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Nick Deverill

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Posts posted by Nick Deverill

  1. I've heard it said, when my ears still worked, that the way you tell if two supposed Glaswegians are genuine is to put them together and see if they understand each other. If they don't, they're real Glaswegians.

    The worst though I've ever hit was in Liverpool. I've no problem with nearly all people from there, but I met a group of unemployed young men who were frankly, unintelligible. They were not putting it on, and they were genuinely trying to communicate. I would not be surprised if 20 years later, none of them has held a job other than perhaps a few weeks of labouring. Very odd place, must be one of the poorest I've been to, and one lady even invited me to lunch - I made up a fictitious appointment so that I could politely refuse.

  2. Another point is, it's no problem to statistics if you toss a proper coin 100 times and it lands on heads every time. The probability of heads on toss 101 is still 50/50, the preceding events alter nothing. So the oft touted figure of one in ten being gay is not altered by a sizeable group.

    Indeed, I'd argue grouping of minorities goes without saying. So you get groups based on sexuality, skin colour and racial origin.

    Eight gays - total year group size? 80 or more, pretty likely I'd say. No idea of the size of years in the USA but the school I went to had 150 in each year from age 11 to 16.

    I have no problem - keep at it!

  3. Lurking on my bookshelf is a story set in the 20s, perhaps written in the 30s that is crying out for a film since the plot is so good. I've never suggested it when I had contacts, partly because I think it could easily be done badly and is crying out for a good treatment.

    The story lends itself admirably to being in both English and Spanish, especially since part of the plot hinges on some folk not understanding the language they don't speak. From memory, the plot is 100% hetero, but there is no sex in it anyway, nor should any be put in as it would make a good film for kids. The only bit I'd change is I'd make the young Spanish speaker who most of the plot involves, a little bit cleverer since the ending would be streets better if he was shown to be manipulating people, but letting his wife think she was!

    I'm convinced any film has to be a proper dual language production, where as a DVD release, you could choose subtitles in English, Spanish, turn them off if you spoke both languages and if you are deaf - subtitles of both languages.

  4. I was thinking something along the lines of Sonata No. 23 in F minor Op. 57 Appssionata by Beethoven.

    Not a piece known to me, but reading up on it suggests it would be good. However, is it one of those pieces where to really appreciate it, one needs to be a bit of a musician oneself? My suggestion is one of those that would even impress the tone deaf I think!

    Everything Everything doesn't sound better on the piano. A perfect example is the suite Pictures at an Exhibition written for piano by Modest Mussorgsky. It's probably his best know work and is a wonderful piano composition.

    But, it's far, far better known as adapted for orchestra by Maurice Ravel, and is more satisfying to hear.

    Many symphonies have been reduced to piano scores, and almost none of them are superior to the orchestral version.

    I agree. For the most part, to sound superior on a piano, it has to be written for one in the first place. It's actually less limiting than might appear as many composers use a piano as part of the writing process, so arguably some orchestral pieces were written for the piano, just that they are not known as piano pieces.

  5. Yes, he's becoming a quite complex young man. A very enjoyable tale.

    While is a bit odd for a deaf person to suggest music (I wasn't deaf for the first 35 years of my life), the thought of him coming out as a pianist with a spirited rendition of Liszts Hungarian Rhapsody number 2 would be just the ticket for a future story. That piece of music features in the 1947 award winning Tom and Jerry short, Cat Concerto and is also the music featured in the piano duel in Roger Rabbit. It's hard to play well, and appreciated by non-musicians as it is rather a piece with keyboard fireworks. True of a lot of Liszts works really, he was a piano superstar of his day.

  6. It's a throwaway remark had it been made by an Englishman. It is more correct to say British details, but it's not wrong as such to say English, as Sheffield is in England. All the countries that make up the UK, along with the Isle of Man and Channel Islands are in postal union and telephonic union so a quoted telephone number is inside the 44 UK country code and it is the same cost to send a letter.

    However, Lukas I think is a citizen of the USA, with an office in the UK and would be exactly the mistake made and thing said by somebody in that situation. Likewise, the next bit of the story underlines why it has been put in. Good attention to detail.

    Peter was impressed that Lukas acknowledged the difference between England and Britain as a whole.

    Peter is an older gentleman, and a better understanding of the issues probably does come with age, and certainly if one had owned property in Wales or Scotland, or lived there for a while as getting this wrong is a good way of upsetting a Welshman or Scotsman.

    So Pedro has done a rather better job of storytelling than most readers will understand, I think.

  7. The song near the end of the story reminds me of this:

    We are the Ovaltineys, little girls and boysMake your requests, we'll not refuse youWe are here just to amuse youWould you like a song or story?Will you share our joys?At games and sports we're more than keenNo merrier children could be seenBecause we all drink OvaltineWe're happy girls and boys.

    It was the theme song for the Radio Luxembourg show, The Ovaltineys from 1935 to 1950 and for anyone who knows their propagation, would have been accompanied by heavy fading.

  8. 1pint of rice very well washed off. 1pint of water. Knob of butter. 2/3 pepper corns. 1/2 cinnamon sticks. Good pinch of salt.

    Add everything to a pan with a tight fitting lid. Bring to boil and immediately turn heat to lowest setting. Leave without touching it for 30 minutes then remove from heat. Leave untouched for a further 20 minutes. Don't be tempted to lift the lid. What you should end up with is a light fluffy rice that's totally seperate IF you've washed it well enough at the beginning. Remove the rubbish which will all be at the top and serve.

    On first reading, it sounds too dry and will burn. Rice from dry to cooked absorbs about 1.4 times its volume in water. So you have to fiddle the water amount to take account of the water used for washing that is still there. So perhaps.

    However, 30 mins sounds way too long, 10 mins is what I use after bringing to the boil, and between 5 and 10 minutes standing with the source of heat removed. It is going to vary a bit with the cooker though, as it will be better with a super fitting pan lid and an incredibly small amount of heat - perhaps your cooker turns down lower than mine.

  9. Bit stymied by the fact I'm using a borrowed iPad, along with stolen bandwidth on somebody else's wifi...

    "Hairspray"

    Totally love that film, the 1988 version of course, not the pointless 2007 version.

    And I greatly suspect, "The way he looks" will be a worthy addition to the list although the DVD release has been put back. Region 2 though still gets it first by about a month. (I looked at both, I can view all regions).

  10. Since design wise, the fifth leg would need to be either in the middle, or between two others, the pragmatic solution would be to deliberately make it shorter than the other four. So it would not make the chair wobbly on a average floor and be purely decorative.

    Rather like the early multivalve radio that had, I think, two valves not even connected. The set was a TRF (Tuned Radio Frequency) and there is a practical limit on the number of valves as beyond it, more just make the set worse. So the set just connected up the heaters to make them glow, but the signal itself went nowhere near.

  11. In England, golf is often a sport for the pretentious as most is played at clubs with snooty rules. There are a few municipal courses but not many. In Scotland, although there are snooty clubs, it is seen as a game for everyone and the municipal courses are both much more numerous and widely used.

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