Recent posts

#1

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 03:15:25 PM

This thread's made me realise how much of an Atlantic gap there is on sitcoms - at least until the 90s maybe.

A lot of those mentioned here I've never heard of, some I think I've only heard of because of gags in Family Guy or the Simpsons (like Three's Company, I think) and some I'm aware of. But I think Mork and Mindy, Married with Children and Roseanne are the only ones I've ever actually seen/made it to UK TV.

Linear TV childhood - different world

#2

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 03:10:48 PM

Once again looking at Germany with envy for their Green Party

jonn elledge
@JonnElledge
I'm trying to wean myself off my recent addiction to being mean to Greens on Twitter, but one of them has just put out a campaign video listing 35 reasons to vote Green and one of them is "zero murders" and come on

Not really sure "zero murders" is a policy (also has "zero road deaths" which again is very much not a policy). It's not like murders happen because Sadiq Khan isn't opposed to them.

#3

Off the Record / Re: Dead Pool 2024

Last post by Syt - Today at 02:46:46 PM

RIP Terry Carter, age 95.

#4

Off the Record / Re: NHL Hockey thread

Last post by Valmy - Today at 12:47:18 PM

The Rangers were just hanging out and then whenever the Caps would score they would wake up and kick some ass for a bit, take a lead, and then just hang out again. On the plus side the Caps were not blown out but on the negative side they actually lost a one goal game. Oh dear, the one thing they were really good at...

#5

Off the Record / Re: What does a BIDEN Presiden...

Last post by Valmy - Today at 12:32:19 PM

My grandfather was a Lutheran pastor and served a term as a Bishop in the ELCA.  I remember him telling me that during his term he had argued in favor of endorsing some newer revision of the Bible because he wanted the Message to be as clear as possible to as many people as possible, but there were conservatives who disagreed and ultimately they made no change to their recommended translation of the Bible for congregations... or something along those lines (this was in the 1980s so my memory is a bit fuzzy on the specifics).

It's weirdly ironic. Translating the Bible into language people could understand (English, German etc.) without need for interlocutors in the form of pastors/priests was once a transgressive and groundbreaking move. Now, these centuries old translations have become more difficult to understand for contemporary Christians, but now you have again some conservatives pushing back on updating translations, sticking to the old ones.

Its funny though, because these colloquial translations might have made things harder for modern folk to read than if they'd stuck to more formal English at the time.
Always strikes me as funny when you get low grade fiction having a historic person speaking polite ye olde English throwing around thou et al. English mostly lost its impolite forms. Its the polite formal forms we kept.
Like imagine a bible translation using all the hippest 1970s language. This tends to be a bit of a problem with modern language takes; they go too far in trying to be trendy.

Huh. I have never heard a criticism that the NIV is just too full of hip slang terms.

#6

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by HVC - Today at 12:32:13 PM

What was the candle situation on the show?

Mostly exterior or near exterior shots to save money. Need for candle lighting was diminished

#7

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 11:42:31 AM

I had forgotten that Laverne and Shirley were roommates. 

Yes. That's why they had their initials on their shirts so they won't mix them up.

My boyhood crush on Shirley may have caused the details to elude me.

#8

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Josephus - Today at 10:21:36 AM

Thinking about it some more, I guess the "average Joe" series are mostly workplace comedies now? The Office, Superstore, etc?

I think so.

But I was thinking about your post and how we've shifted. Were there any sitcoms about friends or flatmates etc (not family and not colleagues) before the 90s? I can't think of any off the top of my head

Edit: Actually in a British context - maybe Hancock's Half Hour and Rising Damp.

Three's company

Bosom Buddies (with Tom Hanks), Perfect Strangers, maybe Mork & Mindy?  Also Laverne & Shirley.


(I watched way too much TV as a kid.)

I had forgotten that Laverne and Shirley were roommates.   

Yes. That's why they had their initials on their shirts so they won't mix them up.

#9

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 09:54:01 AM

Thinking about it some more, I guess the "average Joe" series are mostly workplace comedies now? The Office, Superstore, etc?

I think so.

But I was thinking about your post and how we've shifted. Were there any sitcoms about friends or flatmates etc (not family and not colleagues) before the 90s? I can't think of any off the top of my head

Edit: Actually in a British context - maybe Hancock's Half Hour and Rising Damp.

Three's company

Bosom Buddies (with Tom Hanks), Perfect Strangers, maybe Mork & Mindy?  Also Laverne & Shirley.


(I watched way too much TV as a kid.)

I had forgotten that Laverne and Shirley were roommates.   

#10

Off the Record / Re: Indian Elections 2024

Last post by Gups - Today at 08:42:24 AM

I get that am I'm suggesting they're lying.  That at least in part the reason they feel animosity towards Islam is because it was the religion of the conqueror.  The religion of the tax collector, of the judge, of the punisher.  that if, as in Indonesia, a couple Gulf merchants had shown up and told them about this great religion that helps you stop drinking so much, they would not feel the same animosity.

So I really tend to dislike the casual use of the word "lying".

In order to lie, you have to know what you're saying is false, and yet say it anyways.  If you believe in something false and say it, you're not lying.  An ardent flat earther is not lying when he/she says the world is flat - they are just badly mistaken.

So sure - in some alternate history, maybe the relationship between hindus and muslims would be completely different.  But as they say - if grandma had wheels, she'd be a wagon.

The BJP views islam as the religion of foreign invaders.  Whether they're right to or not doesn't really matter.

They may say that, and it may even have some slight basis in truth but he real reason is that most converts to Islam came from the dalits (outcasts/untouchables. The BJP and Hindu nationalists are fundamentally an upper caste movement which looks down on the lower casts and sees them as something less than human. That accounts for a part of the hatred of Muslims. There is also an important political dimension - in order to win support from the lower and lower-middle castes who are naturally distrustful of a mainly upper caste movement, it helps to present Muslims as the enemy within and to promote the idea of hindus having to stand against an enemy within. A somewhat trite analogy would be planation owners persuading poor whites to stand with them against the north and emancipation.

All that said, and much as I hate the BJP and Modi, India is not an authoritarian dictatorship, though it is certainly trending in that direction. It is too diverse, with too much power in the states and with some (though sadly less than formerly) independence in the judiciary.