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Post by dem bones on Jan 13, 2008 14:54:35 GMT
Given some of the garbage any one of us has expressed undying love for on here, I think the casual browser may be mislead into believing that contributors to the forum are entirely shame-proof. Personally, I find having no 'coolness'/ 'credibility' to blow very liberating but there are still times when I think "I can't be seen to buy that - You have to draw the line somewhere" Fortunately, come Christmas, those luckless enough to count amongst my "friends" know better than to ask me for a Jade Goody workout video, a Jeffrey Archer or Anne Rice novel, but music is a different matter altogether. Having a relative who, up until recently, was a card carrying member of the Demis Roussos fan club tells its own sorry story, while picking up a copy of post-scandal Gary Glitter's The Leader (Ok, that was for me, no matter what poor soul I blamed it on at the time) was no bed of roses, I can tell you. The controversial circumstances surrounding my pursuit and purchase of Madonna's Hanky Panky CD single will stay with me to the grave unless the insolent floozy behind the counter in HMV wants to make another big production out of it. There are books I've bought specifically for Vault (you'll have to take my word for this) purely on the strength of their covers or squirm potential which would be difficult to explain away anywhere else: Cliff Richards' As I See It and Which One's Cliff?, Michael Green's Rugby Songs, Jeanne 'The Prez' Youngson's Count Dracula And The Unicorn, etc. If I walked into a strangers house and saw that little lot on a bookcase, I'm not so sure I'd wear "I don't like this stuff, you understand!" I've bought horror novels purely on the basis of their aggressively negative reviews only to find I agreed entirely with the critic (David Dvorkin's Insatiable) or just couldn't muster sufficient energy to begin ( Captive Of Gor, although I'll one day get around to it). There's even a copy of Rice's all-too generous 1000+ page The Witching Hour (a gift; from someone who hates me, presumably) lurking around here some place. Like I'm ever going to even pretend to tackle that! So, confide all to your uncle dem. What's the most embarrassing purchase you've sheepishly explained away to some delighted shop assistant with "it's for a friend ...."
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Post by carolinec on Jan 13, 2008 15:23:23 GMT
Ha, ha - I'll veer off in a slightly different direction with this (don't worry, you can take it back in the right direction again afterwards) with a confession. One of the most common situations in which to say "It's for my young (grand-)son/(grand-)daughter/nephew/neice/etc" is when you're collecting autographs - and I have to confess I'm a card-carrying member of the Doctor Who Autograph Collectors' Club! There, I feel better already for having confessed to that! The more "socially acceptable" side of my habit ... er, sorry, I mean hobby ... is collecting signed books and mags (I have a very nice signed horror collection - and a certain person here can tell you that I've bought a few signed items from him on eBay!). But I also hang around stage doors for actors' autographs too, and regularly go to Doctor Who conventions and the like. Oh, and by the way, I never say it's for anyone else; I always confess it's for me. I think that, in itself, raises a few eyebrows as I look a little too old to be hanging around stage doors for autographs! (my husband calls it my mid-life crisis!). There, now my credibility on this forum is well and truly shattered ...
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Post by dem bones on Jan 13, 2008 16:35:37 GMT
Aw, nothing shameful about that as far as I can see.
I got Michael Marshall Smith to sign my copy of Mammoth New Horror # 18 even though, as he patiently pointed out, it doesn't actually contain any of his work. Worst of it was, Stephen Jones was standing next to him at the time, biro at the ready.
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Post by carolinec on Jan 13, 2008 19:31:59 GMT
Aw, poor Stephen Jones, he's OK. He signed my "Illustrated Frankenstein Movie Guide" with some humorous comments and quotes - nice chap! Actually, leading from my earlier comments, I guess the most embarrassing things I've gone into a bookshop and bought recently are Doctor Who Target novels to get signed!
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Post by dem bones on Jan 13, 2008 20:42:19 GMT
I know he is, and it wasn't a deliberate slight. Truth is, I couldn't think of anything to say to him and as so many others were trying to catch his ear it seemed a mercy to spare him.
I've read Dr. Who & The State Of Decay but can't say I remember much about it. Space vampires? Was there ever a tie-in for the story featuring Reverend Magister and his black magic sect? I think it might have been called The Daemons?
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Post by redbrain on Feb 12, 2008 20:21:19 GMT
I think it's years since I felt ashamed of buying anything for me - but I do feel a bit ashamed of buying fags and plastic bottles of cider for my housemate.
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Post by Calenture on Feb 12, 2008 21:05:37 GMT
I can think of worse things, Red.
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Post by Steve on Feb 12, 2008 21:56:57 GMT
I can think of worse things, Red. 20 fags and a 3 litre bottle of cider? I can't think of anything better...
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Feb 12, 2008 23:09:56 GMT
I'm ashamed to say I didn't buy the little Venus in a box that was going for a mere £60 quid in 1985 at the Corn Exchange Manchester. I had about 6p at the time and was so crushed when I heard the price I didn't even take up the guy's offer to look inside the box. i168.photobucket.com/albums/u165/billbunter/xl5_032.jpgIf only I hadn't bartered my soul earlier in the year I would have gladly given it up then.
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Post by redbrain on Feb 13, 2008 14:02:49 GMT
I can think of worse things, Red. Can't we all?
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Post by carolinec on Feb 13, 2008 20:06:41 GMT
As well as my love of Doctor Who, Target novels and autographs I do find my search for horror books generally tends to raise a few eyebrows in bookshops. I guess I look more like I'd be buying a Catherine Cookson novel than a Ramsey Campbell one, so I do get some strange looks from fellow browsers and shop assistants. I remember one incident last year when I'd found the SF/fantasy section in a secondhand bookshop, but couldn't find any horror. So, I asked the lady behind the counter. "Oh no, there's no call for that kind of thing!" was the reply. Nowadays, I tend to buy most of my books online. With places like Cold Tonnage, Riley Books (thanks, David!), Fantastic Fiction, Zardoz and, of course, eBay, there's no need to look any further, and it means I can avoid the strange looks.
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Post by troo on Feb 14, 2008 16:11:22 GMT
Whilst nowadays I'm happy to confess that whatever piece of tat I'm buying is actually for myself, I do recall feeling incredibly embarrassed many, many years ago when I was actually buying something rubbish as a gift for someone else, and felt that my "No, it's for a friend" wasn't holding any water whatsoever. I can't remember what it was, nor who it was for. I'm really good at this anecdote thing!
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Post by dem bones on Mar 6, 2009 9:34:49 GMT
The horror, the horror .... Cliff Richard - Which Ones Cliff (Coronet, 1981) What is it like to be so popular that you are voted THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE MALE SINGER? To be catapulted in a single year from teenage obscurity to top-of-the-bill celebrity? What is it like to combine a passionate Christian faith with all the glamour and glitter of the showbiz circuit? Once called the 'bad boy of pop' and 'too sexy for television', Cliff Richard is today acclaimed the world over as a top entertainer – yet he still finds time to visit refugee camps in Bangladesh and missionary outposts in the Sudan.
From the gossip-columns to the dirt-tracks of Africa, from his public image to his private dreams, WHICH ONE'S CLIFF brings you Cliff's astonishing and engaging story in his own words.Removed this from it's secret hiding place beneath the floorboards, nonchalantly prepared to add it to the Everest listing, but, well there seems to have been an hilarious mix-up of On The Buses proportions at the printing plant as there it is, plain as the nose on your face, the Coronet logo! Couldn't think of a suitable place to put Which Ones Cliff?, but i'm sure you'll agree, it definitely deserves to feature somewhere on Vault.
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Post by benedictjjones on Mar 6, 2009 9:55:09 GMT
i don't know how my mum explained some of the music purchases she's made for me over the years. (she's a little old lady about 5'3) once she went out and got me notorious BIG 'ready to die' and the gravediggaz 'the pick, the sickle and the shovel'...
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Post by carolinec on Mar 6, 2009 12:05:27 GMT
i don't know how my mum explained some of the music purchases she's made for me over the years. ( she's a little old lady about 5'3) once she went out and got me notorious BIG 'ready to die' and the gravediggaz 'the pick, the sickle and the shovel'... That made me chuckle, Ben. I bet your mum probably isn't much older than me and only an inch shorter! It's funny when you're old and still doing "young" things - then suddenly realise that youngsters must see you as being really old. I was browsing round a comics fair a while back when one young stallholder asked me - with a concerned look in his eye, like I'd got lost and was left wandering about on my own or something - whether I was "with someone". He obviously thought that a younger child (or even grand-child!) had cruelly left me to wander about there on my own! He looked so surprised when I said "no, I like comics - it's for me, in fact"
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