velo army

You absolutely should post on the infuriating partners thread if it feels right for you. Its probably the funniest and least rancorous thread on p and b (until this one obvs) and if it's not to presumptuous, it may be a cathartic and valuable part of your process. I know it would be of huge value to us to read and engage with whatever you post. Thank you for your response.

Aye I'm fearing the worst and might watch whatever shite movie is on Channel 5 at that time instead. Feeling a bit sick tbh. I miss the days when I just showed up expecting to get pumped but hoping for us not to completely disgrace ourselves.

Just finished the first series of "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" which seemed promising. It's a good buddy story with a decent redemption arc for Bucky and good chemistry between the two leads. It's spoiled, I think, by a very poorly written (and cast) antagonist and intrusive political messaging that is condescending and, quite frankly, incongruous. The acting is good from Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan and the excellent Daniel Bruhl, but it's baffling why they cast someone so bad as the antagonist, not to mention her crew. The development of those characters, as well as their motivations, aren't remotely developed. We never find out who they are which is why I never ever give a crap what happens to them. The writing suffers from the failure to show rather than tell. We're variously told by other characters that Karli (the central antagonist) is brilliant, charismatic and intelligent, but she never really demonstrates any of those qualities. It shows a complete lack of imagination and faith on the part of the writers, as well as a huge insult to the intelligence of the viewer. She exhibits absolutely no charisma or presence, doesn't seem to be that intelligent and shows us no great initiative or guile. Add this to the fact that the actress playing her has no charisma or range and you end up with a fairly entitled teenage lassie and that's it. The political messaging is becoming almost expected. This is where the writers do decided to show rather than tell. They show us Sam getting stopped by police and them not recognising him, and then becoming super obsequious. We see Sam and his sister denied a loan. We hear Sam's sister tell the viewer that it's because they are black, but it's dishonest and manipulative and a bit jarring (we never see white people in similar circumstances receiving credit, and in fact the bank manager provides ample reason not to give credit, Sam hasn't registered any income for 5 years.....). There's also the inclusion of an earlier super soldier, Isaiah Bradley, who as a black super soldier was experimented on. It recalls the horrendous treatment of the Tuskegee Airmen after WW2 and is actually quite sensitively handled. It all felt overdone and melodramatic, leaving the viewer no space to think and form opinions of their own. I think there's space for political commentary in these types of series, in fact I love it when it can be worked in in a way that still stays true to the story, but when I feel like I'm being led to one conclusion then I tend to feel manipulated. There is enough to get invested in. Bucky and Sam's relationship is warm, but the writing for the rest of the characters leaves a great deal to be desired.

Rafael any relation to Stevie? Can I watch this live on my laptop through the beeb or do I have to pay a tenner to sky? I'm working til 2, not near a pub and I dinna hae a telly.

Gave you a greenie for calling it the First Division. Echoing my fellow luvvy above, Chic Charnley is probably the best Thistle player over the last 30 years. Gary Harkins was just a beautiful footballer too. Our pitch was the worst in the country by miles (shared with the egg chasers) and he still looked like Zidane. Scott Paterson is my favourite Thistle player though. Just absolute silk on the ball and would start attacks by dribbling out of defence. He'd do fucking step-overs as well!! Rarely would just lump it clear, instead opting to chest it down, slide past the opposing striker and play it to a midfielder. If not for a chronic hip injury that curtailed his time with Liverpool and then his career he would have been an international. A wonderful, wonderful footballer.

It wouldn't make sense playing a midfield that hadn't ever played together in a match. I like your thinking though, but I'd have Gilmour instead of McGregor.

McGinn and Grealish interview giving me the fear today. McGinn seems to have a problem with tackling his pals. I need players who will go through their pals to win a game. He seems to be known for it too.

Aye this is my concern. The optics will reflect very poorly, and it'll look absolutely like we're standing against England. It will be the image on most tabloid back pages too, I fear. It's easier to just show solidarity with the England lads and take the Knee for this game.

Brilliant. Thanks mate.

It seems that the Scotland squad have decided not to take the Knee and have instead opted to stand up. I had a reflexive cringe at this. I understand that teams up here have been standing up instead of taking the knee, but looking at the Twitter support we're getting from the gammonsphere as if we're standing up to lily livered Marxism or some shite makes me very uneasy. I'd love to hear more thoughts on this.

Just saw a tweet that talked about "multinational footballers" and listed each nation with "players who could declare for someone else". Apparently we have 6. I could think of only 4 (Adams, Dykes, Cooper and McTominay). I looked through the squad but couldn't name another two. Anyone have any ideas?

But they're clear on why they can't be specific with accusations. They don't want the legal action as they wouldn't be able to afford to fight. Brewdog have form for being spiteful arseholes and if you're young and have no consciousness whatsoever of worker's rights (in trying to unionise my colleagues in a restaurant this was an inescapable conclusion) then of course you're not going to come out and be specific. It's a brave thing to do, and I hope they take the fight further with unionisation and such like.

Terrible news. He was posting just last week on the "infuriating things your partner does" and was taking a good ribbing for sending his missus to weight watchers or somesuch. It seems that he used this forum to carry on with a sense of normality even although he was suffering grievously. A good reminder that any one of us can be going through the worst of life unbeknownst to the wider P and B community. He seemed like a well loved man and my heart goes out to his wee boys, mrs Madwullie and Cardinal Richielieu.

Anyone listened to the OldFirm Facts podcast? I've given a few episodes a spin and in general they're pretty good. The one with Chris McQueer and David Ross was outstanding actually. I also enjoyed the opening episode with Cosgrove and Sean McDonald. They were funny and insightful. He does like to bring a gender balance to his shows, which I think can be refreshing and is well done. Amy MacDonald is great value and I liked listening to Jean Johansson. I'd like a greater spread of football fans on as it seemed that only a couple of episodes featured non-old firm fans. But in general it's a good listen with good quality guests.

I'd have McTominay in for Henry if we're taking him out the midfield to fit Gilmour in.

Aye, chapeau to whomever made this. I had no idea about that Serbia scoreboard thing, but the boy stepping out of reporter mode and into supporter mode was delightful.

Great post. Thanks for your insight amigo.

Delighted at the two Jags youth products on the scoresheet last night. Any Jonathan Wilson types out there know if other teams use centre backs in an attacking way in a 3-5-2 or has Steve Clarke re-invented the role?

Here's hoping.

Remember you asked for it.

I got this for my 8th birthday. Absolute cracker.

Arbroath is the correct answer. Gorgeous train ride up the east coast to the most coastal (surely!) stadium on Grand Britannia. The wind is constant and strong. The stadium is mostly terracing and they have, and I can't overstate this, the tastiest pie in Scottish football (steak and black pudding). Failing this you have my team, but we're not so lower league these days. As has been said there are great pubs close by and Glasgow and Liverpool have something of a close affinity (similar character and similar propensity for accomodating a fuckton of famine refugees in the mid 19th century). Also, we sold you Sandy Brown in 1961, so there is that connection. Whomever you choose, I wish you all the best.

Exactly my thinking. Welcome traveller!!

That seems to have an incredible cast too. I find it curious how actors can go in and out of fashion. Aaron Ekhart, Josh Hartnett and the aforementioned Swank don't seem to be in many movies now. Black Dahlia also makes me realise how Scarlett Johansson hasn't aged in about 20 years. Utterly brutal murder though. I fired it into youtube thinking it was just a film and was met with some fairly horrid images straight up. Yeesh.

Jesus. It's worse than I remembered. It was weirdly popular at the time though, so it paid off.