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#1
Off the Record / Re: Football (Soccer) Thread
Last post by Josquius - Today at 05:49:50 AM
Faroe Islands beat Czechia. They just need to beat Croatia and hope the Czechs don't win their next game and then they qualify. :w00t:

....yeah. Probably not happening. But I guess the Czechs are freaking out anyway.
#2
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by Richard Hakluyt - Today at 05:47:43 AM
Quote from: Norgy on Today at 04:50:52 AM
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on October 12, 2025, 05:15:42 AMmost of the good folk who comment at the Daily Mail think Starmer is a marxist. One has to wonder what their definition of marxist is? "Person i disagree with" perhaps  :hmm:


The same with globalist. It has sort of replaced international Jewry in the narrative.

I think Sir Keir Starmer's Marxist credentials are somewhat weak.  :lol:

I think he would be too right wing to be in Ted Heath's cabinet back in the 1970s  :lol:
#3
Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread
Last post by mongers - Today at 05:46:01 AM
Quote
Quote'The Goodfather II' - seen for the first time, Al Pacino rules, no meaningful artistic comments from me.

Is the third one worth a viewing?
Yes, because it's the last one in the series and it brings closure to the series, but it's not as good as the other 2.

There is apparently a final cut of the movie, as seen by Coppola, recently released.  I have not read the reiews.

Thanks GF, I'll give it a viewing. The version now on Netflix is the 'final director's edit' you mentioned, so should be interesting.
#4
Off the Record / Re: Football (Soccer) Thread
Last post by Norgy - Today at 05:04:32 AM
Norway had a problem with Estonia away, but snatched a win. They're not a bad team.

Albania beating Serbia must've been a grudge match.

My main concern with Norway's national team is that we sort of just have two-three capable defenders. Our goalkeeper is benched most of the time, and there aren't that many coming up. Everyone wants to play in midfield.

Norway over-ran Italy utterly and completely in the opener of the campaign. So I am not sure of the strength of the national team. But they have gotten former hard-man Gattuso in managing them.

I see some mentioning Norway as a dark horse for the World Cup. I would not. In 1998 we were ranked 2nd in the FIFA ranking, yet still failed to beat Scotland and Morocco. A very, very lucky penalty against Brazil got us through. Then came Italy, and we got nerves and were beaten quite easily.

What has change with Norwegian football, is that the players are much more technical and less dependent on long balls and headers than before. This is due to coaching methods changing, the Couerver method is introduced at an early method, so that almost all players who reach a certain level are comfortable with the ball at their feet.

I would still say we are pretty much a middling nation in football. Better at skiing.
#5
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by Solmyr - Today at 04:54:39 AM
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on October 12, 2025, 05:15:42 AMmost of the good folk who comment at the Daily Mail think Starmer is a marxist. One has to wonder what their definition of marxist is? "Person i disagree with" perhaps  :hmm:


Yes, same as "woke".
#6
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by Norgy - Today at 04:50:52 AM
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on October 12, 2025, 05:15:42 AMmost of the good folk who comment at the Daily Mail think Starmer is a marxist. One has to wonder what their definition of marxist is? "Person i disagree with" perhaps  :hmm:


The same with globalist. It has sort of replaced international Jewry in the narrative.

I think Sir Keir Starmer's Marxist credentials are somewhat weak.  :lol:
#7
Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread
Last post by celedhring - Today at 04:09:06 AM
Nickel Boys

Story about a reform school from hell for black youths in the 1960s-70s. It is based in a real school which wasn't closed until the 2000s, and given what we see - fucking hell.

Anyway, the most salient bit of the movie is that it is entirely shot in first person. This is at equal times breath-taking and disconcerting. There have been many attempts at shooting a movie entirely in first person. The most notorious, is - I think - Lady of the Lake, which used POV camera as the way to faithfully translate Chandler's first-person hardboiled narrative. That movie didn't work, but again, interesting experiment.

Here, too, there's an attempt to use it in a way that makes sense. The movie is built as fragmented memories from one of the survivors of the school, and we experience the story throug his eyes, reliving these memories. I haven't read the original novel but I suppose its written similarly. For what it's worth, the Oscar-nominated screenplay really makes a great job of building the narrative through these very fragmented small moments. And I can see how *this* script could be shot any other way. So there's a very deliberate effort of marrying style with story.

The POV conceit sometimes works and produces great evocative and/or harrowing moments, but in many others you just feel there's only half a scene in there - and in time to me it grew more annoying than anything else, getting in the way of the story and its emotional heft. You never get to see how the protagonist experiences any of it except for his disembodied voice (which always feels uncanny) and some reflection shots, and you kinda miss that access to him. Again, as well-thought stylistic experiment (and with a good - if certainly harrowing - story) it's certainly worth checking out. But I don't think it quite works despite the talent on display.
#8
Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...
Last post by DGuller - Today at 12:37:11 AM
Quote from: Tamas on October 12, 2025, 08:34:23 PMPerhaps it was an awkward phrasing of it. What I meant was that I am hoping I am right, and this is why European response has been extremely muted.
Awkward or not, it was very clear what you meant.
#9
Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...
Last post by Richard Hakluyt - October 12, 2025, 11:18:37 PM
The armed forces and police in the UK swear allegiance to the monarch. This is irrelevant nearly all of the time of course. But, if an unpopular government tried to hijack the system and become a dictatorship becomes relevant. I think the same applies in Canada. Of course the authoritarians might be very popular, which would make any interference by the King less likely.
#10
Off the Record / Re: Baseball
Last post by jimmy olsen - October 12, 2025, 11:12:31 PM
At least the Yankees lost in the end.  :nelson: