Americans tend the other direction- know no second or third language, know nothing about the outside world beyond musings of a tourist and a mass of crude stereotypes. )

Our foreign policy can be feared (especially by those in the middle east) but the other issues of the month shouldn't effect the outside world that much. So when I see somebody who doesn't have much of a stake in the US- such as the Germans that flocked to kiss Obama's feet in 08'..I find it bewildering..

Argentinos think of themselves as being distinct for the rest of South America, in that they believe their sensibilities are more in tune with western Europe - in practice tough they've befallen the same levels of economic meltdowns, dictators, and the legacy of colonialism as the rest of the continent however.

You know, the financial times and the economist (both powerful British publications) tend to show Argentina in a consistently negative light (Poor, Crony Capitalism, corrupt government, inflation, screwed up monetary system, extreme unemployment, etc...). What do you think of this as an Argentinian?

^I've got nothing for you, you'll just have to make do with those Behati posts then...

Hey good sir, how have things been on your side of the hill?

So those dirty stinking Bombers are in a spot of controversy! There's this big investigation into the club going on right now, with allegations of illegal doping that went on during last year's season. The AFL website is riddled with the story right now.. it'll be interesting to see what comes of it

Bar Rafeli's thread is much better now that all the 'Bar fans (actually, Leo Fans)' buggered off It's been..2 1/2 years since I've checked her thread out!

I don't mind that type of overcompensating (to make people think you're cool) although I do mind the ones who are a tool about it . Also, Adam Lavine says, 'low blow.' Also, even though he doesn't apply, but maybe the subject combined with the fact that the list of members I like is at an all time low whereas my work here is at an all time high (of course the two could be related in a way in that the more threads I have to go into against my will, the more I find to dislike), made me suddenly think of M-- who was one of my all time favorites. On the other hand, it also made me think of Greatest Might who was one of the worst by contrast .

P.S. Did you hear, the aforementioned My Bloody Valentine album finally landed! It appeared on their website (which promptly crashed) late last night, since then it's been uploaded to YouTube in it's entirety. Up to now, I think this is my favourite track. It just encapsulates everything they were brilliant at first time around...

I'm surprised you don't remember our old friend GreatestMight though. Not only is he probably the third biggest tool I ever banned, he inspired your classic line about the blue people to illustrate the ills of prejudice if my photographic memory serves . Speaking of memory though, this thing with me and names is a great mystery. I know of a friend from kindergarten whereby I remember his phone number, height, address and pretty much everything but his actual name . Also, as to the comic discussion from earlier, I know you said you liked Asterix so I was wondering if you had ever read anything from the Gaturro series. While I'm at it, I might as well also ask what you think the best overall screen (from television or film) portrayal of the Sabertooth character has been. I'm not as familiar with the X-Men comics as I am some others and he just so happens to not have shown up in the ones I've read so far although I've always liked the whole rivalry thing.