Miguel Sanchez

^^^

Week 1 update Slow start? What's that? First death of the year was Celtic and St. Mirren striker Frank McGarvey: Frank McGarvey, former Celtic and St Mirren striker, dies aged 66 | Celtic | The Guardian I'm going to go different here and post St. Mirren's video tribute: And link to the thread here: https://www.pieandbovril.com/forum/index.php?/topic/286690-frank-mcgarvey-rip/&do=getNewComment Not a bad career, really. McGarvey died at 66 so he's worth 59 Base Points and a First Blood bonus for @alta-pete, @Billy Jean King, @buddiepaul, @Desp, @Indale Winton, @Ned Nederlander, @psv_killie, @sparky88 and @Sweaty Morph for a total of 84 points each, with @JustOneCornetto getting a Vice-Captain bonus for 114 points. ============= Second death from pancreatic cancer this week was also a striker with extensive success in the 80s with a few clubs, Gianluca Vialli: Gianluca Vialli obituary | Football | The Guardian Vialli died at 58 so he's worth 67 Base Points. There's a mixture of Captains and such here, so I'll do everyone by group: Base Points (67) - @Arbroathlegend36-0, @atfccfc, @buddiepaul, @chomp my root, @Desp, @DG.Roma, @Donathan, @Fuctifano, @gkneil, @HI HAT, @JustOneCornetto, @Karpaty Lviv, @lichtgilphead, @Lofarl, @lolls, @Michael W, @Ned Nederlander @pub car king, @The_Craig, @The DA, @The Naitch, @thistledo Vice-Captain (101) - @Arch Stanton, @LoonsYouthTeam, @Ludo*1, @mozam76, @psv_killie Captain (134) - @Arabdownunder, @Bully Wee Villa, @cdhafc1874, @D.V.T., @Frosty, @HK Hibee, @Mark Connolly, @microdave, @qos_75, @throbber, @weirdcal As a result, the standings look like this: 1. psv_killie 185 2. JustOneCornetto 181 3. buddiepaul, Desp, Ned Nederlander 151 6. Arabdownunder, Bully Wee Villa, cdhafc1874, D.V.T., Frosty, HK Hibee, Mark Connolly, microdave, qos_75, throbber, weirdcal 134 17. Arch Stanton, LoonsYouthTeam, Ludo*1, mozam76 101 21. alta-pete, Billy Jean King, Indale Winton, sparky88, Sweaty Morph 84 26. Arbroathlegend36-0, atfccfc, chomp my root, DG.Roma, Donathan, Fuctifano, gkneil, HI HAT, Karpaty Lviv, lichtgilphead, Lofarl, lolls, Michael W, pub car king, The_Craig, The DA, The Naitch, thistledo 67 44. Everyone else 0 The spreadsheet has also been updated with these scores: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RxCIfczRUmrRrW79tUQ0vJ5KaHZpYENsTKmDqW4X3W4/edit?usp=sharing

Why is there outrage at Liverpool's second goal? The Wolves player goes to head it, makes an arse of it, and the ball ends up with Salah. It's not offside because someone touched it in between the pass happening/offside player touching it. Am I missing something?

04-10 8 Standard Grades, had to do English, maths, computing, one science, one social science, a language and then some mixture of whatever was left. Also had to do English/maths in 5th year. Maybe it varies school by school.

Wouldn't have thought "skateboards" was a word that brought out the bots like this.

A child or a woman might be able to dry themselves with a small towel but nobody with any body hair is

Claudia Winkleman At this point it would take quite the effort to convince me that any advert with her in it isn't AI-generated, because they're all exactly the same and she's loathsome in all of them.

I can't afford a tin opener but I can run a tumble dryer on a regular basis

Medicine ball is the answer here, surely.

I've said it before on other forums, but I'm deeply suspicious of people who don't like Shawshank.

Not convicted.

I believe I told @Sergeant Wilson he'd need to keep me right if he went.

Where is the last thread again? I've been bemused by the amount of things apparently not listed in it.

Good description of Quentin's films here.

It'll be going there on Sunday when I fill in the rest of them.

Jak 3 (PS4, 2017 - originally PS2, 2004) I think I've probably posted about trilogies and the way they're structured before. How they're perceived by the player, how worlds and mechanics evolve over time, how and ultimately how successful this ends up being. Think of a trilogy. How many of them peak with the third instalment? The first thing I need to point out is that Jak 3 was released a year after Jak II. One year! One year was all it took to ditch the Roman numerals. Enough to add two entirely new open world areas and completely transform the layout of the original. After saving the world in Jak II, Jak and Daxter... actually didn't save the world at all. Or Haven City. Or the Metal Heads, despite killing their leader. The city got destroyed and they got the blame and got thrown out into the desert to die. Luckily Haven City has a habit of doing this and there are so many Wastelanders out there that there's an entire city for our boys to discover and end up running. Since the existential threat of the Metal Heads isn't really there any more we also end up facing the Dark Makers, big stringy purple guys who come from space and are somehow even greater mortal enemies of the Precursors than the Metal Heads were. You know how Jak II was clearly inspired by the open worlds of 3D GTA games? Jak 3 has three distinct areas to explore. Can't imagine San Andreas being released a month earlier was influential in any way. Unlike Jak II though where Haven City felt like something profound, the areas in 3 don't to the same extent. The desert city of Spargus is small and a bit bare. The Wasteland outside is large and there's a lot to uncover when you're driving around, but there's nothing to interact with. There are some abandoned looking buildings and statues, that's it. Haven City is half-destroyed and filled with three separate warring factions, and this is probably the biggest disappointment of the game. The strangest thing about the locations is that Jak 3 isn't really a typical open world game in terms of moving around and completing missions. It's oddly linear. The story takes you largely from one area to another in a set order, so there's not always a sense of feeling embedded in a location. The pacing of the story suffers as a result, because you always feel as if just completing this next mission in a weird place will take you to one of the sandbox areas and let you establish yourself, but it doesn't. Once you leave Spargus and the desert the game moves around too much, never letting you feel settled in a location. Weapons and combat are improved from Jak II. In addition to your gun's four ammo types, each ammo has three different modes you unlock as you progress. They're all wildly overpowered, which is the best kind of weapon. Want a gun where bullets automatically seek out targets? Done. Want one where the bullets ricochet everywhere until they hit an enemy? Done. Grenade launcher? Done. Fallout-esque tactical nuke launcher? You get one of those eventually if you want to completely clear a room, or the entire planet. The sheer volume of variety is brilliant and you'll just enjoy using one until you run out of ammo, then on to the next and repeating this cycle as needed. Platforming is broadly the same as before and it's fine. In addition to the Dark Eco powers of Jak II, there's now Light Eco which turns you into the powerful being who's going to save the world. Your Dark Eco powers are especially useless given the improved guns, so it's good that they added some more variety to the physical gameplay. You can slow down time to get past certain types of platforming and you can also sprout wings to get you to other ledges that are far away. Most of the opportunities to use these are circumstantial, so it can feel like you get to take turns at the assorted gameplay mechanics whenever the game decides. Similar to the guns though, the variety is so frequent you almost don't notice. With all of this in mind, the game is surprisingly short. I think my final playtime this go round was under ten hours. Is this a symptom of modern game design, with padding and side missions to create the belief that busywork dragging out the playtime makes a game better? Or more involving, somehow? I'm playing a game where there's objectively lots of stuff, but the final experience ends up feeling brief and somehow less than the sum of its parts. There's no denying it was brief either. There are various Orbs and races dotted around the city areas if you really want to extend your time with the game, but they don't really serve a purpose and the cities are surprisingly awkward to travel around, especially at speed. The biggest strength of all the Jak and Daxter games as always been the characterisation. This was at its peak in Jak II with lots of varied, well developed and interesting characters. Sadly, Jak 3's characters suffer from the same problems as the rest of the game. Established characters we know and like pop up for a couple of missions and are gone forever afterwards. I think this contributes to the lacking sense of location. Our heroes manage to save things - just - by being as strong as ever, but it's a shame they get so little help along the way. This also makes the story feel less profound and important than before, because it's just sort of... there. You're saving the world from being destroyed and finally finding out the truth about the Precursors, but none of it feels like it matters. Despite what I've said I do like this game From a narrative perspective it's a fitting end to the Jak and Daxter trilogy. It's fun, controls well and is brimming with content and imagination. Playing it now though, for the first time in years and many further years since I first played it, I just wish it did more with what it has. All the more reason for Naughty Dog to get off their arse and get their focus back in the right place.

That he stayed in the job past this should have set off many alarm bells.

I tried watching Dune last week. I got as far as the boy and his maw getting picked up by the Spice planet people. I had no idea what was going on, but I'm sure that was due to the limitations of the medium. I tried watching Snatch last week. I lasted about three minutes. Heat is excellent.

The stuff after Scarlett Johansson driving about Govan in a van picking up men may well have been very serious, but I was out of it by that point. That and her walking up the Gallowgate and listening to Kaye Adams on the radio.

I gave myself sleep paralysis for the first time the other night. I'd been up at the toilet at some point and my room door wasn't closed as tightly as usual, so there was a bit of light coming in. When I was in med looking at it either awake/asleep my arms were suddenly up in the air with intense pins and needles, and there were coloured lights running around the edges of the ceiling. I knew what was happening and I was looking to see if any people/figures appears, but they didn't. I had another slightly less intense episode shortly after where instead of the colours, I heard this mass of noise that was like every sound possible all at once. It was over quickly and I went back to sleep (I assume).

A few months ago I watched all of the Terminators. It's an absolute travesty that action movies went from this - something with long shots of stunts like the chase through the river in the picture, or the chase/shootout with the tanker at the end - to the CGI-laden shambles that's common now. You see the actual stunts and explosions and it looks real, and you know people are doing the things. Then you see Dark Fate and a Humvee falls out a plane, skates down a dam and goes upside down along a river and Linda Hamilton's hair remains immaculate inside the whole time. Utter shite. Under the Skin is Scarlett Johansson in a van driving about Govan picking up men. I don't care how good it is, it's physically impossible for me to take it seriously. The opening scenes of this are about the most impossible looking shots I've ever seen. That the madness only increases from there says a lot.

I'll have a check of this (and the other spelling problems) tomorrow, thanks. I'm always happy for people to check over what I've done and point out any mistakes. I've considered adding a Theme Team rule before, but I've never really been sure how to balance the points to make it a large enough bonus to be worth doing, but not so large it ends up an automatic win. if some of them die. I suppose given the top ten seem to get a minimum of seven picks dying it would still need to be a theme which had people likely to die somehow, rather than say fifteen active Premiership footballers. 1. If they keep surviving they're more likely to die year on year, obviously. 2. Could you imagine the accusations if I hand picked the best of everyone's choices and won with a 15/15 hit rate? Maybe one day when I listen to your advice and figure out how to make a real spreadsheet I'll enter two more teams, of the 15 most popular picks and the 15 oldest picks, see if that works.

Watching this on Alba. VAR is shite. How can anyone think that improves the game?

I'm actually going to do the "it's been a busy few days" on that one. She just got lost in the madness.

I searched for her in the wrong year. Whoops.