asides Blog

One line thoughts of the day.

Football would be a far more interesting game if you added tigers.

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Tim Hall | 4 Comments

As reported by diamond geezer, London Undergound’s C69 trains bow out today after 44 years service on the Circle, Hammersmith and City, and the Edgware Road branch of the District Line. Makes me feel old that I can remember the COP stock they replaced.

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

If Coldplay are “Alternative rock”, then words have ceased to have any meaning whatsoever. What, exactly, are they the alternative to?

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Tim Hall | 9 Comments

Some Robert Heinlein fanboys are complaining on the interwebs that Robert Heinlein would not win a Hugo award today. It doesn’t occur to them that if Heinlein, who died of old age in 1988, was a man in the prime of his career today, he’d have been born two generations later. His world view would most likely be completely different, as would the books he would be writing. Quite possibly those conservatively-minded fanboys would not even like those books. And maybe they would be winning Hugos.

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Tim Hall | 4 Comments

The much-leaked announcement that Metallica will be headlining Glastonbury has received predicably mixed reactions. There are indie kids terrified at the prospect of guitars being played loudly rather than strummed, and metal fans claiming Metallica would be wasted on Glastonbury’s audience. But while I have the greatest respect for Dom Lawson, I cannot agree with his assertion that it’s just another half-baked vanity project. If I didn’t know him better I’d have accused him of writing archetypcal Guardian clickbait.

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

The prog nostalgia shows have been drawing sizable crowds. The likes of Rick Wakeman reviving Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Steve Hackett’s Genesis Revisited tour, and Yes playing three classic 70s albums in full can fill venues as large as The Royal Albert Hall. But just imagine if everyone who went to one of those gigs also bought a ticket for one of the current prog bands.

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Tim Hall | 2 Comments

Does “Geek culture” really have a massive sexism problem, or does it, as Gareth M,  Skarka suggested on Twitter, an “unwillingness to ostracise toxic assholes” problem, which is compounded by the internet’s serious troll problem?

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Tim Hall | 4 Comments

It’s a shame you can’t even have a strongly positive article about metal in the mainstream press without ignorami in the comments dismissing the entire genre as misogynist. It’s as if some people’s knowledge of metal doesn’t extend beyond thirty year old Mötley Crüe videos. And this is a world where Robin Thicke exists…

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

I have written about the need for better music criticism. This piece by Everitt True about Kurt Cobain is the sort of thing we need less of. It’s the epitome of everything I loathe about the hipster-punk school of music writing. True is a talented writer, but he is not actually a music critic. That’s because he doesn’t write about the actual music. Whatever the nominal subject, the piece is ultimately all about himself. And it’s an school of writing that’s ultimately responsible for bigging up more terrible music than 70s prog-rock could ever dream of.

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Tim Hall | 1 Comment

Anyone else think “The Flour Kings” would be an excellent name for a Fields of the Nephilim tribute band?

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Tim Hall | 1 Comment