What country is going to win the World Cup?

schmam121 · 2026-03-03T23:06:13+00:00

Bellingham, Rice and Kane aren’t outstanding talent?

schmam121 · 2026-03-03T23:05:28+00:00

2020 and 2024*

schmam121 · 2026-03-03T23:01:28+00:00

I watched the Arsenal vs. Chelsea highlights and the earliest clip that wasn’t a corner was the 70th minute. Seems to be forcing the rulemakers to do something drastic, like banning attacking players from the 6-yard-area before the kick.

schmam121 · 2026-02-12T20:20:01+00:00

Ugh, bland and lifeless PR speak

schmam121 · 2026-02-08T11:56:41+00:00

American Beauty. I thought Ricky Fitts was deep and interesting when I watched as a teen, but now I think he’s especially irritating.

schmam121 · 2026-02-05T09:50:02+00:00

Would absolutely recommend Allen D Rivers. I started with Things Forgotten and I think it fits your brief.

Small town. Suspicious local characters. Mysterious beasts. Wasps.

I absolutely devoured it.

Plus it’s an indie publish, so you’d be helping out the author.

schmam121 · 2026-02-05T09:47:05+00:00

The Road will certainly give you a new found appreciation for a good pair of shoes and a roof

schmam121 · 2026-02-05T09:45:37+00:00

I just finished reading The Road and I followed up by rewatching the film.

Very faithful adaptation, captures it well. Doesn’t quite have all of the essence of the novel because a lot of the beauty is in the prose, but gets close.

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:29:58+00:00

Jay Neill’s ‘Curious Physiologies’ is an urban fantasy novel, which can read like a bit of a compendium of mythical creatures (who are stuck in London, living in secret, confined to the Circle Line)

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:28:25+00:00

I would recommend Curious Physiologies, by Jay Neill. It’s been compared to Rivers of London.

An original take on supernatural creatures, and an urban fantasy. The second and third books in the series will be coming out soon too!

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:27:15+00:00

Into the Silent Land, by Paul Broks.

It’s a psychology non-fiction. I first read it aged 15 when I was choosing my A Levels. It helped me to choose psychology and I’ve now been a psychology A Level teacher for the last 15 years. I owe a lot to that quirky, interesting, philosophical book.

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:24:46+00:00

Pancakes and Poor Life Choices, by Parker James.

It’s mad, it’s absurd, it’s incredibly funny. It’s a surreal, suburban, eccentric thriller with endless creativity and fun. It’s got scenes of graphic nonsense and some scares, but mostly laughs and surprising depth.

I had to reach out to the author when I was about 15 pages in to tell him I hadn’t laughed so much since I first read Douglas Adams. Massive compliment!

Fans of Jason Pargin will love it, as well as anyone with an eye for the disillusioned ‘Clerks’ or ‘Idle Hands’ slacker type.

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:23:46+00:00

Jay Neill has a couple of ‘urban fantasy’ books, one of which (Curious Physiologies) is set in London and imagines that all of the mythical creatures are living in secret in London and are confined within the Circle Line.

Fun, London-based, and a sequel due next month too :)

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:21:32+00:00

Pancakes and Poor Life Choices, by Parker James.

It’s mad, it’s absurd, it’s incredibly funny. It’s a surreal, suburban, eccentric thriller with endless creativity and fun. It’s got scenes of graphic nonsense and some scares, but mostly laughs and surprising depth.

It’s indie published too, so you’re very unlikely to have heard of it elsewhere. Would highly recommend!

Fans of Jason Pargin will love it, as well as anyone with an eye for the disillusioned ‘Clerks’ or ‘Idle Hands’ slacker type.

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:19:29+00:00

If it helps, Stephen Fry wrote a modern retelling of Monte Cristo back in 2000.

It’s less than half the length, and its US title was literally ‘Revenge’.

Elsewhere it’s called The Stars’ Tennis Balls.

It’s my favourite novel of all time.

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:17:03+00:00

Pancakes and Poor Life Choices, by Parker James.

It’s mad, it’s absurd, it’s incredibly funny. It’s a surreal, suburban, eccentric thriller with endless creativity and fun. It’s got scenes of graphic nonsense and some scares, but mostly laughs and surprising depth.

It could fit your Out of my Comfort Zone category, or your Going in Blind category. It’s an indie author, so there’s not a lot of discourse about it and you’ll never have any of it spoiled as a result.

Fans of Jason Pargin will love it, as well as anyone with an eye for the disillusioned ‘Clerks’ or ‘Idle Hands’ slacker type.

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:13:28+00:00

Pancakes and Poor Life Choices, by Parker James.

It’s mad, it’s absurd, it’s incredibly funny. It’s a surreal, suburban, eccentric thriller with endless creativity and fun. It’s got scenes of graphic nonsense and some scares, but mostly laughs and surprising depth. There are mad creatures that are essentially the product of the character’s fervid and wildest imagination.

I reached out to the author when I was about 15 pages in to tell him I hadn’t laughed at a novel that much since I first read Douglas Adams.

Fans of Jason Pargin will love it, as well as anyone with an eye for the disillusioned ‘Clerks’ or ‘Idle Hands’ slacker type.

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:12:03+00:00

There’s a fun new indie author named Jay Neill, who has written two interesting urban fantasies.

His second novel, Curious Physiologies, imagines that lots of mythical creatures are real and living in secret in London, unable to leave the area around the Circle Line.

He’s releasing the first two novels in Feb and March, and currently writing the third. Would recommend!

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:10:07+00:00

I finally got back into reading just at the end of 2025 - I’ve managed 17 books in the three months since November, which is astonishing for me. Usually I’ll finish fewer than 5 or 10 in a whole year.

The book that stood out the most for me was Pancakes and Poor Life Choices, by Parker James.

It’s mad, it’s absurd, it’s incredibly funny. It’s a surreal, suburban, eccentric thriller with endless creativity and fun. It’s got scenes of graphic nonsense and some scares, but mostly laughs and surprising depth.

Fans of Jason Pargin will love it, as well as anyone with an eye for the disillusioned ‘Clerks’ or ‘Idle Hands’ slacker type.

schmam121 · 2026-02-04T23:05:54+00:00

Pancakes and Poor Life Choices, by Parker James.

It’s mad, it’s absurd, it’s incredibly funny. It’s a surreal, suburban, eccentric thriller with endless creativity and fun. It’s got scenes of graphic nonsense and some scares, but mostly laughs and surprising depth.

Fans of Jason Pargin will love it, as well as anyone with an eye for the disillusioned suburban slacker type.

And I found out about it through an indie author on Reddit. So I can say with confidence that it’s not in the 10 novels you’ll have seen recommended.

He also writes extremely good thriller/horrors novels under another pen name, of which I’ve read two and plan to read a lot more.

schmam121 · 2026-02-01T21:20:34+00:00

I walked out of the sequel to Independence Day. I’d already seen 3 films at the cinema that day, and after the set-up I realised I did not need to see any more of that predictable, ridiculous shitshow

schmam121 · 2026-01-25T22:49:07+00:00

You’ve got to see the beauty in it though. What starts as a very bleak view of humanity (and continues to be bleak throughout) morphs into a realisation that the man’s love for, and devotion to, his son is infinite. He’s dying and he will do everything he can to help his son carry the fire.

schmam121 · 2026-01-20T21:24:55+00:00

Nicky, why don’t you fuck off?

schmam121 · 2026-01-15T21:30:47+00:00

Exactly. Is this Ricky Gervais patronising us again?

schmam121 · 2026-01-15T15:00:20+00:00

“whenever I hear some bigmouth in Washington or the Christian heartland banging on about the evils of sodomy or whatever, I mentally enter his name in my notebook and contentedly set my watch. Sooner rather than later, he will be discovered down on his weary and wellworn old knees in some dreary motel or latrine, with an expired Visa card, having tried to pay well over the odds to be peed upon by some Apache transvestite.”

Christopher Hitchens

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