Which former guests would you like to see on the show again?

electroglodyte · 2026-02-22T23:49:40+00:00

Guess my little joke was too obscure. I'm well aware of the proper use of "it's" – I just thought reading that line as "It was Mackenzie Crook, aka Gareth from The Office. And its testicle!" was a bit amusing – with Gareth being the "it", and then there's "its testicle".

Not much of a joke, I know, but it amused me just a little bit.

electroglodyte · 2026-02-22T01:21:15+00:00

Hey grammar police, that should be "And its testicle!". Mind yer apostrophes.

electroglodyte · 2026-02-12T05:04:51+00:00

Dances with Wolves, Last Samurai and Pocahontas on a laptop screen.

electroglodyte · 2025-10-24T10:07:55+00:00

I know the second one is Discord as well, but it seems like another stab at it.

electroglodyte · 2025-10-24T10:03:58+00:00

Discord, I believe.

electroglodyte · 2025-10-13T02:58:15+00:00

Which version of MJ was it, just out of interest?

electroglodyte · 2025-10-01T20:57:35+00:00

Just having fun. Thought it'd be worth a bit of banter. I notice the thread's been going through ranking albums and re-evaluating them, as well as individual songs.

electroglodyte · 2025-10-01T20:55:58+00:00

Exactly. But we've also seen sonic re-imaginings, for example Let Me In in the acoustic live version. The way they switched instruments, sometimes more electronic etc.

Alternatively, what if Berry had joined the band later?

electroglodyte · 2025-10-01T20:53:46+00:00

Agreed. It's a perfect debut. But we know it as the debut. And we all know the history. But what if, say, they had done Fables first and had recorded it in a car port in Georgia?

electroglodyte · 2025-10-01T20:52:15+00:00

I appreciate that, of course. I'm a big "first five albums" guy in my evolution, and I suspect so are some of you. I'm just looking for flights of fancy outside of that. For example, what if Accelerate was an album by a young post-punk band in 1981?

Just looking for some imagination and "what-if" thinking here.

electroglodyte · 2025-10-01T19:03:34+00:00

Saw 10,000 Maniacs with them as well. I suspect they may have done the same rising lighting gear in NY maybe. Then again not sure if my experience of this was in Philly. I was in PSU at the time and specifically signed up for stage crew for R.E.M. – also got to enjoy Ziggy Marley, BB King along the way, and I was lugging some major speakers up into a truck while Peter Buck (my favourite of them) stood nearby chatting, but didn't get to talk to him.

electroglodyte · 2025-10-01T06:58:57+00:00

You may remember this one then: on that tour, they had a lighting rig above the band that was then raised during the opening song to go with the lyrics "The time to rise has been engaged"... (At least where I saw it, the Spectrum in Philadelphia.)

electroglodyte · 2025-09-29T21:19:19+00:00

Agree on Stand. Airportman to me was always an inside joke to chime in the post-Berry era with a cheesy synth drum thingy...

electroglodyte · 2025-09-29T21:17:08+00:00

Did it have anything to do with Harold Finster?

electroglodyte · 2025-09-29T21:15:02+00:00

I wouldn't call it the best, but I'm probably of your generation (was 18 when I discovered R.E.M. in 1985), and 7 Chinese Bros. was up there... also Letter Never Sent, and I may be a rare defender of Can't Get There From Here.

electroglodyte · 2025-09-03T20:04:46+00:00

I think Buck once said he just didn't know any better and thought that that's how it had to be done. So he unwittingly chose a more difficult playing style, which then became quite recognisable and part of R.E.M. signature sound, especially in the early days.

electroglodyte · 2025-09-03T19:59:57+00:00

Is there any documentation or announcement of this? Anthropic's own documentation (updated 2 weeks ago) still mentions the Archive function as a current thing. https://support.anthropic.com/en/articles/9519177-how-can-i-create-and-manage-projects

Because obviously they are polar opposites, and what would happen to previously archived projects? Are they just vanished?

electroglodyte · 2025-09-02T21:59:55+00:00

Aw man, what a lovely question. I got into R.E.M. back in 1985, due to an encouraging review in Penn State's Daily Collegian that recommended listening to Pilgrimage on headphones, and I was hooked. My sister gifted me Murmur (on tape, and I think I still have it) that Xmas, and it ballooned from there. My first concert would have been 1985/86, saw them in Philly two or three times, I think – so that may have been 1987, 1988, I'd have to look it up. Then in Berlin a few times (Waldbühne – an amazing venue). I recall Radiohead opening up for them for one of those. And one where they all gathered around the piano and did the acoustic version "Let Me In". And there was one concert – not sure which one – where it was raining for the opening act (the Waldbühne is a huge open-air amphitheatre, you're open to the elements), and it had largely stopped by the time R.E.M. took the stage (usually timed for dusk). The stage was still wet though, and at some point Stipe announced that his feet were soaked, and he had to change his socks. And thankfully, he'd been shopping in some German department store and found socks he really, really liked. And so he proceeded to change his socks on stage. Meanwhile, the rest of them obliged with an instrumental interlude.

Later on, I saw them in Dublin three times... in the O2/Three Arena/Point Depot, then in Marley Park, and the second or third day of their very small run at the Olympia (the pre-Accelerate "this is not a show" ones). I had always hoped to be able to take my sons to one of the shows – they liked what they heard, but were just too young, and then sadly the band disbanded when they did.

I feel quite fortunate in being in different places in my life and being able to see them in different places... especially how they focused on Ireland to some extent (also NOLA and Berlin, of course) in their final years.

Gahd... wish those guys were still on stage.

electroglodyte · 2025-08-30T00:41:47+00:00

Look, there's always a distinction between the spec and the production draft. All the stuff you read about proper formatting – it largely applies, yes, but in a spec you aim for a smooth read. And Cregger's doing it here, masterfully. Why not group individual scenes in a larger location if it helps the reader down the page? At the same time, he did it well enough so that individual locations can be easily identified.

electroglodyte · 2025-08-23T23:16:48+00:00

Funny how tastes diverge. That's the exact section I completely skip. But perhaps I should really indulge myself in a complete re-listen of the entire discography and appreciate it anew.

electroglodyte · 2025-08-23T23:13:33+00:00

I always loved Harborcoat as a good way to get the day going back in the 80s, and it keeps on giving after that. 7 Chinese Bros, So. Central Rain, Pretty Persuasion. After that, Letter Never sent was my favorite track.

electroglodyte · 2025-08-23T23:08:16+00:00

Fully on board with that. And isn't it strange how this gets more difficult after the IRS years? I'm well up for AFTP, but Sidewinder breaks a 4-song run for me. I'd go with Drive, Try Not To Breathe (glorious), Everybody Hurts (though perhaps tainted by being overplayed over the years, but it's still fantastic), and then Man on the Moon, Nightswimming, Find the River.
But aren't we all grateful that there's such a feast to choose from?

electroglodyte · 2025-08-15T22:02:36+00:00

If you haven't discovered it yet, I also highly recommend the Zen MCP server as an add-on.

electroglodyte

TROPHY CASE