ariotofmyown

Is good!
 

Cheers for the Godless recommendation, sounds good.

Only just got round to watching The Queen's Gambit last week. Was absolutely brilliant, ended up binging it.
Was looking for something to fill the hole once I finished it and took a chance on another Netflix limited series called Godless starring our boy Jack O'Connell. Was completely unaware it was made by the same bloke who made Queen's Gambit, it is equally brilliant and a well made Western. Thoroughly recommend both, even though many have probably seen them.
Also just started watching the West Wing following the events in Capitol last week. Not sure what made me watch it but I do think it's excellent. Seems laughably optimistic and naive following the past 5 years though.

Loved Tin Star initially, but the final series was a drag after 3/4 episodes we skipped to the denouement. Which was quite good but we didn’t miss the 6 episodes in the middle ? 
Absolutely hooked on Americans .. Reagan era Russian sleeper agents living “normal” lives in the states. Wonderfully measured and balanced. Great acting and scripts. clever and immensely watchable. 

After Life is to Netflix shows what RDR2 is to gaming, enjoyable but massively overrated and nowhere near as deep or interesting as it thinks it is.
I didn't feel it offered any real insight to the mind of someone who's suffered such a personal loss and a lot of it felt like it had been written by committee and hit on a few too many obvious/standard emotional manipulation tropes, almost like there was a brainstorming session asking "What do we think people in this situation would think/feel/say" rather than drawing on any deeper, more personal experiences.

I don't think Gervais' character was particularly three dimensional. We're told he's a good man, a very nice man through videos made by his dying wife but that's the point, we're TOLD it, we never actually see it - the only thing we're really shown of his life with her is that he loved to play (generic, borish, annoying) practical jokes.
To me that doesn't show character depth, it shows that he was always a bit of an ********, and now he's being.... an even bigger ********? So again we're just relying on her word. He bought her a dog though (probably one of the biggest, most basic plays of audience manipulation), so he must have been a great guy deep down? Nah, I don't think so.

The only time it ever really got dark was when he gave the homeless character 'enough' money, the only moment when I thought "Oh, this went deep, I want to see the rest, how dark it can get?", but it was pretty much brushed aside within half an episode. I suppose it would have to be, because it is a comedy show, afterall, but the problem is it's just not that funny.
Because there's not any real depth there's no real reason to invest in the character -  essentially you're just watching Ricky Gervais playing Ricky Gervais saying slightly outrageous things. Nothing new there.
It's not particularly clever either, there's one scene where they're in the newspaper office discussing whether God exists and it falls back on "If God created everything, who created God?".... seriously? Is that supposed to be an example of clever writing? It's primary school level discussion.
Don't get me wrong, it was an enjoyable watch, but nothing to go crazy about. I think ultimately the message it was putting across was quite basic, quite simple, but positive and worth taking on board.  That doesn't make it an outstanding piece of work though.

I have got my copy of Pride now, signed by Craig Bryson, no less!
Looking forward to reading it.
Thanks, @HuddersRam
 

I agree, he ought to of Learnt his trade at Chelsea before coming to Pride Park

Thank you @Shuff264! That's fantastic to hear, and I'm glad you enjoyed the book.
I'll be going live on TalkSport in an hour or so (absolutely no idea how this has happened) to talk all things Pride, in case anyone doesn't have anything to do and doesn't have a hangover too severe.

I just finished today, comfortably one of the best books I read in 2020.
It gave great insight into the club, at times it confirmed things I already believed and others it challenged them.
It was good to get an education on stuff that was either before my time or I simply cannot remember.
Really good read, thanks for writing it!

Thank you so much @Orphanram. To be honest, it's a style I've always loved writing in (did me zero favours when it came to those serious uni assessments!) and so I wanted the book to reflect something I'd enjoy reading. It's quality to see that has happened for quite a lot of you out there. I also always wanted to just get the key thoughts of people and make sure it was something genuinely unique and insightful, rather than just the rambles of a disgruntled fan over the years. This forum and the takes of various supporters really helped to get a full feel for the overall opinions, so I didn't want to just go in on my thoughts, because honestly, who wants those?!
Thanks also @Shaftesbury Street, @Ilsonram12, @Anna, @bucktwoand @Phoenix! Incredible to get the feedback from you all. And @QuitYourJibbaJivin+ @G-Ram - hope you enjoy the book! Would love to get your thoughts. Hopefully I've not missed anyone out!
And without being soppy, massive thanks to all of you. I came into 2020 intent on finishing the book and making a success of it, but it's gone way beyond what I thought it would do. It's been a horrid old year but hopefully those of you who have picked up a copy have found it's brought just that little bit of enjoyment to you. I've got a couple more ideas in the pipeline (one Derby and two a bit wider) that I'm hoping to get stuck into in 2021...

I started reading my copy yesterday and I’m really enjoying it. I’m not sure if it’s deliberate but I think the stylistic of the narrative that runs through the book (what I have read so far) is quite unique. The opinions from the various people involved give the reader a chance to form their own opinions against the the sequence of chronological events of the last 20 years. Whilst you do see this in other books what you also tend to get is the authors bias of the opinion they’ve formed underpinning this. What’s is genuinely original (in my view) in your book is that this runs parallel to the opinion/bias that has been formed by the general views that you get on forums such as this and others that preceded it over the years, rather than the learned opinion from the established author/journalist writing the book. It has made me reflect on a fair few assumptions I’ve made over the years and also made me think more about what is happening now and has happened in the last 6 months. 

Also what I found consistent through the book was the parallels when the team was doing well. Get a target man who can hold the ball up with the ball good at their feet (Kuqi, Hulse, Rasiak, Martin, CKR) a midfield enforcer (Eustace, Thorne, Bielik) and workhorses in midfield (Bryson, Knight).
Also bringing in good characters and not big time charlies that can upset the team unity. The January transfer window, often doing more harm than good.

So Anna,  was your Christmas List to Santa... . 
1. Chocolate 
2. More chocolate 
3. Some dcfc stuff? 
?

I think you should have a 24hr book buyers bonus deal.
We send you pictures of our books, and in return you email us the good stuff you had to leave out!
We won't say a word, honest.

@HuddersRamyou big softie ?

Great to hear, @FlyBritishMidland! Yeah my first word count from the publishers was 90k. Quickly realised that was way, way below what was needed. In the end, the book could have been half the size! Glad you enjoyed it mate.
And a huge thank you to everyone who has got a copy of the book or just expressed any interest in it. It's been absolutely mental these past few weeks as the book went up to 2nd in the Amazon football charts, which is about 1000 places higher than I ever hoped for. Don't ask what Roald Dahl is doing in the football charts (no idea either). Up the Rams. ?

Why is Tom Lawrence playing left back for Spurs. Missed a few chances too.

yes, he is

Its almost crunch time for a lot of us, not knowing how we are going to feel over the next 10 days or so. 
 
Hope everyone remembers that it’s okay to feel rubbish and isolated, there’s nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about. It’s totally natural if you feel low in ordinary circumstances, let alone in the current climate. 

Hap and Leonard
Sneaky Pete
Patriot
Mr Robot
Hand of God
Man in the High Castle
Hell on Wheels
Ripper Street
Copper
The Boys
Outlander
Vikings
 
those should entertain you. Then the best.....
Bosch

You are talking rubbish surely, the post war period was pure joy? It's the magical era that 70-80 year olds always refer back too, which just coincidentally was also their childhood. I imagine it was even better for the rich, long glorious summers exploring the countryside around Father's estate. 

Looking forward to all the activity on this thread come the 25th!

Thanks for that feedback @ilkleyram! I really appreciate you taking the time to provide it. Absolutely understandable - I think we've all wanted to be as far away from this club for much of this season, so the release of the book definitely wasn't ideal. You're right on the labour of love side. It became a weekly question of 'why on earth am I doing this?' but I massively enjoyed it.
Thanks for the mention on the prose as well. Can understand that completely. I'll do my best to answer the questions:
1) So yeah, I always planned on doing it chronologically because it was going to run from 2000-2020, but the further on I went the more it developed really. I did actually toy with the idea of doing it as a season/chapter on a player sort of thing, but I instead to do the player focuses as blogs instead to raise a bit of awareness on the book in the end. Completely agree that there's loads more I didn't manage to fit in!
2) I made an initial list of about 80 or so people which changed massively over time. My original targets were more of the 'lesser' players without being disrespectful, but the further along it went on, the more strong connections I managed to make. Of the list above, Jewell and Clough both refused to take part. Tom Glick + Andy Appleby never responded to a few interview requests and Sam Rush legally wasn't allowed to speak, although he was really good to deal with and has read the book since it's release. Mel I pushed to get for a long time but it never happened unfortunately, though he did have to give final approval before the release of the book because it wasn't entirely complimentary. To be fair, I always tried to get the key people where possible. So even with the Amigos, I was really close to getting Jeremy Keith before he turned it down. Keogh too had agreed to take part but the longer his legal battle with the club went on, the more it became impossible. Billy Davies too had agreed before backing out. I tried to get a member of the coaching staff + management team as much as possible as well. I think the Lampard + Davies reigns were the only ones I didn't manage to grab anything from unfortunately.
The book has gone down crazily well, certainly way better than I expected, and has just had it's third reprint since publication, which is wild. So a big, big thank you to everyone who has read it! It's been in and around the top 20 on Amazon since release, which again is completely crazy. I'm giving away a copy over on a separate thread in case anyone is keen on a pre-Christmas 'treat' (not sure that's the right word)
Thanks again Ilkley, I massively appreciate that!

Yeah I'd recommend it. Its gone slightly more commercial over the last few years but not enough to ruin.
You get a boat down the river, past the cliff side ruins to the beach.
If you get a riverside pension the boat will pick you up from your place on the way.
Loads of walks and boat trips, mud baths, thermal springs, ancient ruins you can walk to.
I've thought about doing a twin centre holiday Kalkan.

I’ve been to Kalkan 5 times. Definitely worth a stay @alexxxxx. Not really a singles place though.