Mildly interesting birthdays today: Paul Scofield (1922-2008), Benny Hill (1924-1992), Plácido Domingo (1941), and Edwin Starr (1942-2003).
It's National Hug Day here in the US. And Cinnamon comes home!
21 January 2010
21/01/10
Mildly interesting birthdays today: Paul Scofield (1922-2008), Benny Hill (1924-1992), Plácido Domingo (1941), and Edwin Starr (1942-2003).
It's National Hug Day here in the US. And Cinnamon comes home!
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Oh well, if there´s nothing much happening Gregorian calendar wise, today in the French Revolutionary Calendar it´s:
ReplyDeleteOctidi, 28 Nivose, Year 218 (CCXVIII)
Get lots of hugs Montana and kiss the cat for me.
ReplyDeleteScofield's King Lear is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the addition to your family!
Have a good day, everybody.
ReplyDelete:-)
Nice one, turminder and a welcome relief after reading the comments on various threads - Deborah Orr's on private education, Diane Abbot's on black unemployment, and the politics one relating to Harman.
ReplyDeleteQuiet round here this morning, innit?
BB last night:
ReplyDeleteBeing as how I live right near Gatwick, and we make sure we don't leave the landing light on at night just in case....
*grooooooaaaannnn*
PeterJ - "as any fule kno"
ReplyDeleteWell, my cultural hinterland is such that I do know my molesworth, but really struggle with the puppet-based sci-fi.
Hullo clouds, hullo sky...
I nearly bought Molesworth, once. Is it as good as legend hath it?
ReplyDeletePhilippa - you are a wet and a weed.
ReplyDeleteFW - Yes. Yes, it is.
And I now see that alongside the brutal invasion of Haiti, the mysterious West has full responsibility for buggering up Yemen with tons of aid. Don't they ever rest from their evil schemes?
And anyway,PB, it's puppet-based sci-fi with sexy chick pilots. The devil is in the detail.
ReplyDelete"And I now see that alongside the brutal invasion of Haiti, the mysterious West has full responsibility for buggering up Yemen with tons of aid. Don't they ever rest from their evil schemes?"
ReplyDeleteYep. It's all very well blaming the West, and fine when it's deserved, but for the Graun it just seems to trump every other cause. You can just feel them trying to find the angle to which they can attach that charge, rather than try to see the most important cause first. It also pisses me off that they never seem to apply the same blame game to others. We don't hear about the role of Egypt or the Soviets in Yemen, for example [no doubt Seaton is proving me wrong as I type], and how the USSR happily supported undemocratic regimes. [/MAM] Criticism's fine, it's just when it gets so damned one-sided that I get pissed off. It's the historian in me, I guess.
Fence - it's very good. Not every single bit, maybe, but there is gold in them thar hills. And some of the best bits are almost wordless - stalking the gerund springs to mind.
ReplyDeleteMy copy of 'the compleet molesworth' is falling apart. Get that - hours of fun for all the family hurrah hurrah.
Plus, there's "assembly of a wizzo spaceship" and "all about space" which should strike a chord...
I've heard the phrase stalking the gerund before.
ReplyDeleteTo Amazon!
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ReplyDeleteFW -Yes, all that. Plus the view of people in developing countries that gives them no agency of their own, but regards them as piles of plastic counters in some notional game of geopolitical Risk.
ReplyDeleteAye. They tend to deny them any role unless you have a situation where, e.g. Italian aid to Afghanistan goes to Italian companies and workers. Then it's "this has to be done locally". (OK, there's more nuance than that, depending on the writer, but it's a view that does come over all too often). Selective bloody outrage is the problem.
ReplyDeleteIt took them an age to even mention China and Africa, and it's not as if they're all over it now. Plenty on real or alleged Western wars for oil or whatever (and that's fine), but little on how China's need for oil shapes her attitude to Darfur, or her relations with Zimbabwe.
"how the USSR happily supported undemocratic regimes. [/MAM]"
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I'd describe MAM as an undemocratic regime, Fence.
PeterJ - good analogy. And then the western 'players' get cross when their playing pieces occasionally do what they f-ing want to do, for better or worse, leading to the players sweeping all the pieces off the board, throwing it on the floor, and stomping off to their bedroom, while Mum / the UN calls feebly after them 'don't slam the..' - [slam] - '...door...'
Then it's "this has to be done locally".
ReplyDelete- Which, btw, is my opinion, too.
"I'm not sure I'd describe MAM as an undemocratic regime"
ReplyDeleteWell, perhaps I'm over-egging that particular pudding. At the very least, election monitors should have been called in.
Molesworth? Unmissable!
ReplyDeleteI hear Nick Griffin's complaining about Haiti aid- says the money should stay in this country. What a loathesome attitude!
I have a little theory that the Brown thread was moderated at No. 10.
I wonder what "agency" the people of Haiti had over the earthquake? I just don't follow this notion. It's not dependency to need help in times of extreme emergency.
I don't think that's what he meant. Certainly not how I read it.
ReplyDeleteFreespeech,
ReplyDelete"I hear Nick Griffin's complaining about Haiti aid- says the money should stay in this country. What a loathesome attitude!"
Based solely on that I've just bunged MSF another £10 for Haiti!
Good ol' NG, just when you think he can go no lower, he slithers under a snails foot..
ReplyDeleteG. Osborne to repay £1700, expenses, "not deliberate and relatively minor" wtf?
If I do not declare a days work that I'm getting next week (<£60), I'd have to repay dole, and probably be prosecuted! As it is I'll lose a weeks benefit, god I hate those bastards..
I suppose at least in a few months' time you'll have a job, and lots of them won't.
ReplyDeleteturminder - you poor thing, you're missing the point. Osborne's contribution is so vital to the polity and economy of the country, and his chracter so unimpeachable, that it would be completely unreasonable to require him to meet set standards for financial probity. You, on the other hand, having no public standing, title, or full white tie in the wardrobe, are clearly a feckless freeloader who can't be trusted with anything. We should all be grovellingly grateful for the gruel that drops off the Parliamentary spoon, and woe betide that we should ever ask for more.
ReplyDeleteBah. Good luck on the continuing jobhun.
Don't suppose you fancy being the next Chancellor of the Exchequer? I know who I'd prefer.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Fence & Philippa. Have to reapply for the seasonal job I did last year, so at least that's more interview practice..
ReplyDeleteha ha Fence, I'll bung the CV in, plenty experience balancing a budget!
ReplyDeleteIdea for a new reality TV show, connected to the election. Various 'regular' people stand for positions of power in a 'cabinet of all the talents' (no party bias, just job-specific campaigning). The winners get to run things - kind of like PES 2010 - and after a decent period, say, 6 months, the results of the 'real' and the 'real people' governments are compared. Then, we have another election/referendum (November 2010) to see if we want to stick with the professionals, or replace them with decent, sane, sensible people instead.
ReplyDeleteSo we could end up with a chancellor who'd had experience of being unemployed while servicing debt, a GP in charge of Health, a squaddie in charge of the MOD, a regular cop in charge of the Home Office, and aid worker in charge of the FCO, and a small business owner in charge of the DTI. I bet you we'd be better off...
We could keep Mandy, though, as a sort of 'gonk' figure.
He could be a policy gonk.
ReplyDeleteFollowing from a suggestion on the TGA thread about separation of powers, this could work (in my own little dreamworld, of course) - let the general election be for arliament, but a separate election for the executive, where nobody who'd previously been 'in politics' would be allowed to stand. Give the new ministers the ability to move bills, addressing parliament to recruit support, and make all committees 50% 'real people' with relevant qualifications, 50% pols, to be elected by us as well. Make it a higher threshold for Parliament to knock down the recommendation of the committee/minister.
ReplyDeleteOoh, this is fun. Feel an utterly pointless blogpost coming on...
fence - no, he gets nowhere near policy. he gets to make the tea and nip out for biscuits.
ReplyDeletePhilippa
ReplyDelete"he gets to make the tea and nip out for biscuits"
You'd give him the most important job ?!?!?!?!
;-)
.
Here's what that nice Mr Griffin told the Euro parliament about giving aid to Haiti.
ReplyDeletephilippa
We could keep Mandy as a sort of 'gonk' figure? Nope, definitely not: show him the pigs.
Philippa
ReplyDeleteWhy should only ministers be able to move bills? In ancient Athens, anyone could. (well any man).
Fence
ReplyDeleteAny man who was a free man.
Dot - obviously, we'd send a minder with him, on-the-job trainingg, in the hope he'd end up with useful transferable skills...
ReplyDeleteFence - not only the ministers, but give them that ability (missing from the US system). And the ref to a higher standard to defeat (say 2/3 rather than simple mahjority) for a bill was if the minister and the committee agreed.
There could also be a 'direct access' system for putting bills - say, take over the number 10 opinion poll site, make them automatically an EDM if they get a certain number of supporters.
And, make it so all proposals had to be reviewed by, say, a three person panel, who could take it to committee for discussion if they thought it merited further consideration.
ReplyDeleteAfternoon all,
ReplyDeletePhilippa. Good suggestions. I am assuming you will be applying for Minister of sandwiches?
I´ve always gone for some type of state funding for political parties. When you see the donors and the benefactors of our Political Parties, you know they ain´t playing to the people´s tune.
I´ve been on the Deborah Orr article and one thing I have noted about right wingers. They bang on incessantly about individualism and freedom of choice EXCEPT when that freedom of choice does not follow their preset beliefs. Funny that.
Some choice cuts on the thread include
´´everyone should move if they can´t find work,´´ for justifying the wastelands of our post industrial landscapes.
When given some statistics to show the links between poverty and educational underachievement- ´´All Universities are left wing and produce statistics to back up those beliefs´´.
and my favourite-
´´There is a coloration between laziness and poverty and laziness has grown since 1979.´´
Oh, and I have ´´dangerous beliefs´´ for believing socio-economics is the fundamental cause of educational underachievement.
Ho hum.
McChin - I take your good point and raise you a "and man who was a free man and of proven Athenian parentage on both sides".
ReplyDeleteApart from that minor quibble, everyone, though.
Some sort of direct democracy, with parties atomised, is what I'd ideally like, but I can't see quite how it would work with such a big population, and with a fairly lamentable level of political education and news.
Freespeech - I think you may have misunderstood me. Of course the Haitians had no control over the earthquake and need every bit of the assistance they are thankfully getting.
ReplyDeleteIt's just that some of the historical comment now is like a highlights package, in which the Haitians themselves only play a bit-part role. Apart from their first appearance, of course, where they throw out the French colonial power. After that, in Milneworld, they disappear until the Americans turn up a hundred years later, then vanish again after the Marines leave until they mill around in the background of a Graham Greene novel and serve as victims of the Tontons Macoute. Another forty-year gap, and they're back as the victims of US interference in opposing, installing, kidnapping and attempting to reinstall Aristide as president. Another period offstage, and it's earthquake time.
Through all this, Haitians apparently don't do anything without some Western influence of some kind and without some Western observer looking on. They're like Schrodinger's Haitians.
PhilippaB - like that.
ReplyDelete"And, make it so all proposals had to be reviewed by, say, a three person panel, who could take it to committee for discussion if they thought it merited further consideration."
That's sort of what they did in Athens, too, though there were more people involved.
That's how I understood you, PeterJ.
ReplyDeleteFence
ReplyDeleteI raise you again with a 'not everyone, but only an elite group of blokes' could participate in the so-called democracy of ancient Greece. As a feminist who is from Yorkshire, I cannot countenance such a system !
And if we had local direct democracy by real people from my area, I'm not sure I'd like the results.
I'd modify your 'elite group of blokes' to "a tendency for an elite group of blokes ["metropolitan luvvies", GIYUS?] to dominate, with some chance of lesser folk breaking through".
ReplyDeleteAccept your doubts about direct democracy, hence my comments on education etc (though of course that could be me paternalistically saying "it won't work until they think like I do").
Fence
ReplyDeleteNever mind the game of democracy trumps right now ..
To the waiting world - I give you Bitey's new persona and claim my £5 for Turminder's rent fund. BTH even recommended one of his own alter ego's comments further down the thread. How sweet.
Hmmm, but while auxesis has a bitey-like meaning, oxoniensis doesn't - has he ever railed against 'the list'? if so, it seems an odd choice...
ReplyDelete"BTH even recommended one of his own alter ego's comments further down the thread. How sweet."
ReplyDeleteI do genuinely think Bitey's mental health is deteriorating. There was the strange outburst that got him banned, the ongoing saga with BB, now multiple new personas. He just doesnt seem well to me, in all seriousness.
I know, philippa, but
ReplyDelete"Having been labelled a man-hating one-man lynch mob earlier, I'm now being accused of being an unwitting saboteur of women's rights. Still, at least I escaped the allegations of racism which were being bandied about a while ago"
and
"This was a judgement on her, not on the events. Hence a moral judgement"
seem very familiar. Laters.
Jack Straw. Can the man get two words out without a caveat, a blunder or some halting piece of incompetence?
ReplyDeleteI think Jay's right, I also think the best thing we can do is just ignore BTH now: he's hardly going to take a suggestion of seeking help seriously.
ReplyDeleteWith that in mind, I reckon MsChin's right
"And if we had local direct democracy by real people from my area, I'm not sure I'd like the results."
I think we face the same problem science does WRT trying to organise and understand stuff our brains never evolved to cope with.
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ReplyDeleteCommenting on an aggragate of the posts above, i would say that some sort of much better social and political education would be in order stop the turkeys voting for christmas situation in the "free world".
ReplyDeleteOxoniensis has recently commented on:
ReplyDeleteSociety · Rape
Life and style · Women
UK news · Law · Crime
World news · Gender
You could guess it from just that... He may well be unwell, still an odious git tho...
How about my Txtarchy idea, but instead of a bit of fun (initial concept) You make it
a) Obligatory
ii) Sent to a representative sample
&)Govt has to legislat in line with the results...
medve
ReplyDelete"some sort of much better social and political education would be in order stop the turkeys voting for christmas situation in the "free world"."
Agreed, incidentally I'm for science education teaching kids how to interpret "studies say this" type statements too........
Dotterel:
ReplyDeleteI'm for science education teaching kids how to interpret "studies say this" type statements too
comprehension, numeracy .. encouragement to engage in independent critical thought .. quite a wish-list we have for the poor kids.
Oxoniensis has recently commented on
ReplyDeletecareful Tx,,that is only one thread,,any misrepresentation becomes fuel for the smoke without fire,, and that list of topics is misrepresentation,,
sock puppets all over the gaff again today eh? :)
13th Duke. Some real right wing gits there you are battling on that thread with your 'dangerous ideas'.
ReplyDeleteApologies if we have already discussed this - but I was just catching up on one of the Cadbury threads and someone posted that the Blair government removed the right in law to make a case for keeping an industry for the national interest, way back in 2000. I have no idea if this is true (didn't even know such a law existed) but if it did and if they did repeal it - why? What a strange thing for a Labour government to have done.
The Cabdury thread was actually quite reassuring - lots of people both left and right getting mightily sick of the onward march of global capital.
As always though I am sure the Libertarians and the Nationalists have the same feelings about the current situation as me but I know I would find their solutions even worse than what we have now - by a long chalk
Give kitty a cuddle from me Montana.
Found him! Allah, what shall fill my days now?
ReplyDeleteQuiet night in tonight ... fire's on, wine is poured! \o/
ReplyDeleteConsider yourselves warned.
Sorry I'm late in today, but even worse to have missed out on a Molesworth discussion . Chiz
ReplyDeleteThauma 'Fires on, wine is poured'. Oh that sounds so nice! I am craving a bar of diary milk after loitering on the Cadbury threads. Or some Buttons. Or a Flake. I need to get me some choclit!
ReplyDeleteOh one thing that did surprise me on those threads were how many people hate Cadbury's chocs. I love the stuff. I always try and be healthy by nibbling a bar of some dark fine chocolate or other but I always wish it was a giant bar of Fruit and Nut.
Gah - just realised that this 'by nibbling a bar of some dark fine chocolate or other' sounded a lot like someone else!
ReplyDeleteI see I missed a great discussion on the best spaceships the other night. It has to be anything off Battlestar Galactica - which both the cheesetastic original and the remake - was fantastic stuff.
Princess - I love Cadbury's too. Those who say it's not really chocolate can just fuck off - it hits all my chocolate-pleasure-receptors!
ReplyDeleteHaven't been on the thread, but as I understand it the CEO is getting 12 mil and they're going to lay people off? Disgusting. Show them the pigs.
Evening all
ReplyDeleteNot got through all the comments yet, but at this stage I have two things to say
"Not a sound could be heard, not a funeral note"
(Shut up, Peason, laughing)
"And his corse...and his corse..."
What's a corse, Sir? Gosh, is it?
and Nick Griffin has just made me decide to give more money to Haiti as well as buy the no-doubt awful record that Simon Cowell is organising too...
He really is as useful as a piece of dog-turd stuck to your shoe, that Griffin. Apparently he is off to the US again next month for the "No we aren't White Supremacists really" convention. Asshole.
Now to catch up with comments and CiF
(Shut up, Peason, laughing)
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, that's one of my favourites. As is the all-purpose Christmas thank-you postcard, and the guide to the school piano.
Thank God I brought my 'compleet' with me!
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ReplyDeleteRe you know who. I think he may well have signed up with a new nick because I think he must be in premod on the old one. I went to bed on the Buddhist thread the other night without one of his comments and looked at it the next day and it was there and logged a good 10 mins before my closing one the night before. Whence, I presume, his desire to set himself up again just in case, tha knows...
ReplyDeleteEvening everyone
ReplyDeleteMsC - I see bitey is giving you a hard time now - hey ho, it seems we all have to take our turn. What a sad little life he must have. It must really infuriate him that so many UT women have now gone atl.
As for Griffin...you said it BB! I watched a thing on bnp wives the other night - what a bunch! They also filmed some bnp knees up in a field in darkest Derbyshire - there was hardly anyone there, unless of course they were all hiding from the cameras because they didn't want to be identified.
Thauma - Yes Cadbury's is the best! Especially the new Giant Chocolate Buttons - lovely snap to them if you put em in the fridge for a while.
ReplyDeleteSheff - I watched that BNP Wives. That whole thing in the field was weird. That crazy woman - reading her poetry. I had tears of laughter running down my face when she was stood there trying to read this (rubbish) poetry to these nazi's - brilliant. But what a god awful bunch.
One of them (think it was the poetry woman) actually said about the holocaust 'but some good things did come out of what they did, such as advances in dentistry'. At that point I just wanted to smack her in the mouth.
I too shall up my redcross donation just to spite Griffers.
Where's Bitey giving MsC a hard time?
ReplyDeleteMsC, do you have a teenage son? 'Cos that seems to be his primary motivation for attacks. He's got it in for Deborah Orr too, and I think she mentioned she had one.
Princess - mm, Santa brought me some giant buttons for xmas. Can't agree with you on the fridge thing though; I like them melting in the mouth.
ReplyDeleteSpeechless on the 'but some good things did come out of it'.
Princess
ReplyDeleteThe prog did make them look like total half wits. I wonder if they saw that or not. That woman with the white hair from down south somewhere came across as a really arrogant, white supremacist cow.
*Irony meter explosion*
ReplyDeleteBru has just posted a comment about 'good manners' on Waddya....
Talking of chocolate a young Iranian bloke I've got staying in my spare room bought me a bottle of whisky and a box of ferero rochet for xmas. I don't eat much chocolate and have never had them before - infact only know from that horrible ad. What are they like? Are they worth eating or shall I pass them on to someone else?
ReplyDeleteI like Ferero roche, quite light wee morsels. Nick Griffin seems to be doing a good fundraising effort. Saw bru's post, irony switch snapped right off, eh?
ReplyDelete*grumble*
ReplyDeleteI suggested the sandwich thread.
*grumble*
Ferrero rocher are lush, Sheff. Very light, with a hazelnut in a kind of creamy choc centre, then wafer, then dipped in choc and crushed nuts.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't want them can you upload them onto here and I will have em? :p
Dunno, Sheff, never had them! I'd certainly give 'em a go though.
ReplyDeleteChocolate and whiskey don't go together all that well, however. Tea, coffee or wine.
I'll bring 'em to the saturday club Thauma. Although I don't suppose they go with beer either.
ReplyDeleteOops, I couldn't help posting a response.
ReplyDeleteBrill, Sheff - c'mon, BB, you *have* to turn up now!!
ReplyDelete(There is wine, albeit of a rather inferior quality, at t'pub.)
I thought Gegenbespiel started talking about sarnies... It's a team game to, eh? We could get Bitey to analyse the data? I'll help you out with that whisky Sheff.. ;)
ReplyDeleteTeam game tho... doh!
ReplyDeleteThauma
ReplyDeleteIt's not real chocolate. Sorry.
I'll buy you a pint on Saturday to make it right though ;-)
where is this griffin post - I can't find it.
ReplyDeleteEvening all,
ReplyDeleteHope everyone enjoys the get together, I'm very jealous.
However in the spirit of things I may order a couple bottles of Buckfast to be put behind the bar for you.
Thaum, I wish I could, really I do! But we have got to go to this civic ball on Saturday night - posh frocks and djs and shit. My other half was invited because of community stuff he is involved in and we had already agreed. I would much rather be up there with you lot instead, believe me! :(
ReplyDeleteBW - pint of wine? OK by me. ;-)
ReplyDeleteBB - surely you can plead some sort of maidenly indisposition? (Almost typed 'indiscretion'!)
See, now, there is Heineken Cup rugby on this Saturday (I had carefully scheduled the original one around the rugby) and as we know that certain attendees are anti-rwgbi bigots, I am going to have to give up that pleasure (although I might jump up and check the scores once in a while). So we are all making sacrifices here.
Indiscretion is more likely Thaum :o)
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen this Roy Greenslade blog about Rod Liddle posting on a Millwall fans site? The comments below are hilarious especially when Liddle himself gets involved.
ReplyDeletethauma
ReplyDeleteI think I've got the directions sussed - the pubs on the south side of Leamington on the B4087. Is it signed to Bishops Tachbrook or should we look for something else?
Very jealous of the gathering - might just be tempted to get out of my sick bed if the Ferrero Rocher are coming out.
ReplyDeleteI expect they eat a lot of them in Belgium at all the important gatherings of beautiful, intelligent, well bred people.
Yes Sheff - the BNP women were truly bloody awful. I liked it when that woman passed by and started giving em stick, when they had set up one of their little race-hate tables of doom, on the high street. Good on her for having a go.
13thDuke - what is this buckfast of which you speak? Is it better than maddog2020 - mixed with a castaway? Or as it was known in my day a blastaway (although some heathens made it with diamond white and castaway.)
Oscar Wilde once said that:
ReplyDelete'Good manners are like an aging dowager who eloquently praises beautiful young women and courteous real men and the virtue of theatre as opposed to real life. Politely lamenting the demise of class hierarchy and rudely despising the dangerously intelligent working class is considered de rigeur. I have much sympathy with such views and they are undoubtedly the epitome of breeding and sophistication. I fear, however, that they will not survive beyond the turn of the century'.
Seems that Oscar was wrong.
Sheff - the pub's in Whitnash, just outside Leam. I assume you're coming down the M40? Take the Leamington exit (NOT Warwick, which is just before); try not to go through Leam, though, as it's a mess. There is a back way that Google maps will surely show you.
ReplyDeleteIt is on the Tachbrook Road, but if you follow the signs to Tach, that won't get you there, although you won't be far off. I think the signs will initially point to something like 'industrial estates'.
I sent MsChin my mobile number in case you get lost, but I'll try to find some better directions in a while; dinner is ready now though!
princess,
ReplyDeleteBuckfast otherwise known as ''wreck the hoose juice'' is the tipple of choice for the West of Scotland burberry cap, white tracksuit wearing connoissuer.
Although made by religious Monks in Devon,it is almost entirely exported to the West of Scotland.
The chaos wreaked by those ''pyoorpished'' on Buckfast can only be compared with the chaos wreaked by God on Sodom and Gommorah.
Hang on - are you saying Griffin has got a piece up on CiF?!!
ReplyDeleteThauma
ReplyDeleteFound Whitnash on the map - was thinking of coming down the A46, join the M40 at Junction 15 - then off at Junction 13 towards Whitnash. MsC may have plotted another route though.
Ha ha I like the slogan 'three small glasses a day for good health and lively blood'. My blood is feeling a little dull of late so I might give it a go.
ReplyDeleteDoes it taste like Benedictine then? My ignorance of this marvellous medicine knows no bounds.
Sherf - lol.
Sheff,
ReplyDeleteIf you've looked at Google Maps for directions, I don't think that gives you the best route, as it takes you through Leam.
I've tried to modify and save here - hope it works! Basically, take the A46 to the M40 S junction, take the M40 S, then take the very next exit off the M40 - less than a mile.
It tastes like fortified wine, sweet, rich, with a wee j ne sais quoi, which is actually the caffeine. I visited the abbey, was built in a very short time by a dozen or so monks, again, one suspects the caffeine...
ReplyDeleteMissed a couple of posts!
ReplyDeleteScherfig - brilliant quote - and nice to see you still around!
BW
Who's your team by the way thaum ??
Any Irish side will do me (so to speak), but of course I am an Ulsterwoman. Ulster will be bloody lucky to make it out of the pools, but I'd be equally happy with either Leinster or Munster winning it.
Princess
ReplyDeleteA documentary from the Beeb that might interest you
The Buckfast Code
Sheff - luckily that modification seems to have worked. Of course I've just listed the departure point as "Sheffield", so make your own adjustments there!
ReplyDeleteThe pub is right on the corner of the destination point on the map.
some cool reaver spaceships
ReplyDeleteThe movie is 'Serenity'. I highly recommend it (and also the TV series 'Firefly').
I see. Well, in theory I'm a Saints supporter. Won't they have it on in the boozer ??
ReplyDeleteBW - unaccountably, most of the rugby fans are Celts. A sad preponderance of Welsh. There are 3 screens, and usually 2 are taken up by the ungodly footie, and one reserved for rugby, so we have limited choices.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it seems that the so-called Saints are playing Munster (pbut) on the Friday night?
C'MON ROG!
ReplyDeleteC'MON POC!
C'MON DOC!
*wipes brow*
Sorry, don't know what came over me there....
Philippa - Chagall has corrected certain factual errors on Waddya!
ReplyDeleteSerenity! Bloody awesome film. And Firefly was brilliant too. I dunno why it disappeared, although wasn't it around the time of the writers' strikes in Hollywood, so that might have killed it off?
ReplyDeleteOMFG
ReplyDeleteChagall:
Fraid not, brusselsexpats. It was PhilippaB's own suggestion. Perhaps 'good manners' would require you to apologise to Philippa for your mistake and also congratulate her for an excellent article?
Bru:
Ill-mannered yobbery is your forte not mine.
Even though the irony-meter has already exploded, it's just done it again.
Serenity was grand, I suspect that like Carnivale it was too intelligent for the focus groups, and thus got pulled, since Quantum Leap, and before no doubt, twas ever thus...
ReplyDeleteDidn't the studio execs make them change the sequence of episodes so the train robbery (the weakest one) came second?
ReplyDeleteBrilliant series, brilliant film (Chiwetel Ejiofor's fanbloodytastic). Worth watching the extras on the series DVD - Nathan Fillon's a damn funny guy.
turminder, user review of Firefly from IMDb (the series gets an unprecedented 9.5/10.)
ReplyDeleteAs with BtVS, the world is divided into people who get Firefly and people who don't. In this series Joss Whedon created one of the most realistic post-war visions of the future ever committed to tape, that at the same time spoke about yesterday and today. Maybe a little too much today for its own good.
The series is anti-corporate, anti-government and, while it takes the stand that some things are worth fighting for, it is largely anti-war. No wonder FOX did everything in its power to kill it off, including airing episodes out of order, skipping weeks after airing only three eps and, inevitably canceling the show without even airing episodes 12, 13 and 14 (out of 15). This was particularly damaging, as Firefly had a greater sense of ongoing plot than any other Whedon series in its first year. Viewers were left wondering, on more than one occasion, when a character would reference something we hadn't seen yet.
The backstage dramatics aside, Firefly is intelligent and, like Buffy, mythic - except this time Whedon is dealing with the myth of America: the Frontier, the Civil War, the rise of the Corporation, etc . . .
Firefly is a demanding show. It asks its audience to appreciate the shades of grey in its characters' moral scale. The villains are not comfortingly dressed as an alien race. In 500 years mankind will still be its own worst enemy. Technology will be in the hands of a privileged few, and others will in "The Black" - Whedon's frontier third world - where it is possible to exist without the interference (or benefit) of civilization and government. Things will be dirty, and used. Firefly creates a universe that almost totally opposes that of (that bastion of television sci-fi) Star Trek: its Federation-like central power (the Alliance) is interpreted as being oppressive and dystopic. We are on the side of those who resisted (like the Maqui) and lost.
The acting is strong, the writing as excellent, funny and moving as on any Whedon show, and the effects and sets create a consistent, believable world. It is a shame the series didn't have a more hospitable environment in which to grow and become all it could have been.
That's not a bad summimg-up imho.
Very good review sherfig, I think Whedon sez on the DVD that the film was a chance to tie up loose ends, (eg it explains the setting, in a single solar system, which was vague in the epps) criminal it folded..
ReplyDeleteAny body watch Carnivale? It was fucking epic! I really miss it...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319969/usercomments
ReplyDelete9/10 should be 11!
Have heard a lot about Carnevale, but haven't seen it yet. Will do so now! thx folks.
ReplyDelete@ sherfig. I rented the dvds from lovefilm, want to buy them...
ReplyDeletedo be warned it does leave you hanging...
Hi guys - I think Whedon is a genius. I read an interview with him in which he said that he didn't pick the Buffy cast on the basis of acting ability - he said he trained them by making them do group Shakespeare readings (must have been some exceptions, Anthony Head was good in that coffee ad). He also said that David Boreanz gave a poor audition for Angel, but as all the women stopped breathing when he walked past he decided to have him.
ReplyDeleteWomen keep breathing when I walk past!
Scherfig - sounds very interesting! Almost makes me wish I had a telly so I could watch it....
ReplyDeleteWomen used to hold their breath when i walked past, but i've resolved to shower more often ;)
ReplyDeleteWhedon's comics are good too. Try Fray you can get it as a graphic novel..
@ Thaumaturge, you can borrow the dvd's I have the complete Firefly and the movie serenity, watch them on your 'puter..
ReplyDeleteBW - you've got mail, mate...
ReplyDeleteTurminder - many thanks for the offer, but my dvd drive is currently fuxxord; need to buy a cleaner for it! Thank zeus for YouTube, 'cos I'm getting really sick of listening to the same shit I have saved on my hard drive.
ReplyDeleteBloody hell. Just revisited Milneworld, and the first 'it's all about oil' comment has arrived...
ReplyDeleteHi All
ReplyDeleteturminderxuss--Carnivale was an excellent series, a bit freaky though. Was disappointed when it was cancelled.
Would love to hoist a pint of wine with those at the UT gathering , but alas, the 6000 mile journey is a bit much. Ladies, please don't oppress the men too much.
Boudican, it's very sad that you aren't willing to make such a small sacrifice.
ReplyDeleteLadies, please don't oppress the men too much.
Don't be daft; this is what we all live for.
Anyway, over and out for tonight.... Sweet dreams to all when you catch up!
Ah serenity and firefly - excellent I thought - pity the series was dropped. Recently there seems to be a lot of shows commissioned and then dropped only seven or eight eps in (none of them as good as the above but it seems to be a bit of a trend right now) - I wonder if it is the credit crunch.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the Sarah Connor Chronicles too (sad I know) and they were axed as well. Basically just love my sci fi pretty much however it comes - except with puppets because they freak me out - so Thunderbirds is right out.
Never seen Carnivale but it sounds interesting.
Sheff thanks for the link will have a look see. Read up on the old Buckie just now - it seems it is to blame for all sorts of mayhem if the Beeb is to be believed.
I am off for an early night as I got no kip last night. Night and bless and Montana if you drop in later - hello to Cinnamon.
Malcolm Reynolds, how could you!
ReplyDeleteSweet dreams pals...
Hank
ReplyDeleteGot it - reply in post.
No Historical events worth typing about??
ReplyDeleteNone of you lot were at Villa Park last night!
When I was young,
I had a dream,
to watch,
the greatest football team,
And now today, the dream is real,
with Randy Lerner,
and Martin O'Neill...
If anybody has ant idea as to what time I fell out of the Aston Social last night, could they be so kind as to give me a hint?
staybryte
ReplyDeleteHa - you're villa are you ? Fair play, it was pretty entertaining.
Right, hitting the hay...
ReplyDeleteI am still a huge Buffy fan. Sad I know, but I watch all the reruns whenever they are on. The dialogue is sharp, the characterisations are superb, and the piss-taking is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteAnd the last ever episode when all the girls in the world were turned into slayers made me cry...
I told you I was sad.
congrats staybrite
ReplyDeleteI'm a liverpool fan. I've lots the will to live...
lost even
ReplyDeletebah.
Bitterweed,
ReplyDeleteEntertaining? It nearly killed me my friend. The lads around me had to hold me down when Blackburn scored their last one. The horrible, sick feeling of imminent disaster and the memories of previous collapses reduced me to a gibbering wreck. So no change there...
staybryte
ReplyDelete"The horrible, sick feeling of imminent disaster and the memories of previous collapses reduced me to a gibbering wreck"
Tell me about it, I was babysitting a City fan on Tuesday. The extra time nearly killed him.
"It nearly killed me."
ReplyDeleteI wasn't following it, but if I had, knowing what I do now, I'd have been cheering Rovers on for just one more goal...
Btw, staybryte, the SYorks/Midlands branch of the UT Massive are meeting up in Warwick on Saturday.
ReplyDeleteWould be good to see you there.
How about a couple of old standards?
ReplyDeleteFly the ocean in a silver plane
See the jungle when it's wet with rain.
Sun lights up the morning
Moon lights up the night
Ooh, and one more.
ReplyDeleteI could say, "Bella, bella"
Even sehr wunderbar
Love the old music, Montana. Here's something newer, but still a classic.
ReplyDeleteOooh, haven't heard that for ages. That one always makes me think of this one for some reason.
ReplyDeleteBuzzin tonight.
ReplyDeleteTime for some funk.
ReplyDeleteDamn, I'm in Jr. High again.
ReplyDeleteHi Montana, Habib and any others out there. Good tunes, old, but what the hell, so am I. Cheap trick were in diapers when I was in junior high. Still like them though.
ReplyDeleteHey Boudican! Thanks for making me feel young. Usually when I think how long ago that was, it makes me feel like an old wrinkly.
ReplyDeleteHiya Boudican, I was nearly grown up when this one came out.
ReplyDeleteStill feel that way. (nearly grown up)
ReplyDeleteThis one's probably better without the visuals.
ReplyDeleteHere's to losing street cred for a love far away.
ReplyDeleteMorning all - has Montana fallen asleep over her keyboard?
ReplyDelete