saintbletch

Now miserableoldgit, you're on to my specialist subject. I am a massive Decemberists fan. I've followed them all over the UK and Europe for the last 6-7 years. I'm too old to be this much of a groupy. It's embarrassing. Well, it is for my kids. Many a time I've seen them play to crowds of 100-150 people and it's been a real struggle for them to break through. Then with the release of the new CD which made #1 in the US, they're suddenly playing the Hammersmith Apollo in front of 5000 people. As for a recommendation, it's difficult as you really like the King is Dead. Because the rest of their body of work is quite different. See my (somewhat pretentious on reflection) review of The King is Dead here. They like to try to change their musical style with each new CD and have also released 3 concept-like albums that each told a story from start to finish. All fantastic, but all very different from The King is Dead. The one constant is Colin Meloy's lyrics. I've not found a better lyricist and I've looked long and hard all my life. The guy is a genius - not a word I use lightly. Anyway, I'll stop fawning and rambling now and say that if you were to go for Her Majesty it would be pretty much in the middle of their canon. And if you get the chance to see them live, go!

A dyslexic called Alan?

I always thought John In-man (my hyphenation) was a name that carried hidden meaning.

lips

On (the text was too short for the forum's I-know-better-than-you-automated-thought-police-bot, so I added this text)

As others have said the Grande Place is worth a visit to sit and have a coffee/beer, look at the architecture and watch the world go by. I also used to enjoy strolling along the Rue du Bouchers (just off the Grande Place if memory serves), looking at the menus and picking a restaurant. It's a tiny, winding lane FULL of restaurants. It's very touristy and quite pricey and you can get better food away from the centre but it's nice to visit. Having travelled with work all over Europe I think Belgium food is amongst the best. I remember being there in early autumn one year on a cold day and we ate outside as they had these enormous gas heaters on the wall that kept it nice and warm. That was before we all got patio heaters in our gardens. I also spent £96 on a bottle of wine that night. It was in the days of the Belgium Franc and I'd had too many Leffes and I misplaced the decimal point in my mental conversion to Pounds. A lovely drop of red, completely wasted on me.

down

He went by many names - Beelzebub, Satan, Lucifer, the Devil; but none knew his real identity here. And whilst his barber had done a good a job and had hidden the horns, there was nothing he could do to stop the burning flames of hades that leapt from his head whenever he was truly happy. And tonight, Old Nic was very, very happy.

lol.

Indeed. One of my favourite books of all time. I think anyone who has ever worked in an intensely bureaucratic environment will relate to the concepts, but the writing style is a little stream-of-conciousness and weird. Major Major is a good character but it's Milo Minderbinder for me. He's the wheeler-deal Quartermaster type who is always looking to buy and sell for a profit. He bought all the cotton in Egypt IIRC and couldn't shift it. So he came up with a deal with the Germans (the enemy) where he contracted to carry out the German's bombing missions if the Germans took the cotton off his hands. He actually bombed its own runway under contract from the Germans. Classic. And the entire catch-22 concept was embodied by the rule that the only way you can be invalided out of the dangerous bombing missions was through madness, but that if you ever asked to be invalided out of the dangerous bombing missions then it proved that you were sane. After all only a sane man would ask not to fly dangerous bombing missions. And if you didn't ask to be invalided out of the dangerous bombing missions, then you kept flying. I love that. Also one of the worst film versions of a book I've ever seen. Looked like someone's college project.

time

Personally I really don't like any poulty, it just tastes fowl to me.

cake

yummy

kiss

Harry

English

dust

borrowed

epiphany

Druid

marbles (long story)

phallus

tap

collard