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ICTChris

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Posts posted by ICTChris

    Last Book You Read....

    in The General Nonsense Forum

    Posted

    And? Any good? What's it about?

    You can't just come on here with your fancy ways and tease us like that. :D

    It's about the Miners strike. There ar ethree threads to the story: the viewpoint of an NUM official; the activities of a Tory-supporting busiiness leader who is working to break the strike; and the actions of the intelligence services to undermine the strike.

    It's written in a very hard-boiled style, pared down with no slack to the writing. This can make it quite hard to follow but it's very engrossing so far. I had already read Peace's 'The Damned United' about Brian Clough, in terms of the disciplined writing style and the intertwined story-telling it's similar.

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    What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

    in TV and Film Forum

    Posted

    I watched Gosford Park on Sasturday night. I thought it would be enjoyable and it has a fantastic cast - Michael Gambon, Richard E Grant, Stephen Fry, Kelly MacDonald, Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, Charles Dance to mentiona few. It's a murder mystery set in an English country mansion between the wars. A party consisting of a mixture of aristocrats, new money and US celebs are on a shooting weekend, along with their servants and over the course of the weekend, a member of the party is murdered.

    I could understand people not liking it but I thought it was well acted and had a good sense of humour. It also cast light on the hypocrisy and cruelty of the upper classes at that time, in particular their relations (both working and sexual) to their servants.

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    Gigs

    in The Music Forum

    Posted

    Might go to this if i can scrape some cash together.

    Cosmic Rough Riders, Debuts, Kessler

    at Hard Rock Cafe Edinburgh, Thursday, March 22 at 8:00 PM

    Considering the Hard Rock Cafe is on George Street 'Home Of The £3.50 Pint' you'd better scrape together quite a bit!

    Give us a shout if you are coming through to that though.

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    What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

    in TV and Film Forum

    Posted

    The Good Shepherd - 7/10

    The Godfather of spy films? It's certainly an ambitious film, covering the gestation of the CIA from it's inception in the build up to WW2 until the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Matt Damon plays an operative who is consumed by his secrets, which leads him to neglect Angelina Jolie, his wife, and his son. Robert de Niro, as well as directing, plays the founding figure of the CIA, who gives Damon's character responsibility for coutner-intelligence.

    The film covers a wide variety of eras, scenarios etc. We see Damon 'betraying' his tutor while at college, working during WW2 in England, post WW2 in Berlin, in Latin America and in the Carribean. I tought Damon was superb, he came across very well as the all seeing but unfeeling spy. The sacrifices he has made for his profession are hinted at in the love story sideplot (Damon's character has to abandon his first love for Jolie after she falls pregnant to him).

    Overall, the film is about secrets, truth and the affect that they have on people involved in them on a day-to-day basis. One criticismis that as it covers such a wide variety of characters over a long period of time it's difficult to get any depth, which I think is probably valid, although it depends on personal taste how important you think taht is. It has a fantastic cast - Damon is superb, de Niro plays his small cameo well, William Hurt is good, Alec Baldwin too.

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    What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

    in TV and Film Forum

    Posted

    United 93.

    Not an 'enjoyable' film but very impressive. The tension isbuilt up very well, particularly in the moments leading up to the hijack on the plane. The pieces in the air-traffic control towers really convey the chaos of the day and the panic amongst the controllers. As usual with Greengrass he uses the shaky-camera documentary style to great affect.

    The actual hijack is well played I think - the violence of the takeover is pretty sickening and the hijackers are shown to be aggressive and brutal. However, he also shows the nervousness, panic and confusion that they must have felt when executing the murders - the pilot in particular seems lost. The storming of the cockpit is well played, a truly heroic act.

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    Last Book You Read....

    in The General Nonsense Forum

    Posted

    What's Left: how the Liberals Lost Their Way by Nick Cohen.

    Nick Cohen examines the movement of large elements of the left to embrace totalitarianism in the 21st century. It's an interesting book, he covers historical precendents for the left embracing facism talks about the anti-war movement (run by a committee of Communists, Trotskyists and Islamists) and the aftermath of the Iraq War. Basically the chastises a large section of the left for adopting political positions with no thought for the logic of them - the US is evil ergo Osama Bin Laden et al can't be all bad for fighting them.

    Some of it is very funny, there is a section on the rise of 'theorists' and he is pretty acidic in ridiculing them for impenetrable technocrat gobbledegook, reminded me of a lot of Orwells essays. Other parts of it are pretty depressing really.

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    Petty Things That Get On Your Nerves...

    in The General Nonsense Forum

    Posted

    Didn't want to start a 'look at the world today thread' but

    Shock at women goading toddlers

    A jury at Plymouth Magistrates' Court was shown the footage

    Footage of four women goading toddlers to fight has "stunned" police and social services in Devon.

    The seven-minute footage, filmed at a house by one woman, was shown in a case at Plymouth Magistrates' Court.

    In the clip, a boy wearing a nappy was called a "wimp" for not hitting a girl back after she struck him in the face.

    Four women admitted child cruelty charges and were released on bail on Wednesday. Det Sgt Andy Kings said the police had been "shocked" by the case.

    I didn't see any harm in toughening them up

    A defendant

    "This was a multi-agency operation with the police and social services working together and every professional that has seen this has been shocked and stunned," he said.

    "Locally this is something that is new to us, but we are aware that similar incidents have occurred elsewhere in the country and it is something people need to be aware of."

    The film was found by social services.

    The boy, aged two, is seen crying after being punched in the face by the three-year-old girl and is told by one of the four women in the room "not to be a wimp or a faggot" and to hit her back.

    The four women, all from the same family, are heard laughing as the toddlers are urged to keep on fighting.

    'Taunted'

    When the boy tries to get away and climb into an armchair, the women shout at the girl to punch him again.

    She does and the boy is urged to fight back, but says: "No, I don't want to."

    The girl leaves the room, and when she comes back the two are taunted and told to fight again.

    The court heard that when interviewed by police, one of the women said: "I didn't see any harm in toughening them up. I done the same with my own children."

    One of the women pleaded guilty to causing or procuring the children to be ill treated in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering of injury.

    The other three pleaded guilty to jointly inciting the ill treatment of children.

    Sentencing was adjourned until 16 March for reports.

    The children are in the care of Plymouth City Council's Social Services.

    Would the world be that worse a place if these people (the adults) were shot or at least put in jail for ten years?

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