Magnum Milano

Just now, Nick James said:

Why has Pentagon Jr changed his name? I presume I've missed something.

It's to do with marketing.  AAA owns the Pentagon Jr. name and had allowed him to use that name in AEW because the two groups work together, however AEW wanted the name change for merchandising and other projects (Penta himself owns the rights to Penta Cero M).

On 12/13/2019 at 8:27 PM, Devon Malcolm said:

Rebecca Romney can evaluate the market worth of my books any day.

I thought I remembered her from this thread.  She's featured a fair bit in the 2019 documentary The Booksellers that I watched last night.  Safe to say there aren't too many in the world of rare books who look like her!

Just now, wordsfromlee said:

Wouldn’t it have been better to actually write what you thought of the documentary rather than the entire plot of the show in quite some detail?

Considering I read about the documentary in this very thread, where it has already been talked about plenty, I didn't think it would be that much of an issue.

I'll delete the post (which also contains my thoughts) just for you.

-

Just now, Devon Malcolm said:

Similar thing recently with the England cricket team having Foakes, Stokes and Woakes. Although I'd argue that was odder.

Lillee, bowled Dilley, caught Willey

Lord Littlebrook 

Absolutely terrorized Jack Victory & Rip Morgan when he managed the New Zealand Militia and later the Royal Family.  Jacko and Ripper daren't cross his Lordship, even thoough they had the two on odd ones should they have wanted to.  Also was fearless standing up to King Kong Bundy at Wrestlemania III.  Folks knew not to try Lord Littlebrook!

Knuckleball! (2012)

The knuckleball is seen as a gimmick delivery, a fluke, a delivery where, due to the grip, you don’t know what it’s going to do from one pitch to the next.  It also doesn’t appear to be trusted by coaches and no-one goes in wanting to be a “knuckleballer”, it’s something you turn when it looks like your career is over to prolong it.  There haven’t been many knuckleballers and as a result there’s a close fraternity of those who made a career out of it, the previous generations happy to pass on tips to the next.  The documentary primarily concentrates on the careers of the only knuckleball pitchers currently in MLB, Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey, although we hear plenty from former practitioners like Phil Niekro (who pitched until the age of 48 - the slower knuckleball puts less stress on the shoulder) and Charlie Hough.  Wakefield is trying to reach the 200 wins career milestone, which he eventually does, but it was clearly a weight around his neck.  With his subsequent retirement at the end of the season it is left to Dickey to carry the baton on. 

I think they wrung every drop out of the knuckleball as possible.  I don't have an interest in Baseball but the 30 for 30 documentaries have shown even when it's sports I couldn't care about, more often than not I enjoy the stories that are being told.  That said this was probably thirty minutes too long as my attention did start to wain.

So Stephen Hendry has took up the offer a Tour Card and is coming out of retirement to play on the main tour for at least the next two years.

He had moments in the Seniors where he at times looked very good, but did end up losing to Jimmy White, who always takes up an invitational card and has done nothing on the tour for years.  Considering he gave up playing because he could no longer compete and wasn't winning, this seems a strange decision and one that has come completely out of left field.

I'm interested to see how he gets on, and presume he's going to continue working with Sight Right, but really am not expecting much.

Just now, RedRooster said:

Talking of things that aren't working well, I watched last week's AEW Dark earlier to see Vickie Guerrero brand her partnership with Nyla Rose "The Vicious Vixens", a name which feels like it could have been invented for an early 2000s WWE Diva's faction containing Terri Runnels or Sable. 

It doesn't fit particularly well with Nyla's Native Beast character and it feels like it's on the verge of gendered/sexual language (such as 'jezabel' and 'diva') that should be relegated to the wrestling dustbin. 

Nyla's been presented as dangerous so far, almost like a female version of Lance Archer (except she's a better promo than he is) - and the idea of Jake Roberts branding their partnership "The Ferocious Foxes" or "Dangerous DILFs" is inconceivable. 

Vickie seems like a lovely person, but she's bringing Nyla down. I hope they re-evaluate this pairing. 

"The Vicious Vixens" sounds like something straight out of late 80s GLOW, which I doubt they want to be perceived as.

Icarus (2017)

Amateur cyclist Bryan Fogel sets out to prove how inefficient the current system to test athletes for the use of performance enhancing drugs is.  A contact puts him in touch with the Director of the Russian National Anti-Doping Laboratory, Grigory Rodchenko, who agrees to help and advise him on how to basically beat the system.  Ultimately Fogel dopes for six months, although ends up doing worse in the race (the Haute Route) than when he was clean, however in the run up to the race a German documentary airs that talks about reports of Russian state sponsored doping.  Things escalate and due to his position, Rodchenko is implicated and fears for his life.  Fears that are compounded when, having already left for the U.S., Nikita Kamaev, the head of Russia’s Anti-Doping authority, suddenly dies of a ‘heart attack’.  Thinking it’s better to come clean, Rodchenko divulges everything to the New York Times and the IOC, explaining that there is state sponsored doping that goes all the way up to Putin and his evidence (including all sorts of documents) and WADA’s further investigation leads to Russia’s Olympic ban.  Russia continues to deny these reports while Rodchenko remains in U.S. protective custody, officials believing there is a credible threat to his life.

Of all the Government's, outside of North Korea, Russia is the other that would be top of my list to not want to cross!

A couple more these past two days:

Fantastic Lies (2016) (ESPN 30 For 30 - Season 3 Episode 7)

The Duke University Lacrosse team hire a couple of strippers for a house party they’re having which results in disastrous consequences for all involved.  One of the strippers, Crystal Mangum, claims to have been raped by three of the team and what follows is trial by media, everyone assuming their guilt.  D.A. Mike Nifong takes on the case, he himself having ulterior motives as he is up for re-election in the heavily populated African-American area, which is portrayed as these privileged, educated white boys vs. the poor, black girl, who they see as beneath them. 

I had never heard of this story before and although a lot of the main protagonists involved declined to be interviewed, I thought this was another in the series of excellent 30 for 30 documentaries.

Class Action Park (2020)

I would never have known about this if it wasn't for @Egg Shen's post looking for a copy.  The documentary traces the history of Action Park, based in Vernon, NC, which was the brainchild of Gene Mulvihill.  It was without question of its time, primarily a water park marketed on anything goes and a place where there are no rules, there is not a chance it would pass any of the health and safety measures if it was opening in 2020.  The rides were created out of Gene’s mind or by designers who had been turned away by the likes of Disney World.  And its safe to say every one of them was an accident waiting to happen.  Numerous people would get injured on a daily basis, and the injuries were seen almost as a badge of honour, and then there was a fatality.  It’s all a bit jokey until you here from Esther Larsson, the mother of Gary, the first person to die at the Park.  Mulvihill, who had some shady practices to say the least, even tried to cover that up by lying about the details.  Other deaths followed (two drownings and an electrocution) and as times changes, the “World’s Most Dangerous Water Park” shut up shop for good in 1996.  Comedian Chris Gethard, one of the talking heads, is especially annoying.

Yeah, I've pm'd @Egg Shen a link to where I've been getting my docs from as it's up there. 

Another recommendation that I found on going back through the thread.

Ecstasy of the Order: The Tetris Masters (2011)

Tetris aficionado Robin Mihara plans to put on the first ever Tetris World Championships in California and using the Twin Galaxies website invites all the games best players.  The most interesting name invited is Thor Aackerlund, who won the 1990 Nintendo World Championships but disappeared from public spotlight.  Aackerlund is also the only person to have reached the mythical Level 30 on the game (Level 29 being the kill screen), although with no video proof his claims are not fully believed.  We meet all the players and while there is no Billy Mitchell type bad guy, Ben Mullen comes across as a bit of a dick, while the Twin Galaxies official is a bit of weird one. 

Mullen aside, all the featured players come across as good guys, even if they do nothing to dispel the stereotypical nerdy video gamer.  Aackerlund especially seems to have had a difficult life, being the prime bread winner for his family as a child and seemingly being highly exploited after his win, and takes a bit of getting use to the cameras.

I have recently discovered the "nefarious means" way of being able to watch stuff so have been downloading a ton of stuff to my computer and using some of the recommendations in this thread as inspiration.  

Last night I watched Long Shot (2017), about Juan Catalan who is accused of a murder he says he never committed.  If convicted Catalan faces the death penalty, all he has to do now is prove his innocence.

I've been watching Josh on iPlayer a bit recently.  One of the stars of it is Beattie Edmondson, daughter of Ade (and Jennifer Saunders).

Just now, Mikeymike83 said:

Anyone know or have an idea as to why Monday Night RAW is missing from Aug 21st (last episode listed) up to Sept 11th (first episode back) in 1995 on the network? Its only two weeks worth but thought all RAW's were on (with exception to most recent 4 week spans).

There were no episodes, Raw was pre-empted for the Tennis those two weeks (8/28 and 9/4).

*Sold*

26 minutes ago, Yakashi said:

Dave is a dreadful writer. Just horrific. I can’t believe the observers actually have been edited too. They’re such a mess. But it’s impossible to deny that the actual stories themselves are mostly tremendous. 

Who is editing them?  Is that what Sabato does?  I always kinda assumed, by how even basic typos are missed that as soon as Dave finishes an issue he sticks it straight up on the site or sends it off to the printers.  No checking, no proof reading and onto the next issue.  If someone is editing and checking then he needs to sack them because they're doing an awful job.

Since I long since stopped subscribing to the print issue I just copy and paste the online version into a Word document.  I've done proof reading in the past and between that and my OCD nature I always run it through the spell checker (which I'm amazed Dave clearly doesn't do).  Additionally you can guarantee that several times an issue I'll end up rewriting something so it makes sense.and I understand what Dave is trying to say.

The Kamala obituary last week was another example just like the Kerry Von Erich one Rick gave; a ton of great information but all over the shop.

14 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

I never said anything about him not criticising AEW/never praising NXT, and whilst I don’t listen to WOR, I do follow his twitter where there is still lots of “yeah, but...” going on, and that goes for a lot of things & topics, not just Wednesday Night Numbers

I was just saying that I’m intrigued what AEW’s number will be with all the changes to how it normally runs and how a delayed start could affect it

I never said you did, but the whole "moving the goal posts" argument is something I've only ever seen occasionally on Twitter and tends goes hand in hand with the Dave's on the AEW payroll brigade, Dave hates the WWE etc.

The point I was trying to get across was that the people who say stuff like that don't read/listen to him, just like the people who say he only praises AEW, only criticizes WWE.  You only have to read a single issue of the newsletter to know that's not the case.

20 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

I know the ratings talk is mainly Meltzer moving the goalposts so that AEW win every week, but I’m intrigued to see what number they pull this week.

Presumably by people who either don't listen to or don't read the Observer?  I don't listen to all the audio but still read the newsletter every week and can't remember him moving the goal posts.  The narrative that Dave doesn't criticize AEW or doesn't praise WWE/NXT comes from those who clearly don't read him and listen to snap shots or carefully framed tidbits on Twitter.

After the talk of Free Solo in this thread I finally got around to watching it last night.  Without hesitation, the last twenty minutes is the most terrifying thing I have ever watched on TV.  My heart was pumping just watching, heaven knows how the guys who were doing the filming felt.

18 minutes ago, Gay as FOOK said:

I love Ronnie O'Sullivan. I do. And I can also totally appreciate how if you're mad into snooker and don't like him, having such a singular personality dominating your interest must grate. Anyone who doesn't think he's living the gimmick at this point is fucking lost, though. Selby calling him out in that post match for showing disrespect by lashing into the pack - thereby interrupting Selbyball at all costs - was similarly lost. 

That being said I wouldn't mind at all if he gets thumped in the final, just to draw narrative from that interview he gave a few nights back.

O'Sullivan did an interview with Stephen Hendry during lockdown and Hendry asked him if there was any match in his career he would replay which would it be.  He said the final he lost to Selby because he got drawn into Selby's game and he wished he'd have attacked more.  Tonight he was just not having it.  Selby is known for coming back to the table needing multiple snookers, when in theory the frame is long gone, to disrupt his opponent's rhythm and slow them down.  O'Sullivan wasn't prepared to play that and it totally threw Selby off.

Anyway, here's O'Sullivan making a maximum quicker than it took Selby to play one shot.

16 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said:

Ronnie working everyone with that interview. Doherty getting more frustrated with everything he says is a good laugh. 

He's been working them ever since the victory over Ding.  It really was incredible stuff in both semi's today.

Saw the following on Twitter from someone I follow:  There really is no-one else like him and Snooker will be for the worse the day he does finally call it quits.

I started to binge Mandy by Diane Morgan last night.  Off the back of a successful pilot last year she got herself a series.  Each episode is only fifteen minutes and very funny, although Diane can do no wrong in my eyes.  All episodes up on BBC iplayer now.

I don't know if she falls under the 'less commercial' tag any more, but I'd never heard of or seen her prior to Cobra Kai.  

The best thing about the LaRusso family, Courtney Henggeler.