Chris B

25 minutes ago, Bicurious Dad said:

I don’t mind the name change so much (I was a victim twice), helps people forget that I was a mafia scum wanker back in the day….

It's currently one of the most popular shows on TV, so I maintain we were just ahead of our time.

The Prince Charles Cinema has been, at times, my second home. They do occasional all-nighters (I've seen ones for Friday 13th, Nightmare on Elm St, John Carpenter, Lord of the Rings, and a good few random horror all-nighters), show art-house, cult and foreign films regularly, and do events. 

Sure, the audiences can be irritating at times, with performative laughter at bad films - but when it works, it works. While I prefer their older, higher, seats, the new ones are comfy enough, better for views and look lovely. It's just a nice space as much as anything else. And they've still got those seats for the smaller upstairs:

It's also got to be up there with least inspiring outside compared to gorgeous inside. Proper horrible 1960s upper, but the outside space itself is fine.

It's also got a really good beer selection downstairs, and is all pretty reasonably priced considering it's just off Leicester Square. 

If we're feeling nostalgic for older cinemas, try and see Scala!!! - it's all about the years when the venue in King's Cross was a cheap cinema, which would programme legendary all-nighters, where the audience would be a mixture of weirdoes, future celebs, and weirdo future celebs, who all explain why they love it.*

I'm gutted it was before my time in London. The doc is amazing and while there are still some great independent cinemas in London, I loved the sound and vibe of this.

*I'm proud of this sentence. Can you spot why?

16 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

The argument is cyclical, and I don't think I have any fresh points to make besides we seem to want the same thing, but that isn't necessarily the same thing as Israel laying down their arms.

What's the version of success here that doesn't involve Israel laying down their arms?

13 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

If this was happening in the UK, there'd be vast swathes of people who would want the UK government to keep killing until there was no one left to threaten their lives too.

Terrorist attacks certainly happened in the UK with a close neighbour (and a disputed territory). Those terrorists blended in with the civilians as well. While I'm sure there were some people more in favour of a more aggressive approach in Ireland, I don't think it was as widespread as you're suggesting. But ceasefire was, inevitably, the only approach that could work.

I'm not generally in favour of comparing the two situations, as I think the issue in Palestine is more complex, especially when you zoom out at the wider geographic and cultural groups. But the UK is definitely an area with experience in dealing with a terrorist group that hide within civilian groups.

4 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Of course I support a ceasefire, but one that applies equally on both sides. And it doesn’t feel like most people want that.

What are you basing this on? I'm not seeing much support for terrorist activities. 

28 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Oh yeah, you definitely have to take all of it with a pinch of salt for sure. It's what they want us to show and with ALL of these shows the contestants come out and say "oh you didn't see THIS?" or whatever else.

So, a colleague of mine said she knows someone who was peripherally involved, and there's loads of stuff that obviously doesn't make the cut. So this story may be bollocks, but I love it.

Apparently, last season, one of the traitors unintentionally gave themselves away. A group were mucking around doing impersonations of Claudia Winkleman and the various things she says in the shows, and Alyssa joins in with 'Yeah, like how she says 'Hello traitors'".

1 minute ago, DavidB6937 said:

Oh definitely. To be honest I'm surprised Anthony lasted as long as he did. Only because he was pretty aggressive in some of his conversations. Certainly more so than anyone else in there. Obviously it was just frustration and whatever but that kind of behaviour doesn't go down well.

I wonder how much things like this are the pressure of the game, and how much of it is the edit. I watched the most recent of the 'podcast' follow-ups, and he came across as a complete star, and totally without the anger, etc, in the game. I also wonder how much Charlotte's adoration of Paul and Harry isn't quite as obvious to them.

Basically, I have no idea if the roundtables are actually an hour or so, and edited down enormously. It's clear they do a LOT of pick-up shots, because otherwise 'hey Miles, why is a cameraperson following you with this chalice' would be an obvious question. 

Some of the 'relaxing in-room' shots are hilarious and weirdly staged. I have no idea why we've had to see two contestants showering/bathing, but there we go.

1 hour ago, mim731 said:

I'm no expert, but I'd imagine that's a tricky one legally to delve into, given certain people who were around at the time have denied it happened (some more conveniently than others) and the one person who could potentially verify it did, is no longer alive. The risk of potential lawsuits from both the US military AND WWE probably make it no-go for DSOTR, especially with a lack of willing witnesses to corroborate. 

That's why I'm thinking focusing it around the concussion, and the affidavit that came out of it.

In terms of safe topics: Kamala would be an interesting one, I'd have thought. Could also see them doing an Andy Kaufman one. An update to the Sunny story seems in order. Something with ECW and 'going out of control', with things like the Mass Transit story, perhaps. And a 'Death of ECW/WCW' too.

Topics that would be good but they may not touch: The whole 'Rockers roofying people' stuff. Jerry Lawler. The Death of ECW concentrating on how much Heyman fucked people over. Ashley Massaro (and the concussions lawsuit).

15 hours ago, Nexus said:

Wetherspoons - don't care how cheap it is, don't care how filling it is, Tim Martin is a Brexit supporting cunt and from the day the vote came in, I vowed to never step foot in again. 

 

Brewdog - the sexual inappropriateness, toxic culture and now living wage nonsense is enough for me. Plenty of other decent IPA manufacturers who are yet to be cunts.

 

Byron Burger - The immigration raid fake meeting - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/28/it-was-a-fake-meeting-byron-hamburgers-staff-on-immigration-raid. Go fuck yourselves, shitheads. 

Yes to these - with Wetherspoons, for me, the last straw wasn't so much the Brexit stuff as making their staff (many of whom were from the EU) to put out propaganda arguing against their rights to be here. Utterly horrendous thing to do.

Also, as a few noted, WWE - the final straw, for me, were the Saudi shows, because of the propaganda videos they were doing, straight after the Kashoggi murder. Between that and the Trump connections, I just felt I was supporting something that was making the world actively worse (especially as it wasn't long after I'd gone to the NXT show at the Royal Albert Hall).

Tube travel tip: There's a white paint line at the edge of the platform in most places. Look for where it's lighter or even white. That's where the doors are.

Got to admit, the timing of announcing Riddle was amazing. I almost ordered WrestleKingdom because of the buzz coming off it, as the first NJPW show in a good few years, and that was an immediate deterrent. 

On 1/6/2024 at 10:50 AM, Devon Malcolm said:

Mubi are offering Mubi Go for £99 for the year at the moment. You get one cinema ticket a week for a film of their choice (their most recent selections have been Godzilla Minus One, The Boy and the Heron and Priscilla so they usually choose well) and access to their whole site. Think it's great value, I'll easily pay that off with cinema tickets in the first six months alone, I reckon.

I've bought this as well and was just coming into post it - when I saw you were the last post, I figured you were probably putting it in here before me. It's a particularly good deal considering Mubi is usually £12.99 and Mubi + Mubi Go is usually £18.99. I'm hoping it'll give me a push to go and see a few things I might not have got round to otherwise.

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

That's definitely what sticks out to me. I feel like he could've nipped it in the bud and literally came out and said "there's never been an investigation" or whatever. Why wouldn't you if that was the case? It was an opportunity to shut down any rumour or speculation and realistically he could've done that if that was the truth, no? I can't think of any reason why he wouldn't.

One reason would be that you'd effectively create a code where 'it didn't happen' means it didn't happen and 'I can't comment' means it did. Any good PR person would probably tell you to respond with what you want to talk about instead - hence the safety record response. Anything to do with problems backstage means 'we have a great safety record, we have a disciplinary committee and people can come to me any time'. 

At the same time, the fact he didn't deny it made it a story. Because the most likely interpretation is that it did happen, that Khan was aware of it, and he can't comment. And that's why it was actually refreshing to see journalists ask and follow it up. And the interest in it probably makes it more likely that there'll be more of that - there certainly should be.

3 hours ago, Gus Mears said:

I forgot to mention Some Like it Hot. They had it on at the local cinema recently and it's still absolutely brilliant. Tony Curtis as Shell Oil Junior never fails to make me howl. Was surprised how well it held up, there's obviously stuff that wouldn't fly now, but less of it than I anticipated given it was released when Eisenhower was in office.

I think it's partly that it was pretty damn progressive for its time - there were quite a few queer people involved in the making of it too. It's never really mean, and as controversial as it was at the time, that was more to do with how conservative the culture was than how actually outrageous the film was.

2 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

My all time favourite film, it's just sublime.  Joe E. Brown is the MVP for me with the final line, but I'm scared to watch the documentary in case it reveals they took 8000 attempts at it rather than the bottled comic timing lightning that it comes across as.

Quite the opposite. It was a placeholder, and pretty much that exact point about bottled comic timing - they were frantically writing the film as they went, only a week ahead. But they kept thinking they'd come up with a better ending, because they were so close to it. Then, when it played (at the second preview, as the first was a disaster), it killed, and they realised what they had.

14 minutes ago, WeeAl said:

And on the other end of the spectrum, Halloween Kills, and the other one, Halloween Ends? Two turds that won't flush. 

I thought Halloween Kills was absolutely terrible, but I liked Ends quite a bit more. The second one kind of destroyed any sense of what I wanted from the franchise anyway, so this going and doing something very, very different, I was kind of okay with. Although it may have been just that my expectations were in the ground already.

Some Like It Hot is still brilliant and funny, and every bit as good as its reputation.

Loved this recent Matt Baume video about the making of it, and just how much was riding on it for everyone involved.

6 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Anyway thanks for reminding me to update my award nominations.

I think quite a few of us are thinking of updating them right now, Scorch.

6 minutes ago, Your Fight Site said:

Pure blood? As opposed to what? A muggle?

"Pure blood" has been used as a racist trope for years - as in pure white heritage.

Bump, since Kylie Ray appears to have confirmed that the NDA recently being discussed was because she left over backstage harassment by Jericho. And there are others.

Also because his wife unlocked her account, and pretty quickly people found her tweeting about "proud pure blood".

While I'm not a fan, and the story ended up falling apart, the Aces and Eights Bully Ray reveal in TNA was really well done at the time. The way they had the "real" story figured out the entire time was pretty good too.

Ziggler's free soon, isn't he?

13 hours ago, The King of Old School said:

I bet Ibushi subs for Omega

Pretty sure there's a bunch of fan-fiction about that.

3 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

Whamageddon is the sort of thing that shouldn't be taken at all seriously but is. We play a less rigorous version of it but we use the true king of Christmas songs, Stay Another Day by East 17. 

So you play on easy mode?