Do you have a niche area of knowledge?

[blasonduo]

Hmm... I'm not sure if I'd call it an odd topic, but I do know quite a bit about gymnastics. Things like skills, how to do certain things, and reasoning behind it (mainly physics related )

[extremeftw]

Political history, particularly in post-1970s UK, USA, and Australia. I am specifically interested in Watergate and the premiership of Edward Heath. Fascinating.

[vox nihili]

Hmm... I'm not sure if I'd call it an odd topic, but I do know quite a bit about gymnastics. Things like skills, how to do certain things, and reasoning behind it (mainly physics related )

Share some of the physics with us please!!

Political history, particularly in post-1970s UK, USA, and Australia. I am specifically interested in Watergate and the premiership of Edward Heath. Fascinating.

How have you come about that knowledge? Why?

[TheBigC]

My one is probably not as riveting as some of the others aforementioned, however, I am highly familiar with many Hollywood films and their respective film scores. For example, I may hear a score from a specific scene of a specific film and be able to almost immediately tell the watcher what film they are viewing and which scene in particular. I love the look on people's faces when I announce such, however, I must admit that it has affected my movie-going experiences. For instance, when I was viewing Avenger's: Infinity War (*cough* Premier *cough*), I couldn't help but over-analyse all of the film's soundtracks and scenes - which does somewhat take away from the holistic film itself.

[S200]

Alistair Maclean.

Every book he ever wrote, plot, notable scenes, whether to read it at night or day Now THAT's a story...

I can even tell you the weapons used in most of the books...

[vox nihili]

My one is probably not as riveting as some of the others aforementioned, however, I am highly familiar with many Hollywood films and their respective film scores. For example, I may hear a score from a specific scene of a specific film and be able to almost immediately tell the watcher what film they are viewing and which scene in particular. I love the look on people's faces when I announce such, however, I must admit that it has affected my movie-going experiences. For instance, when I was viewing Avenger's: Infinity War (*cough* Premier *cough*), I couldn't help but over-analyse all of the film's soundtracks and scenes - which does somewhat take away from the holistic film itself.

Best film score? Go!

Alistair Maclean.
Every book he ever wrote, plot, notable scenes, whether to read it at night or day...
I can even tell you the weapons used in most of the books...

Is it just me, or am I the only one here who's never heard of Alistair Maclean?

How did you get into his books?

[S200]

Is it just me, or am I the only one here who's never heard of Alistair Maclean?

How did you get into his books?

One of my classmates has every one of his books (including some of the co-authored Alister MacNeil books).
One by one I have borrowed them and read them.

Also, quite a few have been made into films,,,

Where Eagles Dare, Force 10 from Navarone...

[TheBigC]

Best film score? Go!

Easily Man of Steel's score by Hans Zimmer. Nothing can top that.

[S200]

Easily Man of Steel's score by Hans Zimmer. Nothing can top that.

What about the nifty one out of "The Magnificent Seven"?

[heids]

If you're not comfortable with this, remove it, but: self harm.  It's not just personal experience, I've done a lot of research on this fascinating topic.

[Lumenoria]

Not sure if I'd call it niche knowledge, but I can tell what month someone is born just by observing their face and demeanour. I legit remember everyone's birthday because of this, and it freaks people out. Because of this, I think that people are inevitably dictated by their birthdays. Each month is characterised by a certain vibe, but I can't quite put it in words. If someone is born in ____ (not going to say it because it might offend people lol), I am always cautious of them. It has never failed me, and people say that it's my "sixth sense". People who are born in December, June and February are always the best, and have never proven to be otherwise. People who are born in March are always good at holding conversations with people and are generally quite outgoing. I could go on and on about this lol. I can't quite put my finger on what type of vibe April gives off because it's when I'm born, and so I need to find someone who has the same philosophy as I do to ascertain that. I genuinely don't think it is some sheer coincidence, because it is always right.

Another thing, is I know an exorbitant amount about cults. I get some perverse joy from reading about them, especially the Korean Catholicism and Jehovah's Witness religion.

[S200]

What's November's skill set?

[TheBigC]

Not sure if I'd call it niche knowledge, but I can tell what month someone is born just by observing their face and demeanour. I legit remember everyone's birthday because of this, and it freaks people out. Because of this, I think that people are inevitably dictated by their birthdays. Each month is characterised by a certain vibe, but I can't quite put it in words. If someone is born in ____ (not going to say it because it might offend people lol), I am always cautious of them. It has never failed me, and people say that it's my "sixth sense". People who are born in December, June and February are always the best, and have never proven to be otherwise. People who are born in March are always good at holding conversations with people and are generally quite outgoing. I could go on and on about this lol. I can't quite put my finger on what type of vibe April gives off because it's when I'm born, and so I need to find someone who has the same philosophy as I do to ascertain that. I genuinely don't think it is some sheer coincidence, because it is always right.

Another thing, is I know an exorbitant amount about cults. I get some perverse joy from reading about them, especially the Korean Catholicism and Jehovah's Witness religion.

December represent!! It is because us December guys always have to try that extra part harder to ensure we fit in, because we are basically part of the next year's generation... not our own. lol.

[heids]

People who are born in February are always the best, and have never proven to be otherwise.

I completely endorse this fact.

Ever heard of the Christadelphians (the denomination/cult/whateveryouwannacallit I was brought up in)?

[Calebark]

Ooh, I forgot, I do know a fair bit about one niche topic.

I know a lot about the history of second-wave black metal, which was pretty much a music subculture within Norway in the early '90s. The music featured super distorted guitars, excessive blastbeats, and really screechy vocals. The musicians typically wore black-and-white paint (called 'corpse paint'), wore spikes, and almost always went by nicknames. The views of the people involved were very misanthropic and extremely anti-Christian -- there were dozens of church burnings attested to members. The subculture was very exclusive -- they didn't want 'posers' in their circle. They sometimes went to pretty gruesome measures to separate the posers from the non-posers, like throwing decapitated pig heads into crowds to see who would run. There were two murders commited by members during this time, and numerous assaults, kidnappings, and acts of torture. It was an absolutely horrible subculture. Some of the members (the less severe) ones have repented, but a lot of them still hold some disturbing views (especially on race). There's a lot more than this, but I wouldn't even know where to start going into it.

A pretty famous photo of a black metal musician for reference. Very dramatic

Edit = song example + some more info

Oh, I should probably post a video of the music for the curious. This is a song by the most influential band of the era, Mayhem. To expand for the sake of it, I'll give a rundown on each of the band members for this album.

Attila 'Void' Csihar, vocals: Not actually a controversial guy. He was pretty freaked out by some of the acts in the scene and just stuck to the music side.

Jan 'Hellhammer' Blomberg, drummer: Advocate for black metal being only for white people. Applauled another scene member, Faust, for murdering a homosexual man

Per 'Dead' Ohlin, lyricist: After suffering a near-death experience as a child, Ohlin started to believe he was a corpse. Was likely the first musician to use corpse paint. Used to bury his clothes in graveyards to give them the scent of death. Collected dead birds. After commiting suicide, a photo of Ohlin's corpse was the cover for Mayhem's next album, Dawn of the Black Hearts. Euronymous used bits of his skull to make necklaces. Don't visit his Wikipedia page unless you're comfortable seeing photos of his corpse.

Øystein 'Euronymous' Aarseth, guitarist: The 'head' of the culture. He owned the record shop, Helvete, which is where the members used to congregrate. Had a habit of sending death threats to people. Was involved in the arson of several churches. He was murdered in 1993 by the (former) bassist.

Varg 'Count Grishnackh' Vikernes, bassist: The most infamous member from the scene, and pretty much a meme in the entire metal community at this point. He was involved in the arson of several churches. He served 15 of his 21 years in prison for the murder of Euronymous before being released. While in prison he released several albums under his music project, Burzum. Arrested in 2014 for suspected terrorism. Charged with inciting hatred against Jews and Muslims. He currently lives as a survivalist in France with his wife and children. He's known for his controversial outright fucking stupid views, which he expresses weekly on his Youtube channel

Snorre 'Blackthorn' Ruch, contributed to some of the writing process: Served 8 years in prison for being an accomplice to the murder of Euronymous. Not much is known about his involvement. Or, at least, I don't know it