Omg


Oh yeah, good point, lol


Indeed Personally I have a pathological loathing of both hats and beards, I guess we're never going to fight over men.


You know, a long time ago I did know someone who'd got a Gambit tattoo, I'm desperately trying to remember who it was now. Gimme more clues! Tattoo had playing cards in it, and he had dark hair, maybe short hair? And stubble, I'm sure I remember stubble.


Hah, genius, you've cracked the code

There was a picture of Luke with some girl on twitter a couple of weeks ago, and the reaction was a mixture of impending mass suicide, sad little 'i just want him to be happy' tweets (cc'ed to him, obviously), and demands - actual demands - for an explanation. Terrifying.

Oh I'm not so keen on beards nowadays, mainly because they've been hijacked by hipsters. And hipsters are awful, as we all know. And my neighbourhood is being flooded by the b******s.


Um. Oh good Lord. Where was the tattoo? I daren't say anything more in case (remote chance I know) he reads this. Though to be fair he knows I like him anyway. Still…


There was a picture of Luke with some girl on twitter a couple of weeks ago, and the reaction was a mixture of impending mass suicide, sad little 'i just want him to be happy' tweets (cc'ed to him, obviously), and demands - actual demands - for an explanation. Terrifying.[/quote]

Haha, amazing. There's a picture of Nicky 'proposing' to some girl propagating on twitter at the moment from his meet and greet after his gig today. 'OMG WHY'S HE TELLING EVERYONE HES SINGLE IS HE ENGAGED I'M CRYING???' / 'No she asked him for a laugh' / 'OMG WHY?????? I'M CRYING YOU DONT UNDERSTAND' etc

And actually, that's one of my favourite things, when these girls have inane conversations amongst themselves, but make sure he's tagged in all the tweets 'OMG IMAGIN IF HE SEE THIS HELL THNK WE CRAY CRAY LOL OMG I LOVE YOUS SO MUCH NICKY YOUR PERFECT YOUS DONT KNOW OMG" (Laura from Shropshire).

I hope he has push notifications turned off on his phone. His battery wouldn't last 5 minutes otherwise.

Just watched this clip on youtube of 'the best 10 XF auditions worldwide 2013' and Nicky's number 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH9V--PgXHA

It's probably just some bloke pilfering clips to make his 'own' content but it's got a couple of million views - maybe that's what's bringing Nicky to the attention of people abroad. The only other brit on there is Sam B.

Big fan of Kingsland Road then, I bet

We don't get too many of them in the bit where I live, I think their novelty value would probably protect them here tbh. They have infested the city centre though.


Awww, that's adorable

Er, well as far as I remember it was on his left upper arm, not certain though. And he was definitely a good looking guy, though I guess that goes without saying in the circumstances.


Well obviously I had to go look at all that, and yes, oh dear, what a terrible car crash. The girl's definitely started trolling them all now, she's just tweeted a picture of the ring YOU GO GIRL *waggles troll-face pompoms*

And ehh, what happened to you weaning yourself off his twitter stream, then?


There's also the passive-aggressive version which is a personal favourite, which is basically that but with a 'but i suppose it's okay since he'll never see it because he never notices me SUBTEXT: OMG PLZ FOLLOW PLX AND THEN WE'LL HAVE BABIES' twist. Although I do love the ones that just tweet him for hours, having these creepy as all hell one-sided conversations. (talking about Luke tbh but I'm completely certain Nick gets the same thing)

We're horrible people, aren't we?

Well if they actually shown more than 2 seconds of Luke's auditions (other than the judges' room one) I'm sure he would have been on it too But fair enough, Nick's auditions were wonderful.

And in order to justify my ongoing presence in this thread, behold, I come bearing videos! Well, video, and I suspect you've all seen it already, but anyway: Nick at the finals of Haven's Got Talent 2010

Very very good, though I much prefer his voice now (now it's broken, I guess? I don't know about these things :/ ). There's definitely a nascent airgrab at 4:34 though

I feel a bit cruel for laughing but it simply cannot be helped. Your last comment did me in completely.


I like to believe that I am very well-adjusted

Don't know if I said, but I work in a school just outside Glasgow and on twitter I have already seen 3 kids I work with declaring their undying devotion. Its a bit weird, and just goes to show how widespread this is getting. What are the chances of seeing one person you know? Because its been school holidays, I haven't heard any of the build up at school but look forward to Monday . Seems like every other teenage girl is a nicmac/nickette or whatever they call themselves. There's a competition to come up with a fanbase name and the prize is a phone call from Nicky. Seems the wee man is doing pretty well with his own PR

Oh and Sycamore and mmpfb - you two are totes hilaire! Please carry on as I always look forward to your next instalment!

SF

Haha. Surprisignly not. Though I quite fancied the one with the least ridiculous hair.


Lucky you. I live about a mile from Peckham, which is apparently the new Shoreditch. Which I guess makes our area the new Shadwell. Whatever, there's an influx of them. A couple of months back I saw one ride past on his Penny F***ing Farthing.


Hmm. Hopefully not him then, this is on his calf. Though it boggles my mind to think there would be more than one person in Glasgow with a Gambit-related tattoo.


I'm stuck at my mum's, in the middle of nowhere and am bored. And sad, obviously, but that goes without saying


You might be. I'm perfectly lovely

There's also the old classic, the numbered identical tweets. 'HI NICKY ILYSM FRM FIRST AUDITION HOPE YOU SEE THIS PLS FOLLOW ME HOW ARE YOU x34' ''HI NICKY ILYSM FRM FIRST AUDITION HOPE YOU SEE THIS PLS FOLLOW ME HOW ARE YOU x35'…… "'HI NICKY ILYSM FRM FIRST AUDITION HOPE YOU SEE THIS PLS FOLLOW ME HOW ARE YOU x100'…. [one hour silence)…. ''OMG I HIT MY TWEET LIMIT THATS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOUS LOL I'M CRYING YOUVE CHANGED MY LIFE LOL PLS FOLLOW ME SADFACE HOW ARE YOU x1'


Don't get upset but… Luke's arena and bootcamp performances weren't really up to what he brought to the later live shows…

*hides*


Ah yes have seen that one previously. His voice is quite different so yes, I'm guessing that was pre-puberty. And as you said, it's very good (though terrible song), but his tone and timbre are much more affecting now. God knows how good he will be in a couple of years time.

And shush, air-grabs are excusable at 14 or whatever age he is there! I would be very interested to see his audition for BGT also, though that doesn't seem to be on youtube anywhere. I'm guessing he didn't make the live shows in that.

That must be really weird, I suppose it must go with the territory especially when it's about someone of his age from where you're all from, but god, what madness to have to deal with! Still, good to see he's got the support and I'm sure you won't be doing anything to dissuade them

The fanbase name, that's such a weird thing, I really hate that about Luke tbh that he's constantly pushing the hashtagrandomnounfriendies thing, but I suppose they're just being savvy and know what the loudest part of their audience is. I wish they wouldn't though! Nikmacs is a total winner though.

I guess I just really, really don't understand this thing of wanting to be part of a fandom, whatever happened to aspiring to be cool and interesting and independent-minded? hashtagyesiwasagothatschool The weirdest thing of all to me about reading all the social media stuff is the active desire to be part of groupthink, though I like to believe it's all just self-serving posturing and they'd really all stab each other in the back instantly as the slightest hint of a chance of a kis- sorry, of a follow *insert much-missed rolleyes smilie*


Thank you so much, that's really sweet of you and I shall take this as encouragement to continue babbling in your thread (you have been warned!). Needs more Luke Friend though, surely your teenage girl pupils must be even more excited about him?! Feel free to share their thoughts with us all!

Hopefully that stretches out beyond Scotland, then. I suppose there's always a danger it cold be localised ('someone from near me is famous' can seem very exciting at that age - I remember being terribly impressed that one of Dr & The Medics had been to my school) But I've certainly seen teenage girls from elsewhere moaning that they wished they lived in Scotland so they could go to his gigs

PREDICTION: Nicky is going to do more for Scotland's cultural stock abroad than Glasgow getting European Capital Of Culture ever did

God no. I'll be cheering from the sidelines trying not to look creepy


Yep, totally tribal, innit? And I bet there would be CARNAGE if he dared get a girlfriend. You just have to look at the death-threats some directioners are so partial to making.

Friendlies is quite decent, though, as these things go. And actually, one big advantage Luke has is a ready-made pop-star name. I do wonder why they went with 'Nicholas McDonald' rather than Nicky McDonald' - Nicky sounds much more pop-star-ish.




Yes do, I very much enjoy your presence. Though if I happen across another Nicky diss elsewhere on the MFs Imma get medieval on yo ass.

Oh God. And now a young girl has actually tweeted a picture of herself crying saying 'This is what happens when fans meet @nickymcdonald and I don't '

Yes love, that's the best way to woo a boy, fo sho.

Poor kid.

Mother of God.

Yes, it's definitely a case of 'someone who talks like me' or 'someone I might actually bump into in Nando's' being 'famous'. I detect a bit more than that though. It's getting more far reaching. It's starting off localised but teenage girls from elsewhere are getting all 'that's so not fair, why can't you come to Manchester/Belfast' etc. You mentioned too, along with your youtube top 10 posting, the interest from Europe. I'm noticing that more and more too.

Re Capital of Culture, hahaha! Didn't do much good at all at the time but I think we have a pretty healthy cultural identity now. Someone else mentioned in an earlier post (might have been sycamore) about the timings involved this year and how much 'capital' could be made of it from a savvy management team. We will be having the Commonwealth Games followed by the independence vote. Might be a good year for a young scot to be starting out too

"Thank you so much, that's really sweet of you and I shall take this as encouragement to continue babbling in your thread (you have been warned!). Needs more Luke Friend though, surely your teenage girl pupils must be even more excited about him?! Feel free to share their thoughts with us all! "


Please do!!

And yes I'll sound out the Luke love for you

Nooooo, seriously? That's just mental

Originally Posted by mmpfb
Oh I'm not so keen on beards nowadays, mainly because they've been hijacked by hipsters. And hipsters are awful, as we all know. And my neighbourhood is being flooded by the b******s.


"We don't get too many of them in the bit where I live, I think their novelty value would probably protect them here tbh. They have infested the city centre though"

Saw loads of beards on Byres Rd tonight. No penny farthings though . Not that hip!

You have opened my eyes to the fact that, even when there are five people with ridiculous hair, logic demands that there is still one with least ridiculous hair, no matter how ridiculous that specific hair might be.


I guffawed so loudly at that that I woke up my husband who is (was!) asleep on the other side of a foot thick stone wall


Having had my Gambit interest resurrected (thank you so much) I'm not surprised in the slightest. What actually disturbed me, looking at the pictures, was: tousled, dreadlocky brown hair *check* bandana *check* sodding camel colour overcoat *check* chiseled cheekbones *... give it five years, then check*. He's a mid-20s, gaunt Luke Friend. That thing about having types... yeah I have learnt something I don't think I wanted to learn! The coat disturbed me most of all, I've always blindly loved that look, and ever since Luke wore his at the xfactor final I've been totally 'he should wear that all the time'. There was a boy wearing one in a Taggart I saw recently, and I was totally like 'I don't care if he killed them all, hideously and brutally, he looks awesome, I hope he escapes'. I'm so shallow


Then I shall say nothing ;p Nahh, don't think you could ever do sad tbh


*Retracts previous statement*


I notice that you're remarkably good at these, btw... Yeah, there was one i saw that had got up to over 1000, even I was thinking 'just follow the poor cow' by that point.


From what was actually broadcast, yeah, I completely agree with you, and from just watching the shows and the youtube clips I thought he was a really weak choice to take into the live shows. But over that same time he was winning teenstar and recording a genuinely very decent ep, so I find it hard to believe he went from really good to really weak to really really good to really weak so much. I know he can be inconsistent, but still... and we all know how well they can edit people to look great or awful, even now they've been deprived of autotune.


Yes, definitely very much prefer his voice now, and yes, in a few years time it could be so astonishing. I know I mentioned the View before in the midst of my drunken hogmanay babbling, but if you don't know them do listen to them, especially something like 5 Rebbeccas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Vi8Xc4qvY the boy that is their singer has such a beautiful, sweet voice (I guess you might need to get past the Dundee accent), the same type of voice as Nick and with a very decent range, I'd love to hear Nick do stuff like that, a million times more than Bruno Mars or tripe written by Gary sodding Barlow.


Airgrabs aren't excusable at any age hashtagresurrectshashtagiwasagothatschool but yeah, I'd love to see the BGT audition too, shame it's not around.

Listen to The View!

I was talking to singlefish, not you


God, yes it is. I really really pity them and the women they end up with.


I did actually wonder if Luke had changed his surname, because it's just soooo perfect a pop name. I still ****ing hate the hashtagwhateverfriendies thing though.

Nicholas v Nicky I can understand kind of, I wrote a big load of babble about linguistic theory (since I studied linguistics!) but it basically boiled down to: Nicky McDonald is a name that might appeal now when he's still a wee boy, but Nicholas McDonald is a name that will still suit him when he's a big man ten years from now. I think they went with Nicholas because they had a long term vision for him. Don't know why they didn't go with Nick though.


Awww <3 And lol, yeah I'm sure I did diss him at times, because I was as pissed as anyone about the songs, and didn't have as much invested in him as I did with other acts to be able to see past being bored and frustrated. We're all victims of the machine, man, let's not fight amongst ourselves too, you know that's what they want.

hashtag... meh, dunno, something profound.

Sycamore, I'm hurt. It appears you have replaced me with a usurper.

You could never be replaced, Red.

God I'm such a tart

BFFs for life yo

#swag

Well give it a year or two and those possessive fans who believe they 'own' them will have grown up a little and (hopefully) be a little more realistic about life (and love). Or they could just convince themselves that whatever relationships they have are just PR exercises in the same way that many directioners seem to think Zayn isn't really with thingy from Little Mix. Of course 1D have the advantage that if one of them becomes 'unavailable' there's another 4 members to pick and choose to be the subject of one's (mental) affections.




Ah maybe. Though I don't necessarily agree that Nicky wouldn't suit as a fully fledged adult. Long-term thinking is good, though. Hopefully such thinking will carry on into whatever he is going to do fist coming off the back of the XF tour,


What they want is for us to vote for Tamera. TOO LATE SUCKAS. Or Sam. Yeah, you think on that Syco while you, erm, go count the money I spent voting for Nicholas. Bet you feel stupid now with that free money for no product.


hashtaghashtag (twitter appropriate New romantic revivalist band)


For a moment there I thought you were talking about the chap you knew with the tattoo and I thought 'oh it's ok, it's not him. Phew!' as he sounded absolutely repulsive But no, you were talking about a cartoon character who, apparently, has shaped all your future attractions… which begs the question do you remember anything else about this chap? I am fearful but also curious as to whether it is indeed the same person. Age? Profession? *cowers*




A direct result of looking at twitter streams for too long. If they'd been in French I imagine I'd be nigh-on fluent by now. The (useful) things I could achieve if I put my mind to them….





Ah, the comedy auto tuning of Gamu will always be remembered fondly. By me, at least. 'Hey you! Yeah you disposable production intern number 5. We've got a little job for you. Ever used autotune before? No? Hmm well how hard can it be? It's 'auto' after all! Whack that on these here auditions then we'll air them without thinkingk. Wow, Gamu's got that current unnatural algorithm sound down to a tee hasn't she?'


Hate to say it but…. not keen. I don't really see Nick doing jingly-jangly. Though I agree NO MORE SONGS BY TORY BARLOW PLS. I'd like to put into words the sort of sonic imprint a track by Nick should have, but I'm going to have to think on some decent broad-brush reference points to express that properly. Suffice to say I'm still of the opinion his voice should take centre stage so more sonically spacial arrangements are a step in the right direction.

Oh god I love the 'Zayn and Perry romance is FAKE' people, they're awesomely barking.


I wish the tour was over and we could know what's happening, I hate waiting Stupid tour


LMAO We really should know better...


Only because he doens't have a bowler hat and a beard


This is adorable He was a friend of a friend of an ex, so I didn't know him very well at all. I have no idea what his name was, I'm dreadful with names. He'd probably be about six footish, slim but not scrawny so a bit toned I guess, good looking, white, quite short dark hair, age I'm also dreadful at but I guess he'd maybe be late 30s by now, maybe even a little older? I think he was either in a band or something to do with music, he had the looks to be in a band anyway, but I don't know if he had another job that wasn't music. I can't remember if I heard his music but I suspect it would be grunge/indie type stuff (guessing that since Mystery Tattoo Man was a friend of the singer of my ex's band but I suppose there's no reason why it means they did the same music). I think he quite liked himself He wore sleeveless tshirts.

I'll keep thinking and see if I can come up with more!


NEVA4GET GABU!

God I love the Bitch Factor so much


Fair enough I was put in mind of it because Sean posted earlier that Nick said he liked and wanted to perform indie stuff and I absolutely adore the voice of the singer in the View, I think it's beautiful but it still works so well with that type of music. I'm sure the xfactor would have him Baby Bubled up to the eyeballs in a heartbeat. I'd be interested to hear the sort of thing you'd like to hear Nick doing though.