Well done, ffish. I have to admit that this last week I simply cashed in and sat. Not being in the U.K. it can be difficult at times - unless one wishes to spend inordinate amounts of time trawling news pages - so my apologies if I have let down the team.
Dujon] I can understand your reasons, and there is no need to apologise, please play a while longer. If you need a rest buy into a couple of long term stocks that will be steady but will hit the headlines occasionally like the Queen or one or more of the Princes, perhaps J-Lo or a movie star like Russell Crowe. Maybe even a portfolio of three or four blue chips, even on a quiet week there will be a payout. Don't do what I foolishly did I bought a solid earner when they were too high, then their stock plummeted.
I've just woken up in the middle of my only lecture of the week to discover that while it is taking place in the confines of the institute at the campus, I have been 'happily' dozing back here at my flat. I am going to be in sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much trouble! How did this happen?!
Only lecture of the week? What nonsense is this? Actually, come to think of it, when I was a student I had no compulsory lectures at all, but I still went to them. I'm not sure why.
Nope, missed it. What did they show? (BTW, hello Jenny! Have you found MCiOS yet? In case you haven't, just click here to find it. Also tonight from about 8 or 9 pm there is an e-pilg so you can join in if you click on the "Real time chat server" link just under the clock on that page.)
Oh, so you're one of those naughty people who don't return albums! (I'd have nagged you to death myself, but maybe Kevan went off OMD) So where have you been for 4 years?
[ZK -- how it happened] I'm not supposed to tell you this, but you ought to know. If you had attended that lecture, you would have met the love of your life and lived a happy life together. However, the son you would have had would eventually grow up to be an evil despot worse than any seen before in human history, responsible for the annihilation of 90% of the human race. Therefore, time travellers from that blighted future came back to last night and laced your drink with large quantities of tranquiliser, ensuring you overslept and missed the lecture, thus averting the creation of that timeline. You may be in trouble now, but think of the far greater calamity that has been relatively painlessly averted. Seriously, hope you don't get in too much bother over it. (Assuming an "Attending" answer to Raak's Q:) Do they take a register or is it a small enough class that absences are noticeable? What are you studying that only has one lecture a week?
{Breadmaster, snorgle, Raak, Brendan] They take a register every week - I have lots to do but it only takes the form of a lecture once, the rest is done in classes (language etc.) I'm doing a Classics BA. As it was, I wasn't feeling well, and told my friend to apologise to my other tutor later today and get everything from that class for me. I caught up on some (apparently) much-needed rest until my flatmate decided that the whole of Birmingham wanted to hear Evanescence and Avril Lavigne at such a volume that you could almost tell what the record producers were eating on the other side of the booth when they were making the song. Yippee. But I'm still not happy as my lecture is the only historical input they get every week, and one of our lecturers said that the lecture register is one of the first things that alerts them to the fact that you're having problems with your course...ie that you're a layabout. [Brendan] Thankyou, I needed that. :)
[ZK] My best excuse for not attending Uni lecturers was to claim I was boycotting them. This did not perturb my tutors in the least, acclimatised as they were to student politics. They didn't ask the reason.
And really, you know, it's about time they started using webcams to narrowcast the lectures anyway. I've attended several sessions at the University of Washington (where I'm not even a student) via this method.
Not sure how it compares to others, but I enjoyed my brief visit. I'm a bit worried about some of the late night tv programmes that snorgle watches, shocked I am!
[penfold] Sorry I ran out the second you appeared, wasn't really s'posed to be there. [snorgle] I saw bits of that programme too - my housemate was pretending to be 'reading some academic research papers with the telly on in the background' when I came in from the pub. Incidentally, a present from DrQ has arrived, so could you drop me a line so we can organise duplication and distribution (rab at angrycake dot com).
[snorgle] Thanks for your mail - sadly I'm unable to reply as requested cos you neglected to put your desired return email address in. Any chance you could supply the same? Cheers.
Last night Lord of the Rings was mooted as a possible theme for a future week, though I think this was just snorgle wanting to dress up as an elf, in stockings and a tight leather jerkin.
Of course, I went to their very first gig in the car park of a sewage farm
[st d] Just curious; what happens if something you like becomes popular after you started liking it? Do you go off it, or do you think "Yay, it became popular, people have occasional flashes of good taste after all"?
Inkspot's right. My idea for a new game a couple of weeks ago was for a revival of "Ye Crescent Morningtowne" from a couple of years ago. Since then, I've had two other flashes of inspiration mundane ideas. Idea 1: "Claim to Fame". First person posts a (possibly actual, possibly fictional) claim to fame (eg "My father once interviewed David Cassidy" (this is true)) and the next person tries to better it in some way. Needs refining. Idea 2: Problem page: first person posts an unlikely-sounding "Dear Marge" problem and the next person provides some humourous advice. Hey, I'm an ideas man; I leave it to the little people to work out the details!
Brendan] I suppose the example that springs to mind is The Italian Job which is a movie i vividlu recall watching when I was about ten years old, then when it came on TV again when I was about 17 I made sure to tape it. (this will be about 1988 ?) I always loved that movie - then recently (last 5 years) it became the epitome of Clerkenwell Cool, which I found irksome. What is annoying I think is that ten years ago I could have said to someone "watch this movie it is great". Now, it is no longer anything special, which is a shame Funnily that reminds me that I watched Charade at the weekend - another film that I love that I had seen a long time ago - tjough one that has not gained the *cult* status of Italian Job. It wasn't quite as good as I remembered which was a little dissappointing - though still it is fabulous. Bob] I am not sure if it is the hype and marketing. Maybe. Mayeb I am just a snob ? Its like holiday destinations. As soon as they become discovered my the MOB they lose their charm. KIM] but can we ever do better than this :-PROBLEM PAGE - Ask a Navy Seal
I enjoyed the film - although I can certainly see how a lot of people would find the first hour boring. I really feel that this is an excellent interpretation of the book(s) - the story is so extensive, it needed a huge film to do it justice. I don't get put off by something being popular - if I like, I don't care how popular it is, although its annoying when people assume you're jumping on a bandwagon because it happens to be fashionable.
Crescente is certainly a possibility; personal problems were solved by Mrs Trellis a while ago on Orange. Meanwhile there's an idea going around at MCiOS at the moment that might be appropriate. Whatever, I'll open my slot. Please, someone, do fill it.
I'm sure I posted here about half an hour ago .. ah well. It was along the lines of .. why repeat games which have been played SO well [the Morningtowne link] and surely there's a limit to how much humour/wordplay you can squeeze out of a theme? Has cockney slang been played recently? Trappist games are fun. [St d] Is Navy Seal a one trick pony?
I was not put off by the popularity. I have never really liked that kind of fantasy stuff so I did not enjoy the books. Yes, I was conscripted to D&D clubs in my 6th form days - and I do enjoy some intelligent SF (Rendezvous with Rama, The Seventh Angel, Danny Darko), but hobbits never appealed. I enjoy some BIG Hollywood films as much as continental/independent/low-budget/arthouse ones – Central Station being a fave - so I was hoping for some rip-roaring SFX and a glorious ending. 'Fellowship' was OK, a bit laboured on the scenery and a half-hearted ending but enjoyable. 'Towers' was excellent. Full of humour and wonderful effects (although tree-beard was a bit 1970s Dr Who). Nah, the worst of the bunch was 'Return' - overacted, over produced and over here. The final scene was so laboured (filmed in perfume commercial-style soft-focus slo-mo) I was hard-pressed not to giggle. I was disappointed. And another thing. I rented a film called Identity recently and enjoyed it. So can we have the "Seen any good movies?" game back?
1] Put a sock in it. *chuckle* I have unashamedly nicked Kevan's game idea [MCiOS chat] which rab referred to earlier. There seems to be some support for it.
And I was hoping for a Room 101 revival. Sundays! They should go into room 101, along with golf, the film 'Titanic', Paris, powerdressing, LotR, anything New-Age, fake leaded windows, wet cardboard, Bromsgrove, stew, BMWs, motorway service station gifts, nasal-hair, McDonalds, ties, self-assessment tax forms and diets. On the bright side, I have lost (nearly) 1 stone since I started.
Btd] If I was Paul Merton I'd give you all of those bar the first, fourth and sixth (though I might let "the excessive hype surrounding ..." in). But what's wrong with Sundays? Best day of the week, is Sunday (unless you're trying to travel by train, admittedly). Well done on your success with the diet.
Sundays. Epitomised by that huge expensive waste of time and money, Sunday papers. Like the day itself, they are full of nothing and go on forever. Retail therapy is out of the question as the only shops that open on Sundays (in my area) are the big chain-stores, and they, with no exceptions, are all contenders for room 101. Then there is that dull grey Sunday afternoon feeling when you desperately seek out something to take up your time that has nothing to do with the work you have to do for Monday morning. In my childhood, Sundays were often spent at aunts houses, being fed over-rich cake and stewed tea from willow-pattern china to the dead-slow ticking of a Westminster chimes mantelpiece clock. Ah ha! Another contender for room 101, ceramic figurines. I remember having my hair brushed by my aunts. They did it so hard that great hand-fulls of hair would come out. They'd introduce my brother and I to their friends daughters in the hope of sparking childhood romances. When you are eight, that is scary. When I was a student, Sundays were a little better. You can take a friend to bed for a whole day. But I'd usually do that on a Saturday and work or do my laundry or visit relatives on Sundays. In my first job I had to work on Sundays. As I did with my second and third. Now I'm self-employed and I should be working on Sundays. I (day of un) rest my case.
Sundays are the day for getting out in the weather, getting a lot of fresh air all in one go and having messy hair, because Sunday night is bath night! I tend to be scruffier on Sunday than a Saturday, which is a habit stretching back to when I was a kid, and used to cycle out to my grandparents in the country to spend the day helping my grandad with his horses. Am I the only kid who grew up in anoraks and wellies and never really lost the habit?