13 April 2009

Sure has been quiet lately...

Here and on Cif.  Everybody busy or not getting inspired by anything from Cif?

39 comments:

  1. I think everybody's been doing Easter stuff? And now it's my turn..!
    (improbably breaks into a Madonna song) Holiday!
    Am off to Corfu for Greek Easter but when I come back somebody will have to explain to this luddite, in words of a syllable or less, how the hell I put a post up here... can't work it out...

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  2. Well, I'm still in pre-mod, Montana, and have also been away for a few days, which explains my lethargy.

    Can't speak for anyone else but the usual CiF "hot topics" bore me at the moment. The only thing that really gets me fired up is anything about policing - the Tomlinson affair, kettling, Hillsborough (which the Guardian is going big on atm and in which I have a personal agenda), the arrests of the 12 Pakistanis on spurious "anti-terror" grounds the other day, the arrest of 114 green activists on my local turf today...

    I've just tried to post something along these lines on John Sauven's thread but as I'm still in pre-mod I'm not sure it will ever see the light of day.

    Btw, if monkeyfish is reading this, went up to Liverpool on Friday with a mate who was at Hillsbro with me. We laid some flowers at the Shankly Gates and the Forest scarf which featured on Footie Focus last Saturday.

    Did the Beatles Museum on the Friday, and the Ferry cross the Mehrzee Saturday, all good fun, but nothing to compare with the six hours we spent in Smokie Moe's Karaoke Bar on the Friday night, which was a lorra, lorra fun. And very life affirming.

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  3. This part-time Man U supporter (Hi Olching) will be thinking of Liverpool (city and team) on wednesday... Here's hoping justice will be done some day

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  4. I've been away, but Cif HAS been boring. Are we just jaded old posters who've seen it all before and can't get it up any more? (Apologies for the very "menz" analogy, but you get my drift, I hope.)

    Perhaps more activity here and the phonebooth would help.

    btw, hank, the full version of Spartacus (oysters, snails and everything) was on Danish TV yesterday. Super stuff, and I'm warming a bit more to Kirk. Ever seen The Bad and the Beautiful and Two Weeks in Another Town?

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  5. Similarly to Hank, I'm really only interested in the current issues of policing and farcical party politics (if only to challenge the ludicrous narrative that Dave Cameron will 'change' the sordidness of politics...).

    We had a 14 year old telling us about the pressures of GCSEs (how did she get to write the article and have it accepted? Pikey must really be seething now...). I thought the article was a dead cert for Bitterweed to stumble in pissed and leave a glorious comment, but alas...

    Hank, fair play to you for going. It was the first time I saw Alan Hansen (on MotD) show any kind of emotion different from disdain and sarcasm.

    Hi Kiz, at least we share our disgust towards Robinho...

    Anyway, I'm away for a while...

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  6. Hi scherfig, yup, "Bad and the Beautiful"'s a top film, not seen "Two Weeks in Another Town". If you're warming to Kirk, you need to see "Paths of Glory" and "Ace in the Hole", great films both.

    I think you're right, btw, about being jaded, and I've said something similar before about how the same issues and arguments get recycled, and the same posters take the same fixed positions. Nobody ever learns anything, or concedes a point...

    But, the big issue for me now is that CiF is an intolerant venue. I don't know whether it's because the mods are younger, cheaper and therefore less discerning, but it's been getting on for 4 weeks now that I've been in pre-mod and I'm getting sick and fucking tired of being there. The most ludicrous thing is that I had a post deleted last week on one of Jenkins' threads about 12 hours after it was posted, even though, obviously, it had gone through the mods first.

    When you're in pre-mod, and when, as like today it's a Bank Holiday so they've got a skeleton staff on, you've got no chance of getting anything published within an hour or two of it being posted, so there's no possibility of debating an issue with another poster.

    Cif's dying on its arse, and rightly so. Matt Seaton's got a fuckin lot to answer for.

    If you're reading this btw, Matt, give me or someone else on here an open, unmoderated blog, to discuss where Cif's going wrong atm. Be brave, and let Comment be free.

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  7. @olching - I didn't see Hansen on MOTD but I've heard about it. Dunno why but it seems like there's more of a storm brewing about Hillsborough now on the 20th anniversary than there was on the 10th. Affected me quite badly personally this time, maybe it's a symptom of getting older, but if you've been following the GMG's coverage closely, I did text my brother when he was at the Liv-Chelski game last week to ask him whether he felt like he'd come home....

    Dunno whether you bought the Obs yesterday but this was a good piece....

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/apr/12/hillsborough-disaster-adrian-tempany

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  8. Thanks for the link, Hank.

    Were you there at the time, in the Forest end?

    I think it's perhaps a bit more real 20 years on, because there's also some shift going on in society. Hillsborough was quite silenced in the 10 - 15 years after the event. Of course we had reports on it, and the 10th anniversary, but it was very low key. Perhaps it coincides with the end of what followed in the 90s and 00s (Blair, spin, Cool Britannia) that has forced society to look back and address the unaddressed.

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  9. Seen 'em, Hank. Kubrik's first movie and the great Billy Wilder. BATB and TWIT - both Vincente Minelli.

    Kirk's done some awful shit, but I'm seeing a connection here between his good performances and the director in charge.

    Re Cif - RIP. Shit writers, bizarre or repetitive topics, pointless moderation. And Matt will be seeking other challenges elsewhere quite soon, I confidently predict.

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  10. Olching, yup, I was there in the Forest end and my little bruv was in the Leppings Lane.

    @scherfig - yeh, Wilder has directed so many great filums, comedies, dramas and thrillers, but has never got the kudos that the likes of Hitch, Ford and Hawks got.

    As for Cif, well, sad but true. If Matt leaves, things might pick up.

    Wouldn't it be good though if one of our agents on the inside used their favoured-teadrinker status to draw attention to the situation, the banned, the pre-modded and the disenchanted....

    I miss monkeyfish, bitterweed et al. Haven't seen martillo for a while...

    This is no fun. This is no fun at all. No fun.

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  11. Hank, your posts are up on Sauven's thread. Bitterweed is still around; I've seen him posting. Monkey's been away for a week perhaps, but it is Easter.

    Didn't realise you were at the ground, even less so of course that your younger brother was in the Leppings Lane. Cannot even imagine what it was like.

    I'm away for a bit...hope the cunts at CiF sort out your pre-mod status. Take it easy.

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  12. Btw olching, I've just checked the Sauven thread. My post has finally been published, three hours after the event. 8.12pm iirc.

    What's the difference between "persona non grata" and "death by a thousand moderations"?

    Fucking joke.

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  13. Hank, I don't quite know what to say. Earlier today, I checked your profile to see how long it'd been since you'd posted (see the phone booth). Saw the comment you'd left on Saturday on the Lacey blog and was a bit surprised that it was something you'd make a 200 mile trip for. I understand why now. Give my best to your brother - I hope that he'll be able to be a regular at the Kop again.

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  14. Yeah, all thoughts with you & yours this week Hank.

    I've been around, but off work and on pretty much full-time childcare, hence the unusual quietness.

    Anyone know the story of Woolly's demise?

    Saw people talking about it on the last Andrew Brown blog, checked his profile, and he does indeed appear to have been disappeared.

    Daba dum dum dum. Another one bites the dust.

    Bland conformity here we come.

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  15. If WML is resurrected won't he have shot himself in the foot a bit?

    There's a metaphysical dilemma...........

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  16. Yes, it's perplexing, Dotterel. See my comment in the phonebooth.
    http://amexphonebooth.blogspot.com/2009/03/so-here-we-are.html#comments

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  17. Sorry scherfig, I can't get into the phone booth, what did you say?

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  18. Christ i've missed a lot, Woolly has been disappeared? When was this? Little fascist bastards....

    I dont know whats been going on over easter but CIF has been extremely boring lately, there's no life in it at the moment, its the same old topics regurgitated without any new perspective at all. Very dull. I have been able to get some work done though.

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  19. Dot, you should join up. Comment was:

    Woolly will rise again. It may not be after 3 days, it may be after 30 days, but he WILL rise again. The old woolly "died" at easter-time, but the new woolly will reappear. Some will doubt him, but his message will be spread by believers and when he is finally carried up to Cif heaven after forty days, his followers will rejoice, and they will be legion.

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  20. Jay, agreed. But there's an amusing semi-lively debate on some new guy's trashing of Shakespeare. Shades of Bidisha.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/14/shakespeare-theatre?commentpage=1

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  21. Well I'm back...been camping in the Dales ...fuckin excellent stuff.

    Still in pre-mod...got one through last night: namely, the comment...

    "I agree"

    I might get adventurous later and go for

    "I disagree"...bit 'vexacious' but you never know, I might get lucky.

    Gotta say: I haven't missed cif one bit. It's right off the boil and they're obviously still mid-purge. It was interesting the way they steered clear of the McBride/Draper fiasco. Then again, Draper is a valued cif contributor despite his overweening arrogance, ignorance and lack of any principle, originality or common decency. So that explains that...

    Hank

    What did you get up and sing?

    Oh yeah...I was having a little mooch about last night, took in Harry's place and Liberal Conspiracy. Who'd you think I keep bumping into?

    Here's a clue: Zanulab ROFLMAO >:-0


    That's right...silent hunter
    Say what you like about the guy but he just can't leave the 'left wing blogs' alone.

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  22. Montana and Ally - thanks guys. Had a good drink with my brother at the weekend. I think he'll be glad when tomorrow's out of the way, like a lot of others I guess. Let's hope all the families get justice and a kind of peace some time soon.

    Hi mf - "You've Lost That Loving Feeling". Badly. Never seen so many good pub singers. Glad to hear you were in the Dales, I thought the coked-up Everton fan who we got talking to (opening gambit "Forest fans? You Executive Crew then?") might have been you...

    He's a busy little bee, our old mate, silenthunter. Harry's Place, Liberal Conspiracy, Atomboy's blog, Guardian Soulmates.

    Sorry to hear that Nemesis has been banned. I always enjoyed our post-midnight drunken chats. I saw a post in his own inimitable style a few days ago under a new name, NemesistheMorlock. I thought he could have tried a bit harder to throw the mods off his trail tbh!

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  23. Breaking News! I e-mailed the mods last night demanding the restoration of full posting rights.
    The final straw apparently. I no longer have the "submit comment" option and my profile has been wiped clean.

    It's all over! Bastards.

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  24. Hank, RIP. No consolation, but your comments are still extant on the threads where you posted (eg. Sauven.) This really is a strange turn of events. A bit like the purging of the Templars on Friday 13th, 1307 by Philip IV (Matt Seaton). Not that I'm suggesting that you worship Bahomet's head, I hasten to add.

    It will be interesting to see if Cif prints anything about a new comments policy or new moderation rules. I suspect not.

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  25. I suspect not too, scherfig. Just posted a fuller account of the circs and my feelings over at the phonebooth.

    On the upside, there's no excuse now for me not to dust off my Kirk Douglas DVDs (-;

    "I'm Spartacus!"

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  26. Dot! Yo, Dot! Email me: thewildhackATgmailDOTCom

    You'll get an invite to the phone booth.

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  27. The world's gone fucking mad. CIF without Woolly is just...well...WRONG. I have no idea what they are thinking. The site is losing all its interesting characters. It's going to be dullsville.
    I'd actually decided to have a bit of a CIF holiday. I've got a college course to finish which is totally dependent on coursework which hasn't yet been completed. At this rate there won't be anything worth going back for.

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  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  29. Hey all,

    I have not posted nearly as much as you lot but I think I understand the cifatigue you seem to be experiencing... I have seen perfectly reasonable comments gone and a lot of what remains is rehashing of old and often effectively rebutted arguments again and again. It really does get old. And there does seem to be a definite change in cif comment policy... And added to that they seem to be censoring on a grand ole scale. Though I may not always agree with your opinions, you all at least explain your pov well and I am not so set in my opinions that I don't welcome others thoughts and feelings, even feel sympathetic.

    Plus I really want to be invited to the phonebox.

    Go on - it's like a red flag to a bull... ;-) (I mean the secret society... C'mon! what are you lot talking about? I wont tell anyone, I promise)

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  30. Oh and it has been quiet - I have missed reading your comments. (< sulk>you've probably all been off at your secret society having fun and all < /sulk>)

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  31. I wouldn't be over keen if I were you original. The problem with a miniature world in a phone booth is that it only takes one fart and the entire population is asphyxiated

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  32. So you were at Hillsboro' Hank? I was in the area at the time, I could see the ambulances going over to Shefield and remember wondering what it could be.

    Several of my colleagues had relatives who were there that day none were among the dead but they were all traumatised.

    They victims have been on my mind too. I'm no footty fan but that was wider than football wasn't it?

    Remember the 'coverage' by the Sun? Very similar to the coverage of the G20 protests they don't change do they?

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  33. Olching I think you have a point there, I think the G20 has brought the issue of policing to the fore and this has sensitised us to unresolved issues like Hillsborough and the murder of Blair Peach.

    I met Blair at NUT conference the weekend before he was killed. A bit of a nutter but a nice one! He was also a very caring inspirational teacher of physically frail children. I still have the book of poems by the children he taught.

    Hank I think you are right we do feel things like that more keenly as we get older. I have to fight really hard not to go into weepy old lady mode when I think of some things.

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  34. Montana, will do, as soon as I sort out some "issues" with my "Dotterel" e-mail address!

    original, if you pull your toys back in your pram Montana might invite you too!

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  35. Hank that post is still there ... You haven't been obliterated.

    I really don't understand this am I missing something? we don't always agree and yes you sometimes abraisive(!) but compared to the completelynasty posts that run the whole gamut of misanthropy from misandry to misogyny its baffling! (always wanted to get those three in one sentence!)

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  36. Okay, Dot - I'll be watcing. And yes, original - if you promise to behave, I'll invite you, too. Send me an e-mail. (in my profile here)

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  37. Montana, done!

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  38. Sorry - yes I was being a little childish but in my defense I had had no dinner, a few beers and was surrounded by boys watching southpark...
    But I am generally well behaved :-)

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  39. I saw the shakespear thread - a new champion of banality has emerged.

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