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Tom Ewing

@tomewing.bsky.social

1338 followers 418 following 5432 posts

Music, comics, assorted grousing, he/him. I write about interesting things for fun (and less interesting things for money)

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Marie Phillips's avatar Marie Phillips @mariephillips.bsky.social
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Thank you for this insight, expert sports journalist

3 replies 8 reposts 44 likes

Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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I wonder what the PSB equivalent of “The Day Before You Came” is - my head says “Being Boring” but it feels too early to play that role (semi obscure fan favourite which gradually becomes a public pick)

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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I went to a K Pop boy band (not BTS) gig last month and yeah the vibe was really great and so different from most shows. I am too much of a blackhearted cynic to become positive myself you understand but it’s a good development

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary)'s avatar Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social
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here's to Neil Tennant at 70. His review of "Eyes Without a Face" in Smash Hits, 1984 ("he doesn't have a great voice & the words are utter drivel but sounds affectingly sincere") & various singles in '82 ("all today's trendy sounds on 1 single. unfortunately there's no tune & tunes are trendy too")

5 replies 18 reposts 59 likes

Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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One of the things about cutting out a load of sugar from your diet is you sometimes encounter a thing you used to eat a lot and not really think of as particularly sweet and think fuck me what’s in this thing (“Eat Natural” bars I am looking at you)

1 replies 2 reposts 59 likes

Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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And there's the cliff-edge effect with public interest in Black music post-79 - it comes back but the generational (and musical) change has happened

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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It really is striking how many of these people's personal motivation seems to be "I must take over the country to avoid being done for Crimes"

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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There is going to be a lot more artist overlap between UT50 and FOM than between UT50 and LDI, I'm certain of that

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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It kind of depends on the electorate here! I wonder if doing LDI first might have skewed participation in interesting ways

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Yeah if it was a 90s only poll you'd be 100% right but even with 3 picks who would choose "Maria"

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Haha yeah, plus I also think - and let's hope this doesn't end up on a quote skeet in November - that there is zero chance of enough people voting for Free As A Bird

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Yeah it would be fairly easy to put together a list of 50 songs which all complied but where you never heard anything other than white guys singing! I am actually not sure if there's a "Crystal" equivalent in this challenge at all - "Start Me Up" maybe?

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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It's all the songs you could be arrested and thrown in jail for voting for in the pop polls, three Jam two Council that's the bonuses sorted

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Plus, chatbots are not new! We have all already used them and know they suck! The main difference now is that the obvious holes in their ability to respond to a situation get filled on the fly with auto generated BS

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Me, looking at the Dril candle tweet: oh I get it he should stop buying the candles AI guys, looking at the Dril candle tweet: this is the new trolley problem

3 replies 29 reposts 79 likes

Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Don’t make me tap the photo

4 replies 14 reposts 83 likes

Reposted by Tom Ewing

Al Kennedy's avatar Al Kennedy @alkennedy.bsky.social
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So yes! I'm not spending my time on Twitter any more! You are all I really have left! So here is my creative output!

House to Astonish! It's the ninth longest running comics podcast in the world, a fact I find motivational and somehow also very funny! housetoastonish.com

3 replies 10 reposts 56 likes

Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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This is an absolute classic, it sadly can't qualify for the discovery posts I'm doing cos I first heard it on one of @maura.bsky.social 's playlists a few months before.

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j-e-l 's avatar j-e-l @jelbugle.bsky.social
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Now that the People’s Pop Polls have finished, I will post one of my favourite songs from the Polls - I will miss the great discovery opportunity that the Polls were.

Lia Lia - I’m A Moth!!

youtu.be/T7zHk_IQHow?...

1 replies 3 reposts 14 likes

Reposted by Tom Ewing

Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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It doesn't work the conceit to death but there are a couple of really fun bits and in general you can read a lot about the emotional state of the lead character into how they're making the document - it works really well

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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This was one of the things I loved most about My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, the document having a presence in the story, the action impacting on the document

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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I (quite) like the singing and I (really) like the guitars but these guys proved they could do excellent tight 4 minute rock songs on the very same album and I just wish those got the shine more “See No Evil” & “Venus De Milo” >>> “MM”

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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A goodbye to the Pop Polls, which I spent a lot of the last four years doing, with some thoughts on music discovery and communities in the algorithmic age threaded in there too

freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2024/0...

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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It’s the poor unmentioned Soup Dragons I feel sorry for

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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A goodbye to the Pop Polls, which I spent a lot of the last four years doing, with some thoughts on music discovery and communities in the algorithmic age threaded in there too

freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2024/0...

9 replies 16 reposts 63 likes

Reposted by Tom Ewing

Emissary Of Night | ليلى's avatar Emissary Of Night | ليلى @diplomatofnight.com
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The perception of an inevitable fascist victory in Europe is largely just the wishcasting of mainstream media publications saying that fascist victory is inevitable. See how the BBC spins National Rally's loss.

22 replies 140 reposts 508 likes

Reposted by Tom Ewing

Reposted by Tom Ewing

Taniel 's avatar Taniel @taniel.bsky.social
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JUST IN: Polls closed in France. Exit polls show surprise: —Left coalition (New Popular Front) projected first. (!) —Far-right (RN) has lost its bid to take power. Anti-RN front appears to have worked very well. —No bloc close to majority. Follow this 🧵 for results and more:

38 replies 523 reposts 1753 likes

Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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The Brits have not sent their best here

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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I think people assumed it wasn’t a single and I have now summoned the monster

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Ah in that case the #50 on this document is Sign O The Times (which is seeded of course)

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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(But at the same time this shows the huge historical sexism Acclaimed has always reflected!)

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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The equivalent chart for LetsDoIt had much less I would be tempted by - there’s 8 or 9 here I might vote for

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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As an #UncoolTwo50 comparison point, here are the 50 top eligible songs from Acclaimed Music - interesting to see what was left out of our seeding!

8 replies 1 reposts 13 likes

Reposted by Tom Ewing

Malin Ryden's avatar Malin Ryden @malinryden.bsky.social
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In case someone has been curious about the RuneQuest ttrpg system (I've got a thing coming out there soon) they have a humble bundle up now for charity with massive amounts of content. Even if you're not into a new system, I can truly recommend it for the world! www.humblebundle.com/books/runequ...

1 replies 18 reposts 25 likes

Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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I’ll post the Acclaimed version tomorrow - some interesting stuff that didn’t feature here (what is the era’s Hotel California and why is it Wonderwall)

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Doing the Acclaimed Top 50 I was surprised to find that “Marquee Moon” a) was a single and b) isn’t seeded (tho my surprise at a should cancel out my surprise at b!)

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Only appropriate given the seriousness with which we must approach it

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Genuinely thought this must be the KLF lol

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Reposted by Tom Ewing

UNCOOLTWO50's avatar UNCOOLTWO50 @uncooltwo50.bsky.social
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Hello and welcome to the LAUNCH of

#UncoolTwo50

A music challenge running from 1 October this year, in which you select your

TOP 50 SINGLES OF 1977 - 1999.

1 replies 6 reposts 19 likes

Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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And so my four year quest to find a record that can be vaguely competitive against “I Feel Love” in a poll reaches its end (quite possibly in failure)

1 replies 0 reposts 22 likes

Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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Like the handsome English Viz hardcovers, the anime is a little coy about character names, whereas the fan translations I originally read the early JoJo's stories in were absolutely firm that, yup, these lads are called Dire and Straits, this fella is Santana, that big guy? He's called Wham

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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This song picking challenge was terrific fun - Arron is running #UncoolTwo50 next, focusing on the faves of 1977-99, and it promises to be even bigger (and it’s happening at a time when we will all surely need to take our mind off things) so check his account for the details of that!

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Tom Ewing's avatar Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social
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(Obviously I was already a fan of the JoJo's manga, I'm not some kind of philistine, though I was the other kind of philistine who had never heard this Yes banger)

1 replies 0 reposts 8 likes