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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Going for a 5-year fixed term might have been mistake

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  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,459
    MBoy said:

    If we had annual Parliaments both the electorate and the politicians would have to have a more honest discussion about the state of the country and what to do about it. Manifestos would be shorter and more focussed, with only the legislation and tax changes to be introduced in that one session of Parliament. The voters would be forced to make the grown-up decision to keep on supporting a government through hard times if they thought that was best.

    You've obviously never lived under a Council that has annual elections (by 1/3s) then...
    Yebbut it's by thirds, not the whole council :)
  • Options
    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,005
    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 58,990
    edited June 2013

    If we had annual Parliaments both the electorate and the politicians would have to have a more honest discussion about the state of the country and what to do about it. Manifestos would be shorter and more focussed, with only the legislation and tax changes to be introduced in that one session of Parliament. The voters would be forced to make the grown-up decision to keep on supporting a government through hard times if they thought that was best.

    Yearly parliaments would just lead to an even worse case of short-termism than we have now.

  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,005
    tim said:

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    It's a work of genius.
    No wonder a few magpies are getting the better of your cat, Darwinism in motion.
    Not sure those Croatian women will make it to Essex at this rate.
    Really??!!

    I was trying to work out if it was a pisstake of the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns..

    Not my cup of tea

    I love Hombre, Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, but this was like a mish mash of the worst bits of all of them to me

    But it takes all sorts

    The magpies are taunting him.. not happy.

    As for Croatians, have you seen the demographics of Upminster & Hornchurch????
  • Options
    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    edited June 2013
    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    I wasn't sure at the beginning but really got into it and would watch it again. Funny how films are such personal experiences. If you want to sanity check your views re the Top 250 films - try this, some I'd totally disagree with, but its a handy reminder of some superb movies I'd forgotten about http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?ref_=nb_mv_3_chttp

    I loathe It's A Wonderful Life - I seem to be the only person who does...
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,052
    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    I thought it was great, which is weird as I'm not really a Tarantino fan, and it was full of his usual touches and not-as-clever-or-funny-as-it-thinks-it-is-ness.
  • Options
    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    I thought it was great, which is weird as I'm not really a Tarantino fan, and it was full of his usual touches and not-as-clever-or-funny-as-it-thinks-it-is-ness.
    Is Kill Bill worth watching? I quite like Tarantino but KB never appealed to me.
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,459
    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,005
    tim said:

    isam said:

    tim said:

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    It's a work of genius.
    No wonder a few magpies are getting the better of your cat, Darwinism in motion.
    Not sure those Croatian women will make it to Essex at this rate.
    Really??!!

    I was trying to work out if it was a pisstake of the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns..

    Not my cup of tea

    I love Hombre, Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, but this was like a mish mash of the worst bits of all of them to me

    But it takes all sorts

    The magpies are taunting him.. not happy.

    As for Croatians, have you seen the demographics of Upminster & Hornchurch????
    Shitloads of different influences from Roots to Bonanza, did you see it in the cinema where it's loud and huge or on a small screen.

    On the other issues you appear to be caught in a pincer movement between hard Northern magpies travelling south and a wave of immigrants from the south.
    Not sure those Croatian women will be impressed by Essex's cricket record either, they're crapper than the cat.
    I watched it at home, cant stand the cinema... too much dialogue, too many long words from the German bounty hunter.. just seemed a bit silly to me

    Just my opinion

    20 all out! Essex done well! My mate was going to go over there without knowing the score at 4pm!!

    Unbelievably, I was green on SA vs W Indies and it looks like a duckworth lewis tie...



  • Options
    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    edited June 2013

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
  • Options
    MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792
    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Yesterday Mr T wrote that we shouldn't get involved in Syria under any circumstances. Looks like his advice has been royally ignored today by Obama and Cameron.

    Can't believe the leaders of the free world are ignoring the Telegraph's third most important blogger. Cuh.

    FWIW I didn't say we should not intervene "under any circumstances".

    e.g. if there was clear evidence of a genocide - if Assad was, say, systematically gassing the Druze - then that would be a reason to go in.

    But this is not the situation, as it stands.

    As far as I can tell Syria is a brutal civil war between a very nasty regime and very bloodthirsty rebels - and some of the latter are, unquestionably, jhiadist and Islamist.

    I've yet to see a convincing rationale as to why it is in our interest, or even the interests of humanity, for us to militarily and financially support the latter as they try to overthrow the former.
    Go in hard and early, as with Libya, Kosovo and Sierra Leone and as we should've done when Saddam gassed the Kurds, or prepare for a wave of refugees and guilt as in Bosnia, looks like Syria is going to fall in the middle now.
    " Go in hard and early ".

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2341825/Tony-Blair-strongly-denies-affair-Wendi-Deng-outrageous-rumours-sweep-internet-reason-Murdoch-divorce.html
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,459
    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Yesterday Mr T wrote that we shouldn't get involved in Syria under any circumstances. Looks like his advice has been royally ignored today by Obama and Cameron.

    Can't believe the leaders of the free world are ignoring the Telegraph's third most important blogger. Cuh.

    FWIW I didn't say we should not intervene "under any circumstances".

    e.g. if there was clear evidence of a genocide - if Assad was, say, systematically gassing the Druze - then that would be a reason to go in.

    But this is not the situation, as it stands.

    As far as I can tell Syria is a brutal civil war between a very nasty regime and very bloodthirsty rebels - and some of the latter are, unquestionably, jhiadist and Islamist.

    I've yet to see a convincing rationale as to why it is in our interest, or even the interests of humanity, for us to militarily and financially support the latter as they try to overthrow the former.
    Go in hard and early, as with Libya, Kosovo and Sierra Leone and as we should've done when Saddam gassed the Kurds, or prepare for a wave of refugees and guilt as in Bosnia, looks like Syria is going to fall in the middle now.
    Does tim support the Jihadists?
  • Options
    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Bananas are a gateway drug... http://colombiareports.com/danish-supermarket-received-cocaine-in-colombian-banana-shipment/?fb_ref=recommendations-bar

    A supermarket in Denmark mistakenly received 100kg of cocaine packed inside banana boxes from Colombia, US news agency AP reported on Wednesday. Employees in of the supermarket western Denmark last week anticipated a fresh batch of bananas from the South American nation, but instead unpacked the boxes to discover a white powder, which police said was cocaine.

    The supermarket staff initially realized that something was wrong because some of the Colombian banana boxes were much heavier than the others.

    Representative Jens Juul from supermarket chain Coop claimed that more of the powder was found in a separate shipment, also from Colombia, on Wednesday. Juul reportedly told Danish newspaper Ritzau that the supermarket has contacted its Colombian supplier regarding the mix-up...
  • Options
    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 27,006
    Did someone mention "Waiting For A Train"?

    Must be time for an 80s classic:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4kZ_zfPB90
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,459
    edited June 2013
    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
  • Options
    anotherDaveanotherDave Posts: 6,746
    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    Dire. I kept thinking it would get better, then just gave up.

  • Options
    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 27,006
    Now here's an idea that no-one has ever thought of before:
    "Children in developing countries could educate themselves using computers, the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh has been told."
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22891283
  • Options
    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
  • Options
    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited June 2013
    I see the tabloid blackout didn't last long.

    LOL

    For those unaware this particular bit of rumour/info broke cover about a year ago and is known by ALL of them and most of the westminster press pack as well. Yes Peston, don't give me that twaddle about rumoured "jaw-dropping" reasons behind the divorce you wish you knew. You knew. ;)
  • Options
    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Yesterday Mr T wrote that we shouldn't get involved in Syria under any circumstances. Looks like his advice has been royally ignored today by Obama and Cameron.

    Can't believe the leaders of the free world are ignoring the Telegraph's third most important blogger. Cuh.

    FWIW I didn't say we should not intervene "under any circumstances".

    e.g. if there was clear evidence of a genocide - if Assad was, say, systematically gassing the Druze - then that would be a reason to go in.

    But this is not the situation, as it stands.

    As far as I can tell Syria is a brutal civil war between a very nasty regime and very bloodthirsty rebels - and some of the latter are, unquestionably, jhiadist and Islamist.

    I've yet to see a convincing rationale as to why it is in our interest, or even the interests of humanity, for us to militarily and financially support the latter as they try to overthrow the former.
    Go in hard and early, as with Libya, Kosovo and Sierra Leone and as we should've done when Saddam gassed the Kurds, or prepare for a wave of refugees and guilt as in Bosnia, looks like Syria is going to fall in the middle now.
    Unlike you - I'm guessing - I've travelled widely across Syria, as well as many other Arab and Muslim countries. For all its many grievous faults, Syria under the Assads was one of the more tolerant lands in that benighted region. Christians felt safe, etc - as they do not feel safe in Egypt, or Lebanon, or Iraq.

    Of course by western standards Assad-led Syria was deeply unpleasant, but by Arab standards of governance it actually wasn't so bad. Crucially, it was/is also secular.

    With Islamism rampant across Arabia, you have to be a pretty ludicrous optimist to presume that the regime which would replace Assad would be definitely better, more liberal, more friendly to the west. In which case it is hard to see why we should support the insurrection.
    Unlike you I'm in the Middle East this weekend and don't feel the need to post regularly about my location to validate someone else bring up my children and bouncing around between sword waving interventionism and militant appeasment
    Hope it is not a business trip. Not much call for off licenses in Syria at present.
  • Options
    FensterFenster Posts: 2,115
    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    I thought it was great, which is weird as I'm not really a Tarantino fan, and it was full of his usual touches and not-as-clever-or-funny-as-it-thinks-it-is-ness.
    Is Kill Bill worth watching? I quite like Tarantino but KB never appealed to me.
    My wife loves Kill Bill. I think they are okay (6.5/10). Some nice touches but a bit long. Not in Pulp Fictions league in my opinion.

  • Options
    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530

    One thing's for sure - Tony Blair never took Wendi on a Number 74 bus.

    http://goo.gl/RFcTW

    I thought that was some kind of euphemism at first.

    ;^ )

    *chortle*
  • Options
    FensterFenster Posts: 2,115
    edited June 2013
    Plato said:

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
    ... And Inception is very good. Although Ellen Page (who I love in Juno; great film, great soundtrack) looks waaay too young to be the character she plays.

    ps - can't believe you don't like It's a Wonderful Life. Geez, such a lovely film with the perfect ending. When Bailey's neighbours have the whip round for him! It's fab.
  • Options
    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Fenster said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    I thought it was great, which is weird as I'm not really a Tarantino fan, and it was full of his usual touches and not-as-clever-or-funny-as-it-thinks-it-is-ness.
    Is Kill Bill worth watching? I quite like Tarantino but KB never appealed to me.
    My wife loves Kill Bill. I think they are okay (6.5/10). Some nice touches but a bit long. Not in Pulp Fictions league in my opinion.

    Thanks - will save it for a wet afternoon...plenty of those around this summer ;^ )
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,075
    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Yesterday Mr T wrote that we shouldn't get involved in Syria under any circumstances. Looks like his advice has been royally ignored today by Obama and Cameron.

    Can't believe the leaders of the free world are ignoring the Telegraph's third most important blogger. Cuh.

    FWIW I didn't say we should not intervene "under any circumstances".

    e.g. if there was clear evidence of a genocide - if Assad was, say, systematically gassing the Druze - then that would be a reason to go in.

    But this is not the situation, as it stands.

    As far as I can tell Syria is a brutal civil war between a very nasty regime and very bloodthirsty rebels - and some of the latter are, unquestionably, jhiadist and Islamist.

    I've yet to see a convincing rationale as to why it is in our interest, or even the interests of humanity, for us to militarily and financially support the latter as they try to overthrow the former.
    Go in hard and early, as with Libya, Kosovo and Sierra Leone and as we should've done when Saddam gassed the Kurds, or prepare for a wave of refugees and guilt as in Bosnia, looks like Syria is going to fall in the middle now.
    We hardly went into Kosovo 'hard and early'. The war started in February 1998; the bombing campaign started in March 1999.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_War#UN.2C_NATO.2C_and_OSCE_.281998.E2.80.931999.29

    The Sierra Leone civil war started in March 1991. The UN intervened UNAMISIL in December 1999. Hardly 'hard and early'.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone_Civil_War#UNAMSIL_intervention

    As for Libya: it's a bit rich you mentioning that. If Miliband had been in charge our intervention would not have happened. Because he read the situation wrong. Cameron read it right and forged a consensus with France that allowed us to go in. Miliband's flip-flopping would have prevented that.

    The Libyan civil war started on 15/02/2011. The foreign campaign started on the 02/03/2011.

    Now that was hard and early.

    But each civil war was different, and what worked in one situation might not work in another. Perhaps an early Libya-like intervention in Syria would have worked; perhaps it would have made things worse. From what I can tell it would have been much harder militarily.

    As I have said before, it is now probably too late.
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,459
    Andy_JS said:

    Did someone mention "Waiting For A Train"?

    Must be time for an 80s classic:

    Ha! I can just about remember that Flash in the Pan!
  • Options
    dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,291
    edited June 2013
    @Mick_Pork - Guardian Headline 'Tony Blair and The Murdochs - A Family Affair." 29th May 2012,
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,459
    Plato said:

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
    Ellen Page? She looks OK, she was the one in Juno (which I must confess I haven't seen). Ken Watanabe cameod in Batman Begins as Ras al Ghul (Liam Neeson)'s decoy.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,402
    It is speculated here that this is what was behind the story that wasn't in the Mail early this month: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/wendi-deng-tony-blair-affair-rumors-swirl.html
  • Options
    MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792
    dr_spyn said:

    @Mick_Pork - Guardian Headline 'Tony Blair and The Murdochs - A Family Affair." 29th May 2012,

    The dark horse emerges ;

    http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2012/01/snp-leader-murdoch-salmond
  • Options
    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Fenster said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
    ... And Inception is very good. Although Ellen Page (who I love in Juno; great film, great soundtrack) looks waaay too young to be the character she plays.
    She looks about 17yrs old and just doesn't have any weight at all for the character she's meant to be. I'm just finding her immature, nosey and annoyingly smug. If anyone else gets killed off, I hope its her.

    I can see it taking until midnight for me to get to credits at this rate...!
  • Options
    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    isam said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    I think my cat is getting bullied by Magpies! Is this unusual?
    My cat was bullied by a magpie last year. The cat is black and white so possibly that was the reason. I used a slingshot on the magpie. Not a chance of hitting it, but it took the hint eventally. Clever birds, magpies.
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,459
    Fenster said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    I thought it was great, which is weird as I'm not really a Tarantino fan, and it was full of his usual touches and not-as-clever-or-funny-as-it-thinks-it-is-ness.
    Is Kill Bill worth watching? I quite like Tarantino but KB never appealed to me.
    My wife loves Kill Bill. I think they are okay (6.5/10). Some nice touches but a bit long. Not in Pulp Fictions league in my opinion.

    On balance I rather like the Kill Bill films, though the only other Tarantino I'm really familiar with is Inglourious Basterds.
  • Options
    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    dr_spyn said:

    @Mick_Pork - Guardian Headline 'Tony Blair and The Murdochs - A Family Affair." 29th May 2012,

    Indeed.
    I hope you didn't think it would have been the Times or another in the N.I. stable to do so.

  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,459
    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Yesterday Mr T wrote that we shouldn't get involved in Syria under any circumstances. Looks like his advice has been royally ignored today by Obama and Cameron.

    Can't believe the leaders of the free world are ignoring the Telegraph's third most important blogger. Cuh.

    FWIW I didn't say we should not intervene "under any circumstances".

    e.g. if there was clear evidence of a genocide - if Assad was, say, systematically gassing the Druze - then that would be a reason to go in.

    But this is not the situation, as it stands.

    As far as I can tell Syria is a brutal civil war between a very nasty regime and very bloodthirsty rebels - and some of the latter are, unquestionably, jhiadist and Islamist.

    I've yet to see a convincing rationale as to why it is in our interest, or even the interests of humanity, for us to militarily and financially support the latter as they try to overthrow the former.
    Go in hard and early, as with Libya, Kosovo and Sierra Leone and as we should've done when Saddam gassed the Kurds, or prepare for a wave of refugees and guilt as in Bosnia, looks like Syria is going to fall in the middle now.
    Does tim support the Jihadists?

    Stop being a prick Sunil, you think all the opposition to the Alawite dictatorship is Wahhabi driven?
    Jihadists love a vacuum though,as Abu Hamza and co did in Bosnia
    Why are you calling Sunil, the most civil and good-natured of pb commenters, a "prick"?

    He is just repeating a very fair question which you refuse to answer.

    You really don't do yourself, or this site, any favours. If you want to hurl abuse, hurl it at people who clearly enjoy it or deserve it. Tsk.
    Let me assure everyone I've been called far worse. And to my face :)
    Looks like tim's rant has been deleted in any case!
  • Options
    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548

    Fenster said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    I thought it was great, which is weird as I'm not really a Tarantino fan, and it was full of his usual touches and not-as-clever-or-funny-as-it-thinks-it-is-ness.
    Is Kill Bill worth watching? I quite like Tarantino but KB never appealed to me.
    My wife loves Kill Bill. I think they are okay (6.5/10). Some nice touches but a bit long. Not in Pulp Fictions league in my opinion.

    On balance I rather like the Kill Bill films, though the only other Tarantino I'm really familiar with is Inglourious Basterds.
    Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are both excellent, great music also.

    I thought Kill Bill pretty poor and far too long and self indulgent.
  • Options
    dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,291
    @Mick_Pork -Its cold out side, there's no kind of atmosphere....fun fun in The Sun -
  • Options
    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited June 2013
    Oh and Vogue (of all people) were helpfully rerunning this today for some reason.
    VOGUE.CO.UK ‏@BritishVogue 9h

    Wendi Deng opens up about Rupert Murdoch, her children and her friendship with the Blairs in Vogue's big interview: http://bit.ly/14AqVF9
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,459
    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Yesterday Mr T wrote that we shouldn't get involved in Syria under any circumstances. Looks like his advice has been royally ignored today by Obama and Cameron.

    Can't believe the leaders of the free world are ignoring the Telegraph's third most important blogger. Cuh.

    FWIW I didn't say we should not intervene "under any circumstances".

    e.g. if there was clear evidence of a genocide - if Assad was, say, systematically gassing the Druze - then that would be a reason to go in.

    But this is not the situation, as it stands.

    As far as I can tell Syria is a brutal civil war between a very nasty regime and very bloodthirsty rebels - and some of the latter are, unquestionably, jhiadist and Islamist.

    I've yet to see a convincing rationale as to why it is in our interest, or even the interests of humanity, for us to militarily and financially support the latter as they try to overthrow the former.
    Go in hard and early, as with Libya, Kosovo and Sierra Leone and as we should've done when Saddam gassed the Kurds, or prepare for a wave of refugees and guilt as in Bosnia, looks like Syria is going to fall in the middle now.
    Unlike you - I'm guessing - I've travelled widely across Syria, as well as many other Arab and Muslim countries. For all its many grievous faults, Syria under the Assads was one of the more tolerant lands in that benighted region. Christians felt safe, etc - as they do not feel safe in Egypt, or Lebanon, or Iraq.

    Of course by western standards Assad-led Syria was deeply unpleasant, but by Arab standards of governance it actually wasn't so bad. Crucially, it was/is also secular.

    With Islamism rampant across Arabia, you have to be a pretty ludicrous optimist to presume that the regime which would replace Assad would be definitely better, more liberal, more friendly to the west. In which case it is hard to see why we should support the insurrection.
    Unlike you I'm in the Middle East this weekend and don't feel the need to post regularly about my location to validate someone else bring up my children and bouncing around between sword waving interventionism and militant appeasment
    Oh my word! You're leaving the house? Is it a special awayday for cuckolds?

    Come with us to sunny Eilat. Leave the wife with Mister Tumble. Again.
    How are those blokes Skype One and Skype Two will take after?
    Surprised a man who's posted 4,440 times to PB since the Vanilla change-over has time to visit the Mid-east!
  • Options
    FensterFenster Posts: 2,115
    SeanT said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
    I also thought Inception was seriously overrated. In fact I'm finding it hard to remember a movie that matched even averagely good TV drama like "Broadchurch", let alone the best stuff like Breaking Bad or The Killing.

    Modern movies are rubbish. They are either aimed at teenagers and hence just dumb, or they are overly arty and yet lacking in depth (compared to TV drama series).

    It could be that the 90-180 minute movie is simply a genre that is dying. This happens. Poetry was the dominant literary genre in the 19th century (Tennyson used to get page long reviews in the Times). Then the longer-form novel took over.

    Perhaps the TV drama series is, in similar fashion, killing off the film-you-see-at-the-cinema.
    Mr T, man of the world as you are, have you ever seen/heard of a French movie-documentary called Etre et Avoir?

    I've just bought it for my weird, depressive, alcoholic, playwright brother (who is a teacher, God help) and the reviews are very good. Apparently it's quite well known, though I'd never heard of it.

  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,459
    SeanT said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
    I also thought Inception was seriously overrated. In fact I'm finding it hard to remember a movie that matched even averagely good TV drama like "Broadchurch", let alone the best stuff like Breaking Bad or The Killing.

    Modern movies are rubbish. They are either aimed at teenagers and hence just dumb, or they are overly arty and yet lacking in depth (compared to TV drama series).

    It could be that the 90-180 minute movie is simply a genre that is dying. This happens. Poetry was the dominant literary genre in the 19th century (Tennyson used to get page long reviews in the Times). Then the longer-form novel took over.

    Perhaps the TV drama series is, in similar fashion, killing off the film-you-see-at-the-cinema.
    Looks like I'm in a minority of PBers that actually liked Inception. Maybe I'm in "limbo" and this world isn't real after all :)
  • Options
    FensterFenster Posts: 2,115
    Plato said:

    Fenster said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    I thought it was great, which is weird as I'm not really a Tarantino fan, and it was full of his usual touches and not-as-clever-or-funny-as-it-thinks-it-is-ness.
    Is Kill Bill worth watching? I quite like Tarantino but KB never appealed to me.
    My wife loves Kill Bill. I think they are okay (6.5/10). Some nice touches but a bit long. Not in Pulp Fictions league in my opinion.

    Thanks - will save it for a wet afternoon...plenty of those around this summer ;^ )
    If you get the chance watch Searching For Sugarman. It's fantastic. Really fantastic.

    I don't get to see much these days due my rollercoaster life of kids, work, rugby, kids and kids, but I watched that recently and it is FAB. A true story. Very uplifting.

  • Options
    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724

    Fenster said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    I thought it was great, which is weird as I'm not really a Tarantino fan, and it was full of his usual touches and not-as-clever-or-funny-as-it-thinks-it-is-ness.
    Is Kill Bill worth watching? I quite like Tarantino but KB never appealed to me.
    My wife loves Kill Bill. I think they are okay (6.5/10). Some nice touches but a bit long. Not in Pulp Fictions league in my opinion.

    On balance I rather like the Kill Bill films, though the only other Tarantino I'm really familiar with is Inglourious Basterds.
    Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are both excellent, great music also.

    I thought Kill Bill pretty poor and far too long and self indulgent.
    After seeing The Big Bus - I just can't take Reservoir Dogs seriously...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqdcsy4hSyM
  • Options
    anotherDaveanotherDave Posts: 6,746
    SeanT said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
    I also thought Inception was seriously overrated. In fact I'm finding it hard to remember a movie that matched even averagely good TV drama like "Broadchurch", let alone the best stuff like Breaking Bad or The Killing.

    Modern movies are rubbish. They are either aimed at teenagers and hence just dumb, or they are overly arty and yet lacking in depth (compared to TV drama series).

    It could be that the 90-180 minute movie is simply a genre that is dying. This happens. Poetry was the dominant literary genre in the 19th century (Tennyson used to get page long reviews in the Times). Then the longer-form novel took over.

    Perhaps the TV drama series is, in similar fashion, killing off the film-you-see-at-the-cinema.
    "Young Adult" was pretty good.

    http://www.youngadultmovie.com/video.php
  • Options
    FensterFenster Posts: 2,115
    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Yesterday Mr T wrote that we shouldn't get involved in Syria under any circumstances. Looks like his advice has been royally ignored today by Obama and Cameron.

    Can't believe the leaders of the free world are ignoring the Telegraph's third most important blogger. Cuh.

    FWIW I didn't say we should not intervene "under any circumstances".

    e.g. if there was clear evidence of a genocide - if Assad was, say, systematically gassing the Druze - then that would be a reason to go in.

    But this is not the situation, as it stands.

    As far as I can tell Syria is a brutal civil war between a very nasty regime and very bloodthirsty rebels - and some of the latter are, unquestionably, jhiadist and Islamist.

    I've yet to see a convincing rationale as to why it is in our interest, or even the interests of humanity, for us to militarily and financially support the latter as they try to overthrow the former.
    Go in hard and early, as with Libya, Kosovo and Sierra Leone and as we should've done when Saddam gassed the Kurds, or prepare for a wave of refugees and guilt as in Bosnia, looks like Syria is going to fall in the middle now.
    Unlike you - I'm guessing - I've travelled widely across Syria, as well as many other Arab and Muslim countries. For all its many grievous faults, Syria under the Assads was one of the more tolerant lands in that benighted region. Christians felt safe, etc - as they do not feel safe in Egypt, or Lebanon, or Iraq.

    Of course by western standards Assad-led Syria was deeply unpleasant, but by Arab standards of governance it actually wasn't so bad. Crucially, it was/is also secular.

    With Islamism rampant across Arabia, you have to be a pretty ludicrous optimist to presume that the regime which would replace Assad would be definitely better, more liberal, more friendly to the west. In which case it is hard to see why we should support the insurrection.
    Unlike you I'm in the Middle East this weekend and don't feel the need to post regularly about my location to validate someone else bring up my children and bouncing around between sword waving interventionism and militant appeasment
    Oh my word! You're leaving the house? Is it a special awayday for cuckolds?

    Come with us to sunny Eilat. Leave the wife with Mister Tumble. Again.
    How are those blokes Skype One and Skype Two will take after?

    Let's just linger over the eerie and tormented syntax in that embittered sentence.


    "How are those blokes Skype One and Skype Two will take after?"

    HOW ARE THOSE BLOKES SKYPE ONE AND SKYPE TWO WILL TAKE AFTER

    I rest my case, M'Lud. And request a psychiatric assessment of the accused.

    Court is adjourned.
    Lol :D.

    My three year old and me are having a boys night in. I wish he could read, because if he could I'd make him read this! :)
  • Options
    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    The biggest question for the PB masses is of course, when will Dan Hodges weigh in on Blair?

    ;^ )
  • Options
    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 31,020
    SeanT said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
    I also thought Inception was seriously overrated. In fact I'm finding it hard to remember a movie that matched even averagely good TV drama like "Broadchurch", let alone the best stuff like Breaking Bad or The Killing.

    Modern movies are rubbish. They are either aimed at teenagers and hence just dumb, or they are overly arty and yet lacking in depth (compared to TV drama series).

    It could be that the 90-180 minute movie is simply a genre that is dying. This happens. Poetry was the dominant literary genre in the 19th century (Tennyson used to get page long reviews in the Times). Then the longer-form novel took over.

    Perhaps the TV drama series is, in similar fashion, killing off the film-you-see-at-the-cinema.
    US cinema attendances would seem to indicate that isn't the case. From 1995 to 2012 there has been very little change with 1.22 billion tickets sold in 1995 and 1.37 billion sold in 2012. The peak in sales in that period was 1.58 billion in 2002 but it has been pretty much up and down around a mean for that period.
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,763
    edited June 2013

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    I think my cat is getting bullied by Magpies! Is this unusual?
    My cat was bullied by a magpie last year. The cat is black and white so possibly that was the reason. I used a slingshot on the magpie. Not a chance of hitting it, but it took the hint eventally. Clever birds, magpies.
    currently my pride and joy is jackdaws, I have about two dozen which come round to feed in my garden and they are great fun to watch. They have a hate relationships with magpies which muscle in to the food and try to bully everyone else off the patch. Selfish birds magpies.
  • Options
    CarolaCarola Posts: 1,805
    Fenster said:

    SeanT said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
    I also thought Inception was seriously overrated. In fact I'm finding it hard to remember a movie that matched even averagely good TV drama like "Broadchurch", let alone the best stuff like Breaking Bad or The Killing.

    Modern movies are rubbish. They are either aimed at teenagers and hence just dumb, or they are overly arty and yet lacking in depth (compared to TV drama series).

    It could be that the 90-180 minute movie is simply a genre that is dying. This happens. Poetry was the dominant literary genre in the 19th century (Tennyson used to get page long reviews in the Times). Then the longer-form novel took over.

    Perhaps the TV drama series is, in similar fashion, killing off the film-you-see-at-the-cinema.
    Mr T, man of the world as you are, have you ever seen/heard of a French movie-documentary called Etre et Avoir?

    I've just bought it for my weird, depressive, alcoholic, playwright brother (who is a teacher, God help) and the reviews are very good. Apparently it's quite well known, though I'd never heard of it.

    I saw that a good few years ago. Lovely doc. Very slow, but that's how I like my cinema.
  • Options
    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 31,020

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    I think my cat is getting bullied by Magpies! Is this unusual?
    My cat was bullied by a magpie last year. The cat is black and white so possibly that was the reason. I used a slingshot on the magpie. Not a chance of hitting it, but it took the hint eventally. Clever birds, magpies.
    currently my pride and joy is jackdaws, I have about two dozen which come round to feed in my garden and they are great fun to watch. They have a hate relationships with magpies which muscle in to the food and try to bully everyone else off the patch. Selfish birds magpies.
    Magpies are terrible birds. They devastate song bird populations and I take every opportunity to shoot them if I see them on my land.
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,068
    Fenster said:

    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    SeanT said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Yesterday Mr T wrote that we shouldn't get involved in Syria under any circumstances. Looks like his advice has been royally ignored today by Obama and Cameron.

    Can't believe the leaders of the free world are ignoring the Telegraph's third most important blogger. Cuh.

    FWIW I didn't say we should not intervene "under any circumstances".

    e.g. if there was clear evidence of a genocide - if Assad was, say, systematically gassing the Druze - then that would be a reason to go in.

    But this is not the situation, as it stands.

    As far as I can tell Syria is a brutal civil war between a very nasty regime and very bloodthirsty rebels - and some of the latter are, unquestionably, jhiadist and Islamist.

    I've yet to see a convincing rationale as to why it is in our interest, or even the interests of humanity, for us to militarily and financially support the latter as they try to overthrow the former.
    Go in hard and early, as with Libya, Kosovo and Sierra Leone and as we should've done when Saddam gassed the Kurds, or prepare for a wave of refugees and guilt as in Bosnia, looks like Syria is going to fall in the middle now.
    Unlike you - I'm guessing - I've travelled widely across Syria, as well as many other Arab and Muslim countries. For all its many grievous faults, Syria under the Assads was one of the more tolerant lands in that benighted region. Christians felt safe, etc - as they do not feel safe in Egypt, or Lebanon, or Iraq.

    Of course by western standards Assad-led Syria was deeply unpleasant, but by Arab standards of governance it actually wasn't so bad. Crucially, it was/is also secular.

    With Islamism rampant across Arabia, you have to be a pretty ludicrous optimist to presume that the regime which would replace Assad would be definitely better, more liberal, more friendly to the west. In which case it is hard to see why we should support the insurrection.
    Unlike you I'm in the Middle East this weekend and don't feel the need to post regularly about my location to validate someone else bring up my children and bouncing around between sword waving interventionism and militant appeasment
    Oh my word! You're leaving the house? Is it a special awayday for cuckolds?

    Come with us to sunny Eilat. Leave the wife with Mister Tumble. Again.
    How are those blokes Skype One and Skype Two will take after?

    Let's just linger over the eerie and tormented syntax in that embittered sentence.


    "How are those blokes Skype One and Skype Two will take after?"

    HOW ARE THOSE BLOKES SKYPE ONE AND SKYPE TWO WILL TAKE AFTER

    I rest my case, M'Lud. And request a psychiatric assessment of the accused.

    Court is adjourned.
    Lol :D.

    My three year old and me are having a boys night in. I wish he could read, because if he could I'd make him read this! :)
    Can we have the "like" button back, please!

  • Options
    CarolaCarola Posts: 1,805
    On film - I went to see the live (almost) screening of 'The Audience' last night. Apparently went out to 700 cinemas. Nice idea getting plays out to a wider audience but, looking around, pretty much a theatre-going demographic.
  • Options
    FensterFenster Posts: 2,115
    Carola said:

    Fenster said:

    SeanT said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
    I also thought Inception was seriously overrated. In fact I'm finding it hard to remember a movie that matched even averagely good TV drama like "Broadchurch", let alone the best stuff like Breaking Bad or The Killing.

    Modern movies are rubbish. They are either aimed at teenagers and hence just dumb, or they are overly arty and yet lacking in depth (compared to TV drama series).

    It could be that the 90-180 minute movie is simply a genre that is dying. This happens. Poetry was the dominant literary genre in the 19th century (Tennyson used to get page long reviews in the Times). Then the longer-form novel took over.

    Perhaps the TV drama series is, in similar fashion, killing off the film-you-see-at-the-cinema.
    Mr T, man of the world as you are, have you ever seen/heard of a French movie-documentary called Etre et Avoir?

    I've just bought it for my weird, depressive, alcoholic, playwright brother (who is a teacher, God help) and the reviews are very good. Apparently it's quite well known, though I'd never heard of it.

    I saw that a good few years ago. Lovely doc. Very slow, but that's how I like my cinema.
    Thanks Carola. That's good to know. My brother fancies himself as a Mr Chips type, so I thought he'd like it. I'll borrow if from him after he's seen it.

  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,005
    edited June 2013
    Plato said:

    Fenster said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    Inception is one of my favourite movies! I just watched it on DVD a few nights ago. In fact I've watched it so many times, I know the script off by heart now, natch :)
    I don't know what special little device some writers use to make a film instantly interesting and intriguing - but I wish their magic was sprinkled around a bit more. It took me 20 mins at the beginning of Inception to stop looking round the room, thinking about ordering a pizza etc - then it finally got me hooked and the last 25 mins have flashed by.

    I was watching Iron Sky the other night and it had me amused from the get-go but then got very annoying - the acting was appalling but the plot idea bizarrely absurd and entertaining. I may give it another go over the weekend but only if I'm drunk...
    I wached Django Unchained on Wednesday and thought it was absolute rubbish... anyone else have an opinion?
    I thought it was great, which is weird as I'm not really a Tarantino fan, and it was full of his usual touches and not-as-clever-or-funny-as-it-thinks-it-is-ness.
    Is Kill Bill worth watching? I quite like Tarantino but KB never appealed to me.
    My wife loves Kill Bill. I think they are okay (6.5/10). Some nice touches but a bit long. Not in Pulp Fictions league in my opinion.

    On balance I rather like the Kill Bill films, though the only other Tarantino I'm really familiar with is Inglourious Basterds.
    Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are both excellent, great music also.

    I thought Kill Bill pretty poor and far too long and self indulgent.
    After seeing The Big Bus - I just can't take Reservoir Dogs seriously...



    Try this! Jo Brands finest hour!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRb5BjWaKZ4
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,763

    isam said:

    Plato said:

    kle4 said:

    Plato said:

    OT Just watched Iron Man 3 - what a crock. I can't get over what a poor plotless/badly scripted mess it was. That was 2hrs that felt like 4.

    IM 1 & 2 were great, humour and action packed - this one was a definitely a franchise filler. I hope Man of Steel is a lot better - it'd be hard to be worse.

    *turns on The Avengers to perk me back up*

    I am stunned that IM3 has received such decent reviews - the Downey Jr is awesome factor I suspect, even though IM2 also had him and is revilled (it was not anywhere as good as IM1, but not that bad).

    Reminds me of Prometheus, which was a really gorgeous movie with a godawful script, and gets loads of flack for that. IM3 was not as badly written as Prometheus - there weren't moments where I could visibly see where lines/scenes had been cut from the script, and I at least knew what everyone was doing and why, and liked several characters - but it was unsettlingly poorly written, despite some good funny lines.

    And who thought a giving prominent role on a precocious child was a good idea? When has that ever been a good idea?
    I never got the hate some have for IM2 - I liked it well enough. The child scenes NOOOOOOO!! I hate movies that do that - they're almost always terrible and this was no exception. And where was Iron Man in IM3? Someone described it on IMDb as a porn film without any porn which made me LOL.

    Speaking of laughs and Man of Steel - some superb shots of Superman c1948 - they're brilliant http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-207_162-10017195-8.html

    I still can't get Inception - I'll try again later but it feels like hard work.
    I think my cat is getting bullied by Magpies! Is this unusual?
    My cat was bullied by a magpie last year. The cat is black and white so possibly that was the reason. I used a slingshot on the magpie. Not a chance of hitting it, but it took the hint eventally. Clever birds, magpies.
    currently my pride and joy is jackdaws, I have about two dozen which come round to feed in my garden and they are great fun to watch. They have a hate relationships with magpies which muscle in to the food and try to bully everyone else off the patch. Selfish birds magpies.
    Magpies are terrible birds. They devastate song bird populations and I take every opportunity to shoot them if I see them on my land.
    They are also very interesting to observe. All the corvids are fairly intelligent. Jackdaws have a "pecking order" and although they seem to fight in reality they share it's just about where you are in the queue. Magpies are greedy; if you chuck out five slices of bread they'll try to keep them all by chasing other birds off. The jackdaws have to gang up to chase them off.
  • Options
    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    Realisation Finally Strikes after 14 Years in Power

    "Wales must be much more focussed in future about how it spends European money than it has been in the past, Economy Minister Edwina Hart says.

    She wants the private sector involved and says Wales must not have "pet projects with hundreds of partners".

    Wales has been given £3.5bn since 2000 in so-called structural funding from the European Union.

    The money is given to nations whose productivity is less than 75% of the average across the European Union.

    Wales is expected to be eligible for the money again and Ms Hart says it must be spent on projects that will deliver results for the welsh economy.

    In an interview with BBC Wales, she said Wales needs to sell itself as a "small, clever nation" to boost its economy.

    And she said the Welsh government cannot be averse to taking risk if it wants to attract more inward investment and innovation.

    Ms Hart says a review is under way to devise models to fund new businesses and also raises the issue of whether community groups could run green energy companies to give the nation energy security and generate profit
    locally."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-22904210

    This is a pious hope that will not be realised by Welsh Labour. I have watched them fritter away this money on useless bureaucracy and administration instead of spending it on infrastructure that Wales so badly needs.

    There have been administrators monitoring the advisers who have been enabling the enablers who have been promoting awareness of projects controlled by project managers to help communities to self help which has resulted in diversity advisers and equality managers promoting and achieving - just nothing, except all enjoying good salaries, benefits and expenses - to achieve just nothing except a lost opportunity to improve the infrastructure be it transport or IT which is greatly required to enable Wales to compete globally.

    The amateurs at Cardiff Bay will waste these new tranches of EU money in the same manner and Wales will slip further behind the world in jobs, education and health.
  • Options
    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    edited June 2013
    Just finished watching the channel 4 news. The rebel aligned "migrants battalion" of foreign born jihadis are a scary bunch. It would be crazy to put them in power by arming them and bombing the govt forces.

    I hope our spooks at GCHQ are assiduously tracing all their emails and cellphone contacts.
  • Options
    FensterFenster Posts: 2,115
    Financier said:

    Realisation Finally Strikes after 14 Years in Power

    "Wales must be much more focussed in future about how it spends European money than it has been in the past, Economy Minister Edwina Hart says.

    She wants the private sector involved and says Wales must not have "pet projects with hundreds of partners".

    Wales has been given £3.5bn since 2000 in so-called structural funding from the European Union.

    The money is given to nations whose productivity is less than 75% of the average across the European Union.

    Wales is expected to be eligible for the money again and Ms Hart says it must be spent on projects that will deliver results for the welsh economy.

    In an interview with BBC Wales, she said Wales needs to sell itself as a "small, clever nation" to boost its economy.

    And she said the Welsh government cannot be averse to taking risk if it wants to attract more inward investment and innovation.

    Ms Hart says a review is under way to devise models to fund new businesses and also raises the issue of whether community groups could run green energy companies to give the nation energy security and generate profit
    locally."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-22904210

    This is a pious hope that will not be realised by Welsh Labour. I have watched them fritter away this money on useless bureaucracy and administration instead of spending it on infrastructure that Wales so badly needs.

    There have been administrators monitoring the advisers who have been enabling the enablers who have been promoting awareness of projects controlled by project managers to help communities to self help which has resulted in diversity advisers and equality managers promoting and achieving - just nothing, except all enjoying good salaries, benefits and expenses - to achieve just nothing except a lost opportunity to improve the infrastructure be it transport or IT which is greatly required to enable Wales to compete globally.

    The amateurs at Cardiff Bay will waste these new tranches of EU money in the same manner and Wales will slip further behind the world in jobs, education and health.

    AMEN to that!

  • Options
    Blofelds_CatBlofelds_Cat Posts: 154

    "I thought your man Angus was crap last night. The journalist lady made a better case for Independence that him."

    Didn't really see it (only the last 20 minutes or so), but Robertson is an excellent debater so I doubt if he was "crap". The general opinion on the nationalist blogosphere is that he defended the case well, but that Riddoch was even better. It's not surprising that someone who has only recently become converted to Yes would make a more powerful advocate.

    James, I would have thought that a recent convert would have fewer settled and rehearsed opinions to espouse than somebody who was weaned on the independence bottle?
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,075
    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Plato said:

    Plato said:


    I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

    I either haven't got to that bit yet or didn't notice it...! As you can tell, Inception has lost my attention again - they're on the plane with the son... *reaches for a slice of pizza*
    The answer is "Because you'll be together". Both Di Caprio and Cotillard say the lines to each other in different scenes.

    When I first watched the film at the end of 2010, I really thought the entire movie was a dream for Di Caprio's character until he wakes up on the plane. But after the second viewing I realised that was mistaken!
    Right now I can't imagine getting to the end of Inception... the oriental bloke has just died and that girl is getting all *serious face* - I really don't like her at all which isn't helping...reaches for more pizza...
    I also thought Inception was seriously overrated. In fact I'm finding it hard to remember a movie that matched even averagely good TV drama like "Broadchurch", let alone the best stuff like Breaking Bad or The Killing.

    Modern movies are rubbish. They are either aimed at teenagers and hence just dumb, or they are overly arty and yet lacking in depth (compared to TV drama series).

    It could be that the 90-180 minute movie is simply a genre that is dying. This happens. Poetry was the dominant literary genre in the 19th century (Tennyson used to get page long reviews in the Times). Then the longer-form novel took over.

    Perhaps the TV drama series is, in similar fashion, killing off the film-you-see-at-the-cinema.
    US cinema attendances would seem to indicate that isn't the case. From 1995 to 2012 there has been very little change with 1.22 billion tickets sold in 1995 and 1.37 billion sold in 2012. The peak in sales in that period was 1.58 billion in 2002 but it has been pretty much up and down around a mean for that period.
    In that time the population of the US has increased by about 25 million; more importantly, cinema attendance per head has significantly declined.


    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2178341/Hollywood-Cinema-attendance-plummets-25-year-low.html

    Movies will never die out, but they face the same fragmentation as all art forms. Moreover, and crucially, in terms of screen drama, the greatest artistic freedom and experiment is now found in TV, because in TV failures are tolerated, as they cost less. And the ability to tolerate failures is the key to successful artistic ambition.

    Imagine a Breaking Bad in the movies. Exactly, you can't. It would never happen, and if it was made, it woud never go beyond a niche market, ignored by almost all. In the healthier ecosystem of TV, a *Breaking Bad* can thrive and achieve major success.
    Long term, TV will also die, or at least as we know it. It will just be one of many streams of infotainment streamed into the home by various mechanisms. News will still be broadcast, but others shows - especially drama - will become much more interactive. The idea that 'TV' is special will disappear; it will merge in with all the other channels, including newspapers.

    I'm talking the far future here; say fifty years time. But the latest games consoles give you a good idea of the way things will head. Back in 1994 I went to a virtual reality conference in Hammersmith where there was some - for then - amazing VR tech on display, based on massively expensive computers.

    I bet there's more power in my mobile now, especially in terms of graphics processing, and Google Glass makes the VR headsets back then seem like medieval armour. But it is not just processing: immersivity takes things to a higher level, and it is all being worked on now. The Wii was just a start; Microsoft has improved it with Kinect and now Kinect Two.

    Interactivity may involve the viewer altering the plot of a series as it goes on; does the her have the affair, or does he go home with his wife? Behind the scenes there will be a factory of caged writers coping with the latest threads demanded by the viewers.

    Telepresence will also take over in a big way. Imagine watching the Wire and being behind McNulty on a stakeout. Imagine feeling the breeze, or hearing the echo of a shot going off around you.

    This may seem like a dream, and it is. But if you had told me back in 1994 that we would be where we are now, I'd have thought that a dream.

    Exciting times.
This discussion has been closed.