In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
There’s no accounting for taste.
From a critical perspective, as far as I can tell the esteem for the Beatles (with able support from George Martin) as songwriters and record makers, has only grown and grown since 1970.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
(Ironic, given the reviews of Venom 2 have been dreadful, and those of NTTD have been... mixed.)
No Time To Die is bound to divide opinion, just as OHMSS did all those years ago.
But, it’s fantastic in my view.
OHMSS has got better over the years. It's now in my Bond top 5. I have at least one in my top 5 for every bond bar Niven, Dalton, and Brosnan. I have 2 Conneries, a Moore, a Lazenby and a Craig. Talk about a person - me - who is very balanced and unprejudiced.
My top five (probably - Skyfall and Daylights are in there sometimes)
Been watching 'Midnight Mass' on Netflix. It's ok, but it feels like it switches tone halfway through from creepy to campy.
I started watching the first 20 mins and it looked brilliant, then Mrs Walker realised it was a horror and threw her toys out.
Yes, I’ve read that it disappoints, as so many things do!
Everyone’s watching Squid Game now so that needs to be the focus.
I'm not usually a horror guy, quite the opposite actually, so I kind of don't mind that it changes tack so much. It does feel like switching from The Conjuring to The Strain part way through though.
I’ve not heard of the conjuring or the strain.
I think true horror is the hardest thing to do. Harder even than comedy.
I can hardly think of any truly scary movies. I always go back to “The Shining”.
The Exorcist, by far. It is possibly the best movie ever made, let alone the best horror movie
Been watching 'Midnight Mass' on Netflix. It's ok, but it feels like it switches tone halfway through from creepy to campy.
I started watching the first 20 mins and it looked brilliant, then Mrs Walker realised it was a horror and threw her toys out.
Yes, I’ve read that it disappoints, as so many things do!
Everyone’s watching Squid Game now so that needs to be the focus.
I'm not usually a horror guy, quite the opposite actually, so I kind of don't mind that it changes tack so much. It does feel like switching from The Conjuring to The Strain part way through though.
I’ve not heard of the conjuring or the strain.
I think true horror is the hardest thing to do. Harder even than comedy.
I can hardly think of any truly scary movies. I always go back to “The Shining”.
The Exorcist, by far. It is possibly the best movie ever made, let alone the best horror movie
I tend to prefer the camp horror of the amicus and hammer films but the film Audition I found genuinely disturbing.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
(Ironic, given the reviews of Venom 2 have been dreadful, and those of NTTD have been... mixed.)
No Time To Die is bound to divide opinion, just as OHMSS did all those years ago.
But, it’s fantastic in my view.
OHMSS has got better over the years. It's now in my Bond top 5. I have at least one in my top 5 for every bond bar Niven, Dalton, and Brosnan. I have 2 Conneries, a Moore, a Lazenby and a Craig. Talk about a person - me - who is very balanced and unprejudiced.
My top five (probably - Skyfall and Daylights are in there sometimes)
Time Casino Goldfinger Spy Majesty
Moonraker is a favourite of mine. Love the pre title sequence.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
(Ironic, given the reviews of Venom 2 have been dreadful, and those of NTTD have been... mixed.)
No Time To Die is bound to divide opinion, just as OHMSS did all those years ago.
But, it’s fantastic in my view.
OHMSS has got better over the years. It's now in my Bond top 5. I have at least one in my top 5 for every bond bar Niven, Dalton, and Brosnan. I have 2 Conneries, a Moore, a Lazenby and a Craig. Talk about a person - me - who is very balanced and unprejudiced.
OHMSS has, IMO, the best theme music of any Bond film.
Been watching 'Midnight Mass' on Netflix. It's ok, but it feels like it switches tone halfway through from creepy to campy.
I started watching the first 20 mins and it looked brilliant, then Mrs Walker realised it was a horror and threw her toys out.
Yes, I’ve read that it disappoints, as so many things do!
Everyone’s watching Squid Game now so that needs to be the focus.
I'm not usually a horror guy, quite the opposite actually, so I kind of don't mind that it changes tack so much. It does feel like switching from The Conjuring to The Strain part way through though.
I’ve not heard of the conjuring or the strain.
I think true horror is the hardest thing to do. Harder even than comedy.
I can hardly think of any truly scary movies. I always go back to “The Shining”.
The Exorcist, by far. It is possibly the best movie ever made, let alone the best horror movie
Isn't Babadook a very good recent example of the genre.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
(Ironic, given the reviews of Venom 2 have been dreadful, and those of NTTD have been... mixed.)
No Time To Die is bound to divide opinion, just as OHMSS did all those years ago.
But, it’s fantastic in my view.
OHMSS has got better over the years. It's now in my Bond top 5. I have at least one in my top 5 for every bond bar Niven, Dalton, and Brosnan. I have 2 Conneries, a Moore, a Lazenby and a Craig. Talk about a person - me - who is very balanced and unprejudiced.
My top five (probably - Skyfall and Daylights are in there sometimes)
Time Casino Goldfinger Spy Majesty
Moonraker is a favourite of mine. Love the pre title sequence.
It has kitsch value. Jaws getting a girlfriend is hilarious, but ultimately it’s high camp rather than classic.
I'm still on my Xiaomi Poco F1 (h/t Mike) bought for £220 a couple of years ago. Jettisoned Apple and embraced Android. It's fantastic.
Fast plenty of storage I was actually looking at the next one for an upgrade but really don't need it.
I said the other day that in the next few years UK banking apps will not be available on Chinese phones.
I wouldn't be shocked to see them banned in their entirety.
I agree. Banking apps are hideous.
Dealing with someone in a call centre who barely speaks English is sometimes even worse.
Now here's an idea. A branch network in each area where you can pop in and talk to a human being who speaks the same language as you and understands retail banking for ordinary people and wants to help. Why hasn't someone thought of that?
Torsten Bell @TorstenBell Where will the reduction in migration be felt beyond HGV drivers? Here's the top 20 jobs where firms CAN'T bring workers in via the new skilled visa route, the share of workers from EU is high and they churn quite quickly
Not looking good for rubber processing. And we may have to wash our own cars. Lordy, whatever next.
British waiters and waitresses instead of pretty Eastern European girls?
You've travelled the world. Outside of New York, where in Europe or North America have you experienced worse service than back in Blighty? And not from European staff.
This is one of the reasons it’s not straightforward to simply replace foreigners with Brits.
British-born service tends to be very poor.
It must have something to do with the class system and/or the deeply entrenched low-skill culture of the British white working class.
Torsten Bell @TorstenBell Where will the reduction in migration be felt beyond HGV drivers? Here's the top 20 jobs where firms CAN'T bring workers in via the new skilled visa route, the share of workers from EU is high and they churn quite quickly
Not looking good for rubber processing. And we may have to wash our own cars. Lordy, whatever next.
British waiters and waitresses instead of pretty Eastern European girls?
You've travelled the world. Outside of New York, where in Europe or North America have you experienced worse service than back in Blighty? And not from European staff.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
(Ironic, given the reviews of Venom 2 have been dreadful, and those of NTTD have been... mixed.)
No Time To Die is bound to divide opinion, just as OHMSS did all those years ago.
But, it’s fantastic in my view.
OHMSS has got better over the years. It's now in my Bond top 5. I have at least one in my top 5 for every bond bar Niven, Dalton, and Brosnan. I have 2 Conneries, a Moore, a Lazenby and a Craig. Talk about a person - me - who is very balanced and unprejudiced.
My top five (probably - Skyfall and Daylights are in there sometimes)
Time Casino Goldfinger Spy Majesty
Moonraker is a favourite of mine. Love the pre title sequence.
It has kitsch value. Jaws getting a girlfriend is hilarious, but ultimately it’s high camp rather than classic.
Yeah, it is, you’re right. I like high camp and kitsch. Probably why I like Dr Who and Sixties horror movies.
Nor too bad. UserID is the same as real world ID, cos facebook doesn't really work otherwise, and to 99.999999% of users their gender being disclosed to the world is unproblematic. And people diss FB by saying If it's free you are the product, but on the upside they don't know your bank or card details.
This is explosive. Basically, the protocol is a threat to unionism. Moves to dismantle it are nothing to do with people’s welfare or trade. They’re purely political. Basically, NI must become as badly affected as the rest of the UK, or it serves as a comparator to Brexit failure. https://twitter.com/bestforbritain/status/1445058698380992517
No it’s because the EU has behaved exactly as we said they would with May’s deal - dragged their feet on a reasonable permanent solution.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
This is explosive. Basically, the protocol is a threat to unionism. Moves to dismantle it are nothing to do with people’s welfare or trade. They’re purely political. Basically, NI must become as badly affected as the rest of the UK, or it serves as a comparator to Brexit failure. https://twitter.com/bestforbritain/status/1445058698380992517
Trust you to be quoting the driven mad by Brexit completely misnamed "Best for Britain".
If the Protocol is causing Trade Diversion then that is proof it is NOT working, not that it is.
Nor too bad. UserID is the same as real world ID, cos facebook doesn't really work otherwise, and to 99.999999% of users their gender being disclosed to the world is unproblematic. And people diss FB by saying If it's free you are the product, but on the upside they don't know your bank or card details.
I’m not too thrilled at the idea of somebody buying my phone number.
Torsten Bell @TorstenBell Where will the reduction in migration be felt beyond HGV drivers? Here's the top 20 jobs where firms CAN'T bring workers in via the new skilled visa route, the share of workers from EU is high and they churn quite quickly
Not looking good for rubber processing. And we may have to wash our own cars. Lordy, whatever next.
British waiters and waitresses instead of pretty Eastern European girls?
You've travelled the world. Outside of New York, where in Europe or North America have you experienced worse service than back in Blighty? And not from European staff.
This is one of the reasons it’s not straightforward to simply replace foreigners with Brits.
British-born service tends to be very poor.
It must have something to do with the class system and/or the deeply entrenched low-skill culture of the British white working class.
I guess it’s possible to improve with training.
You have a low opinion of your adopted country folk
Nor too bad. UserID is the same as real world ID, cos facebook doesn't really work otherwise, and to 99.999999% of users their gender being disclosed to the world is unproblematic. And people diss FB by saying If it's free you are the product, but on the upside they don't know your bank or card details.
A massive data breach would be a reason to shut the whole thing down temporarily.
Nor too bad. UserID is the same as real world ID, cos facebook doesn't really work otherwise, and to 99.999999% of users their gender being disclosed to the world is unproblematic. And people diss FB by saying If it's free you are the product, but on the upside they don't know your bank or card details.
A friend of mine used to be at CA said that people don't understand disclosure or availability of data.
People know your birthday, your friends, where you went on holiday, what you had for breakfast = no problem.
Bank account details, credit history, financial details = big problem.
Whereas short of a hack the former is incredibly difficult to get hold of while the latter is available for a minimal fee.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
There’s no accounting for taste.
From a critical perspective, as far as I can tell the esteem for the Beatles (with able support from George Martin) as songwriters and record makers, has only grown and grown since 1970.
They are music for people who don't like music, and are not ashamed of the fact. They were looking merely iffy till the 90s when Oasis came along and beat the shit out of them at their own very limited game.
Been watching 'Midnight Mass' on Netflix. It's ok, but it feels like it switches tone halfway through from creepy to campy.
I started watching the first 20 mins and it looked brilliant, then Mrs Walker realised it was a horror and threw her toys out.
Yes, I’ve read that it disappoints, as so many things do!
Everyone’s watching Squid Game now so that needs to be the focus.
I'm not usually a horror guy, quite the opposite actually, so I kind of don't mind that it changes tack so much. It does feel like switching from The Conjuring to The Strain part way through though.
I’ve not heard of the conjuring or the strain.
I think true horror is the hardest thing to do. Harder even than comedy.
I can hardly think of any truly scary movies. I always go back to “The Shining”.
The Exorcist, by far. It is possibly the best movie ever made, let alone the best horror movie
Isn't Babadook a very good recent example of the genre.
Quite good, but not really scary, not for me anyway
Few movies have scared me Some that did: Texas Chainsaw. Blair Witch. The Haunting (the original, not the terrible remake)
The Shining did not. It is an exquisite piece of cinema - brilliant Direction, superb performances - but it has never chilled me. I never feel like I want to look away. And the supernatural elements are kinda tacked on
A massive data breach would be a reason to shut the whole thing down temporarily.
Was just on phone with someone who works for FB who described employees unable to enter buildings this morning to begin to evaluate extent of outage because their badges weren’t working to access doors. https://twitter.com/sheeraf/status/1445099150316503057
A massive data breach would be a reason to shut the whole thing down temporarily.
Was just on phone with someone who works for FB who described employees unable to enter buildings this morning to begin to evaluate extent of outage because their badges weren’t working to access doors. https://twitter.com/sheeraf/status/1445099150316503057
I imagine the typical Gen Z's pop music knowledge begins with Queen and ABBA and skips a lot of the part after. Course, when I was a kid, the radio played 50s music for two hours on Sundays and everything before that was vanished from official memory.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
There’s no accounting for taste.
From a critical perspective, as far as I can tell the esteem for the Beatles (with able support from George Martin) as songwriters and record makers, has only grown and grown since 1970.
They are music for people who don't like music, and are not ashamed of the fact. They were looking merely iffy till the 90s when Oasis came along and beat the shit out of them at their own very limited game.
Oasis????
Are you drunk? Or trolling?
Oasis even tried to rip off Beatles lyrics, but just wrote comic gibberish:
From Be Here Now:
"I got something in my shoes, it's keeping me from walking down the long and winding road and back home to you"
Thanks for that, Noel
Or:
"Sitting upside a high chair, the devil's refugee is gonna be blinded by the light that follows me"
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
(Ironic, given the reviews of Venom 2 have been dreadful, and those of NTTD have been... mixed.)
No Time To Die is bound to divide opinion, just as OHMSS did all those years ago.
But, it’s fantastic in my view.
OHMSS has got better over the years. It's now in my Bond top 5. I have at least one in my top 5 for every bond bar Niven, Dalton, and Brosnan. I have 2 Conneries, a Moore, a Lazenby and a Craig. Talk about a person - me - who is very balanced and unprejudiced.
My top five (probably - Skyfall and Daylights are in there sometimes)
Time Casino Goldfinger Spy Majesty
Gosh we're close. I have Russia but if I see Time and it knocks it out we'd be a total and spooky match. Although it can't knock Russia out because Russia is my #1. It would probably knock Spy out leaving me Mooreless. Unless Live - Die not Twice - can go from bubbling under to a top 5 position. Which is not out of the question.
Torsten Bell @TorstenBell Where will the reduction in migration be felt beyond HGV drivers? Here's the top 20 jobs where firms CAN'T bring workers in via the new skilled visa route, the share of workers from EU is high and they churn quite quickly
Not looking good for rubber processing. And we may have to wash our own cars. Lordy, whatever next.
British waiters and waitresses instead of pretty Eastern European girls?
You've travelled the world. Outside of New York, where in Europe or North America have you experienced worse service than back in Blighty? And not from European staff.
Nice St Joseph, MO Visbek
Most of the service in the UK is pretty solid
I can't believe you have had poor service in France, was it at an English pub in Nice?
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
Other people experimented with them. There's more interesting stuff happening in Like a Rolling Stone than in everything the Beatles' sessions players did for them, put together.
The album contains the track It's Only a Northern Song, written by George Harrison. For reasons only known to the band, it was released as (c) Northern Songs Ltd. Which caused issues later, when it was discovered that neither the Beatles, EMI or Apple Records actually owned Northern Song Ltd.
'Iain Duncan Smith, the former leader of the Conservative party, has been assaulted by a group of men on his route to an event at the Mercure hotel.
Duncan Smith arrived at a Brexit panel with Cabinet office minister Lord Frost, only to disappear midway through to discuss the incident with a police officer who took a statement from him. Speaking afterwards, he told Steerpike that he was pursued down the road from the Midland hotel to the Mercure by several men, one of whom threw a traffic cone which hit him on the head.'
FPT @Selebian. I think you're blind to the issue here - I'll highlight two main points the article makes:
(1) "In a recent report on academic freedom in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada for the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, I found that 40 percent of American academics would not hire a known Trump supporter, and 33 percent of British academics would avoid hiring a known Brexit supporter. When it comes to refereeing papers, grant bids, and promotion applications, my own work and that of others indicates that the likelihood of an academic’s discriminating against an openly conservative submission is as high as 45 percent. On a four-person panel, that makes discrimination a near certainty."
(2) "In the 1960s there were only one and a half journalists and academics on the left for every one on the right. Today that ratio is between four to one and six to one, and considerably higher among political journalists and social-science and humanities academics. In a report on academia for the Manhattan Institute, I noted that left-leaning social-science and humanities academics now outnumber those on the right in Britain by nine to one, and in the U.S. by 14 to one. Work by Mitchell Langbert using voter-registration data for the top liberal-arts colleges and universities (for five disciplines) also shows lopsided ratios. At Harvard, for instance, a recent inquiry reported a $250-to-$1 Democrat-to-Republican donation ratio among the staff."
It's not enough for there to be "legal" protections - hard to access, prove and leverage - because an institutional culture of intolerance creates an environment that is suffocating to those already employed and inhibits any future recruitment to correct it. This means even fewer conservatives apply in the first place and thus reinforces a monoculture.
Those that are employed (like my friend at the University of Bath, for example, or me at the Woke firm I've just left) "fear losing (their) job or missing out on job opportunities if (their) political views became known.” And so, as in authoritarian regimes, dissenters keep their views to themselves through preference falsification. This has been precisely my experience.
It's a problem for all of us because these institutions form a large part of our civic society - arbitrating between the citizen and the state - and thus contributes to polarisation within it.
It needs to be addressed.
The website would only let me read the opening few paragraphs of the article, sadly, but the overall tone struck me as dishonest. It started with this dramatic statistic from the dating site, then extrapolated this to discrimination in hiring, despite these being completely different and indeed unrelated things (for instance, I wouldn't date a man but I would hire one). In my own field of economics there is a range of political views. In academia there is a left wing skew, in markets there is a right wing skew. This seems entirely understandable when you think of the likely difference in motivations and values between the two industries. Academia has got more left wing over the years, but then it has also become much worse paid, in relative terms, and those facts are probably related (we might argue over the direction of causation!). As a left wing person working in the markets I don't complain about the dearth of ideological soulmates, I don't know why right wing academics are so snowflakey about it. I have collaborated in academic research with people of various political stripes including Conservative US Republicans. In my experience, research with a clear ideological skew, left or right, is most likely bad research. The goal should be uncovering the truth, not advancing an agenda. Of course, if I were an ideological hack flogging policy-based evidence-making I might feel like I was getting discriminated when my research got rejected by top journals - but the likelihood is that the research was just bad. I do recall attending a very right-leaning conference where there was a lot of moaning about the Liberal bias in US academia, but the conference was lavishly funded by Conservative benefactors and hosted at a top Ivy League school so the whole complaint rang a little hollow to me. It had a strong whiff of privileges being defended.
There's some good points in here - including your admirable acknowledgement that research with a clear ideological skew is poor research - but why is your first instinct to attack Eric Kauffman's honesty?
He's a respected Canadian Academic (of mixed Chinese, Hispanic and European ancestry) working in a British university. He cited a variety of studies in making his points, and they're all respectable ones.
We need to get past the ad hominum into the specifics. Far too many of the responses to articles like this run along the lines of "he's making it up" and "I don't see any of this, so it can't be true".
What I'm interested in is everyone feeling able and willing to discuss their views and differences openly. That has to start with less prejudgement, more listening, and more forgiveness, and it's that I'm interested in.
It's the only way to confine polarisation to the fringes where it belongs, rather than it being part of the mainstream, and we have to work harder and harder at it in the social media age, not less.
All great points but I think you cut too much slack to Trumpery. It shouldn't be viewed like, say, being a Tory, a Brexiter, a social democrat, a "classic liberal", a small state libertarian, or whatever. He's a hate monger and those who lap that up can't expect it not to be held against them by those who don't.
I would judge Trump very differently from one of his voters, who include plenty of ordinary Americans, and give them the benefit of the doubt.
Of course lots of decent people voted for him. This must be the case given the numbers. Nevertheless he has colonized the Republican party, which is both chastening and frightening to somebody like me who takes a broadly sunny-side-up view of humanity, so I'm afraid I'm the other way around to you in that I'd be a touch wary of a person who I know voted for him until I get some evidence they did it reluctantly and despite the hate he throws out and for want of (in their eyes) a viable alternative. Pls note I do NOT feel this way about Leavers and Tories etc. It's a Trump thing.
So, in your eyes they are guilty until proven innocent?
Charming.
The reason you might not feel that way about Leavers and Tories is because you've been engaging with so many of us on here for so long that you realise the world isn't that simple.
That's precisely my point.
From my point of view I can see rational reasons for voting Tory and although many who voted leave I think did so for irrational* reasons, there are clearly many who did for completely rational reasons.
It is difficult to see any rational reason for voting for Trump, which is why the scale of his vote is so scary.
* Two of my favourites from personal conversations were: There are too many 'coloureds' here already and the criminal gangs are all Albanian.
If you were living in small town Hicksville, Flyover State in 2016, and had seen either a) your wages remain static since the previous century while the millionaires on the coast became billionaires, and/or b) the only major employer in your town decamp elsewhere while more and more of the stuff you used to make get imported from China and/or c) the social fabric of your town fraying, do you vote for a) more of the same, in the person and party of a candidate who appears to view you and your ilk as at best something of an embarrassment, or b) Trump? I don't like the man. But I can see why people voted for him.
I actually understand voting for Trump more than voting for Brexit. In that the US in 2016 was clearly a broken society failing the majority of its citizens, as evident in phenomena like falling life expectancy and the opioid epidemic. I don't think the UK was experiencing the same level of political failure and social fracture before 2016. Although, interestingly, it seems to be now!
I can understand someone voting Trump or Brexit.
Doesn’t mean I want to employ, date, or consort with such.
It's interesting you say you wouldn't want to employ them, which is precisely the point I made on this thread and the previous thread that @Selebian said would never happen and I'd made up.
Oh, Casino! That's a fairly good description of exactly what I did not say!
I said a number of things: - American conservatives are snowflakes (not all, to be sure, but some) - The research I've seen on the terrible time right wing people have in academia is poor quality - In my experience, you would not have the necessary information to discriminate against conservatives or brexiters in employment decisions or funding applications - A larger number of left wing people in academia might be a combination of left and right wing people being different and pursuing different careers, perceptions (pushed by conservatives, that academia hates conservatives) and some reality - Anyone who would discriminate on politics should be sacked - My own experience is different to what is claimed, including one example where I pushed back on wokeness and was backed up by the department and HR
I did not say there is definitively no discrimination and I did not speak beyond academia, indeed not even beyond UK academia.
I want you to know that I fully respect your lived experience as a much put upon and despised conservative and the way it has ruined your career all the way to becoming I director (I think?). I hope you find a safeish place on PB. I do not want you cancelled
Torsten Bell @TorstenBell Where will the reduction in migration be felt beyond HGV drivers? Here's the top 20 jobs where firms CAN'T bring workers in via the new skilled visa route, the share of workers from EU is high and they churn quite quickly
Not looking good for rubber processing. And we may have to wash our own cars. Lordy, whatever next.
British waiters and waitresses instead of pretty Eastern European girls?
You've travelled the world. Outside of New York, where in Europe or North America have you experienced worse service than back in Blighty? And not from European staff.
Nice St Joseph, MO Visbek
Most of the service in the UK is pretty solid
I can't believe you have had poor service in France, was it at an English pub in Nice?
Paris has some of the worst service in Europe. Madrid can be bad, likewise Barcelona, Venice
Basically anywhere that gets ZILLIONS of tourists guaranteed (pre-Covid) tends to develop a contemptuous and dismissive attitude to customers. Who cares if these people are annoyed or dismayed, there will be another coach-load of Chinese tourists in a minute
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
Other people experimented with them. There's more interesting stuff happening in Like a Rolling Stone than in everything the Beatles' sessions players did for them, put together.
"Sitting upside a high chair, the devil's refugee is gonna be blinded by the light that follows me"
The Beatles are good, and I'm able to accept they were revolutionary or whatever, but the worship some people have for their stuff is just another example of fanaticism being bloody weird. It's not enough that people like it, it must be raised high, and imitators denigrated.
The Moody Blues on the other hand, now that was a band alright.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
FPT @Selebian. I think you're blind to the issue here - I'll highlight two main points the article makes:
(1) "In a recent report on academic freedom in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada for the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, I found that 40 percent of American academics would not hire a known Trump supporter, and 33 percent of British academics would avoid hiring a known Brexit supporter. When it comes to refereeing papers, grant bids, and promotion applications, my own work and that of others indicates that the likelihood of an academic’s discriminating against an openly conservative submission is as high as 45 percent. On a four-person panel, that makes discrimination a near certainty."
(2) "In the 1960s there were only one and a half journalists and academics on the left for every one on the right. Today that ratio is between four to one and six to one, and considerably higher among political journalists and social-science and humanities academics. In a report on academia for the Manhattan Institute, I noted that left-leaning social-science and humanities academics now outnumber those on the right in Britain by nine to one, and in the U.S. by 14 to one. Work by Mitchell Langbert using voter-registration data for the top liberal-arts colleges and universities (for five disciplines) also shows lopsided ratios. At Harvard, for instance, a recent inquiry reported a $250-to-$1 Democrat-to-Republican donation ratio among the staff."
It's not enough for there to be "legal" protections - hard to access, prove and leverage - because an institutional culture of intolerance creates an environment that is suffocating to those already employed and inhibits any future recruitment to correct it. This means even fewer conservatives apply in the first place and thus reinforces a monoculture.
Those that are employed (like my friend at the University of Bath, for example, or me at the Woke firm I've just left) "fear losing (their) job or missing out on job opportunities if (their) political views became known.” And so, as in authoritarian regimes, dissenters keep their views to themselves through preference falsification. This has been precisely my experience.
It's a problem for all of us because these institutions form a large part of our civic society - arbitrating between the citizen and the state - and thus contributes to polarisation within it.
It needs to be addressed.
The website would only let me read the opening few paragraphs of the article, sadly, but the overall tone struck me as dishonest. It started with this dramatic statistic from the dating site, then extrapolated this to discrimination in hiring, despite these being completely different and indeed unrelated things (for instance, I wouldn't date a man but I would hire one). In my own field of economics there is a range of political views. In academia there is a left wing skew, in markets there is a right wing skew. This seems entirely understandable when you think of the likely difference in motivations and values between the two industries. Academia has got more left wing over the years, but then it has also become much worse paid, in relative terms, and those facts are probably related (we might argue over the direction of causation!). As a left wing person working in the markets I don't complain about the dearth of ideological soulmates, I don't know why right wing academics are so snowflakey about it. I have collaborated in academic research with people of various political stripes including Conservative US Republicans. In my experience, research with a clear ideological skew, left or right, is most likely bad research. The goal should be uncovering the truth, not advancing an agenda. Of course, if I were an ideological hack flogging policy-based evidence-making I might feel like I was getting discriminated when my research got rejected by top journals - but the likelihood is that the research was just bad. I do recall attending a very right-leaning conference where there was a lot of moaning about the Liberal bias in US academia, but the conference was lavishly funded by Conservative benefactors and hosted at a top Ivy League school so the whole complaint rang a little hollow to me. It had a strong whiff of privileges being defended.
There's some good points in here - including your admirable acknowledgement that research with a clear ideological skew is poor research - but why is your first instinct to attack Eric Kauffman's honesty?
He's a respected Canadian Academic (of mixed Chinese, Hispanic and European ancestry) working in a British university. He cited a variety of studies in making his points, and they're all respectable ones.
We need to get past the ad hominum into the specifics. Far too many of the responses to articles like this run along the lines of "he's making it up" and "I don't see any of this, so it can't be true".
What I'm interested in is everyone feeling able and willing to discuss their views and differences openly. That has to start with less prejudgement, more listening, and more forgiveness, and it's that I'm interested in.
It's the only way to confine polarisation to the fringes where it belongs, rather than it being part of the mainstream, and we have to work harder and harder at it in the social media age, not less.
All great points but I think you cut too much slack to Trumpery. It shouldn't be viewed like, say, being a Tory, a Brexiter, a social democrat, a "classic liberal", a small state libertarian, or whatever. He's a hate monger and those who lap that up can't expect it not to be held against them by those who don't.
I would judge Trump very differently from one of his voters, who include plenty of ordinary Americans, and give them the benefit of the doubt.
Of course lots of decent people voted for him. This must be the case given the numbers. Nevertheless he has colonized the Republican party, which is both chastening and frightening to somebody like me who takes a broadly sunny-side-up view of humanity, so I'm afraid I'm the other way around to you in that I'd be a touch wary of a person who I know voted for him until I get some evidence they did it reluctantly and despite the hate he throws out and for want of (in their eyes) a viable alternative. Pls note I do NOT feel this way about Leavers and Tories etc. It's a Trump thing.
So, in your eyes they are guilty until proven innocent?
Charming.
The reason you might not feel that way about Leavers and Tories is because you've been engaging with so many of us on here for so long that you realise the world isn't that simple.
That's precisely my point.
From my point of view I can see rational reasons for voting Tory and although many who voted leave I think did so for irrational* reasons, there are clearly many who did for completely rational reasons.
It is difficult to see any rational reason for voting for Trump, which is why the scale of his vote is so scary.
* Two of my favourites from personal conversations were: There are too many 'coloureds' here already and the criminal gangs are all Albanian.
If you were living in small town Hicksville, Flyover State in 2016, and had seen either a) your wages remain static since the previous century while the millionaires on the coast became billionaires, and/or b) the only major employer in your town decamp elsewhere while more and more of the stuff you used to make get imported from China and/or c) the social fabric of your town fraying, do you vote for a) more of the same, in the person and party of a candidate who appears to view you and your ilk as at best something of an embarrassment, or b) Trump? I don't like the man. But I can see why people voted for him.
I actually understand voting for Trump more than voting for Brexit. In that the US in 2016 was clearly a broken society failing the majority of its citizens, as evident in phenomena like falling life expectancy and the opioid epidemic. I don't think the UK was experiencing the same level of political failure and social fracture before 2016. Although, interestingly, it seems to be now!
I can understand someone voting Trump or Brexit.
Doesn’t mean I want to employ, date, or consort with such.
It's interesting you say you wouldn't want to employ them, which is precisely the point I made on this thread and the previous thread that @Selebian said would never happen and I'd made up.
Oh, Casino! That's a fairly good description of exactly what I did not say!
I said a number of things: - American conservatives are snowflakes (not all, to be sure, but some) - The research I've seen on the terrible time right wing people have in academia is poor quality - In my experience, you would not have the necessary information to discriminate against conservatives or brexiters in employment decisions or funding applications - A larger number of left wing people in academia might be a combination of left and right wing people being different and pursuing different careers, perceptions (pushed by conservatives, that academia hates conservatives) and some reality - Anyone who would discriminate on politics should be sacked - My own experience is different to what is claimed, including one example where I pushed back on wokeness and was backed up by the department and HR
I did not say there is definitively no discrimination and I did not speak beyond academia, indeed not even beyond UK academia.
I want you to know that I fully respect your lived experience as a much put upon and despised conservative and the way it has ruined your career all the way to becoming I director (I think?). I hope you find a safeish place on PB. I do not want you cancelled
On the last point, I've found the same. All it usually needs is for one person to say "enough" and suddenly the house of woke cars collapses. When I pointed out that the alignment groups were nothing more than company sponsored segregation by race suddenly all of those directors who were just going along with yet another American cultural import realised exactly what it was they were doing.
That's what woke is, a house of cards which inevitably collapses.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
'Sir Iain Duncan Smith said he was walking to a meeting in Manchester city centre when a group of people called him "Tory scum" and tried to hit him with a traffic cone. '
Mow where might they have got the idea of calling him 'scum' I wonder?
Torsten Bell @TorstenBell Where will the reduction in migration be felt beyond HGV drivers? Here's the top 20 jobs where firms CAN'T bring workers in via the new skilled visa route, the share of workers from EU is high and they churn quite quickly
Not looking good for rubber processing. And we may have to wash our own cars. Lordy, whatever next.
British waiters and waitresses instead of pretty Eastern European girls?
You've travelled the world. Outside of New York, where in Europe or North America have you experienced worse service than back in Blighty? And not from European staff.
Nice St Joseph, MO Visbek
Most of the service in the UK is pretty solid
I can't believe you have had poor service in France, was it at an English pub in Nice?
Paris has some of the worst service in Europe. Madrid can be bad, likewise Barcelona, Venice
Basically anywhere that gets ZILLIONS of tourists guaranteed (pre-Covid) tends to develop a contemptuous and dismissive attitude to customers. Who cares if these people are annoyed or dismayed, there will be another coach-load of Chinese tourists in a minute
The food declines, similarly
Madrid. We sat down, waiter brought menus and bread. Twenty minutes later he hadn't returned so we left.
The Beatles are good, and I'm able to accept they were revolutionary or whatever, but the worship some people have for their stuff is just another example of fanaticism being bloody weird. It's not enough that people like it, it must be raised high, and imitators denigrated.
The Moody Blues on the other hand, now that was a band alright.
"I like all the bands. I've got a broad taste, you know, from the Britpop bands, like UB40, Def Leppard, right back to classic rock, like Wings." "Who's Wings?" "They're only the band The Beatles could have been."
Very amusing, but he's not wrong. Band on the Run, Jet, C Moon, Venus and Mars, Rock Show are the Beatles, done right. The paradox is: also Mull of Kintyre, Ebony n Ivory, Silly Love Songs etc.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
'Sir Iain Duncan Smith said he was walking to a meeting in Manchester city centre when a group of people called him "Tory scum" and tried to hit him with a traffic cone. '
Mow where might they have got the idea of calling him 'scum' I wonder?
The fact that he presided over the Department of Work and Pensions introducing changes to benefits that literally resulted in people starving to death?
Torsten Bell @TorstenBell Where will the reduction in migration be felt beyond HGV drivers? Here's the top 20 jobs where firms CAN'T bring workers in via the new skilled visa route, the share of workers from EU is high and they churn quite quickly
Not looking good for rubber processing. And we may have to wash our own cars. Lordy, whatever next.
British waiters and waitresses instead of pretty Eastern European girls?
You've travelled the world. Outside of New York, where in Europe or North America have you experienced worse service than back in Blighty? And not from European staff.
Nice St Joseph, MO Visbek
Most of the service in the UK is pretty solid
I can't believe you have had poor service in France, was it at an English pub in Nice?
You regularly get terrible service in France. Some great service too.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
(Ironic, given the reviews of Venom 2 have been dreadful, and those of NTTD have been... mixed.)
No Time To Die is bound to divide opinion, just as OHMSS did all those years ago.
But, it’s fantastic in my view.
OHMSS has got better over the years. It's now in my Bond top 5. I have at least one in my top 5 for every bond bar Niven, Dalton, and Brosnan. I have 2 Conneries, a Moore, a Lazenby and a Craig. Talk about a person - me - who is very balanced and unprejudiced.
Torsten Bell @TorstenBell Where will the reduction in migration be felt beyond HGV drivers? Here's the top 20 jobs where firms CAN'T bring workers in via the new skilled visa route, the share of workers from EU is high and they churn quite quickly
Not looking good for rubber processing. And we may have to wash our own cars. Lordy, whatever next.
British waiters and waitresses instead of pretty Eastern European girls?
You've travelled the world. Outside of New York, where in Europe or North America have you experienced worse service than back in Blighty? And not from European staff.
Nice St Joseph, MO Visbek
Most of the service in the UK is pretty solid
I can't believe you have had poor service in France, was it at an English pub in Nice?
Paris has some of the worst service in Europe. Madrid can be bad, likewise Barcelona, Venice
Basically anywhere that gets ZILLIONS of tourists guaranteed (pre-Covid) tends to develop a contemptuous and dismissive attitude to customers. Who cares if these people are annoyed or dismayed, there will be another coach-load of Chinese tourists in a minute
The food declines, similarly
Yes, anywhere that is highly dependent on passing trade tends to be pretty awful. The formula is always the same - do just enough to stay above 4/5 on Google reviews and TripAdvisor and most tourists aren't particularly discerning so 4/5 is pretty easy.
The album contains the track It's Only a Northern Song, written by George Harrison. For reasons only known to the band, it was released as (c) Northern Songs Ltd. Which caused issues later, when it was discovered that neither the Beatles, EMI or Apple Records actually owned Northern Song Ltd.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
(Ironic, given the reviews of Venom 2 have been dreadful, and those of NTTD have been... mixed.)
No Time To Die is bound to divide opinion, just as OHMSS did all those years ago.
But, it’s fantastic in my view.
OHMSS has got better over the years. It's now in my Bond top 5. I have at least one in my top 5 for every bond bar Niven, Dalton, and Brosnan. I have 2 Conneries, a Moore, a Lazenby and a Craig. Talk about a person - me - who is very balanced and unprejudiced.
My top five (probably - Skyfall and Daylights are in there sometimes)
Time Casino Goldfinger Spy Majesty
Gosh we're close. I have Russia but if I see Time and it knocks it out we'd be a total and spooky match. Although it can't knock Russia out because Russia is my #1. It would probably knock Spy out leaving me Mooreless. Unless Live - Die not Twice - can go from bubbling under to a top 5 position. Which is not out of the question.
LALD’s one-word code name has to be LET I think, to avoid confusion with TWICE
"Mastermind behind Insulate Britain eco-mob says he would have refused to move for crying woman trying to get to mother, 81, in hospital and would block an ambulance with dying patient inside after activists brought three London routes to standstill "
Taiwan's Foreign Minister warns his nation is preparing for war with China and urges Australia to increase intelligence sharing and security cooperation as Beijing intensifies a campaign of military intimidation.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
So true: they paved the path that Radiohead later walked on.
The Beatles pumped out a lot of dross, but what is striking is how many good memorable songs they produced over their decade as a band
I bet most people here could name 20 or even 30 Beatles songs, and then hum them
Is that true of any other band, musician, performer in the history of popular music? I don't think so. Not even Dylan or the Stones. The Beatles' total catalogue is unequalled
I'm going to have a go without Googling. These are song I can remember, and I could hum right now, if asked
Help Ticket to Ride Twist and Shout Norwegian Wood Get Back The Long and Winding Road Hey Jude Yellow Submarine Paperback Writer Across the Universe Ob-la-dee, Ob-la-da When I'm 64 Yesterday Here Comes The Sun And I Love Her A Day in the Life Eleanor Rigby All You Need is Love Love Love Me Do She Loves You Penny Lane Strawberry Fields
There, that's 22 songs I can name and hum, in five minutes, with no Googling. Given half an hour I could probably add 10 or 15 more
@newtgingrich · 31s With China sending 145 war planes over Taiwan air space(52 in one day) both the United States and Japan should send military advisory groups to review what weapons and support Taiwan would need to defeat a Chinese invasion or blockade. Equipment should follow on a rush basis.
@newtgingrich · 31s With China sending 145 war planes over Taiwan air space(52 in one day) both the United States and Japan should send military advisory groups to review what weapons and support Taiwan would need to defeat a Chinese invasion or blockade. Equipment should follow on a rush basis.
The Beatles are good, and I'm able to accept they were revolutionary or whatever, but the worship some people have for their stuff is just another example of fanaticism being bloody weird. It's not enough that people like it, it must be raised high, and imitators denigrated.
The Moody Blues on the other hand, now that was a band alright.
"I like all the bands. I've got a broad taste, you know, from the Britpop bands, like UB40, Def Leppard, right back to classic rock, like Wings." "Who's Wings?" "They're only the band The Beatles could have been."
Well, the grand tour by the Ls continues. Today we went from Oxford to the Harry Potter exhibition in Watford and then on to York. We filled up with fuel just where the M40 met the M25. Some of the pumps were dry but there was enough left to meet demand. It took about 15 minutes which is obviously a bit longer than normal because some of the pumps were not working but no big deal.
Coming up the M1 and A1M there were a few service stations with no fuel, specifically no fuel for HGVs. To my surprise the midlands was worse than near London so we were glad we filled up when we did.
If Boris Johnson or Keir Starmer want my vote and thus a landslide at the next election then they will pass a law allowing drivers run over the insulate Britain types.
I just interviewed Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion.
Discussing the incident of the Insulate Britain protesters blocking a woman in tears trying to get to a hospital - he says he’d do the same.
In a way I respect him for admitting that. If you only think a mild disruption that doesn't do more than annoy some people is enough then perhaps the issue is not all that serious. "I'm prepared to contribute to people dying as a result of my actions" at least shows he probably believes in what he says, even if he's nutty.
But the green lobby has won. Action is being taken. COP26 will speed that up. The govt does help to fund insulation. My walls had free cavity wall insulation thanks to the govt.
The vast majority accept we need action.
We are moving away from the petrol engine and the gas boiler. In ten years time these will be things of the past from the point of view of mass manufacture and purchase.
XR are fanatics. You can never Appease fanatics.
No you cannot. And by admitting he would contribute to people's deaths in pursuit of his aims, rather than attempt to sugarcoat it or pretend he thinks otherwise, people can see just how fanatical he is.
Indeed, far better to let the cranks damn themselves with their words than just get into a slanging match with them.
But you don't seem to be adequate even to a slanging match. We have a problem, yebbut we are doing something about it, is like Mr Creosote agreeing to switch to diet tonic with his gin. How difficult are concepts like sufficient and proportionate?
You seem to have an assumption that little or nothing is being done, @IshmaelZ .
Can you evidence that claim in the case of the UK?
Well, what is being done? I'm still driving around in a diesel truck, and flying to Madeira in a couple of weeks for about half what it would have cost, in nominal never mind real terms, fifty years ago, and feeling no pain at all. Why are there no restrictions which I would notice even 5% as much as I have noticed covid restrictions?
Question to answer a question Very Extinction Rebellion.
I'll take that as a "Dunno !".
(And refer you to the Climate Change Committee and EU data which shows a nearly 50% reduction in C02 here from 1990-2020, whilst the Brussels 27 are still arguing about achieving 55% by 2030.)
I had my first day back at work today, after a 550 day weekend so a bit of a shock to the system.
Thanks to all of you who've been working hard and funding my furlough money. I feel a bit embarrassed to say it, but I've really enjoyed it. Money's been a bit tight, but it's still the best pay I've ever had for doing √fa
Taiwan's Foreign Minister warns his nation is preparing for war with China and urges Australia to increase intelligence sharing and security cooperation as Beijing intensifies a campaign of military intimidation.
That will royally fuck the global chip supply market, if that happens.
The Beatles are good, and I'm able to accept they were revolutionary or whatever, but the worship some people have for their stuff is just another example of fanaticism being bloody weird. It's not enough that people like it, it must be raised high, and imitators denigrated.
The Moody Blues on the other hand, now that was a band alright.
"I like all the bands. I've got a broad taste, you know, from the Britpop bands, like UB40, Def Leppard, right back to classic rock, like Wings." "Who's Wings?" "They're only the band The Beatles could have been."
Very amusing, but he's not wrong. Band on the Run, Jet, C Moon, Venus and Mars, Rock Show are the Beatles, done right. The paradox is: also Mull of Kintyre, Ebony n Ivory, Silly Love Songs etc.
You have a remarkable knowledge of Wings for someone who thinks the Beatles were meh.
C Moon was a b-side to a track that was banned by the BBC!
I can only assume you’re a tedious troll in music, as you are in politics.
A massive data breach would be a reason to shut the whole thing down temporarily.
Was just on phone with someone who works for FB who described employees unable to enter buildings this morning to begin to evaluate extent of outage because their badges weren’t working to access doors. https://twitter.com/sheeraf/status/1445099150316503057
The Living Daylights Casino Royale Goldeneye OHMSS Spy Who Loved Me Goldfinger
Also, soft spots for Octopussy, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, From Russia with Love and Live and Let Die. A View to A Kill if only for Christopher Walken.
Die Another Day and Diamonds are Forever are embarrassing.
I had my first day back at work today, after a 550 day weekend so a bit of a shock to the system.
Thanks to all of you who've been working hard and funding my furlough money. I feel a bit embarrassed to say it, but I've really enjoyed it. Money's been a bit tight, but it's still the best pay I've ever had for doing √fa
What do you do, if you don’t mind me asking? Interesting to hear of someone with a job to go back to at the very end of furlough.
I had my first day back at work today, after a 550 day weekend so a bit of a shock to the system.
Thanks to all of you who've been working hard and funding my furlough money. I feel a bit embarrassed to say it, but I've really enjoyed it. Money's been a bit tight, but it's still the best pay I've ever had for doing √fa
Glad to hear you're back at work. We've not been funding it, the next few generations have (unwittingly).
If Boris Johnson or Keir Starmer want my vote and thus a landslide at the next election then they will pass a law allowing drivers run over the insulate Britain types.
I just interviewed Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion.
Discussing the incident of the Insulate Britain protesters blocking a woman in tears trying to get to a hospital - he says he’d do the same.
In a way I respect him for admitting that. If you only think a mild disruption that doesn't do more than annoy some people is enough then perhaps the issue is not all that serious. "I'm prepared to contribute to people dying as a result of my actions" at least shows he probably believes in what he says, even if he's nutty.
But the green lobby has won. Action is being taken. COP26 will speed that up. The govt does help to fund insulation. My walls had free cavity wall insulation thanks to the govt.
The vast majority accept we need action.
We are moving away from the petrol engine and the gas boiler. In ten years time these will be things of the past from the point of view of mass manufacture and purchase.
XR are fanatics. You can never Appease fanatics.
No you cannot. And by admitting he would contribute to people's deaths in pursuit of his aims, rather than attempt to sugarcoat it or pretend he thinks otherwise, people can see just how fanatical he is.
Indeed, far better to let the cranks damn themselves with their words than just get into a slanging match with them.
But you don't seem to be adequate even to a slanging match. We have a problem, yebbut we are doing something about it, is like Mr Creosote agreeing to switch to diet tonic with his gin. How difficult are concepts like sufficient and proportionate?
You seem to have an assumption that little or nothing is being done, @IshmaelZ .
Can you evidence that claim in the case of the UK?
Well, what is being done? I'm still driving around in a diesel truck, and flying to Madeira in a couple of weeks for about half what it would have cost, in nominal never mind real terms, fifty years ago, and feeling no pain at all. Why are there no restrictions which I would notice even 5% as much as I have noticed covid restrictions?
Question to answer a question Very Extinction Rebellion.
I'll take that as a "Dunno !".
(And refer you to the Climate Change Committee and EU data which shows a nearly 50% reduction in C02 here from 1990-2020, whilst the Brussels 27 are still arguing about achieving 55% by 2030.)
Shit, it's taken you over an hour to come up with that non-answer?
Allegans probare debet, which is Mandarin for, hard to prove a negative. My evidence is that I as a normal consumer have seen no notable changes to either my lifestyle, or the cost of it, related to carbon reduction. And surely even you can see that your claim of "nearly 50% reduction in C02 here from 1990-2020" is utterly meaningless without data as to how much of that is merely offset to other countries by reduction in our manufacturing without equivalent reduction in our consumption? Genuinely, how hard is that to understand?
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
So true: they paved the path that Radiohead later walked on.
The Beatles pumped out a lot of dross, but what is striking is how many good memorable songs they produced over their decade as a band
I bet most people here could name 20 or even 30 Beatles songs, and then hum them
Is that true of any other band, musician, performer in the history of popular music? I don't think so. Not even Dylan or the Stones. The Beatles' total catalogue is unequalled
I'm going to have a go without Googling. These are song I can remember, and I could hum right now, if asked
Help Ticket to Ride Twist and Shout Norwegian Wood Get Back The Long and Winding Road Hey Jude Yellow Submarine Paperback Writer Across the Universe Ob-la-dee, Ob-la-da When I'm 64 Yesterday Here Comes The Sun And I Love Her A Day in the Life Eleanor Rigby All You Need is Love Love Love Me Do She Loves You Penny Lane Strawberry Fields
There, that's 22 songs I can name and hum, in five minutes, with no Googling. Given half an hour I could probably add 10 or 15 more
True enough, what you say there. Although 7 of your list are a totally mystery to me. I mainly know Norwegian Wood from the Cornershop cover, which I think it pretty good but will be obscure for most people.
Apparently Paul McCartney regards "Norwegian Wood" as the most perfect song he ever wrote. He penned it in about 5 minutes, complete. Like Mozart knocking out a sonata
The Beatles are not my favourite band. That would probably be Led Zep. But I can acknowledge the scale of their achievement. They are to popular music was Picasso is to modern art. Just this great protean thing that overwhelms in the size and diversity of the creation, over time
The Living Daylights Casino Royale Goldeneye OHMSS Spy Who Loved Me Goldfinger
Also, soft spots for Octopussy, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, From Russia with Love and Live and Let Die. A View to A Kill if only for Christopher Walken.
Die Another Day and Diamonds are Forever are embarrassing.
TMWTGG isn’t popular, but Christopher Lee was brilliant.
The Living Daylights Casino Royale Goldeneye OHMSS Spy Who Loved Me Goldfinger
Also, soft spots for Octopussy, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, From Russia with Love and Live and Let Die. A View to A Kill if only for Christopher Walken.
Die Another Day and Diamonds are Forever are embarrassing.
Solid list.
Have you seen Time yet? I’ll be interested to hear your view of it.
"Mastermind behind Insulate Britain eco-mob says he would have refused to move for crying woman trying to get to mother, 81, in hospital and would block an ambulance with dying patient inside after activists brought three London routes to standstill "
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
So true: they paved the path that Radiohead later walked on.
The Beatles pumped out a lot of dross, but what is striking is how many good memorable songs they produced over their decade as a band
I bet most people here could name 20 or even 30 Beatles songs, and then hum them
Is that true of any other band, musician, performer in the history of popular music? I don't think so. Not even Dylan or the Stones. The Beatles' total catalogue is unequalled
I'm going to have a go without Googling. These are song I can remember, and I could hum right now, if asked
Help Ticket to Ride Twist and Shout Norwegian Wood Get Back The Long and Winding Road Hey Jude Yellow Submarine Paperback Writer Across the Universe Ob-la-dee, Ob-la-da When I'm 64 Yesterday Here Comes The Sun And I Love Her A Day in the Life Eleanor Rigby All You Need is Love Love Love Me Do She Loves You Penny Lane Strawberry Fields
There, that's 22 songs I can name and hum, in five minutes, with no Googling. Given half an hour I could probably add 10 or 15 more
That list is Nowhere man, it will mean she's leaving home to join the fool on the hill.
The Living Daylights Casino Royale Goldeneye OHMSS Spy Who Loved Me Goldfinger
Also, soft spots for Octopussy, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, From Russia with Love and Live and Let Die. A View to A Kill if only for Christopher Walken.
Die Another Day and Diamonds are Forever are embarrassing.
TMWTGG isn’t popular, but Christopher Lee was brilliant.
Some of the sets look as if they have been pulled together on Blue Peter.
FPT @Selebian. I think you're blind to the issue here - I'll highlight two main points the article makes:
(1) "In a recent report on academic freedom in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada for the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, I found that 40 percent of American academics would not hire a known Trump supporter, and 33 percent of British academics would avoid hiring a known Brexit supporter. When it comes to refereeing papers, grant bids, and promotion applications, my own work and that of others indicates that the likelihood of an academic’s discriminating against an openly conservative submission is as high as 45 percent. On a four-person panel, that makes discrimination a near certainty."
(2) "In the 1960s there were only one and a half journalists and academics on the left for every one on the right. Today that ratio is between four to one and six to one, and considerably higher among political journalists and social-science and humanities academics. In a report on academia for the Manhattan Institute, I noted that left-leaning social-science and humanities academics now outnumber those on the right in Britain by nine to one, and in the U.S. by 14 to one. Work by Mitchell Langbert using voter-registration data for the top liberal-arts colleges and universities (for five disciplines) also shows lopsided ratios. At Harvard, for instance, a recent inquiry reported a $250-to-$1 Democrat-to-Republican donation ratio among the staff."
It's not enough for there to be "legal" protections - hard to access, prove and leverage - because an institutional culture of intolerance creates an environment that is suffocating to those already employed and inhibits any future recruitment to correct it. This means even fewer conservatives apply in the first place and thus reinforces a monoculture.
Those that are employed (like my friend at the University of Bath, for example, or me at the Woke firm I've just left) "fear losing (their) job or missing out on job opportunities if (their) political views became known.” And so, as in authoritarian regimes, dissenters keep their views to themselves through preference falsification. This has been precisely my experience.
It's a problem for all of us because these institutions form a large part of our civic society - arbitrating between the citizen and the state - and thus contributes to polarisation within it.
It needs to be addressed.
The website would only let me read the opening few paragraphs of the article, sadly, but the overall tone struck me as dishonest. It started with this dramatic statistic from the dating site, then extrapolated this to discrimination in hiring, despite these being completely different and indeed unrelated things (for instance, I wouldn't date a man but I would hire one). In my own field of economics there is a range of political views. In academia there is a left wing skew, in markets there is a right wing skew. This seems entirely understandable when you think of the likely difference in motivations and values between the two industries. Academia has got more left wing over the years, but then it has also become much worse paid, in relative terms, and those facts are probably related (we might argue over the direction of causation!). As a left wing person working in the markets I don't complain about the dearth of ideological soulmates, I don't know why right wing academics are so snowflakey about it. I have collaborated in academic research with people of various political stripes including Conservative US Republicans. In my experience, research with a clear ideological skew, left or right, is most likely bad research. The goal should be uncovering the truth, not advancing an agenda. Of course, if I were an ideological hack flogging policy-based evidence-making I might feel like I was getting discriminated when my research got rejected by top journals - but the likelihood is that the research was just bad. I do recall attending a very right-leaning conference where there was a lot of moaning about the Liberal bias in US academia, but the conference was lavishly funded by Conservative benefactors and hosted at a top Ivy League school so the whole complaint rang a little hollow to me. It had a strong whiff of privileges being defended.
There's some good points in here - including your admirable acknowledgement that research with a clear ideological skew is poor research - but why is your first instinct to attack Eric Kauffman's honesty?
He's a respected Canadian Academic (of mixed Chinese, Hispanic and European ancestry) working in a British university. He cited a variety of studies in making his points, and they're all respectable ones.
We need to get past the ad hominum into the specifics. Far too many of the responses to articles like this run along the lines of "he's making it up" and "I don't see any of this, so it can't be true".
What I'm interested in is everyone feeling able and willing to discuss their views and differences openly. That has to start with less prejudgement, more listening, and more forgiveness, and it's that I'm interested in.
It's the only way to confine polarisation to the fringes where it belongs, rather than it being part of the mainstream, and we have to work harder and harder at it in the social media age, not less.
All great points but I think you cut too much slack to Trumpery. It shouldn't be viewed like, say, being a Tory, a Brexiter, a social democrat, a "classic liberal", a small state libertarian, or whatever. He's a hate monger and those who lap that up can't expect it not to be held against them by those who don't.
I would judge Trump very differently from one of his voters, who include plenty of ordinary Americans, and give them the benefit of the doubt.
Of course lots of decent people voted for him. This must be the case given the numbers. Nevertheless he has colonized the Republican party, which is both chastening and frightening to somebody like me who takes a broadly sunny-side-up view of humanity, so I'm afraid I'm the other way around to you in that I'd be a touch wary of a person who I know voted for him until I get some evidence they did it reluctantly and despite the hate he throws out and for want of (in their eyes) a viable alternative. Pls note I do NOT feel this way about Leavers and Tories etc. It's a Trump thing.
So, in your eyes they are guilty until proven innocent?
Charming.
The reason you might not feel that way about Leavers and Tories is because you've been engaging with so many of us on here for so long that you realise the world isn't that simple.
That's precisely my point.
From my point of view I can see rational reasons for voting Tory and although many who voted leave I think did so for irrational* reasons, there are clearly many who did for completely rational reasons.
It is difficult to see any rational reason for voting for Trump, which is why the scale of his vote is so scary.
* Two of my favourites from personal conversations were: There are too many 'coloureds' here already and the criminal gangs are all Albanian.
If you were living in small town Hicksville, Flyover State in 2016, and had seen either a) your wages remain static since the previous century while the millionaires on the coast became billionaires, and/or b) the only major employer in your town decamp elsewhere while more and more of the stuff you used to make get imported from China and/or c) the social fabric of your town fraying, do you vote for a) more of the same, in the person and party of a candidate who appears to view you and your ilk as at best something of an embarrassment, or b) Trump? I don't like the man. But I can see why people voted for him.
I actually understand voting for Trump more than voting for Brexit. In that the US in 2016 was clearly a broken society failing the majority of its citizens, as evident in phenomena like falling life expectancy and the opioid epidemic. I don't think the UK was experiencing the same level of political failure and social fracture before 2016. Although, interestingly, it seems to be now!
I can understand someone voting Trump or Brexit.
Doesn’t mean I want to employ, date, or consort with such.
It's interesting you say you wouldn't want to employ them, which is precisely the point I made on this thread and the previous thread that @Selebian said would never happen and I'd made up.
Oh, Casino! That's a fairly good description of exactly what I did not say!
I said a number of things: - American conservatives are snowflakes (not all, to be sure, but some) - The research I've seen on the terrible time right wing people have in academia is poor quality - In my experience, you would not have the necessary information to discriminate against conservatives or brexiters in employment decisions or funding applications - A larger number of left wing people in academia might be a combination of left and right wing people being different and pursuing different careers, perceptions (pushed by conservatives, that academia hates conservatives) and some reality - Anyone who would discriminate on politics should be sacked - My own experience is different to what is claimed, including one example where I pushed back on wokeness and was backed up by the department and HR
I did not say there is definitively no discrimination and I did not speak beyond academia, indeed not even beyond UK academia.
I want you to know that I fully respect your lived experience as a much put upon and despised conservative and the way it has ruined your career all the way to becoming I director (I think?). I hope you find a safeish place on PB. I do not want you cancelled
We move ever so slightly closer but my beef with you is your casual dismissal of the evidence, unless it's totally fucking naked and obvious to you it doesn't exist, and I now see you've replaced it with "lived experience", which is just patronising.
My advice to you would be to drop this now and just go away with a commitment to have a think about how the perserve effects of insidious institutional cultures can affect those institutions we all rely upon in civic society, and why that's a bad thing.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
So true: they paved the path that Radiohead later walked on.
The Beatles pumped out a lot of dross, but what is striking is how many good memorable songs they produced over their decade as a band
I bet most people here could name 20 or even 30 Beatles songs, and then hum them
Is that true of any other band, musician, performer in the history of popular music? I don't think so. Not even Dylan or the Stones. The Beatles' total catalogue is unequalled
I'm going to have a go without Googling. These are song I can remember, and I could hum right now, if asked
Help Ticket to Ride Twist and Shout Norwegian Wood Get Back The Long and Winding Road Hey Jude Yellow Submarine Paperback Writer Across the Universe Ob-la-dee, Ob-la-da When I'm 64 Yesterday Here Comes The Sun And I Love Her A Day in the Life Eleanor Rigby All You Need is Love Love Love Me Do She Loves You Penny Lane Strawberry Fields
There, that's 22 songs I can name and hum, in five minutes, with no Googling. Given half an hour I could probably add 10 or 15 more
That list is Nowhere man, it will mean she's leaving home to join the fool on the hill.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
So true: they paved the path that Radiohead later walked on.
The Beatles pumped out a lot of dross, but what is striking is how many good memorable songs they produced over their decade as a band
I bet most people here could name 20 or even 30 Beatles songs, and then hum them
Is that true of any other band, musician, performer in the history of popular music? I don't think so. Not even Dylan or the Stones. The Beatles' total catalogue is unequalled
I'm going to have a go without Googling. These are song I can remember, and I could hum right now, if asked
Help Ticket to Ride Twist and Shout Norwegian Wood Get Back The Long and Winding Road Hey Jude Yellow Submarine Paperback Writer Across the Universe Ob-la-dee, Ob-la-da When I'm 64 Yesterday Here Comes The Sun And I Love Her A Day in the Life Eleanor Rigby All You Need is Love Love Love Me Do She Loves You Penny Lane Strawberry Fields
There, that's 22 songs I can name and hum, in five minutes, with no Googling. Given half an hour I could probably add 10 or 15 more
That list is Nowhere man, it will mean she's leaving home to join the fool on the hill.
lol
I also missed out Something, Michelle
It truly is an insane back catalogue. There's nothing else quite like it and if I was restricted to a top 10 songs I would probably prefer the Stones.
The Beatles are good, and I'm able to accept they were revolutionary or whatever, but the worship some people have for their stuff is just another example of fanaticism being bloody weird. It's not enough that people like it, it must be raised high, and imitators denigrated.
The Moody Blues on the other hand, now that was a band alright.
"I like all the bands. I've got a broad taste, you know, from the Britpop bands, like UB40, Def Leppard, right back to classic rock, like Wings." "Who's Wings?" "They're only the band The Beatles could have been."
Very amusing, but he's not wrong. Band on the Run, Jet, C Moon, Venus and Mars, Rock Show are the Beatles, done right. The paradox is: also Mull of Kintyre, Ebony n Ivory, Silly Love Songs etc.
You have a remarkable knowledge of Wings for someone who thinks the Beatles were meh.
C Moon was a b-side to a track that was banned by the BBC!
I can only assume you’re a tedious troll in music, as you are in politics.
Still not recovered from your catastrophic belly flop over raducanu and immigration at Wimbledon time? Sorry to hear it.
I don't understand your point. Why would I have any opinion at all about the Beatles, or Wings, or anyone else if I didn't know their work?
The Beatles are good, and I'm able to accept they were revolutionary or whatever, but the worship some people have for their stuff is just another example of fanaticism being bloody weird. It's not enough that people like it, it must be raised high, and imitators denigrated.
The Moody Blues on the other hand, now that was a band alright.
"I like all the bands. I've got a broad taste, you know, from the Britpop bands, like UB40, Def Leppard, right back to classic rock, like Wings." "Who's Wings?" "They're only the band The Beatles could have been."
Very amusing, but he's not wrong. Band on the Run, Jet, C Moon, Venus and Mars, Rock Show are the Beatles, done right. The paradox is: also Mull of Kintyre, Ebony n Ivory, Silly Love Songs etc.
You have a remarkable knowledge of Wings for someone who thinks the Beatles were meh.
C Moon was a b-side to a track that was banned by the BBC!
I can only assume you’re a tedious troll in music, as you are in politics.
I suspect you are right on that.
Ebony and Ivory wasn’t even Wings.
The Beatles are a band I personally love, from their early basic guitar based music to their more musical later stuff.
Presume the banned track was the one about giving Ireland to the Irish.
'Sir Iain Duncan Smith said he was walking to a meeting in Manchester city centre when a group of people called him "Tory scum" and tried to hit him with a traffic cone. '
Mow where might they have got the idea of calling him 'scum' I wonder?
The trouble with scum is that it always rises to the top.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
So true: they paved the path that Radiohead later walked on.
The Beatles pumped out a lot of dross, but what is striking is how many good memorable songs they produced over their decade as a band
I bet most people here could name 20 or even 30 Beatles songs, and then hum them
Is that true of any other band, musician, performer in the history of popular music? I don't think so. Not even Dylan or the Stones. The Beatles' total catalogue is unequalled
I'm going to have a go without Googling. These are song I can remember, and I could hum right now, if asked
Help Ticket to Ride Twist and Shout Norwegian Wood Get Back The Long and Winding Road Hey Jude Yellow Submarine Paperback Writer Across the Universe Ob-la-dee, Ob-la-da When I'm 64 Yesterday Here Comes The Sun And I Love Her A Day in the Life Eleanor Rigby All You Need is Love Love Love Me Do She Loves You Penny Lane Strawberry Fields
There, that's 22 songs I can name and hum, in five minutes, with no Googling. Given half an hour I could probably add 10 or 15 more
I don’t even think they pumped out a lot of dross. Their commitment to quality was one of the many things that set them apart.
Even a slight song like “Hey Bulldog”, referenced above, motors along with a charismatic bluesy grunt.
I can only think of one or two songs that I don’t think bear re-listening to.
Critics now just accept that Lennon/McCartney are up there with, if not better than, Irving Berlin or Rodgers/Hammerstein etc
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
So true: they paved the path that Radiohead later walked on.
The Beatles pumped out a lot of dross, but what is striking is how many good memorable songs they produced over their decade as a band
I bet most people here could name 20 or even 30 Beatles songs, and then hum them
Is that true of any other band, musician, performer in the history of popular music? I don't think so. Not even Dylan or the Stones. The Beatles' total catalogue is unequalled
I'm going to have a go without Googling. These are song I can remember, and I could hum right now, if asked
Help Ticket to Ride Twist and Shout Norwegian Wood Get Back The Long and Winding Road Hey Jude Yellow Submarine Paperback Writer Across the Universe Ob-la-dee, Ob-la-da When I'm 64 Yesterday Here Comes The Sun And I Love Her A Day in the Life Eleanor Rigby All You Need is Love Love Love Me Do She Loves You Penny Lane Strawberry Fields
There, that's 22 songs I can name and hum, in five minutes, with no Googling. Given half an hour I could probably add 10 or 15 more
That list is Nowhere man, it will mean she's leaving home to join the fool on the hill.
The Beatles are good, and I'm able to accept they were revolutionary or whatever, but the worship some people have for their stuff is just another example of fanaticism being bloody weird. It's not enough that people like it, it must be raised high, and imitators denigrated.
The Moody Blues on the other hand, now that was a band alright.
"I like all the bands. I've got a broad taste, you know, from the Britpop bands, like UB40, Def Leppard, right back to classic rock, like Wings." "Who's Wings?" "They're only the band The Beatles could have been."
Very amusing, but he's not wrong. Band on the Run, Jet, C Moon, Venus and Mars, Rock Show are the Beatles, done right. The paradox is: also Mull of Kintyre, Ebony n Ivory, Silly Love Songs etc.
You have a remarkable knowledge of Wings for someone who thinks the Beatles were meh.
C Moon was a b-side to a track that was banned by the BBC!
I can only assume you’re a tedious troll in music, as you are in politics.
I suspect you are right on that.
Ebony and Ivory wasn’t even Wings.
The Beatles are a band I personally love, from their early basic guitar based music to their more musical later stuff.
Presume the banned track was the one about giving Ireland to the Irish.
Jesus Christ. I know it wasn't fucking Wings. Let's all have a big think though, shall we, and try to think of two things it has in common with Wings? Fill in the gaps: it involved Paul ____, and it was post the B_______.
The Living Daylights Casino Royale Goldeneye OHMSS Spy Who Loved Me Goldfinger
Also, soft spots for Octopussy, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, From Russia with Love and Live and Let Die. A View to A Kill if only for Christopher Walken.
Die Another Day and Diamonds are Forever are embarrassing.
Solid list.
Have you seen Time yet? I’ll be interested to hear your view of it.
Glad to hear you're back at work. We've not been funding it, the next few generations have (unwittingly).
Do mind me asking what sector you are in?
Don't mind at all. I work in publishing, for a magazine. My boss has had me and one other person furloughed for the whole time as we both have health issues and he figured it was the best way to keep us safe. I've done a few bits of work from home for them over the last 18 months, but probably less than a fortnight's worth.
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
In other news, cinemas are back. Over here James Bond just broke the all time opening weekend record and in the US Venom 2 has done the second best October opening weekend ever. It turns out people like going to see movies on the big screen and escaping from real life for a couple of hours.
Shockingly half of the movie industry has bet against the big screen and are now going to have to row back on streaming commitments and give movies exclusive release windows again. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney extended their release window from 6 weeks to something more like 10 weeks ±4 weeks to match SPE. WB are buggered IMO as they seem to have permanently devalued their theatrical releases by promising streaming subscribers day and date releases without an easy way to u-turn that doesn't lose them millions of subscribers.
Good news.
Streamed movies suck. All the excitement is drained away when you realise you can watch it anytime / anywhere.
I see though that Peter Jackson’s long-awaited Get Back doco is happening now as a three parter on Disney+ (each part being 2 hours), though whether that’s because they can’t edit it down below 6 hours I don’t know.
Peter Jackson. Editing. I'm really not sure he understands the word or the concept.
Three two hour long movies. About a single recording session. For a 45 minute album.
Far. Too. Long.
Someone recut the Hobbit trilogy to make it a single movie. It was - apparently - much improved.
I started doing a recut of Spectre about four years ago, trying to get rid of that ridiculous campy spymaster and the whole Five Eyes subplot. It would have knocked about 25 minutes off the movie, and made it much more interesting.
I am sure you are right, and I confess that I haven’t even seen Hobbit or any but the first LOTR.
But I spent much of lockdown getting “back” into the Beatles after a 25 year hiatus, and so I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for Yellow Submarine, I’m sure nobody would consider it their finest work but even that one song has a kind of omnipresence in the nation’s schools.
And it has a great Ringo vocal, which is a near contradiction in terms.
But all their songs are like that. Ellurnur Rigby, Lalalalalalalalala. You could put them all in one album called OK School Assembly.
Laughably untrue. They were the first and biggest "pop" group to properly experiment radically with dissonance, unusual time signatures, weird new instruments, layering and overdub
So true: they paved the path that Radiohead later walked on.
The Beatles pumped out a lot of dross, but what is striking is how many good memorable songs they produced over their decade as a band
I bet most people here could name 20 or even 30 Beatles songs, and then hum them
Is that true of any other band, musician, performer in the history of popular music? I don't think so. Not even Dylan or the Stones. The Beatles' total catalogue is unequalled
I'm going to have a go without Googling. These are song I can remember, and I could hum right now, if asked
Help Ticket to Ride Twist and Shout Norwegian Wood Get Back The Long and Winding Road Hey Jude Yellow Submarine Paperback Writer Across the Universe Ob-la-dee, Ob-la-da When I'm 64 Yesterday Here Comes The Sun And I Love Her A Day in the Life Eleanor Rigby All You Need is Love Love Love Me Do She Loves You Penny Lane Strawberry Fields
There, that's 22 songs I can name and hum, in five minutes, with no Googling. Given half an hour I could probably add 10 or 15 more
That list is Nowhere man, it will mean she's leaving home to join the fool on the hill.
lol
I also missed out Something, Michelle
It truly is an insane back catalogue. There's nothing else quite like it and if I was restricted to a top 10 songs I would probably prefer the Stones.
Yes, me too.
A band or musician is considered notable today if they put out three or four famous songs.
The Beatles' achievement (even if they are not my favourite band) is in a different league. I doubt it will ever happen again
Comments
From a critical perspective, as far as I can tell the esteem for the Beatles (with able support from George Martin) as songwriters and record makers, has only grown and grown since 1970.
😉
Time
Casino
Goldfinger
Spy
Majesty
British-born service tends to be very poor.
It must have something to do with the class system and/or the deeply entrenched low-skill culture of the British white working class.
I guess it’s possible to improve with training.
St Joseph, MO
Visbek
Most of the service in the UK is pretty solid
https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/the-mojo-list/the-10-most-technically-amazing-beatles-songs/
If the Protocol is causing Trade Diversion then that is proof it is NOT working, not that it is.
Trade diversion is a trigger for Article 16. 🤦♂️
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58787799
People know your birthday, your friends, where you went on holiday, what you had for breakfast = no problem.
Bank account details, credit history, financial details = big problem.
Whereas short of a hack the former is incredibly difficult to get hold of while the latter is available for a minimal fee.
Few movies have scared me Some that did: Texas Chainsaw. Blair Witch. The Haunting (the original, not the terrible remake)
The Shining did not. It is an exquisite piece of cinema - brilliant Direction, superb performances - but it has never chilled me. I never feel like I want to look away. And the supernatural elements are kinda tacked on
https://twitter.com/sheeraf/status/1445099150316503057
It's because I'm an antisocial fecker.
https://gfycat.com/flashyunkemptcottonmouth
Are you drunk? Or trolling?
Oasis even tried to rip off Beatles lyrics, but just wrote comic gibberish:
From Be Here Now:
"I got something in my shoes, it's keeping me from walking down the long and winding road and back home to you"
Thanks for that, Noel
Or:
"Sitting upside a high chair, the devil's refugee is gonna be blinded by the light that follows me"
Oh Lord
The album contains the track It's Only a Northern Song, written by George Harrison. For reasons only known to the band, it was released as (c) Northern Songs Ltd. Which caused issues later, when it was discovered that neither the Beatles, EMI or Apple Records actually owned Northern Song Ltd.
I said a number of things:
- American conservatives are snowflakes (not all, to be sure, but some)
- The research I've seen on the terrible time right wing people have in academia is poor quality
- In my experience, you would not have the necessary information to discriminate against conservatives or brexiters in employment decisions or funding applications
- A larger number of left wing people in academia might be a combination of left and right wing people being different and pursuing different careers, perceptions (pushed by conservatives, that academia hates conservatives) and some reality
- Anyone who would discriminate on politics should be sacked
- My own experience is different to what is claimed, including one example where I pushed back on wokeness and was backed up by the department and HR
I did not say there is definitively no discrimination and I did not speak beyond academia, indeed not even beyond UK academia.
I want you to know that I fully respect your lived experience as a much put upon and despised conservative and the way it has ruined your career all the way to becoming I director (I think?). I hope you find a safeish place on PB. I do not want you cancelled
Basically anywhere that gets ZILLIONS of tourists guaranteed (pre-Covid) tends to develop a contemptuous and dismissive attitude to customers. Who cares if these people are annoyed or dismayed, there will be another coach-load of Chinese tourists in a minute
The food declines, similarly
that's what you like, that is
lol
The Moody Blues on the other hand, now that was a band alright.
Bit like the tree falling in the forest, unseen and unheard
More interesting lyrically than musically, and the lyrics are
You can talk to me
If you feel loneleee
Hey Bulldog
That's what woke is, a house of cards which inevitably collapses.
'Sir Iain Duncan Smith said he was walking to a meeting in Manchester city centre when a group of people called him "Tory scum" and tried to hit him with a traffic cone. '
Mow where might they have got the idea of calling him 'scum' I wonder?
Taiwan's Foreign Minister warns his nation is preparing for war with China and urges Australia to increase intelligence sharing and security cooperation as Beijing intensifies a campaign of military intimidation.
I bet most people here could name 20 or even 30 Beatles songs, and then hum them
Is that true of any other band, musician, performer in the history of popular music? I don't think so. Not even Dylan or the Stones. The Beatles' total catalogue is unequalled
I'm going to have a go without Googling. These are song I can remember, and I could hum right now, if asked
Help
Ticket to Ride
Twist and Shout
Norwegian Wood
Get Back
The Long and Winding Road
Hey Jude
Yellow Submarine
Paperback Writer
Across the Universe
Ob-la-dee, Ob-la-da
When I'm 64
Yesterday
Here Comes The Sun
And I Love Her
A Day in the Life
Eleanor Rigby
All You Need is Love
Love Love Me Do
She Loves You
Penny Lane
Strawberry Fields
There, that's 22 songs I can name and hum, in five minutes, with no Googling. Given half an hour I could probably add 10 or 15 more
Coming up the M1 and A1M there were a few service stations with no fuel, specifically no fuel for HGVs. To my surprise the midlands was worse than near London so we were glad we filled up when we did.
I'll take that as a "Dunno !".
(And refer you to the Climate Change Committee and EU data which shows a nearly 50% reduction in C02 here from 1990-2020, whilst the Brussels 27 are still arguing about achieving 55% by 2030.)
Thanks to all of you who've been working hard and funding my furlough money. I feel a bit embarrassed to say it, but I've really enjoyed it. Money's been a bit tight, but it's still the best pay I've ever had for doing √fa
C Moon was a b-side to a track that was banned by the BBC!
I can only assume you’re a tedious troll in music, as you are in politics.
The Living Daylights
Casino Royale
Goldeneye
OHMSS
Spy Who Loved Me
Goldfinger
Also, soft spots for Octopussy, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, From Russia with Love and Live and Let Die. A View to A Kill if only for Christopher Walken.
Die Another Day and Diamonds are Forever are embarrassing.
Do mind me asking what sector you are in?
https://twitter.com/bonnietofficial/status/1445055548374855685?s=21
Allegans probare debet, which is Mandarin for, hard to prove a negative. My evidence is that I as a normal consumer have seen no notable changes to either my lifestyle, or the cost of it, related to carbon reduction. And surely even you can see that your claim of "nearly 50% reduction in C02 here from 1990-2020" is utterly meaningless without data as to how much of that is merely offset to other countries by reduction in our manufacturing without equivalent reduction in our consumption? Genuinely, how hard is that to understand?
The Beatles are not my favourite band. That would probably be Led Zep. But I can acknowledge the scale of their achievement. They are to popular music was Picasso is to modern art. Just this great protean thing that overwhelms in the size and diversity of the creation, over time
Have you seen Time yet? I’ll be interested to hear your view of it.
My advice to you would be to drop this now and just go away with a commitment to have a think about how the perserve effects of insidious institutional cultures can affect those institutions we all rely upon in civic society, and why that's a bad thing.
I also missed out Something, Michelle
I don't understand your point. Why would I have any opinion at all about the Beatles, or Wings, or anyone else if I didn't know their work?
Ebony and Ivory wasn’t even Wings.
The Beatles are a band I personally love, from their early basic guitar based music to their more musical later stuff.
Presume the banned track was the one about giving Ireland to the Irish.
Hat tip, Rees-Mogg.
Their commitment to quality was one of the many things that set them apart.
Even a slight song like “Hey Bulldog”, referenced above, motors along with a charismatic bluesy grunt.
I can only think of one or two songs that I don’t think bear re-listening to.
Critics now just accept that Lennon/McCartney are up there with, if not better than, Irving Berlin or Rodgers/Hammerstein etc
And that’s just the song writing.
It must be fucking embarrassing, being you.
A band or musician is considered notable today if they put out three or four famous songs.
The Beatles' achievement (even if they are not my favourite band) is in a different league. I doubt it will ever happen again