Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
It must be a bit dispiriting for Shaun Bailey to be behind Brian Rose in the betting stakes when he officially needs the not enormous figure of a 6.8% swing to win compared to the performance of the Conservative candidate last time.
He's that crap.
The Conservatives would have done better had they put up Baldrick.
Last year, pre plague, someone told me Bailey is so crap, he makes Brian Coleman look good.
Apart from Rory Stewart, who do you think might have been a good candidate?
JohnO.
I reckon Greg Hands could win London under the right circumstances.
I think until there's a sea change in the attitude of minorities to the Conservatives - which I do expect one day - London is now lost to them.
I'm always surprised by how conservative so many minorities can be from so many different backgrounds yet they rarely vote that way.
People, perhaps even a majority of people (And therefore voters) rarely vote the way they 'should'. I liked the mechanic in Victoria 2, called Consciousness, about how aware people are of their situation.
My wife. Let's be honest, she's a rip roaring Tory. Dyed in the wool Blue. She reads the Conservative manifesto, agrees with every single line. She dutifully goes to Bootle polling station every May and dutifully marks X against Labour. I ask her why. She says she couldn't do anything else. Her mum would never forgive her.
A lot of those sort of people did switch in the red wall last year though.
He has contributed, personally, in a deliberate political strategy that will undoubtedly lead to more deaths in a way which was completely forseeable. It's completely dispicable, but no sign it will harm him, or those who participated in the same strategy to get out of a short term political mess.
Many politicians will have made the wrong calls in a way which will lead to deaths, sometimes even foreseeably, but his one was so very cynical and for no other reason than politics.
Was it politics? What did he gain from it, even in the short term? Pandering to French anti-vaxxers.... is not good. He obviously knows that.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
I'm watching classic films I've never seen but always thought I should. Amazing Grace, Dead Poet's Society, Citizen Kane, Get Carter, and Dances with Wolves.. things like that.
The good thing is a film is only 2-3 hours max, so you can definitely get through it in a couple of nights, and most of them are just better than most boxsets and more thought provoking.
If I get really desperate I've also got a Steven Seagal boxset that a friend bought me as a "joke" for my 30th, most of which is still wrapped in cellophane.
For Dances it is well worth getting hold of the directors cut, which is an hour longer.
We will all look like fools if HYU "hot broth" FD turns out to be right, and England has to invade Scotland with armoured cars and tanks and guns, so as to.... reimpose democracy, and the Rule of Law
But in case she hasn’t noticed, it’s not been eliminated.
I wonder, would a politician advocating a zero COVID policy be brave enough to ban children from going to school if they don't get their shots?
People underestimate the flu. It can be a fecking nasty thing to get and novel strains of it can be far deadlier than our current viral adversary as 1918-20 showed. Measles is very nasty too but is controlled by an incredibly effective vaccine. Control through vaccine is Johnson’s policy. So what’s the difference here?
I think "zero covid" as a strategy is easily misinterpreted. It means suppressing community transmission as far as possible, while last night Johnson and Whitty were sanguine about the r value provided that hospitals are not over stretched. So there is a difference.
It must be a bit dispiriting for Shaun Bailey to be behind Brian Rose in the betting stakes when he officially needs the not enormous figure of a 6.8% swing to win compared to the performance of the Conservative candidate last time.
He's that crap.
The Conservatives would have done better had they put up Baldrick.
Last year, pre plague, someone told me Bailey is so crap, he makes Brian Coleman look good.
Apart from Rory Stewart, who do you think might have been a good candidate?
JohnO.
I reckon Greg Hands could win London under the right circumstances.
I think until there's a sea change in the attitude of minorities to the Conservatives - which I do expect one day - London is now lost to them.
I'm always surprised by how conservative so many minorities can be from so many different backgrounds yet they rarely vote that way.
People, perhaps even a majority of people (And therefore voters) rarely vote the way they 'should'. I liked the mechanic in Victoria 2, called Consciousness, about how aware people are of their situation.
My wife. Let's be honest, she's a rip roaring Tory. Dyed in the wool Blue. She reads the Conservative manifesto, agrees with every single line. She dutifully goes to Bootle polling station every May and dutifully marks X against Labour. I ask her why. She says she couldn't do anything else. Her mum would never forgive her.
My grandfather was the same. Every political statement he made was strongly in favour of redistribution and the welfare state. He liked Trade Unions and hated snobbery. He once even gave me a copy of "the Thoughts of Chairman Mao" as teenager, commenting "There is a lot of truth in there". He was very fond of the miners that he worked with, but always voted Conservative. It was what middle class people did in Wigan in those days.
Many of my views could most accurately be described as One Nation Tory but the right of the party repelled me, indeed repels me, so much that I got into the habit of voting for whichever of the LDs or the Labour Party come closest to them. The Corbyn years opened my eyes so much of the Labour Party disgusts me as much as the nuttier ends of the Conservatives do. I joined the LDs for a bit, that was a disaster, so I’m pinning my hopes on the Independent Group for Change. A fresh face with a future.
I'm watching classic films I've never seen but always thought I should. Amazing Grace, Dead Poet's Society, Citizen Kane, Get Carter, and Dances with Wolves.. things like that.
The good thing is a film is only 2-3 hours max, so you can definitely get through it in a couple of nights, and most of them are just better than most boxsets and more thought provoking.
If I get really desperate I've also got a Steven Seagal boxset that a friend bought me as a "joke" for my 30th, most of which is still wrapped in cellophane.
For Dances it is well worth getting hold of the directors cut, which is an hour longer.
Four hours?
Christ.
I’d have to check but think it is three and a half. Maybe not quite an hour longer, then. But a lot more scenes with the Lakota, which is the point of the film, after all, if not critical to the storyline.
It must be a bit dispiriting for Shaun Bailey to be behind Brian Rose in the betting stakes when he officially needs the not enormous figure of a 6.8% swing to win compared to the performance of the Conservative candidate last time.
He's that crap.
The Conservatives would have done better had they put up Baldrick.
Last year, pre plague, someone told me Bailey is so crap, he makes Brian Coleman look good.
Apart from Rory Stewart, who do you think might have been a good candidate?
JohnO.
I reckon Greg Hands could win London under the right circumstances.
I think until there's a sea change in the attitude of minorities to the Conservatives - which I do expect one day - London is now lost to them.
I'm always surprised by how conservative so many minorities can be from so many different backgrounds yet they rarely vote that way.
People, perhaps even a majority of people (And therefore voters) rarely vote the way they 'should'. I liked the mechanic in Victoria 2, called Consciousness, about how aware people are of their situation.
My wife. Let's be honest, she's a rip roaring Tory. Dyed in the wool Blue. She reads the Conservative manifesto, agrees with every single line. She dutifully goes to Bootle polling station every May and dutifully marks X against Labour. I ask her why. She says she couldn't do anything else. Her mum would never forgive her.
A lot of those sort of people did switch in the red wall last year though.
And when the have broken away, they brought friends and families with them next time.
See Mansfield.
2015 - Labour majority 5,315
2017 - Conservative majority 1,057
2019 - Conservative majority 16,306
The Tory % of the votes cast went from 28.2% to 63.9% in four years..... That is seismic.
I'm watching classic films I've never seen but always thought I should. Amazing Grace, Dead Poet's Society, Citizen Kane, Get Carter, and Dances with Wolves.. things like that.
The good thing is a film is only 2-3 hours max, so you can definitely get through it in a couple of nights, and most of them are just better than most boxsets and more thought provoking.
If I get really desperate I've also got a Steven Seagal boxset that a friend bought me as a "joke" for my 30th, most of which is still wrapped in cellophane.
I agree. I simply haven't the time or the desire to get through series box sets, but a film every night or a football match goes down very nicely.
Too many movies are shite, tho. And I've seen all the good ones (I think)
Mind you, in TV box sets, I am now reduced to Black Sails. Which is kinda entertaining, but is not exactly The Sopranos, let alone Spartacus
He has contributed, personally, in a deliberate political strategy that will undoubtedly lead to more deaths in a way which was completely forseeable. It's completely dispicable, but no sign it will harm him, or those who participated in the same strategy to get out of a short term political mess.
Many politicians will have made the wrong calls in a way which will lead to deaths, sometimes even foreseeably, but his one was so very cynical and for no other reason than politics.
Was it politics? What did he gain from it, even in the short term? Pandering to French anti-vaxxers.... is not good. He obviously knows that.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
It must be a bit dispiriting for Shaun Bailey to be behind Brian Rose in the betting stakes when he officially needs the not enormous figure of a 6.8% swing to win compared to the performance of the Conservative candidate last time.
He's that crap.
The Conservatives would have done better had they put up Baldrick.
Last year, pre plague, someone told me Bailey is so crap, he makes Brian Coleman look good.
Apart from Rory Stewart, who do you think might have been a good candidate?
Ruth Davidson
Decent spot- it's going to need someone who can make a fuss (in a good way), hold lightly to their party label, use their pre-existing profile and surprise people a bit.
But a London Ruth would have a couple of extra challenges. For a start, Ruthie D is clearly joyfully Scottish- it's just she sees that alongside being North British. And awful lot of the messaging out of the Conservative Party right now gives the subliminal impression of not really liking London and what it represents; kind of the Corbyn problem with Red Wall areas in reverse. It's a circle that can be squared, but it needs a political genius.
Also, Davidson had a ready-made issue in Scotland; full-throated unionism. It's a decent pitch. What's the threat to London for which the Conservatives are the answer?
Many of my views could most accurately be described as One Nation Tory but the right of the party repelled me, indeed repels me, so much that I got into the habit of voting for whichever of the LDs or the Labour Party come closest to them. The Corbyn years opened my eyes so much of the Labour Party disgusts me as much as the nuttier ends of the Conservatives do. I joined the LDs for a bit, that was a disaster, so I’m pinning my hopes on the Independent Group for Change. A fresh face with a future.
Does anyone see any bad things happening if/when Bitcoin and all the rest go to zero?
Tesla gets hurt of course, and some (but not many) banks directly. Perhaps many banks indirectly. Some associated firms of course vanish, and graphics card manufacturers take a hit.
There's no peril here though - unless I'm missing something?
Bitcoin and the others = 0. (For what it's worth I've never had a position long or short in any of them - nor would I ever do so)
Bitcoin won't go to zero, because it has utility.
It is a pseudononymous on-line mechanism for effecting transactions. That is genuinely life-changing for people who live in countries with currency controls or who wish to buy illicit substances.
Now, what's the value of that? I could argue for $20-30bn (depending on volumes), maybe $50bn at a pinch.
But $1trillion?
Nope.
Also, note that the utility gained from transacting in BTC doesn’t accrue to the holder. You could transact $billions in drug trades / shipping cash out of repressive regimes / into North Korea regardless of the actual value of a bitcoin. The Bitcoin price could be $100 or $100000 - so long as the market is liquid enough to enable your transaction to occur it doesn’t matter what the price is - you’re just using it as a medium of exchange after all.
Billions of dollars of drug money don't flow through the world's banks in fiat currency? Rich people don;t stash trillions of fiat in tax havens?
Sure, but they spend it again. That’s kind of the point. Money doesn’t do you a great deal of good piled up in great heaps in a garage somewhere. (In that case it either rots, or gets stolen...)
Drug barons go to great lengths to launder their cash precisely so that they can spend it on things. Houses, school fees for the kids, holidays, fancy cars, all that good stuff. Costs them a fortune (20-40% I’ve read) but what good is a pile of cash that you never spend?
Money is valuable because we spend it, not because we hoard it. If we don’t spend it, what’s the point?
Many of my views could most accurately be described as One Nation Tory but the right of the party repelled me, indeed repels me, so much that I got into the habit of voting for whichever of the LDs or the Labour Party come closest to them. The Corbyn years opened my eyes so much of the Labour Party disgusts me as much as the nuttier ends of the Conservatives do. I joined the LDs for a bit, that was a disaster, so I’m pinning my hopes on the Independent Group for Change. A fresh face with a future.
He has contributed, personally, in a deliberate political strategy that will undoubtedly lead to more deaths in a way which was completely forseeable. It's completely dispicable, but no sign it will harm him, or those who participated in the same strategy to get out of a short term political mess.
Many politicians will have made the wrong calls in a way which will lead to deaths, sometimes even foreseeably, but his one was so very cynical and for no other reason than politics.
Was it politics? What did he gain from it, even in the short term? Pandering to French anti-vaxxers.... is not good. He obviously knows that.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
He’s an idiot?
Think collective anger. Zoom calls venting at AZN, idiots at high levels reading very anti-vax meme and *wishing* it to be true. Pretty soon - it *is true* in their heads. Then they are having a chat with a journalist....
Does anyone see any bad things happening if/when Bitcoin and all the rest go to zero?
Tesla gets hurt of course, and some (but not many) banks directly. Perhaps many banks indirectly. Some associated firms of course vanish, and graphics card manufacturers take a hit.
There's no peril here though - unless I'm missing something?
Bitcoin and the others = 0. (For what it's worth I've never had a position long or short in any of them - nor would I ever do so)
Bitcoin won't go to zero, because it has utility.
It is a pseudononymous on-line mechanism for effecting transactions. That is genuinely life-changing for people who live in countries with currency controls or who wish to buy illicit substances.
Now, what's the value of that? I could argue for $20-30bn (depending on volumes), maybe $50bn at a pinch.
But $1trillion?
Nope.
Also, note that the utility gained from transacting in BTC doesn’t accrue to the holder. You could transact $billions in drug trades / shipping cash out of repressive regimes / into North Korea regardless of the actual value of a bitcoin. The Bitcoin price could be $100 or $100000 - so long as the market is liquid enough to enable your transaction to occur it doesn’t matter what the price is - you’re just using it as a medium of exchange after all.
Yes but...
The market cap is the minimum amount in circulation to allow transaction volumes to happen.
So, if the market cap was $100, it clearly couldn't be used in any meaningful way to do money transfers.
That's how I came up with my $20-30bn market cap numbers.
I'm watching classic films I've never seen but always thought I should. Amazing Grace, Dead Poet's Society, Citizen Kane, Get Carter, and Dances with Wolves.. things like that.
The good thing is a film is only 2-3 hours max, so you can definitely get through it in a couple of nights, and most of them are just better than most boxsets and more thought provoking.
If I get really desperate I've also got a Steven Seagal boxset that a friend bought me as a "joke" for my 30th, most of which is still wrapped in cellophane.
If the boxset contains Under Siege then you are in for an absolute treat in one scene.
Does anyone see any bad things happening if/when Bitcoin and all the rest go to zero?
Tesla gets hurt of course, and some (but not many) banks directly. Perhaps many banks indirectly. Some associated firms of course vanish, and graphics card manufacturers take a hit.
There's no peril here though - unless I'm missing something?
Bitcoin and the others = 0. (For what it's worth I've never had a position long or short in any of them - nor would I ever do so)
Bitcoin won't go to zero, because it has utility.
It is a pseudononymous on-line mechanism for effecting transactions. That is genuinely life-changing for people who live in countries with currency controls or who wish to buy illicit substances.
Now, what's the value of that? I could argue for $20-30bn (depending on volumes), maybe $50bn at a pinch.
But $1trillion?
Nope.
The world's drug cartels have found US dollars so difficult to use and launder, after all.
I'm talking about end users. If you want to buy (say) heroin today, you wouldn't get involved with some dodgy bloke on a street corner in Camden, you'd buy some Bitcoin, and then go to an on-line Tor-based marketplace (where all the sellers are rated) and you'd buy from there.
You'll get a lower price, much better purity and less chance of getting ripped off or busted.
I was actually told all about this by a former denizen of this parish.
He has contributed, personally, in a deliberate political strategy that will undoubtedly lead to more deaths in a way which was completely forseeable. It's completely dispicable, but no sign it will harm him, or those who participated in the same strategy to get out of a short term political mess.
Many politicians will have made the wrong calls in a way which will lead to deaths, sometimes even foreseeably, but his one was so very cynical and for no other reason than politics.
Was it politics? What did he gain from it, even in the short term? Pandering to French anti-vaxxers.... is not good. He obviously knows that.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
He got distraction from events. I'd put it down as merely a brainfart, but it was part of a pretty obvious misinformation strategy including leaks from the german government, alongside the posturing of the Commission.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
It must be a bit dispiriting for Shaun Bailey to be behind Brian Rose in the betting stakes when he officially needs the not enormous figure of a 6.8% swing to win compared to the performance of the Conservative candidate last time.
He's that crap.
The Conservatives would have done better had they put up Baldrick.
Last year, pre plague, someone told me Bailey is so crap, he makes Brian Coleman look good.
Apart from Rory Stewart, who do you think might have been a good candidate?
JohnO.
I reckon Greg Hands could win London under the right circumstances.
I think until there's a sea change in the attitude of minorities to the Conservatives - which I do expect one day - London is now lost to them.
I'm always surprised by how conservative so many minorities can be from so many different backgrounds yet they rarely vote that way.
People, perhaps even a majority of people (And therefore voters) rarely vote the way they 'should'. I liked the mechanic in Victoria 2, called Consciousness, about how aware people are of their situation.
My wife. Let's be honest, she's a rip roaring Tory. Dyed in the wool Blue. She reads the Conservative manifesto, agrees with every single line. She dutifully goes to Bootle polling station every May and dutifully marks X against Labour. I ask her why. She says she couldn't do anything else. Her mum would never forgive her.
My grandfather was the same. Every political statement he made was strongly in favour of redistribution and the welfare state. He liked Trade Unions and hated snobbery. He once even gave me a copy of "the Thoughts of Chairman Mao" as teenager, commenting "There is a lot of truth in there". He was very fond of the miners that he worked with, but always voted Conservative. It was what middle class people did in Wigan in those days.
Many of my views could most accurately be described as One Nation Tory but the right of the party repelled me, indeed repels me, so much that I got into the habit of voting for whichever of the LDs or the Labour Party come closest to them. The Corbyn years opened my eyes so much of the Labour Party disgusts me as much as the nuttier ends of the Conservatives do. I joined the LDs for a bit, that was a disaster, so I’m pinning my hopes on the Independent Group for Change. A fresh face with a future.
I have only voted Tory once in my lifetime, in 2010, and supported the coalition. That and Tony Blair's first term are the only government's that I supported. I like financial stringency, an outward looking internationalism and inclusive social liberalism. I don't find any party supporting that combination at present, though the LDs are the closest most of the time.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
Is it?
I got bored.
One day I'm sure you'll watch it again. I'm slightly biased in that my family were tied up in very minor roles in such things. No medals earned, and a faded copy of the Jerusalem Times as the bounty.
Many of my views could most accurately be described as One Nation Tory but the right of the party repelled me, indeed repels me, so much that I got into the habit of voting for whichever of the LDs or the Labour Party come closest to them. The Corbyn years opened my eyes so much of the Labour Party disgusts me as much as the nuttier ends of the Conservatives do. I joined the LDs for a bit, that was a disaster, so I’m pinning my hopes on the Independent Group for Change. A fresh face with a future.
He has contributed, personally, in a deliberate political strategy that will undoubtedly lead to more deaths in a way which was completely forseeable. It's completely dispicable, but no sign it will harm him, or those who participated in the same strategy to get out of a short term political mess.
Many politicians will have made the wrong calls in a way which will lead to deaths, sometimes even foreseeably, but his one was so very cynical and for no other reason than politics.
Was it politics? What did he gain from it, even in the short term? Pandering to French anti-vaxxers.... is not good. He obviously knows that.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
He got distraction from events. I'd put it down as merely a brainfart, but it was part of a pretty obvious misinformation strategy including leaks from the german government, alongside the posturing of the Commission.
So it seemed entirely intentional.
I believe it WAS intentional. He was being interviewed, it was not an off-the-cuff remark to Jean Publique
I just find it hard to believe the European Commission could be that collectively stupid, and harmful, without thinking through the dire consequences for European public health. The effect has been, potentially, far worse than any of many many stupid, foolish things HMG did during the Brexit process.
Germany is now facing a 3rd wave, says Merkel. Meanwhile almost a million doses of AZ go unused, in Germany, because of the idiocy of the European elite, deliberately dissing a perfectly respectable vaccine
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
The best war movie is Threads. Also a laugh riot from start to finish.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
Is it?
I got bored.
One day I'm sure you'll watch it again. I'm slightly biased in that my family were tied up in very minor roles in such things. No medals earned, and a faded copy of the Jerusalem Times as the bounty.
Does anyone see any bad things happening if/when Bitcoin and all the rest go to zero?
Tesla gets hurt of course, and some (but not many) banks directly. Perhaps many banks indirectly. Some associated firms of course vanish, and graphics card manufacturers take a hit.
There's no peril here though - unless I'm missing something?
Bitcoin and the others = 0. (For what it's worth I've never had a position long or short in any of them - nor would I ever do so)
Bitcoin won't go to zero, because it has utility.
It is a pseudononymous on-line mechanism for effecting transactions. That is genuinely life-changing for people who live in countries with currency controls or who wish to buy illicit substances.
Now, what's the value of that? I could argue for $20-30bn (depending on volumes), maybe $50bn at a pinch.
But $1trillion?
Nope.
Also, note that the utility gained from transacting in BTC doesn’t accrue to the holder. You could transact $billions in drug trades / shipping cash out of repressive regimes / into North Korea regardless of the actual value of a bitcoin. The Bitcoin price could be $100 or $100000 - so long as the market is liquid enough to enable your transaction to occur it doesn’t matter what the price is - you’re just using it as a medium of exchange after all.
Yes but...
The market cap is the minimum amount in circulation to allow transaction volumes to happen.
So, if the market cap was $100, it clearly couldn't be used in any meaningful way to do money transfers.
That's how I came up with my $20-30bn market cap numbers.
The other question is how many bitcoins are actually usable - supposedly 50% of all bitcoins have been lost in unrecoverable ways.
And I suspect there is another significant proportion of coins that are being used as investments so it's highly likely very few coins (say less than 1million) are being used for transactions.
and if we have 1 million coins being used for a business worth say $50bn that might explain the current bitcoin price...
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
The best war movie is Threads. Also a laugh riot from start to finish.
Hope that's ironic.
Threads is fucking dark. Worse than The Day After.
He has contributed, personally, in a deliberate political strategy that will undoubtedly lead to more deaths in a way which was completely forseeable. It's completely dispicable, but no sign it will harm him, or those who participated in the same strategy to get out of a short term political mess.
Many politicians will have made the wrong calls in a way which will lead to deaths, sometimes even foreseeably, but his one was so very cynical and for no other reason than politics.
Was it politics? What did he gain from it, even in the short term? Pandering to French anti-vaxxers.... is not good. He obviously knows that.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
He got distraction from events. I'd put it down as merely a brainfart, but it was part of a pretty obvious misinformation strategy including leaks from the german government, alongside the posturing of the Commission.
So it seemed entirely intentional.
I believe it WAS intentional. He was being interviewed, it was not an off-the-cuff remark to Jean Publique
I just find it hard to believe the European Commission could be that collectively stupid, and harmful, without thinking through the dire consequences for European public health. The effect has been, potentially, far worse than any of many many stupid, foolish things HMG did during the Brexit process.
Germany is now facing a 3rd wave, says Merkel. Meanwhile almost a million doses of AZ go unused, in Germany, because of the idiocy of the European elite, deliberately dissing a perfectly respectable vaccine
Mindboggling
From their point of view they're being coldly logical: they think more lives and livelihoods will be lost if the EU collapses and so telling lies about an ex-EU member that leads to more lives being lost in the short-term is the lesser of two evils if it helps keep it together.
But in case she hasn’t noticed, it’s not been eliminated.
I wonder, would a politician advocating a zero COVID policy be brave enough to ban children from going to school if they don't get their shots?
People underestimate the flu. It can be a fecking nasty thing to get and novel strains of it can be far deadlier than our current viral adversary as 1918-20 showed. Measles is very nasty too but is controlled by an incredibly effective vaccine. Control through vaccine is Johnson’s policy. So what’s the difference here?
I think "zero covid" as a strategy is easily misinterpreted. It means suppressing community transmission as far as possible, while last night Johnson and Whitty were sanguine about the r value provided that hospitals are not over stretched. So there is a difference.
Suppressing community transmission can, in part, be achieved by investment in public health measures short of the draconian measures many fear. Taiwan and South Korea appear to manage it without the repression of the CCP.
The selections for Labour candidates needs to be more democratic and we should end NEC impositions of candidates. Local Party members should select their candidates for every election. 11:53 AM · Feb 4, 2020·
Feb 23.2.21 All 3 nominated candidates for Liverpool Mayor selected by local party members told not to stand as center starts process again
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
The best war movie is Threads. Also a laugh riot from start to finish.
Hope that's ironic.
Threads is fucking dark. Worse than The Day After.
My attempts at humour are not coming across at all well this evening.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
The best war movie is Threads. Also a laugh riot from start to finish.
lol. Good call. Threads frightened the shit out of me
IF I was forced to choose a single best movie ever made, of any genre, I would (like Mark Kermode) choose The Exorcist.
Genuinely terrifying, and so brilliantly executed. It is such a good horror movie, they casually cut out scenes like this, which by themselves give me bladder weakness, and would be the scariest possible scenes in 99% of all other horror movies. Watch from 0:00 to 1:09
He has contributed, personally, in a deliberate political strategy that will undoubtedly lead to more deaths in a way which was completely forseeable. It's completely dispicable, but no sign it will harm him, or those who participated in the same strategy to get out of a short term political mess.
Many politicians will have made the wrong calls in a way which will lead to deaths, sometimes even foreseeably, but his one was so very cynical and for no other reason than politics.
Was it politics? What did he gain from it, even in the short term? Pandering to French anti-vaxxers.... is not good. He obviously knows that.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
He got distraction from events. I'd put it down as merely a brainfart, but it was part of a pretty obvious misinformation strategy including leaks from the german government, alongside the posturing of the Commission.
So it seemed entirely intentional.
I believe it WAS intentional. He was being interviewed, it was not an off-the-cuff remark to Jean Publique
I just find it hard to believe the European Commission could be that collectively stupid, and harmful, without thinking through the dire consequences for European public health. The effect has been, potentially, far worse than any of many many stupid, foolish things HMG did during the Brexit process.
Germany is now facing a 3rd wave, says Merkel. Meanwhile almost a million doses of AZ go unused, in Germany, because of the idiocy of the European elite, deliberately dissing a perfectly respectable vaccine
Mindboggling
It's hard to put the genie back in the bottle. The story in Der Spiegel about the effectiveness of AZ being proven in Scotland has quite a few comments still casting doubt on it.
The selections for Labour candidates needs to be more democratic and we should end NEC impositions of candidates. Local Party members should select their candidates for every election. 11:53 AM · Feb 4, 2020·
Feb 23.2.21 All 3 nominated candidates for Liverpool Mayor selected by local party members told not to stand as center starts process again
Wow.
Well less wow now that I realise the date - bjo, you arse.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Nah, the redcoats' "front rank, second rank" shooting scene from Zulu, by itself, puts in a league of its own
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
There's Zulu Dawn, which is also fascinating, if you want to watch a British defeat.
Black Hawk Down is also a great war movie. Surprisingly brilliant.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
He has contributed, personally, in a deliberate political strategy that will undoubtedly lead to more deaths in a way which was completely forseeable. It's completely dispicable, but no sign it will harm him, or those who participated in the same strategy to get out of a short term political mess.
Many politicians will have made the wrong calls in a way which will lead to deaths, sometimes even foreseeably, but his one was so very cynical and for no other reason than politics.
Was it politics? What did he gain from it, even in the short term? Pandering to French anti-vaxxers.... is not good. He obviously knows that.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
He got distraction from events. I'd put it down as merely a brainfart, but it was part of a pretty obvious misinformation strategy including leaks from the german government, alongside the posturing of the Commission.
So it seemed entirely intentional.
I believe it WAS intentional. He was being interviewed, it was not an off-the-cuff remark to Jean Publique
I just find it hard to believe the European Commission could be that collectively stupid, and harmful, without thinking through the dire consequences for European public health. The effect has been, potentially, far worse than any of many many stupid, foolish things HMG did during the Brexit process.
Germany is now facing a 3rd wave, says Merkel. Meanwhile almost a million doses of AZ go unused, in Germany, because of the idiocy of the European elite, deliberately dissing a perfectly respectable vaccine
Mindboggling
It's hard to put the genie back in the bottle. The story in Der Spiegel about the effectiveness of AZ being proven in Scotland has quite a few comments still casting doubt on it.
Anti-vaxxery is surprisingly strong in supposedly *logical* Germany. I have a friend with highly educated Franco-German parents, living in Bavaria: they are completely antivax. Unmovable.
How many waverers have been pushed into the antivax POV by the mad lies spun by Macron, Handelsblatt et al? Insane. And this mental infestation is weirdly difficult to dislodge, as you say
The selections for Labour candidates needs to be more democratic and we should end NEC impositions of candidates. Local Party members should select their candidates for every election. 11:53 AM · Feb 4, 2020·
Feb 23.2.21 All 3 nominated candidates for Liverpool Mayor selected by local party members told not to stand as center starts process again
It's one of those positions people advance when not in charge that they then realise is stupid (and I doubt restricted to Labour). Always having total control from the centre is hardly a perfect situation, but what would be the point of having a national party in the first place if every locality basically did whatever it wanted? You'd end up so disconnected with nothing but a brand name to connect you, and at that point the party means nothing.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
There's Zulu Dawn, which is also fascinating, if you want to watch a British defeat.
Black Hawk Down is also a great war movie. Surprisingly brilliant.
Read once that Black Hawk Down gets some criticism for its focus on the americans and downplaying the impact on the somalians, but I've never gotten that. Knowing a little about the chaos the place has continued to have for a long time after the film was made makes the futility and tragedy of the events of the movie, the level of carnage, all the more stark, no matter that we see it from the perspective of individuals performind deeds which, in isolation, are heroic endeavours.
But in case she hasn’t noticed, it’s not been eliminated.
I wonder, would a politician advocating a zero COVID policy be brave enough to ban children from going to school if they don't get their shots?
People underestimate the flu. It can be a fecking nasty thing to get and novel strains of it can be far deadlier than our current viral adversary as 1918-20 showed. Measles is very nasty too but is controlled by an incredibly effective vaccine. Control through vaccine is Johnson’s policy. So what’s the difference here?
I think "zero covid" as a strategy is easily misinterpreted. It means suppressing community transmission as far as possible, while last night Johnson and Whitty were sanguine about the r value provided that hospitals are not over stretched. So there is a difference.
Suppressing community transmission can, in part, be achieved by investment in public health measures short of the draconian measures many fear. Taiwan and South Korea appear to manage it without the repression of the CCP.
Although Taiwan and South Korea also have the advantage of isolation. The UK has thousands of truckers going back and forth to the continent all the time. Taiwan and South Korea are, to all intents and purposes, just as cut off as New Zealand is.
It's a movie completely devoid of sympathetic characters. Literally everyone in it is - to a greater or lesser extent - a complete shit for whom death would be too good.
That being said, the performances are excellent. Watch it if you don't mind being disturbed.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Nah, the redcoats' "front rank, second rank" shooting scene from Zulu, by itself, puts in a league of its own
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
Fury, enemy at the gates, Patton, das boot (originally tv), private Ryan, are all a better watch than 1917 let alone Zulu.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
One of my favourite films is Wall-E. In particular the first half-an hour or so of almost wordless world-building and story telling is in a league of its own.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Nah, the redcoats' "front rank, second rank" shooting scene from Zulu, by itself, puts in a league of its own
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
1917 is one stunningly directed movie, but I could never give it truly great movie status when the plot totally unravels for the sake of visual dramatics. I find it impossible to watch the poor hero understandably take a 5 minute breather at the end without reflecting that if he had just spoken up instead he'd literally have saved hundreds of lives, because then we'd miss out on an (awesome) shot if he didn't.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
The best RomCom is There's Something About Mary, it is probably the best film in a whole host of other categories as well.
The Godfather pts I & II rival Goodfellas as best gangster, wouldn't you say? All three are great (Gf I & II + Goodfellas)
Raging Bull is probably the only Boxing film I have seen other than Champ... Champ affected me quite deeply though, I bawled my eyes out. Oh and a couple of the Rocky's I suppose. Never really got into them
The best Gambling film is The Sting
The Lives of Others is great @Casino_Royale, so is Play Misty For Me, and two of my all time faves, Cool Hand Luke, and Hombre
But in case she hasn’t noticed, it’s not been eliminated.
I wonder, would a politician advocating a zero COVID policy be brave enough to ban children from going to school if they don't get their shots?
People underestimate the flu. It can be a fecking nasty thing to get and novel strains of it can be far deadlier than our current viral adversary as 1918-20 showed. Measles is very nasty too but is controlled by an incredibly effective vaccine. Control through vaccine is Johnson’s policy. So what’s the difference here?
I think "zero covid" as a strategy is easily misinterpreted. It means suppressing community transmission as far as possible, while last night Johnson and Whitty were sanguine about the r value provided that hospitals are not over stretched. So there is a difference.
Suppressing community transmission can, in part, be achieved by investment in public health measures short of the draconian measures many fear. Taiwan and South Korea appear to manage it without the repression of the CCP.
Although Taiwan and South Korea also have the advantage of isolation. The UK has thousands of truckers going back and forth to the continent all the time. Taiwan and South Korea are, to all intents and purposes, just as cut off as New Zealand is.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
One of my favourite films is Wall-E. In particular the first half-an hour or so of almost wordless world-building and story telling is in a league of its own.
I seem to recall people kicking up a fuss that as an animated movie it couldn't win Best Picture despite being the best movie.
It's one of the best Pixar films, many of which are already great. I'm not an artsy kind of movie goer, but the near wordless start really added an extra element to the standard Pixar formula - two characters who initially dislike each other go on a journey of transformation etc
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Nah, the redcoats' "front rank, second rank" shooting scene from Zulu, by itself, puts in a league of its own
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
Fury, enemy at the gates, Patton, das boot (originally tv), private Ryan, are all a better watch than 1917 let alone Zulu.
It's a movie completely devoid of sympathetic characters. Literally everyone in it is - to a greater or lesser extent - a complete shit for whom death would be too good.
That being said, the performances are excellent. Watch it if you don't mind being disturbed.
I don't mind characters who are shits, so long as they are still interesting to follow a story through, which people sometimes forget when trying to be 'serious' by making everyone a shit.
But in case she hasn’t noticed, it’s not been eliminated.
I wonder, would a politician advocating a zero COVID policy be brave enough to ban children from going to school if they don't get their shots?
People underestimate the flu. It can be a fecking nasty thing to get and novel strains of it can be far deadlier than our current viral adversary as 1918-20 showed. Measles is very nasty too but is controlled by an incredibly effective vaccine. Control through vaccine is Johnson’s policy. So what’s the difference here?
I think "zero covid" as a strategy is easily misinterpreted. It means suppressing community transmission as far as possible, while last night Johnson and Whitty were sanguine about the r value provided that hospitals are not over stretched. So there is a difference.
Suppressing community transmission can, in part, be achieved by investment in public health measures short of the draconian measures many fear. Taiwan and South Korea appear to manage it without the repression of the CCP.
Although Taiwan and South Korea also have the advantage of isolation. The UK has thousands of truckers going back and forth to the continent all the time. Taiwan and South Korea are, to all intents and purposes, just as cut off as New Zealand is.
No comparisons are perfect by any means but if we manage to drive down transmission this year I do think we should look to those countries, rather than Aus and NZ, for pointers. While South Korea is indeed cut off it has a massive American military presence, 25,000 service men and women, a third of the size of the British Army, the coming in and out constantly, Taiwan similarly, so they don’t have all the advantages of those countries in terms of their isolation.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
He has contributed, personally, in a deliberate political strategy that will undoubtedly lead to more deaths in a way which was completely forseeable. It's completely dispicable, but no sign it will harm him, or those who participated in the same strategy to get out of a short term political mess.
Many politicians will have made the wrong calls in a way which will lead to deaths, sometimes even foreseeably, but his one was so very cynical and for no other reason than politics.
Was it politics? What did he gain from it, even in the short term? Pandering to French anti-vaxxers.... is not good. He obviously knows that.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
He got distraction from events. I'd put it down as merely a brainfart, but it was part of a pretty obvious misinformation strategy including leaks from the german government, alongside the posturing of the Commission.
So it seemed entirely intentional.
I believe it WAS intentional. He was being interviewed, it was not an off-the-cuff remark to Jean Publique
I just find it hard to believe the European Commission could be that collectively stupid, and harmful, without thinking through the dire consequences for European public health. The effect has been, potentially, far worse than any of many many stupid, foolish things HMG did during the Brexit process.
Germany is now facing a 3rd wave, says Merkel. Meanwhile almost a million doses of AZ go unused, in Germany, because of the idiocy of the European elite, deliberately dissing a perfectly respectable vaccine
Mindboggling
From their point of view they're being coldly logical: they think more lives and livelihoods will be lost if the EU collapses and so telling lies about an ex-EU member that leads to more lives being lost in the short-term is the lesser of two evils if it helps keep it together.
I would have though that the EU performing notably less well than (say) the UK, Switzerland and Norway would be much more likely to lead to its break up, that them using the AZ vaccine. Simply, over the next four years the world will be awash "who did badly and why" stories. And everyone in the EU will know someone who was hospitalised, died, or lost their business because of failures in vaccine procurement.
People will excuse a few slip ups, but if it looks like the EU was significantly to blame, then the voters will punish politicians who supported it.
All that being said... while we focus on France, Germany and the rest of the EU, it is worth noting that the neither the US nor Switzerland has authorised AZ at all, and South Africa has discontinued its usage. So, while it might be nice to blame scepticism by Macron entirely on anti-British feeling, doubts (largely baseless IMO) are by no means restricted to the the Continent.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Nah, the redcoats' "front rank, second rank" shooting scene from Zulu, by itself, puts in a league of its own
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
Fury, enemy at the gates, Patton, das boot (originally tv), private Ryan, are all a better watch than 1917 let alone Zulu.
Must say Fury is much under rated. Saw it a few weeks ago having never previously even heard of it. Gripping.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
Life of Brian holds up better than Holy Grail which holds up better than anything else in the Python universe.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
Spinal Tap. Still has umpteen references in modern culture.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
But in case she hasn’t noticed, it’s not been eliminated.
I wonder, would a politician advocating a zero COVID policy be brave enough to ban children from going to school if they don't get their shots?
People underestimate the flu. It can be a fecking nasty thing to get and novel strains of it can be far deadlier than our current viral adversary as 1918-20 showed. Measles is very nasty too but is controlled by an incredibly effective vaccine. Control through vaccine is Johnson’s policy. So what’s the difference here?
I think "zero covid" as a strategy is easily misinterpreted. It means suppressing community transmission as far as possible, while last night Johnson and Whitty were sanguine about the r value provided that hospitals are not over stretched. So there is a difference.
Suppressing community transmission can, in part, be achieved by investment in public health measures short of the draconian measures many fear. Taiwan and South Korea appear to manage it without the repression of the CCP.
Although Taiwan and South Korea also have the advantage of isolation. The UK has thousands of truckers going back and forth to the continent all the time. Taiwan and South Korea are, to all intents and purposes, just as cut off as New Zealand is.
An excellent point.
It is a point but remember lorry drivers are not tourists: they are sitting alone in a cab most of the day; they are not on holiday, carousing with the locals in bars.
It's a movie completely devoid of sympathetic characters. Literally everyone in it is - to a greater or lesser extent - a complete shit for whom death would be too good.
That being said, the performances are excellent. Watch it if you don't mind being disturbed.
I don't mind characters who are shits, so long as they are still interesting to follow a story through, which people sometimes forget when trying to be 'serious' by making everyone a shit.
I LOVE movies where everyone is a shit. Because: most people are shits. Most people, are, by definition, very very selfish, with the odd dash of heroic altruism, every so often.
As long as they are funny or characterful, bring it on.
Another candidate for Best Movie: Predator. I believe it had one of the shortest scripts in the history of Hollywood. Virtually nothing is said. Yet it is screamingly tense the whole way through, and wholly compelling. You cannot stop watching. Arnie's best work.
But in case she hasn’t noticed, it’s not been eliminated.
I wonder, would a politician advocating a zero COVID policy be brave enough to ban children from going to school if they don't get their shots?
People underestimate the flu. It can be a fecking nasty thing to get and novel strains of it can be far deadlier than our current viral adversary as 1918-20 showed. Measles is very nasty too but is controlled by an incredibly effective vaccine. Control through vaccine is Johnson’s policy. So what’s the difference here?
I think "zero covid" as a strategy is easily misinterpreted. It means suppressing community transmission as far as possible, while last night Johnson and Whitty were sanguine about the r value provided that hospitals are not over stretched. So there is a difference.
Suppressing community transmission can, in part, be achieved by investment in public health measures short of the draconian measures many fear. Taiwan and South Korea appear to manage it without the repression of the CCP.
Although Taiwan and South Korea also have the advantage of isolation. The UK has thousands of truckers going back and forth to the continent all the time. Taiwan and South Korea are, to all intents and purposes, just as cut off as New Zealand is.
No comparisons are perfect by any means but if we manage to drive down transmission this year I do think we should look to those countries, rather than Aus and NZ, for pointers. While South Korea is indeed cut off it has a massive American military presence, 25,000 service men and women, a third of the size of the British Army, the coming in and out constantly, Taiwan similarly, so they don’t have all the advantages of those countries in terms of their isolation.
There have been no US troops in Taiwan since 1979 (officially).
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
Spinal Tap. Still has umpteen references in modern culture.
Good call. A very plausible candidate. I heard someone reference it the other day in the street - "but this goes up to eleven, hahaha"
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Nah, the redcoats' "front rank, second rank" shooting scene from Zulu, by itself, puts in a league of its own
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
Fury, enemy at the gates, Patton, das boot (originally tv), private Ryan, are all a better watch than 1917 let alone Zulu.
I got 1917 Blu-Ray as a Christmas present, I watched it twice so far and enjoyed both viewings.
But in case she hasn’t noticed, it’s not been eliminated.
I wonder, would a politician advocating a zero COVID policy be brave enough to ban children from going to school if they don't get their shots?
People underestimate the flu. It can be a fecking nasty thing to get and novel strains of it can be far deadlier than our current viral adversary as 1918-20 showed. Measles is very nasty too but is controlled by an incredibly effective vaccine. Control through vaccine is Johnson’s policy. So what’s the difference here?
I think "zero covid" as a strategy is easily misinterpreted. It means suppressing community transmission as far as possible, while last night Johnson and Whitty were sanguine about the r value provided that hospitals are not over stretched. So there is a difference.
Suppressing community transmission can, in part, be achieved by investment in public health measures short of the draconian measures many fear. Taiwan and South Korea appear to manage it without the repression of the CCP.
Although Taiwan and South Korea also have the advantage of isolation. The UK has thousands of truckers going back and forth to the continent all the time. Taiwan and South Korea are, to all intents and purposes, just as cut off as New Zealand is.
An excellent point.
It is a point but remember lorry drivers are not tourists: they are sitting alone in a cab most of the day; they are not on holiday, carousing with the locals in bars.
Yes, but they do go to service stations and use bathrooms and cafes and paper shops. (Among other things.)
So it's not like they have zero contact with the rest of the country, and nor can they be easily corralled into a few airport hotels (or kept offshore as happens with container and LNG ships in Aus/NZ).
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Nah, the redcoats' "front rank, second rank" shooting scene from Zulu, by itself, puts in a league of its own
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
Fury, enemy at the gates, Patton, das boot (originally tv), private Ryan, are all a better watch than 1917 let alone Zulu.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
Well there are several different versions of it....
One I recently rewatched is Brazil. Still great.
Brazil is seriously underrated; a film which cast Robert D Nero at the height of his powers as a heating engineer and Michael Palin as a torturer.
Absolutely. Believe it was quite a flop at the time. There are several alternative cuts too. The Scala played them all over a fortnight back in the day.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
Life of Brian holds up better than Holy Grail which holds up better than anything else in the Python universe.
Life of Brian STILL treads on the toes of religion. It would have to get my vote.
Although, if I was as rich as Bezos or Musk, I would have built for - my own personal use and abuse - Castle Anthrax.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
The best RomCom is There's Something About Mary, it is probably the best film in a whole host of other categories as well.
The Godfather pts I & II rival Goodfellas as best gangster, wouldn't you say? All three are great (Gf I & II + Goodfellas)
Raging Bull is probably the only Boxing film I have seen other than Champ... Champ affected me quite deeply though, I bawled my eyes out. Oh and a couple of the Rocky's I suppose. Never really got into them
The best Gambling film is The Sting
The Lives of Others is great @Casino_Royale, so is Play Misty For Me, and two of my all time faves, Cool Hand Luke, and Hombre
Play Misty for Me!
God, I watched that when I was about 14 and it scared the shit out of me. Never watched it again!
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Nah, the redcoats' "front rank, second rank" shooting scene from Zulu, by itself, puts in a league of its own
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
Fury, enemy at the gates, Patton, das boot (originally tv), private Ryan, are all a better watch than 1917 let alone Zulu.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
Borat is a comedy that I can watch again and again.
Of older comedy, Laurel and Hardy films are hard to beat for jokes that never age.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
Airplane still stands up because so much of the humour is visual.
Overall: Shawshank Redemption Animated: Shrek Space: Apollo 13 Romcom: Four Weddings (obvs) Murder mystery: Gosford Park Sports: Chariots of Fire War: Dunkirk Musical: Yesterday Costume drama: Pride & Prejudice (2005 version) ...and Comedy: Shirley you don't need to ask?
He has contributed, personally, in a deliberate political strategy that will undoubtedly lead to more deaths in a way which was completely forseeable. It's completely dispicable, but no sign it will harm him, or those who participated in the same strategy to get out of a short term political mess.
Many politicians will have made the wrong calls in a way which will lead to deaths, sometimes even foreseeably, but his one was so very cynical and for no other reason than politics.
Was it politics? What did he gain from it, even in the short term? Pandering to French anti-vaxxers.... is not good. He obviously knows that.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
He got distraction from events. I'd put it down as merely a brainfart, but it was part of a pretty obvious misinformation strategy including leaks from the german government, alongside the posturing of the Commission.
So it seemed entirely intentional.
I believe it WAS intentional. He was being interviewed, it was not an off-the-cuff remark to Jean Publique
I just find it hard to believe the European Commission could be that collectively stupid, and harmful, without thinking through the dire consequences for European public health. The effect has been, potentially, far worse than any of many many stupid, foolish things HMG did during the Brexit process.
Germany is now facing a 3rd wave, says Merkel. Meanwhile almost a million doses of AZ go unused, in Germany, because of the idiocy of the European elite, deliberately dissing a perfectly respectable vaccine
Mindboggling
From their point of view they're being coldly logical: they think more lives and livelihoods will be lost if the EU collapses and so telling lies about an ex-EU member that leads to more lives being lost in the short-term is the lesser of two evils if it helps keep it together.
I would have though that the EU performing notably less well than (say) the UK, Switzerland and Norway would be much more likely to lead to its break up, that them using the AZ vaccine. Simply, over the next four years the world will be awash "who did badly and why" stories. And everyone in the EU will know someone who was hospitalised, died, or lost their business because of failures in vaccine procurement.
People will excuse a few slip ups, but if it looks like the EU was significantly to blame, then the voters will punish politicians who supported it.
All that being said... while we focus on France, Germany and the rest of the EU, it is worth noting that the neither the US nor Switzerland has authorised AZ at all, and South Africa has discontinued its usage. So, while it might be nice to blame scepticism by Macron entirely on anti-British feeling, doubts (largely baseless IMO) are by no means restricted to the the Continent.
But, as you have constantly (and rightly) told us, we will soon we awash with vaccines, and will be allowed to shop around, basically.
The point right now is getting any jab possible in every arm possible, as they all reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death, and they all reduce the chance of transmission, and every infection avoided is one less possible mutation, thus steering the entire world to a safer place.
OK, you're not keen on Oxon-AZ, take it anyway, you stupid French idiot, because it offers pretty damn good protection and in a few short months you can have Pfizer or Novavax or Janssen or anything, because the world will be flooded. And in the meantime, your being jabbed by anything is much better for you, AND for the rest of the world.
But Macron, the President of France, decided to tell his most vulnerable citizens, prone to anti-vaxxery, that AZ was "quasi ineffective", based on no obvious science whatsoever.
I'm watching classic films I've never seen but always thought I should. Amazing Grace, Dead Poet's Society, Citizen Kane, Get Carter, and Dances with Wolves.. things like that.
The good thing is a film is only 2-3 hours max, so you can definitely get through it in a couple of nights, and most of them are just better than most boxsets and more thought provoking.
If I get really desperate I've also got a Steven Seagal boxset that a friend bought me as a "joke" for my 30th, most of which is still wrapped in cellophane.
If the boxset contains Under Siege then you are in for an absolute treat in one scene.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
The best RomCom is There's Something About Mary, it is probably the best film in a whole host of other categories as well.
The Godfather pts I & II rival Goodfellas as best gangster, wouldn't you say? All three are great (Gf I & II + Goodfellas)
Raging Bull is probably the only Boxing film I have seen other than Champ... Champ affected me quite deeply though, I bawled my eyes out. Oh and a couple of the Rocky's I suppose. Never really got into them
The best Gambling film is The Sting
The Lives of Others is great @Casino_Royale, so is Play Misty For Me, and two of my all time faves, Cool Hand Luke, and Hombre
Play Misty for Me!
God, I watched that when I was about 14 and it scared the shit out of me. Never watched it again!
Ludicrously scary film. I always think scary films are more frightening when they are set in nice weather for some reason.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
Airplane is still hilarious but it wouldn't be made today - it's the total opposite of Woke.
Spinal Tap and the Big Lebowski are also superb, and even Dumb and Dumber can't help but make me crease.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Nah, the redcoats' "front rank, second rank" shooting scene from Zulu, by itself, puts in a league of its own
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
Fury, enemy at the gates, Patton, das boot (originally tv), private Ryan, are all a better watch than 1917 let alone Zulu.
Fury? F-off mate, that's Shia Le Boeuf toilet.
Other picks are good.
Are there any British warfilms you like?
The Way Ahead is a truly great British War film. Propaganda, but very well done.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
Spinal Tap. Still has umpteen references in modern culture.
Good call. A very plausible candidate. I heard someone reference it the other day in the street - "but this goes up to eleven, hahaha"
The guys have recently won back the rights - together with an eye-watering amount of money.
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
Groundhog Day is the best Romcom.
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
Nah, the redcoats' "front rank, second rank" shooting scene from Zulu, by itself, puts in a league of its own
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
1917 is one stunningly directed movie, but I could never give it truly great movie status when the plot totally unravels for the sake of visual dramatics. I find it impossible to watch the poor hero understandably take a 5 minute breather at the end without reflecting that if he had just spoken up instead he'd literally have saved hundreds of lives, because then we'd miss out on an (awesome) shot if he didn't.
Saving Private Ryan has the best extended battle sequence but the film could have been over in less than two minutes once we remember the American Army had radios.
Best animated comedy detective film noir is Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
Airplane still stands up because so much of the humour is visual.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
The Great Race still cracks me up now. And it’s a good story. And it features the late Natalie Wood: now there’s someone with a dark story.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
Life of Brian holds up better than Holy Grail which holds up better than anything else in the Python universe.
Life of Brian STILL treads on the toes of religion. It would have to get my vote.
Although, if I was as rich as Bezos or Musk, I would have built for - my own personal use and abuse - Castle Anthrax.
Life of Brian contains what I think may be the most profound joke in cinema, the punch line of which is " I'm not":
Re previous posts. "Lawrence of Arabia" is easily my favourite film. The best film ever made, and what cinemas are for.
I think Apocalypse Now is my favourite. Every time that I watch it, I see something new.
For a very long period of my life I'd also have said the same. I went to see it when I was perhaps 15, and I'd had to drag my Dad along because it was AA certificate. I rather love the film because we saw it together - the only film that I ever saw just the two of us. We both emerged a little shocked and speechless.
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
ZULU is peerless: so many superb scenes
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
The best RomCom is There's Something About Mary, it is probably the best film in a whole host of other categories as well.
The Godfather pts I & II rival Goodfellas as best gangster, wouldn't you say? All three are great (Gf I & II + Goodfellas)
Raging Bull is probably the only Boxing film I have seen other than Champ... Champ affected me quite deeply though, I bawled my eyes out. Oh and a couple of the Rocky's I suppose. Never really got into them
The best Gambling film is The Sting
The Lives of Others is great @Casino_Royale, so is Play Misty For Me, and two of my all time faves, Cool Hand Luke, and Hombre
Play Misty for Me!
God, I watched that when I was about 14 and it scared the shit out of me. Never watched it again!
Ludicrously scary film. I always think scary films are more frightening when they are set in nice weather for some reason.
Overall: Shawshank Redemption Animated: Shrek Space: Apollo 13 Romcom: Four Weddings (obvs) Murder mystery: Gosford Park Sports: Chariots of Fire War: Dunkirk Musical: Yesterday Costume drama: Pride & Prejudice (2005 version) ...and Comedy: Shirley you don't need to ask?
That's a very good list but nothing tops the BBC 1990s miniseries of Pride & Prejudice, IMHO.
Comments
How many legs has he got?
Less Tiger, more Millipede....
Anyway in recent years I've come to view David Lean's masterpiece as edging it.
Even now I am bewildered by what was clearly a prepared line. Macron might be irritating but he always seemed sensible. Boringly so.
Then he comes out and says something far worse than anything Trump said. A quote which will now lead to thousands of avoidable deaths, and which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I know this is Grassy Knoll territory, but I DO wonder if there was a shite conspiracy in the "upper echelons" of EU politics to smear AZ, once you factor in the anonymous German "ministerial figure" claiming he had fresh data showing 8% efficacy for oldsters with AZ: which turned out to be a total lie
I am happy to hear alternative explanations for Macron's statements. Indeed, eager
I got bored.
See Mansfield.
2015 - Labour majority 5,315
2017 - Conservative majority 1,057
2019 - Conservative majority 16,306
The Tory % of the votes cast went from 28.2% to 63.9% in four years..... That is seismic.
Mind you, in TV box sets, I am now reduced to Black Sails. Which is kinda entertaining, but is not exactly The Sopranos, let alone Spartacus
But a London Ruth would have a couple of extra challenges. For a start, Ruthie D is clearly joyfully Scottish- it's just she sees that alongside being North British. And awful lot of the messaging out of the Conservative Party right now gives the subliminal impression of not really liking London and what it represents; kind of the Corbyn problem with Red Wall areas in reverse. It's a circle that can be squared, but it needs a political genius.
Also, Davidson had a ready-made issue in Scotland; full-throated unionism. It's a decent pitch. What's the threat to London for which the Conservatives are the answer?
Worrying from the perspective of a third wave.
Hoping that it works...
It's 2021 now. Not 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_UK
Drug barons go to great lengths to launder their cash precisely so that they can spend it on things. Houses, school fees for the kids, holidays, fancy cars, all that good stuff. Costs them a fortune (20-40% I’ve read) but what good is a pile of cash that you never spend?
Money is valuable because we spend it, not because we hoard it. If we don’t spend it, what’s the point?
The market cap is the minimum amount in circulation to allow transaction volumes to happen.
So, if the market cap was $100, it clearly couldn't be used in any meaningful way to do money transfers.
That's how I came up with my $20-30bn market cap numbers.
You'll get a lower price, much better purity and less chance of getting ripped off or busted.
I was actually told all about this by a former denizen of this parish.
So it seemed entirely intentional.
Asking what is the best movie is like asking "what is the best country" or "what is the best weather" or "what is the best form of cooking eggs". You have to choose a genre
As a war movie, Zulu beats Apocalypse Now, shorter, sharper, more wrenching and yet exhilarating
Rom coms? Notting Hill? Richard Curtis is much maligned these days, but that was excellently done
Boxing? Raging Bull. Maybe indeed the best movie about masculinity in general
Gangsters: Goodfellas, for sure.
Damn that's two Scorseses in one list. He is impressive
I just find it hard to believe the European Commission could be that collectively stupid, and harmful, without thinking through the dire consequences for European public health. The effect has been, potentially, far worse than any of many many stupid, foolish things HMG did during the Brexit process.
Germany is now facing a 3rd wave, says Merkel. Meanwhile almost a million doses of AZ go unused, in Germany, because of the idiocy of the European elite, deliberately dissing a perfectly respectable vaccine
Mindboggling
And I suspect there is another significant proportion of coins that are being used as investments so it's highly likely very few coins (say less than 1million) are being used for transactions.
and if we have 1 million coins being used for a business worth say $50bn that might explain the current bitcoin price...
Threads is fucking dark. Worse than The Day After.
Keir Starmer
@Keir_Starmer
The selections for Labour candidates needs to be more democratic and we should end NEC impositions of candidates. Local Party members should select their candidates for every election.
11:53 AM · Feb 4, 2020·
Feb 23.2.21 All 3 nominated candidates for Liverpool Mayor selected by local party members told not to stand as center starts process again
Apocalyse Now is better than Zulu because of its complex themes and exploration of the human condition. A war film purely about war is something less.
Similarly Black Book, Full Metal Jacket or In the Fog are better war films than Zulu.
IF I was forced to choose a single best movie ever made, of any genre, I would (like Mark Kermode) choose The Exorcist.
Genuinely terrifying, and so brilliantly executed. It is such a good horror movie, they casually cut out scenes like this, which by themselves give me bladder weakness, and would be the scariest possible scenes in 99% of all other horror movies. Watch from 0:00 to 1:09
https://youtu.be/MF-LPsCsdr8
I cannot think of any other movie which so commands its genre.
It is utter utter shite.
https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/medizin/coronavirus-94-prozent-weniger-krankenhausaufenthalte-nach-einer-dosis-astrazeneca-a-58ae2153-add3-4955-90da-41bc98d323d3
Well less wow now that I realise the date - bjo, you arse.
I will also give an honourable mention to 1917, which kinda got overlooked as the Plague swept all aside. Sam Mendes' war movie is the best of the 21st century. The hallucinatory quality of the nocturnal scenes is pure directorial genius
Black Hawk Down is also a great war movie. Surprisingly brilliant.
Rom Com: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Martha-Meet-Frank-Daniel-Laurence/dp/B0010LB020/ref=sr_1_1?crid=71FTES3L1VMY&dchild=1&keywords=martha+meet+frank+daniel+and+laurence&qid=1614117794&sprefix=martha+me,aps,160&sr=8-1
Boxing: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twenty-Four-Seven-DVD-Hoskins/dp/B01I079R6M/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bob+hoskins+24/7&qid=1614117742&sr=8-1
How many waverers have been pushed into the antivax POV by the mad lies spun by Macron, Handelsblatt et al? Insane. And this mental infestation is weirdly difficult to dislodge, as you say
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D40uHmTSPew&ab_channel=Netflix
It's a movie completely devoid of sympathetic characters. Literally everyone in it is - to a greater or lesser extent - a complete shit for whom death would be too good.
That being said, the performances are excellent. Watch it if you don't mind being disturbed.
The Godfather pts I & II rival Goodfellas as best gangster, wouldn't you say? All three are great (Gf I & II + Goodfellas)
Raging Bull is probably the only Boxing film I have seen other than Champ... Champ affected me quite deeply though, I bawled my eyes out. Oh and a couple of the Rocky's I suppose. Never really got into them
The best Gambling film is The Sting
The Lives of Others is great @Casino_Royale, so is Play Misty For Me, and two of my all time faves, Cool Hand Luke, and Hombre
It's one of the best Pixar films, many of which are already great. I'm not an artsy kind of movie goer, but the near wordless start really added an extra element to the standard Pixar formula - two characters who initially dislike each other go on a journey of transformation etc
One I recently rewatched is Brazil. Still great.
This is a tricky one, as comedy ages SO badly. Not many comedies can elicit a laugh 20 0r 30 years later. Or even 10
I would go for either of the two Monty Python masterpieces, Holy Grail and/or Life of Brian. Both of them are, stilll, constantly referenced in popular culture, in Anglophone countries, from the Knight who loses all his limbs and asks for a draw, to What Have The Romans Done For Us
Or Airplane. But I wonder if Airplane would stand up to a viewing now?
The Producers? Early Woody Allen?
People will excuse a few slip ups, but if it looks like the EU was significantly to blame, then the voters will punish politicians who supported it.
All that being said... while we focus on France, Germany and the rest of the EU, it is worth noting that the neither the US nor Switzerland has authorised AZ at all, and South Africa has discontinued its usage. So, while it might be nice to blame scepticism by Macron entirely on anti-British feeling, doubts (largely baseless IMO) are by no means restricted to the the Continent.
As long as they are funny or characterful, bring it on.
Another candidate for Best Movie: Predator. I believe it had one of the shortest scripts in the history of Hollywood. Virtually nothing is said. Yet it is screamingly tense the whole way through, and wholly compelling. You cannot stop watching. Arnie's best work.
So it's not like they have zero contact with the rest of the country, and nor can they be easily corralled into a few airport hotels (or kept offshore as happens with container and LNG ships in Aus/NZ).
Other picks are good.
Are there any British warfilms you like?
There are several alternative cuts too. The Scala played them all over a fortnight back in the day.
Although, if I was as rich as Bezos or Musk, I would have built for - my own personal use and abuse - Castle Anthrax.
God, I watched that when I was about 14 and it scared the shit out of me. Never watched it again!
Battle of Britain.
Of older comedy, Laurel and Hardy films are hard to beat for jokes that never age.
Overall: Shawshank Redemption
Animated: Shrek
Space: Apollo 13
Romcom: Four Weddings (obvs)
Murder mystery: Gosford Park
Sports: Chariots of Fire
War: Dunkirk
Musical: Yesterday
Costume drama: Pride & Prejudice (2005 version)
...and Comedy: Shirley you don't need to ask?
The point right now is getting any jab possible in every arm possible, as they all reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death, and they all reduce the chance of transmission, and every infection avoided is one less possible mutation, thus steering the entire world to a safer place.
OK, you're not keen on Oxon-AZ, take it anyway, you stupid French idiot, because it offers pretty damn good protection and in a few short months you can have Pfizer or Novavax or Janssen or anything, because the world will be flooded. And in the meantime, your being jabbed by anything is much better for you, AND for the rest of the world.
But Macron, the President of France, decided to tell his most vulnerable citizens, prone to anti-vaxxery, that AZ was "quasi ineffective", based on no obvious science whatsoever.
Spinal Tap and the Big Lebowski are also superb, and even Dumb and Dumber can't help but make me crease.
Best animated comedy detective film noir is Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Flr-hQHcY
Has to be "Aliens"