Deschain

Robin McDonaldI thought it was a cool early episode as well. Not a huge one but the events felt significant and it moved very nicely. I am feeling all the proper foreshadowy feelings about upcoming events I should be feeling.

I have to admit my memory is soft on Euron. This is what I think I remember, the girl Yara? was poised to take command of the fleet with some good idea. Then Euron shows up and then there is this epic decision by the father who betrays expectations and gives the main fleet to Euron. And she gets some humiliating lesser assignment. ?I didn't really understand what Theon did. IE he lived up to expectations to be weak. But I think we are to assume he has a plan? These are real question marks not accidental ?ones. I don't know if that's right.

I have been fearful for Tyrion or one of the Dragons since someone here proposed ?they might be the gift for Cersie. I am hoping this armada is the chosen gift.

Yeah I think the Sand Snake lady who poisoned Myrcella to death is the gift, doesn't hurt that Euron crippled the armada.

That was my thought about Cersie's gift as well.

("[font="Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Euron is going to get Cersei an engagement gift. What do you think: Dragon's head, or Tyrion's head?")[/font]


[font="Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Or one of the sand snakes from Dorne responsible for killing Cersei's daughter.?[/font]


[font=Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]("[/font][font="Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]When word gets back to Jon & Sansa, won't Bran take precedence over both of them in the order of succession?[/font][font="Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]?")?[/font]


[font="Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]That won't ultimately matter. I think it will be revealed that Jon is not only the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark but that Rhaegar annulled his first marriage and married Lyanna thus making Jon the legitimate heir to the Targaryen throne.?[/font]


[font="Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]("[/font][font="Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]8. The way Tormund looks at Brienne. Tells Podrick he's a lucky man to have his ass beat by Brienne.")[/font]


Yeah, Tormund kind of takes "eye f###ing" someone to a whole new level. LOL!?



Did you notice this in the book Sam was reading??

[IMG]http://i68.tinypic.com/b82t94.jpg[/IMG]

There is also this picture that appeared on entertainment weekly. Look at the dagger on Arya's hip.?

[IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/es2jo7.jpg[/IMG]

In both cases it's the Valyrian steel Cat's Paw dagger the would be assassin used in the failed attempt to kill Bran. Wonder how Arya comes by it? Things that make you go hmmmmm.?

(Veselnitskaya has issued statements since then, and should obviously be taken with a grain of salt, but a couple of questions emerge. "Veselnitskaya flatly denied any connection to the Russian government",)

Yeah, I'd take that with a huge grain of salt. Especially since the guy who arranged the meeting (Rob Goldstone) referred to her in those released e-mails as a "Russian government attorney".

They still may not be telling the full truth of everything discussed at this meeting.

Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Kremlin attorney Don Jr. met with in the Tower, also represents the Russian company PREVEZON HOLDINGS. They were the focus of a 230 million dollar money laundering case that was suddenly and surprisingly settled just days before it was scheduled to go to trial last May. Settled on terms VERY favorable to Prevezon despite the US attorney office having a very strong case. This case is notable for a few other reasons. At one point the star witness in the case was thrown out a 4th story window but survived. Also the US attorney who filed the case against Prevezon was Preet Bharara. One of the first things Trump did once he got in office was fire Preet Bharara.

("Prisoner of Azkaban is the best film and the strongest visually")



Probably my favorite book and movie of the series. And oddly enough the only one that doesn't directly involve Voldemort. Great new characters like Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Trelawney and Sirius Black. And all the new magical creatures, spells, places and items. The Knight Bus, Hogsmeade, the Marauders Map, the time turner, dementors, the patronus charm, Buckbeak, first divination classes, etc, etc. First look at a werewolf, and a animagus. I think JK's creative juices were never flowing better than when she penned this particular Potter book. And I think Alfonso Cuaron did a fine job of bringing it to the big screen.


("[font="Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I could do without the rest, although I think the Columbus ones, while not very good, are dumped on a bit unfairly")[/font]




[font="Source Sans Pro", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I think they are dumped on a bit too much as well. Consider the following. These books grew progressively more adult and darker as they went along. But the first two are straight up children's books. Also Columbus did cast the three main characters and that turned out pretty well. That said the three of them were very young to start with so I'm not sure how much more of a performance he could have gotten out of them. He also had the lowest budgets. And finally no one knew for sure that anyone besides the book fans would turn out to see the movies. And what do book fans, especially child book fans want from movies based on their favorite book? Faithful regurgitations of the source material. And that is exactly what Columbus gave them. Not very daring or risky and a tad boring at times but pretty much a lock to satisfy the young fans of the books. There was a lot more riding on those first two movies as far as the future of the whole series was concerned. If the first wave of young book fans had returned home opening weekend from movie number one whining with too many complains of, " They left out so and so", "they totally changed X, Y or Z", "THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE BOOK!!!" Then word of mouth could have sunk the future of the series. I can't hang the guy for playing it safe. [/font]

Feuer und EisFuck RLM. No one will top this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtqsmjrPCxw

That is hilarious!?

Does that mean you're not going to click on the spammer's link?


Safe to say.

These movies do provide at least a little entertainment. You can read the critics blistering reviews and some of them are quite funny. Here are some of the better tag lines from some of the reviews.

("At one point Sir Anthony Hopkins (Remains of the Day, Shadowlands) says: "What a bitchin' ride". That's all you need know.")

("Distilled to its essence, The Last Knight is an orgy of incoherence, a sensory assault that suffocates the viewer in a cavalcade of special effects incontinence.")

("Bewilderingly bad.")

("A big mound of steaming 3D CGI garbage. Really Anthony Hopkins")

("Giving this movie money is re-enforcing everything wrong with the industry, and possibly everything wrong with the world.")

("Avoid. At. All. Costs.")

("Irredeemable garbage that gives summertime blockbuster fare a bad name. "Transformers: The Last Knight" is an endurance-testing assault on the art of cinema, one physical altercation away from becoming criminal")

("Insultingly poor.")

("A movie that is at once loud yet incoherent, complex yet idiotic, and expensive yet worthless.")

("Plays like Michael Bay dragged some writers to the desert, fed them acid, wrote down their bat shit ideas for the next "Transformers," threw those ideas into the air, then Scotch-taped them together at random")

("I can't remember the last time I felt so little while watching a movie. I wasn't even bored, so much as just dazed, like I'd woken up in someone else's dream")

("So much incoherent noise that you'll want to bang your head on the seat in front of you just to get some rest.")

("It's hard to imagine anyone reading, let alone writing, the script and believing that it made any sort of sense at all.")

("There is no redemption to be found here, only suffering.")

("Freed of concerns like plausibility or story, you can simply gape in wonder at the ruthlessly thunderous images in front of you. Maybe that's the feeling of brain cells dying a painful, anguished death.")

("Megatrash as only Bay can make it, this represents some of the most inane drivel ever to (dis)grace the screen-and an obscene waste of money to boot.")

("Transformers: The Last Knight isn't so much a film as it is a catalogue of everything wrong with western civilization.")

The set up for these movies is basically irrelevant. Within 15 minutes of the opening credits they are all just an indecipherable swirling blur of robot parts and explosions that only occasionally pause for 10 seconds so a human can mutter some lame ass one liner written by a writer whose last paying gig was working on Sharknado 3 for the Syfy Channel.

Robin McDonaldI recommend you watch Return of the Living Dead. Its a very funny movie and very entertaining.
It is the most important zombie film of all the zombie films.

I am suggesting this because you sort of want to watch The Walking Dead and enjoy it.
You are curious why its been the most watched Drama show on cable since forever. Right?
Return of the Living Dead should reset your brain about zombies. By definition the concept of zombies
as monsters is dumb and you should learn to enjoy its dumb. You should enjoy that people who get trapped
by zombies are dumb. Your head isn't right. I've been there. Get your head right. Maybe watch a middle ground film like 21 days later. Then you will get the exponential math of zombies taking over the world. Then come back into Walking Dead.

People love zombies in part because they can watch a story where they can turn their brain off for a while and just
enjoy the slaughter. Walking Dead is slightly handicapped in that it is attempting to be a more serious treatment.
But at its core it still obeys what I consider the only two demands of zombie entertainment. Have Zombies and kills and preferably
lots of them. Show me something I have never seen before with the premise. And do that every week.

MODERN ZOMBIES
Most modern zombie stories the zombies don't come out of coffins. Usually they take the model of an infection.
There are lots of Zombie simulators that demonstrate the takeover .One walker kills three or more unsuspecting people. each of them
become zombies they each kill making more zombies and so on and in a short amount of time you have a billion zombies.

You have to learn to love zombies. The worst episodes of the Walking Dead, particularly in the first season have no or few zombies.
The first season is short and there is a lab episode which isn't very good but it establishes a new premise that sets Walking Dead apart from its predecessors. It establishes why in some sense you will never win the zombie apocalypse.

If you do get into it expect to struggle a bit with the first two seasons. Since you get to binge watch you have the option to speed through this faster than we did. ? In later seasons you will naturally get what the show is trying to be about. Its a very dark show and it has its ups and downs. It might be healthier for your brain to not watch that much killing and depravity.

RICK GRAVES

Here is someones analysis if it helps
[font=Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif]Ok so how long was Rick in coma? Over a month, how long he was without fluids? Only few days.[/font]
[font=Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif]Wildfire was declared 194 according dr.Jenner, BUT this declaration was unofficial just among scientists and CIA. Like with other great infections, particular doctors/scientists know more BEFORE general public. It was 63 days it went global, but in small towns it was not obvious as well as in Atlanta, so when Rick was shot, Wildfire was global few days, yet no one paid attention enough at the time. Shane was in hospital with flowers 2-3 days later, Lori and Carl a day later after Shane.[/font]
[font=Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif]Then sh.t slowly start hittin' the fan, Army came to close the area, and at that point everything was still under control. At this time it was a month Rick was in coma. Then as civilisation was collapsing, supply chain has been interrupted, no gas, no nothing. Army was about to leave this place, it was 1 month and few days since Rick was shot. They cleared Hospital but not entirely, skipped Ricks room with Shane and few other possibly (Gale?). About this time all bad things Gale was reffering to happened, she stayed in hospital hidden, and she took care about everyone who was still there in the hospital until he/she decided that Gale should end their missery. She took care about Rick occasionaly, then two people came (Oath episodes) and she was shot by the guy for killing his friend. The guy left hospital writting the "Dont open, dead inside" on Cafeteria doors :)[/font]

APPOINTMENT TV?
It is appointment TV for me now but I went for many seasons not rushing to the television on Sundays. Often leaving the show for weeks or even months before returning to it. I think I even quit it for most all of Season 2 and part of season 3.

I have watched Return of the Living Dead and enjoyed it. Fun movie. I do not have any of the same problems with it that I do with TWD. For starters we are shown an explanation for the zombies in ROTLD. Secondly, they are able to rise from the grave which provides you with a large number of zombies instantly to wreck havac with the living. And finally the entire military and entire US government have not been totally crushed by the zombies in that movie. Hell most of that movie deals with zombies from one graveyard.



I have watched 28 Days later and despite not being a great movie it also explains where it's particular brand of zombies come from. Also the cause (a bioengineered virus intended as a weapon) can infect the living by simple exposure. Again providing and explanation of how many people could be infected and turned rapidly. And again even in this movie the zombies have not destroyed the entire military and the whole government.



In World War Z the reason for the zombies is explained. The zombies are much faster and more agressive than the zombies in TWD. And yet again they have not totally wiped out all militaries and goverments.



The zombies in TWD are pathetic compared to the zombies mentioned in the movies above yet they have apparently overrun every military base in America. A feat made even more hard to believe when you consider that lightly armed bands of rednecks living in small towns and travel trailer camps seem to fend them off rather easily for long periods. Damn our military must suck. LOL!



Sometimes leaving something a mystery is a fun thing and fuels the imagination. But sometimes it's just a cop out because you don't have a good explanation to offer. I don't think the people behind TWD have a good explanation for how zombies this pathetic have won such a total victory. That's why you haven't been offered an explanation for it so far and I strongly suspect you never will.

I guess I am the only person in the world that didn't start watching "The Walking Dead" when it first came out. By the time everyone was raving about it I figured I was too far behind to start. Well I just got Netflix recently (last person on earth for that too I guess) and you can go back and watch all of TWD from the start on Netflix. So I am 2 episodes in and my official reaction is.......I think I am done.

It's okay I guess but I'm getting the same vibe I got when I stopped watching the series Lost in season 1 of it's run. Boy did that turn out to be the right decision. What is that vibe? The nothing is ever going to be properly explained vibe. As confirmation of this vibe I spoke with my friend who has watched all 7 seasons and yep, she still doesn't know one bit more about what happened, why, or how this is likely to play out than I do after watching just 2 episodes.

Season one spoilers ahead.

For example, the story basically begins with a sheriffs deputy awakening from a post gunshot wound coma in the hospital. The zombie apocalypse has already occured and everyone at the hospital is either gone or dead. He emerges into a world that is already devistated and we soon meet our zombies. They are slow, dim witted, do not possess super human strength and are easily killed by any penetrating wound or even sharp blow to the head. They are easily stopped by a chain link fence or a locked door. Which makes it hard to believe they could get out of a closed coffin under 6 feet of earth. Meaning? Their numbers would have to be limited in the initial uprising to dead people not yet buried. Yet in the span of time this sheriffs deputy spent in a coma alone (couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 days or he would have died of dehydration) these weak ass, slow, stopped by a wire fence, zombies have completely obliterated the entire US military armed with tanks, jets, helicopters, machine guns, flame throwers, etc, and wiped out all vestiges of US government. How? I'm wide open for a good explanation. But in talking to my friend I see that 7 years in none have been offered.

Ehhh, screw that.

Wow I read this book a long time ago and had completely forgotten about it. Trailer looks good. When is this scheduled to start??

I went back and checked. I received that photo back in August of 2016.

[IMG]http://i66.tinypic.com/r77z88.jpg[/IMG]

I posted this picture in a political forum I visit a long time ago. It was sent to me by a pretty well connected friend back during the run up to the presidential election. That is Michael Flynn sitting at a table with Putin. This was at a dinner in Moscow celebrating the anniversary of a Russian television station . At the time this photo was taken Flynn had no job with the US government that would require him to attend such a function much less be a guest at Putin's very table. I asked then why Flynn would be at such an event and seemingly an honored table guest of Putin himself. Of course I never dreamed something would actually come of Flynn's ties to Putin and Russia. But in hindsight it's kind of weird huh?

Well if Trump asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn then that's clearly obstruction of justice. And of course it looks even worse with him later firing Comey. But the problem is that as long as Trump is giving the republicans every thing they want and the republican voters aren't threatening to vote republican congressmen out of office over their refusal to address this situation then nothing is going to happen. Laws and rules don't enforce themselves.

Politics has always been partisan but at least back at the time of Nixon's impeachment there was still a little bit of country first integrity in our politicians that infused them with the will to do what was right even if it hurt their own party. Also Nixon's actions offended both democrat and republican voters. Sadly I don't think either of those things are the case any more.

undefinedI may be in the minority here, but I actually enjoyed both the Sherlock movies!

I liked the first one a lot more but still enjoyed the second one as well.?
As for this King Arthur, the first trailer I saw I kind of figured it would be a long shot to be any good.?

Evan Solomon


I would like to theorize that the Infinity Wars movies will be disasters. They will not be good. They are impossible to pull off, imo. They are going full Icarus. There is no way you can achieve quality in any one aspect of that movie without sacrificing another aspect. It will score 53% on the T-Meter and barely make Civil War's money. Word of Mouth is just going to be about how there is too much going on in the movie with no one thing to focus on so it just become lights and noise. Thanos ironically destroys the MCU's winning streak.

I don't doubt you on this. Sometimes the scale of something is just beyond what the studios have any hope of pulling off. The Dark Phoenix saga is another storyline that I have no faith will ever be properly done.?

Glad to see that for the most part you guys liked this movie. Especially those saying they liked it almost as much or as much as the first. I am on a 7 day run of work in the ER and will not be able to see it until next weekend. It's killing me as this is one of my most anticipated summer movies. I know that 82% is a pretty good rating but I was getting a little worried. Some of the critics that did give a negative review were pretty nasty and a lot of the positive reviews weren't exactly raves with the general theme being decent but nowhere near as good as the first. Glad to hear some of you countering that opinion.

I could care less what Scott says now. All that matters to me is how the original film was shot. Lucas went back and changed shit in the Star Wars films also. I view those changes with the same disdain as I do Scott's retroactive tinkering.

I understand that Scott wanted to make Deckard a replicant and now wants to retroactively act as if it's a certainty that he was in all incarnations of the film. But my understanding is that he was opposed by the screenwriter of the original movie at the time. Also Harrison Ford says he played Deckard as a human and was not told that Deckard was anything other than human. So despite what Scott may have wanted he just did not structure the film properly to support Deckard as a replicant. If your lead actor thinks he was playing a human then odds are he was.

I can't say it any better than Phillip k Dick did himself.

Philip K. Dick (author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the book the film is based on)- he wrote the original role of Deckard as a human. "The purpose of this story as I saw it was that in his job of hunting and killing these replicants, Deckard becomes progressively dehumanized. At the same time, the replicants are being perceived as becoming more human. Finally, Deckard must question what he is doing, and really what is the essential difference between him and them? And, to take it one step further, who is he if there is no real difference?"

Spot on sir. Spot on. And if you change that dynamic you gut the whole theme of the story in my opinion.

So Scott can retroactively insert a scene into a newly released "Bladerunner My 3rd Cousin On My Mothers Side Secret Extended Directors Yanked Out of My Ass Cut Edition" where they show a close up of a popsicle stick hanging out of Deckard's ass and claim that he was a Swiss jelly apple all along if he wants to. It won't change anything to me. The time to make Deckard a replicant came and went with the theatrical release. Scott should have had the balls to take a stand then and make the movie exactly as he wanted. But he caved and shot the film as the author of the book, the screenwriter, and the lead actor perceived it to be.

I have never liked the notion that he was a replicant. Despite what Scott may have wanted or what he says now the original film was shot as if Deckard was human. If you try to retroactively make him into a replicant it creates some problematic inconsistentcies. Like:

1. If he's a replicant why is he allowed to live on earth out on his own when they freak out over the notion of any other replicant doing so??

2. Why would they need to go out and haul him back to the police station and coerce him to become a bladerunner again? If he's a replicant why would they have ever let him retire in the first place? What purpose would that facade serve? Just program him to be a bladerunner that is content to always stay on the job.?

3. If he's a replicant being used as a replicant hunter then why is he so inferior to them? Even Pris who is described as a basic pleasure model is way stronger than he is. Without his gun she would have killed his ass easily.?

4. He gives all these other replicants the Voight-Kampff test and understands why it exposes them as non human but can't realize he wouldn't pass it either? He even figures out Rachel with her implanted memories is a replicant.?

And to me him being a replicant kind of messes up the arc of the whole story. At the end Roy (a replicant) ?saves his life. A human that has been trying to kill him and has killed his companions. An act that drives home the question of who exactly are the bad guys here. But if Deckard is a replicant it's just a replicant saving another replicant. And I find it more powerful for Deckard as a human to sit there on that roof and ponder (as he watched Roy die) that as they have made these replicants more and more like humans at what point have they created an actual human being worthy of the same dignity and human rights. For some reason that moment loses something for me if Deckard is a replicant.?