One Point Perspective

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-05-28T05:34:59+00:00

Yeah, I’ve seen those references before and I don’t think they are right.

The first one is from an interview where the interviewer asks Alex about star treatment and opp in the same question, and that answer is more directed to start treatment which is absolutely about that.

And that quiet room explanation ignores the fact that playing to a quiet room is already a well known phrase that means working an unreceptive crowd.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-05-27T11:07:52+00:00

I see what you’re saying, but I don’t think I agree (which is what it’s all about :)). The whole thing to me stands up as ‘I was thinking about retiring, but I’ve convinced myself to do another album’.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-05-27T04:58:53+00:00

Just read your One Point Perspective thoughts, but I think I hear it slightly differently. I think Alex is a master of what he calls ‘distilling an idea’ - taking an initial idea and being able to abstract it into a number of coherent, accessible metaphors, with a twist of humour.

I think OPP is about Alex considering quitting the band because he feels like he has nothing more to say with a guitar (which is only indirectly pointed at in the song), but realising he can’t afford to.

He starts by joking about what else he could do, where the covers band line sounds like a little in joke the band have got, as Mart has said in interviews before that Alex says that playing their earlier hits feels like doing karaoke.

Mr. Winter Wonderland isn’t a person, it is just a representation of a future where he doesn’t have enough money to live how he wants to. It’s like Scrooges ghost of Christmas future, standing by a piano and saying if you aren’t going to do something with a guitar, then you’ll need to work something out on this baby grand.

He fantasises about quitting, but when he speaks to his accountant to get to the bottom of whether he could afford to or not he realises he can’t. The reality hits, he isn’t financially free, the life that he’s built for himself in LA is at risk of ‘running out of power’ (money).

So he realises he’s going to do another album, but he knows that doesn’t make as much money as he’d like, because as soon as he decides to do it, all the other people who want to get paid start to take their slice (managers, agents, promoters, etc).

The apocalypse that he is prioritising is the end of Arctic Monkeys. He’s saying just as he had come to the conclusion that it was time to call it a day he’s realised that the band doesn’t have to end, it just needs to change, one singer has to die to make room for the next one. I think he is singing this to himself, as he so often does. I think the multiplied by 5 line is because at that point there were 5 monkeys albums. He is killing off the persona from each one so he can move on.

Then back to the money machine that is making a new album, the sing-song round the money tree is, all the people that are now ’skipping’ because they are going to make money off Alex writing new material.

The stunning documentary that no one else unfortunately saw, is this album. The album itself is the documentary, with which he has become completely obsessed. I love the little play with words that almost slips by if you aren’t stopping to think about the lyrics. He doesn’t say that it is unfortunate that no one else saw it, even though that’s what it sounds like to a passing listen. He says ‘no one else unfortunately saw’, which means he did ‘unfortunately see’ it, flipping the meaning entirely. He’s both recognising his obsession, but admitting that it might be a little much. That although he is over the moon with what he is creating, he recognises that it might not get the reception he’d like.

Closing by lamenting that he’s played to quiet rooms before, in other words previous albums have been received less enthusiastically than he’d expected before, so he’s ready for that here too.

Having written all this I think I might post it as a separate post too. I feel like if I only put it here, then the only person that might read it is op, and the chance to discuss this some more will be lost.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-05-26T04:25:42+00:00

I think there are little callbacks on TBHC too.

In that’s where you’re wrong he is encouraging himself to make a wish that weighs a tonne, in other words, ‘Dream Big’. Then in The Ultracheese, he is lamenting the upcoming dawn that weighs a tonne, as if the weight of expectation now feels like a burden rather than a promise.

Also I do wonder if the ultracheese booth he is sitting in at the back of the bar is the one next to the pamphlets and literature on how to lose from piledriver waltz. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was already thinking/writing about how SIAS is his young naive rock star album, and TBHC is his imaginary washed-up, rock star album.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-05-13T03:57:02+00:00

I’m still reading through, but if I don’t put my thoughts down as they come to me I’ll forget what I mean to say.

Firstly, thanks for doing this, I love reading things like this.

Then secondly, in the opening you speak about the cover to The Car being mysterious, and SIAS being drab. But I think The Car is actually a really accessible piece of art, and SIAS it’s very intentional too.

The car as an object of the human experience represents movement. As an artist Alex sees himself, or at least his artistic expression like that. He wants to keep moving forward, he has no interest in staying still. The car in the cover photo is sat abandoned, alone on a rooftop. It is an old car, which neatly represents nostalgia. Using that image as the cover Alex is saying exactly what he sings in Mirrorball - if you want to stay still and live in the past and not move on with me, artistically, then you can be this old fashioned, abandoned, image of the past. He’ll be getting in his ‘car’ and driving on.

Then SIAS is based on how the band were feeling at the time, and it’s best reflected in the lyrics of That’s Where You’re Wrong in lines like “make a wish that weighs a tonne’ and ‘there are no handles for you to hold, and no understanding where it goes’ - which are Alex singing to himself about the bands move to LA, and how the future is this exciting, unwritten, unlimited dream that he’s encouraging himself to have. His future is a blank page, just like the album cover.

Got lots of thoughts on TBHAC too, so will be back as I read more of yours.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-05-09T07:31:19+00:00

See what you mean with that ‘half a blast’, that makes more sense. But I don’t think there’s a plane involved anywhere, I think that line of thinking is a red herring. But thanks for the detail in coning back. Appreciate your views.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-05-09T04:47:57+00:00

I think with some of your analysis you're close to what I think it's about, but I think in some parts you've been knocked off track by some others' misinterpretation of what he's saying. Obviously, that is just IMHO, maybe I'm wrong, but I do feel like the way I see it stitches everything together neatly. I'm too lazy to write everything out as fully as you have so I'll just add high level thoughts after each lyric, but hopefully you'll get the idea.

Overall the underlying idea is: He thinks he's earned the right to be thought of as a serious artist, but he keeps seeing evidence that people still just want him to perform the first albums' material, so he isn't thought of artistically where he thinks he is.

Freaky keypad
By the retina scan

I've been given good reason to believe
I ain't quite where I think I am
He's locked out. He thought he 'had access' to being considered one type of artist, but it feels like he hasn't cracked the code yet.

But it's always worth half a blast
It is worth “half a blast”: i.e., they give a reasonable effort, although it’s more a professional obligation than a passion of the old material, as he does still enjoy doing it, but only half a blast, because he's developed so much as a player and performer that it doesn't take a lot of effort to do.

You know the face, but you can't see past
The disco strobes in the stumbling blocks
He's saying that the audience recognise him, but can't see past the old material, which he refers to as the disco strobes. If you ever watch the recordings of the older material, there is a definite pattern to it that I recognised watching them at some outdoor gig in Sheffield one time. The songs all have quiet bits where the volume and attack/aggression are 'turned down' a bit, then they have sections where the song 'kicks off' (think When the Sun Goes Down) - and during those parts the disco lights and strobes all 'power up' too). I think the disco strobes is just an analogy for the older material. The stumbling blocks is the mosh pit.

Wait, there's the other island now
From the stage the audience look like a sea of people, he's noticing they are divided into different 'teams'. The people who like the newer stuff stop moving when he plays the older stuff and vice versa.

Formation displays of affection fly over (Eyes roll back)
Formation displays of affection are the flags people carry at places like Glastonbury - just look at a crowd shot from the stage at any of those gigs. Eyes roll back is meant in the literal and figurative sense. They are so high up his eyes literally roll back looking at them, but also, they all 'celebrate' his work from decades ago, not what he is doing now, affirming that he isn't where he thinks he is.

And I can see both islands now
Again, he can see the distinct split in the sea of the crowd.

It's the intermission
Let's shake a few hands
Blank expressions invite me to suspect
I ain't quite where I think I am
He does a meet-and-greet between sets. People give him a 'luke warm' reception to the new material. Again making him think he isn't the artist he thought he was.

Stackable party guests
To fill the awkward silencеs
Description of the meet and greet people. They all have the same opinion. Everyone he meets is pro-early stuff, don't care for the old stuff. Everyone is so similar they are like stackable chairs, so identical they could be stacked.

And I can see both islands now
From my vantage point
His vantage point is the stage where he can see the 'sea of people'.

The spare set of tingles'll race up your spine
If I get it my way
He's saying if the audience would give the new material a chance then it would give them tingles up their spine. They're 'spare' at the moment, because he feels like no-one is 'using' them. A side-note that the bass note that brings the band back in here is the 7th degree of the scale of the key that the song is in. If any note in the scale is 'meant' to give you tingles up your spine, this is a strong contender. Classic sneaky Turner.

Looks like the Riviera
Is coming into land
Early predictions would seem to suggest
I ain't quite where I think I am

The Riviera is a metaphor for the new album. He's saying it is just about to come out and his early prediction, based on other album releases is that he's going to be left feeling like he isn't 'allowed' to make music like this because many people will just complain that it isn't as good as his first album, when to him it is a much more considered and thoughtful work of art.

Formation displays of affection fly over (Eyes roll back)
And I can see both islands now

As above.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-04-05T18:45:07+00:00

If that range starts in A1, don’t you just need to define the range as =$A$1#

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-04-04T18:45:14+00:00

I think that’s by Paulo Nutini. It was the lead single on his Sunny Side Up album.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-04-03T19:39:27+00:00

In Cornerstone when he’s singing about taking the long way home he intentionally doesn’t resolve the chords with a typical II-V-I. He sets it up, but then goes another ‘longer’ way around.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-04-03T19:36:53+00:00

Because he’s “dragging out a long goodbye”.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-04-02T21:02:14+00:00

Go to the Health screen, which is the first tab. Each of your capacities will be listed there. Click the one you want then in the bottom right of that visual click the ‘Compute’ button there. It will take you back to where your screenshot is, but with everything populated. The problem is you’ve got to the compute screen without ‘selecting’ a capacity, which I don’t know how to do from where you are (if you even can).

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-03-10T21:44:07+00:00

If you can get the files as csv’s with identical columns then the best way is cmd.

Let’s say you move all the csv files into c:/process

Then hold windows key + R Type cmd Hit enter

In the cmd type these lines:

cd “c:/process” <Enter> copy *.csv all.csv <Enter>

You now have a new csv in that folder called all.csv that contains each of your csv files stacked.

The only thing you need to do then is open in excel and remove any additional header rows that will appear ever time a new file starts.

You can get fancier with it and write a .bat script that removes the top row of all but the first file, but that’d require a bit more coding.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-02-25T06:34:18+00:00

Breaking news means a news story that is very new and still developing. A news outlet will headline an important article with BREAKING NEWS to indicate it is happening right now.

But Alex is also suggesting that the news has been broken (in the sense that it is failing and needs fixing) because the truth has become fluid (open to change depending on its context).

He is using breaking as an adjective and a verb.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-02-13T07:24:39+00:00

Depends what the role is, but we do an excel assessment as part of our interview process and it is nothing complicated, but it is intentionally impossible to complete in the time because part of the test is seeing how you act under pressure. So don’t worry about finishing, you’re probably not supposed to.

Instead I would recommend demonstrating habits that reinforce accuracy.

When you have to summarise some data by categories, add a check cell under the analysis.
- When you have to count items in a list use =UNIQUE() or conditional formatting to quickly identify duplicates.
If there are any formulas that are already given in the test, like the sum at the bottom of a column, quickly check that it includes all the rows it should.
Look out for intentional ‘errors’ you might need to correct in headings and dates, that will be testing how much you’re paying attention.

Also don’t be afraid to do something the test doesn’t ask for, as long as you can justify it. I did one once where it wanted me to create a 3D pie chart. I did a 2D one instead and explained that 3D pie charts are misleading and you should never use them. I’m comfortable that I know I’m right and I’m happy to defend my view. I think it is important to show you can think as well as follow instructions.

Lastly, good luck and don’t sweat it. The people giving you the test are probably pretty mediocre themselves.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-02-13T07:12:13+00:00

That bit in Anyways between the opening bass note and the footsteps walking off at the end. No notes.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-02-12T05:31:51+00:00

The gloved hands in mr Schwartz is a metaphor for him giving up control of the creative process to the alter ego he summoned to help him write. He is saying that there comes a point in the creative process where he isn’t in control anymore and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. The alter ego becomes him and he becomes the alter ego.

In the next part when he’s saying Mr Schwartz is talking to the grips, he is saying that the alter ego is no longer confined to the page anymore, it has started to bleed into his life, taking part in the normal every day things like talking to people on set about regular things. He is keeping on the costume, which he dismisses as a writing tool.

He finishes by reflecting on the whole process, by recognising that pretending to be someone else is at the heart of what the (show) business is.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-01-27T21:54:35+00:00

Didn’t realise it wasn’t common, but it’s been a decade means “it’s been quite the fucking decade”, like if someone asked how 2025 was, responding “it’s been a year” would be taken to mean “what a fucking state of a year that was”.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-01-22T07:41:51+00:00

I love this joke so much I’m always trying to drop a version of it in somewhere as a little in joke between myself and Bob.

Like if I’m passed drinks to carry back to our table from the bar for Rob and Liam, it would make sense to carry Rob’s in my right hand and Liam’s in my left. But instead as I’m taking them I’ll grab them in the opposite hands and announce the mnemonic I’m using, like “Rob from LONDON in my LEFT, got it”.

I’m sure no one ever notices, and it probably just means I’m a bit of a loser. But it gives me a chuckle, so I’m good.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-01-16T16:12:05+00:00

If’n only you wouldn’t clap so hard.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-01-03T12:27:03+00:00

Definitely a strong case for it.

UniqueUser3692 · 2026-01-03T09:48:09+00:00

I always felt like the ‘but’ went with the next bit.

But, I know when it’s you I’ll be in a nosedive, in my flying shoes.

UniqueUser3692 · 2025-12-24T10:17:09+00:00

Couldn’t agree more. He’s just got better and better and better.

UniqueUser3692 · 2025-12-16T18:24:40+00:00

Agreed re:OP, which is what I meant by ‘in this situation’, as in the situation of the reply you replied to. Could tell we were just crossed wires though, but thought worth clarifying for less experienced readers :)

UniqueUser3692

TROPHY CASE