The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 33)

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

Telford

This weekend is the Telford International Plastic Modelers Society (IPMS) show.  I can’t speak with any authority on the event as it will be my first visit.  I’m told it’s a huge event and that I should take a lot of money with me!  I’m not sure how tempted I will be, plastic kits aren’t generally my thing, but I’m attending with an open mind and will provide an update in next weeks Musings.

Getting ready for the event as well as being away for four days has resulted in not being able to model as much as I would like since last week.  Hopefully I will be able to complete a figure for my Saturday post but my planned update on my “Operation Overlord” diorama will have to wait for at least another week as I simply haven’t done enough on the third building.

Pessimist, Realist or Optimist?

Pending who you speak to some people would describe me as a Pessimist.  Of course there are times when this would be accurate.  In reality there are times when I would argue that the glass isn’t so much half empty but actually it has fuck all in it.  Fortunately such dark days are in the minority.

Now personally I would argue I am a Realist who on occasions is extremely optimistic.  In an attempt to prove this let’s consider Telford this coming weekend.

If I put my Pessimist hat on then I would envisage an event which is not as good as I have been led to believe and with very few people in attendance.  I don’t see that happening.  I’m not a Pessimist.

Wearing my Realistic hat I foresee a huge event, well attended by an audience made up almost entirely of old men and dads and their sons.  Would anybody bet against this being the case?  Probably not.  I am a Realist.

Now if I put my Optimistic hat on top of my Realist hat, which I’m inclined to do every once in a while, then I anticipate the following …

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I’ll let you know what transpires.

This week TIM has been watching …

Bohemian Rhapsody.

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Yes, I’ve been off to the cinema once again, this time to see Bohemian Rhapsody starring Rami Malek who is simply stunning in his performance of Freddie Mercury.  If you like Queen I can’t imagine you not loving this film, it is simply superb and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it isn’t the biggest box office film of the year in the UK, it certainly deserves to be.

This week TIM has been listening to …

Queen.

Given how much I enjoyed the film it was almost impossible not to come home and get my Queen CDs out.  I love this group so picking a couple of tracks for this post was quite a challenge.  In the end I settled for posting the link to their iconic performance at the Live Aid concert.  If you watch this and get to see the film the comparison (all be it with a couple of track omissions in the film) is stunning.

Live performances don’t get better than this!

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Until next time.

TIM

 

 

26 thoughts on “The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 33)”

  1. Good post, the really weird thing is that is exactly what an attractive young lady said to me not that long ago. Sadly it didn’t last as the alarm went off and the dog jumped on the bed.
    I am now wondering what I am….

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  2. I’m always, always the optimist. I’m a dreamer. It’s funny how much I annoy pessimists actually. For example people here always moan about the weather. They moan when it’s cold, they moan when it rains and they moan when it’s hot. I work outside so if anyone should be moaning it’s me but I love it. If it’s hot I feel great and it helps sweat out all the evil haha. If it’s cold I work even harder to build a sweat up. If it rains I get wet. Who cares? I’ll get dry again. To be honest all my positivity comes from three places. 1. My folks. 2. When you go through enough shit all you see is green grass. 3. All the bad things in the world. What I mean by point 3 is if I ever feel down I remind myself how fucking lucky I am. I even did that when I had no job, no money, no love, no nothing. Negative people bug me. Sure if you’ve got serious problems like some horrible life threatening illness, or you’ve just found your wife in bed with your best mate, or someone dear to you has died or if you live in a bloody war zone then sure be sad. That’s fine but if it’s something as trivial as the weather or you can’t go in your annual trip to the Bahamas then drink a cup of concrete and harden the fuck up!

    I’m off to see Bohemian Rhapsody this Sunday with my wife for our anniversary. Can’t wait. She doesn’t really know much about Queen but I suspect she’ll enjoy it all the same. We went and saw A Star is Born last weekend and it was pretty cool. Better than I expected.

    Best scene in the movie Wayne’s World is when Wayne and Garth and entourage sing Bohemian Rhapsody in the car haha. If you haven’t seen it YouTube that scene man. Now, whenever the song comes on in the car I sing it word for word and head bang!

    Have fun at the show mate. My gut feeling says you’ll enjoy it more than you’re thinking and that you’ll buy more than you expect to.

    IRO
    OUT

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    1. I think optimistic is by far the happier place to be, little or nothing ever came out of pessimism other than being able to say I told you so. I would love to be optimistic all of the time but I’m not built that way, to much adverse shit has happened through my life. In reality I fluctuate between the three moods but on balance would go with realist.

      Yep, I know the Waynes World clip and showed my son and daughter it when we got back from the cinema. Mike Myers is in Bohemian Rhapsody and there is a subtle reference to the clip in the film you can look out for. Enjoy it and let me know what you think of it if you get the chance.

      I was born at home, number 6 Cygnet Avenue, Feltham, South West London. Freddie lived just around the corner in Gladstone Avenue which is also where my first girlfriend Mary lived. There is a plaque in Feltham dedicated to Freddie too. I guess it’s that association which bonds me to him, the group and their music. Brian was also Feltham lad. It’s usually said that the best view of Feltam is the one in your rear view mirror when you’re leaving!

      As for the show, I’m looking forward to it and think it will be fun. I’m particulalry excited about meeting the blond girl and enticing her back to my hotel! Further proof that I can be optimistic 😉

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    2. Yea, I hear people complain about the weather all the time too. I complain about the heat, but am okay otherwise. The funny thing though, when I was on my running kick, I spent a lot more time outdoors. Running, rain or shine, 5-6 days a week from 1-4 hours. I noticed that the weather didn’t really bother me, I’m guessing because I got more acclimated to it. I did run earlier in the mornings, to avoid the midday heat though, and spent the rest of the day in a nice AC cooled unit. But I still don’t think it bothered me too much if I went out. Being in good shape and 50lbs less, probably helped a lot.

      Your mention of negative people bugging you, made me think. A lot like TIM, I’m probably a realist, and it gets misconstrued as negativity, so I’ll wonder sometimes if I’m too negative. But then I’ve noticed that there are a number of people at my work, who I swear could not be f’in happy to save their lives. Everyday I run into them, it seems like they are upset about this or that news. Yea, our country is not in the best shape right now, but does that mean you have to be miserable every day? Ask them how they are doing, and it’s like a slap in the face that you even expect any glimmer of hope in the world. I don’t know how people can live like that, and glad I’m not that way.

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      1. It may only be my personal experience but I’ve always found that a negative attitude within a team is more powerful than a positive one. For some reason a negative person seems to drag people down more easily than a positive person can bring someone up. The only solution I ever found was to move the negative person on a soon as possible once realising they have no desire to be anything other than negative.

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      2. Hmm, I don’t know. I’ve met some pretty positive leaders who were able to elevate people’s spirits pretty well. Though I’ve also seen the opposite, and watched as some very negative (toxic) people get promoted. When that happens, it’s time to look at the culture of the group and decide if it’s time to move on.

        General business sense agrees with you though, if you have a really negative/unhappy person in the group and they are being toxic about it, it’s time to find them a new seat to park on.

        I also should have mentioned in my reply to IRO, that exercise can be such a great way to elevate mood. When I was running, very little could get me down. It sounds like IRO’s job is pretty physical, so that probably helps a lot with mood as well. When I was younger, exercise just felt like a major chore, and the boost it can give one’s attitude can easily be overlooked. Then again, you have to find an exercise that you like, otherwise it’s still going to be a major chore.

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      3. Medically speaking exercise releases endorphins which make you feel much better, it’s a scientific fact. As you get older and exercise less then your mood can naturally change. In years gone by people exercised far more and had more manual jobs but these days with people being very busy and having more sedate jobs, exercise, even a good walk, takes a back seat.

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      4. Yep. Though I don’t think I ever hit that endorphin rush before. Not sure why. Maybe I wasn’t pushing myself enough or the rush was too weak/too short. I definitely felt it with running. Even minimal exercise helps improve mood overall, but I’ve found intense exercise to have a more lasting effect.

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  4. Hope you have fun at IPMS!

    I don’t know where I fall. Sometimes I’m a dreamer, like IRO mentioned. It might be my default from childhood. But usually someone comes along and poops all over it, which then makes me feel stupid and I resort to a more guarded, realist/pessimistic mode. My job (IT) has caused me to always be looking for possible points of failure. That has made things really tough, as it often carry over into my personal life. “You’re going out to the store? Did you pack a rain jacket? Did you check the car breaks beforehand? Did you pack a sandwich in case of an earthquake?!”. Total exaggeration of course, unless you ask my Wife. ;P

    I guess I would tend towards more realism, than pessimism. For example, planning a big trip like that, I would be thinking about the things that could possibly go wrong, but mainly so that I can make preparations for those. (Note: this is a total introvert trait, as we know that we don’t change directions that quickly, and try to intercept those things way beforehand!) It doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy myself, it’s more maximizing my enjoyment by removing as many unpleasant variables as possible.

    As for Queen. Hmm. There are songs of theirs that I like, but it’s never been my goto band. Bohemian Rhapsody has been overplayed for me. I don’t deny their talent or that their music is good, just not my favorite flavor of ice cream. I would like to see the movie, but I am also not a fan of Rami Malek. He was interesting the first time I saw him in Mr. Robot, but then I was surprised to see him exactly the same in other roles. Hopefully this is a break out performance for him, as Freddie fans definitely deserve that!

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    1. Yep, totally relate to the planning approach and realist definition. Someone has to try and think of everything and in my home life and in my work life that has always fallen on my shoulders. Not a problem, I’m happy in the role but too many people see it as negativity which puts me at odds with them.

      Music is a personal thing, no rights, no wrongs. Can’t comment on Malik and his other roles but his take of Freddie is pretty spot on in my opinion.

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      1. Well, no one likes the boss and no one want to be the boss, but somebody has to be the boss, otherwise we all sit around with our thumbs up our butts. That’s the problem with being the responsible one. 😉

        Nice to hear that he does a good job. In the trailer, he still looked like Malik to me, so it’s good to hear another perspective from someone who most likely knows more about Freddie than I do. 🙂

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  6. I can’t believe that an organisation involved in plastic modelling missed the clear and obvious opportunity to call themselves International Modelers of Plastic Society instead of International Plastic Modelers Society. How very disappointing!

    I’m very much a “black hat” realist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats
    In my job I’m often a pessimist because somehow things seem to get progressively worse each and every year in a lot of ways, and even when they improve, we’re shuffling two steps forward and one back. At the same time, you don’t want to become “that guy” and shit on everything, so perspective is needed, as well as being able to recognise positives.
    I’m far from an optimist then, since I can see a lot of the bad shit coming. I guess my attitude is to get while the getting is good while keeping my guard up for incoming shit and bad times.

    I like Queen, though I’ll probably wait until the movie makes it to Netflix, than never get around to watching it – like everything else I want to see.

    Oh, and a quick bit of googling tells me that if you miss that young blonde lady’s brief visit to the model expo, you might be able to find her or some of her friends at Kandys121 or Pussycats Nightclub in Telford. My understanding is that if you supply a steady stream of pound notes of some description you will indeed hear about how cool and sexy building and painting little plastic models is for as long as that stream can be sustained.

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    1. Haha very good and thanks for the heads up on how best to progress my future relationship with said blond! 😉 The only downside is we have pound coins these days so she may rattle a bit or I may have to use fivers.

      I remember the thinking hat’s from a course I went on years ago. Interesting stuff. I tend to think there is a very thin line between being negative and being realistic and again between optimism and blind faith and foolishness. I think we all fluctuate between them all but our day to day lives and life experiences go some way to dictating how long we spend wearing each hat.

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  7. Love Queen, News of the World was an awesome album and rocked us in high school. I’m a realist, maybe the Army in me. So I relate to IRO’s comments. Most of us who came from the working class here are cynical realists, but whiners need to suck it up in most cases. Real tragedies exist, though. I’m not saying I’m negative, but for sure pollyannish optimism often strikes me as not realistic. There is room for hope, but c’mon, sometimes you’re the windshield, and sometimes you’re the bug (or windscreen you guys call it?).

    Freddy RIP.

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    1. Well put Mark. I think age plays a part. As kids everything seems possible and we have our dreams. Some of us get to realise those dreams but for most of us you start to see that they are for so many reasons unachievable. Doesn’t mean we have to be negative and miserable just that we have to accept the realism and make the most of it. Unfortunately things we have no control over influence us greatly. Those influences can be positive or negative but it’s up to us to make the most of the situations we find ourselves in.

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