Carbomb

Looks like something Bob Mortimer would rib Andy for about Mackems.

Yes and no. I'd say he would've been a good main event heel - an excellent one, actually, because he didn't pop anyone. He came across as a brutal, nasty bastard that you just couldn't root for, and therefore root for a face taking a beating off him.

Had these recently. Very odd, but like those peanut puffs you can get, very moreish.

Is Ryota Hama still going? He'd be good to see.

Any fat-man monster would be, as there's almost no-one like that nowadays. Earthquake would've shone, for sure, Big Daddy V probably, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, Bam Bam Bigelow, they would all have been really intriguing with all the fast guys bouncing off them and the big guys trying to move them.

Not films as such, but Dennis Potter wrote a couple of plays as TV mini-series in the mid-90s just before he passed, Karaoke and Cold Lazarus. Currently re-watching Karaoke, and I didn't realise back then the cast it had - obviously, a lot of these were early in their careers, or were just before they made it big, but it's still impressive in retrospect: Albert Finney Richard E. Grant Roy Hudd Ian McDiarmid Julie Christie Alison Steadman Anna Chancellor Keeley Hawes Saffron Burrows Ewan McGregor Ralph Brown Stephen Mackintosh Hywel Bennett Liz Smith Natascha McElhone Fay Ripley Neil Stuke Matthew Cottle (if only they'd had Samantha Janus in this, they'd have got the Game On hat-trick) Stephen Boxer BTW, you can find all of both plays on Youtube. EDIT: Forgot to include the most surreal cast member there - Charley Boorman playing a yuppie.

The Cult of Personality

You mean you would if you didn't?

Wankind. Lorne, hold the door a sec.

First thing I thought when I saw that pic. Looks like a fusion of Ricky Tomlinson and John Goodman. Jocky Goodlinson.

I'd tell him to give his head a wobble, but it'd just be playing into his hands.

For me, it's probably Marco Pierre White. A Tory and a temperamental dickhead, but I can't help but like how he comes across - he's intense, but also mixes in humour when you don't expect it, leaving you wondering if he's actually joking or serious about something ridiculous.

This talk of clubbering has me thinking that Haku might have been a world champion now. Not a talker, but wouldn't need to be. I think Steve Blackman might have had a higher profile too, though not main event level. Probably IC.

A couple of weeks ago, something unexpected happened. My dad had been clearing out the clutter in a cupboard, and he'd come to me with a small bundle wrapped in paper, and what I found in it lifted my spirits no end. My maternal grandad, whom I never got to meet as he died a few years before I was born, used to play an unusual instrument: around that part of Yorkshire (at the very least), they were known as "the knackers". From what I understand, others call them "the Irish bones" or simply "the bones". Essentially, pairs of sheep's ribs that had been kept from the knacker's yard, which you played by putting them between your fingers and clacking them. I didn't even know that my grandma had kept them after he died, let alone that my parents had brought them down to our house when she passed, so I was overjoyed - I went on Youtube to find some tutorials, and have been practising ever since - still not great, they're surprisingly complex given their sheer simplicity, but then I guess the simpler the instrument, the more involvement from the body, which is pretty complex. But I'm now playing the bones my grandad used to play; I now have a living, working connection back to him. It's been a difficult time for all of us, beset on all sides by Covid, Tories, anti-immigrant/foreigner rhetoric, etc., so I'm glad to finally be able to talk about something positive, even if it's trivial. How about yourselves? Is there anything that takes the edge off the misery, or raises the mood, or makes you outright happy?

...that Victor Quinones was Gorilla Monsoon's son - at least, that's what it says according to Gorilla's Wiki:

I know there's been a thread in the past, but #megadethtothreads or whatever. Just got back from the 50th Anniversary Experience of Tubular Bells at the Royal Festival Hall. Mike Oldfield, oddly, wasn't performing (I think he may have permanently retired from live performances), but the band was led by the music director he's worked with for the past 30 years, and the whole thing was great. A few different tracks in the first one, including the well-known Moonlight Shadow, and the second half was the entire Tubular Bells album, and a troupe of circus performers doing all sorts of tumbling, contortion, dance, human pyramids, feats of strength, cyr wheel, silks, etc. Really fun. We weren't allowed to film or take pics, so sadly couldn't get anything of the actual performance. EDIT: Forgot to mention. Oldfield always made sure to have a relatively well-known person as "Master of Ceremonies" for the famous bit where each of the instruments are announced in turn for the final run of the main track. First TB was Viv Stanshall, TB2 had Alan Rickman, TB2003 had John Cleese - this one had Sam West!

Glad to see @PowerButchi has also discovered the Townsends channel on YouTube. First recipe I tried from there was the Roasted Onions, as it was just so simple, plus I found that one of my local supermarket sold these gigantic Spanish onions. The idea of having roast onions in the same way as a roast potato was very intriguing, so I tried the original recipe first, and it was really nice. Tried it a second time with some chilli flakes and All-Purpose Seasoning, which was lush, then tried a third time like a proper filled baked potato, putting in mac and cheese - didn't quite work, but that was mainly because I microwaved it, so the middle didn't quite cook. I've also been watching a load of stuff from Jacques Pepin, on basics, and I subscribed to Food Wishes as well - Chef John's up-and-down voice can be a bit annoying, but he churns out so many videos for recipes I want to try. Tried the fondant potatoes last week with the Sunday roast, and those were a big success. But the recipe below is the one I really want to try - it's a long cook, so it will be a big project, not to mention I need to figure out alternatives to the pork ingredients. Anyone got any particular favourites? (Thought it might help with bringing #DeathToMegathreads by making the thread more specific.)

Every so often, a thread will come up where we reminisce and wonder about old posters who disappeared and never came back, or very rarely re-appear briefly. However, I'm wondering, with this new forum's function for tagging posters, whether or not it might be possible to "summon" some of the old names back (assuming they'd get a notification in their email)? Is there anyone you remember and you'd like to have a go at resurrecting them forum-side? For me, there are a few I'd like to see back here, like @JLM, @CracktonMoj and @Jaffa. Also, there are the old guard like @Spatular, @Terje Rindal, @Kenny McBride and @bobbins.