In Response to Re: Many Rivers To Cross. A Diary. : ok fair enough on that point lol, i do like the new batman franchise but i slightly disagree with some of your comments on the old. I do like tim burton's batman and batman returns i think the villains are great tbh they are very dark, gritty and a bit gruesome at parts and i think the new batman movies are little to "clean" compared to them, probably because they have to adhere to the 12A rating. Anyhoo that's just my opinion and although we might disagree i hope we agree on one thing that batman 3 and 4 was ... well.. not worth talking about lol Yes Hathaway is a fox, she played a great role. She played a different catwoman than the crazed psycho bi-ch that was portrayed by Michelle pfeiffer, and she played it perfectly imo. Posted by WHOAMI196
Hey it's all opinion, no problem disagreeing about the two franchises. And yes, the Schumacher films are dreadful. The Adam West TV Movie Batman is much better than Batman and Robin. It's also not even close.
I'm a comic book geek so it's really hard for me to be impressed with comic book movies. For me they have to be completely original or follow a classic story arc to the letter for me to be pretty happy. I saw the trailer for the next Superman reboot, I am hopeful but I think Superman Returns while not great was a perfect set up for a great Superman movie. It's a shame they are not going that way. I still haven't seen Amazing Spiderman but I'm pretty pumped about it. Heard mixed revues though but as I rarely agree with people about movies it doesn't matter too much.
I thought the show was great and I can deal with some of the blinkered vitriol about it.
Posted by TommyD
No problem with the show, Danny Boyle is going from strength to stregth. But where is the investment in London's infrastructure (other than a few sports facilities)? Barcelona turned their City around (literally) in preparing to host the games - we get a few lines posted on the roads that will get cleaned up afterwards.
And as for the extreme commercialism of it all - the economic benefit of it to the country is just hype to sell the idea to an unsuspecting public. Even that giant vampire squid called Goldman Sachs agrees that the economics are a bit iffy. Big business and big government feeding their collective wallets and egos on the back of amateur volunteers and sportsmen giving it their all, and a viewing public being charged through the nose, and a local population suffering horrendous transport problems.
As for Gold medals, it all depends if you think last times increase was a secular trend or idiosyncratic. Had we had a massive investment in sporting infrastructure in the years leading up to the Beijing Olympics? Not that I know of. Hence more likely the increase was due to the skills and tenacity of that year's competitors. That is not a valid reason for a secular increase in my book. Probably get an increase in total medals due to weight of numbers, but golds are harder to come by.
"on the bubble - can I / should I fold" - worst thing is I changed my mind at the last moment - and got it wrong in terms of result - but was it the right thing to do?
In poker news, I had an ugly end to July. Glad to see the back of it to be honest, I always seem to have a poor record in this month. Going to try to put in a ton of volume in August, just need to iron out the kinks in my game, old Mr Station is creeping back in and I need to find the happy medium between him and Master Scared of the Nuts.
Loved the Olympic opening ceremony, followed by be really disappointed by Team GB's performance so far. Yesterday was finally a good day and many kudos to all the medalists. Of course you can quite rightly say I can't do as well in Judo or Cycling as some people I may be frustrated by. Very true, but I haven't been paid for my image rights for a Limited Edition Shampoo set, I haven't done several documentaries saying how I'm going to win X event. This is not a cross the board criticism, there have been some great Team GB performances which have got no where near a medal (Zoe Smith in the weightlifting springs to mind). If they are getting close to PBs or even breaking British records then hats off to them, fabulous effort. If they have trained at the Olympic venue for 18 months and don't even qualify for the final then I think the people who have been hammered by merchandise salespeople and Olympic levies have a right to be disappointed. Never to the level of some of the twitter trolls you've seen in the news, but we are allowed a very British tutting.
Come on Tommy, cheer up - let's get behind the guys & gals and just enjoy the whole shebang - this is a once in a generation event & we won't know what we had til it's gone!
Def thumbs up4the ceremony - Bond, Bean, Becks & Brunel - Best of British!
Gl 4the Aug Grind, I'm gona try to get my highest ever points total aswell (20k+).
EDIT - Saw Dark Knight last night, enjoyed it but didn't understand what happened @ the end! Pls cud u PM me if u hav time, many thanks.
Haven't updated for a while, sorry guys. In poker news, I had an ugly end to July. Glad to see the back of it to be honest, I always seem to have a poor record in this month. Going to try to put in a ton of volume in August, just need to iron out the kinks in my game, old Mr Station is creeping back in and I need to find the happy medium between him and Master Scared of the Nuts. Loved the Olympic opening ceremony, followed by be really disappointed by Team GB's performance so far. Yesterday was finally a good day and many kudos to all the medalists. Of course you can quite rightly say I can't do as well in Judo or Cycling as some people I may be frustrated by. Very true, but I haven't been paid for my image rights for a Limited Edition Shampoo set, I haven't done several documentaries saying how I'm going to win X event. This is not a cross the board criticism, there have been some great Team GB performances which have got no where near a medal (Zoe Smith in the weightlifting springs to mind). If they are getting close to PBs or even breaking British records then hats off to them, fabulous effort. If they have trained at the Olympic venue for 18 months and don't even qualify for the final then I think the people who have been hammered by merchandise salespeople and Olympic levies have a right to be disappointed. Never to the level of some of the twitter trolls you've seen in the news, but we are allowed a very British tutting. Posted by TommyD
Apparently they needed 18 months and 1 day. Glad to see my commentator's curse is still going strong.
Mucho Congratos to the Gold and Silver Medalists in Team GB C2 Canoing and all of the medalists. Going to diary about the young lady who's in the Judo final later, still in bits after watching the semi final bout.
Come on Tommy, cheer up - let's get behind the guys & gals and just enjoy the whole shebang - this is a once in a generation event & we won't know what we had til it's gone! Def thumbs up4the ceremony - Bond, Bean, Becks & Brunel - Best of British! Gl 4the Aug Grind, I'm gona try to get my highest ever points total aswell (20k+). EDIT - Saw Dark Knight last night, enjoyed it but didn't understand what happened @ the end! Pls cud u PM me if u hav time, many thanks. Posted by JingleMa
Congrats to all our gold medalists - very impressive Still don't think it is thanks to any govt investment in sport in this country - more due to some outstanding individuals. And as for the benefit to the country - don't make me laugh Sorry to hi-jack your thread TommyD - but you started it. Posted by GELDY
Been thinking about my general attitude towards the Olympics during the run up a lot in the last few days. The turning point for me was Gemma Gibbons' silver medal in the Judo. In terms of a sporting contest all I wanted was someone from Team GB to rise to the occasion, and did she ever. She had an awful draw, yet she took down favourite after favourite. Every bout seemed to go down to the wire. When she won her semi and was guaranteed a medal the excitement and energy was palpable. When she looked up to the sky and said 'I love you mum' and was instantly in bits.
That was when I fell in love with the Olympics, well before the extraordinary scenes and success we have seen this weekend. I now have come to realise that London and Great Britain not only will benefit from this but needed it.
So why my hysteria and negativity before the start? Not my normal attitude, I'm in general positive and very rarely become as off the calm considered way of thinking as I became before these games started. The simple fact as i see it is that most of the people of Great Britain have lost faith in so many things.
The banks let us down, then we bailed them out. They seemed to react to this by rubbing our noses in it and just carried on how they always did. Everyone went skint apart from the people who made us all skint.
We've lost faith in politicians, we feel they are all the same, very few have the interests of the people at heart, only their own expense charging self serving ways. None of them can affect any change and won't try.
We've lost faith in the police. We don't believe they can keep us safe anymore, they are swamped in paperwork and health and safety. The riots happened and there wasn't a thing they could do about it. They were also, rightly or wrongly, blamed for the riots starting in the first place
We've lost faith in the news media, too absorbed in selling their work on the back of celebrity culture and sleaze they now hack the phones of the families of dead children and fallen solders while putting no-marks on their front pages. It's not about news and balanced critique anymore, it's about shifting copies/ad-space while keeping us all scared because they insist in telling us there is a suicide bomber hiding in every corner and everything gives you cancer. Fear and sex sells copy, **** the news.
We've lost faith in the education system, most young people are told they only have unemployment to look forward to unless they are born into the higher classes. Teachers are blamed for not producing well rounded individuals while having their hands tied up from actual teaching because of a thousand levels of paperwork and box checking which must be seen to be done. The public have lost faith in teachers because all they hear about are kids with knives stabbing each other before settling into a life on benefits with fourteen children of their own.
We've lost faith in heroes, because now heroes are not people who fight wars or save people from fires, they are people who can score a goal and be snap called a legend. They then fall out of a nightclub at three in the morning yet in the time it takes for their hangover to clear they earn more than we do in a year. The people we used to cheer as one of us now are so disconnected due to money and being told they were great for their skill for so long (in other words they have never heard the word 'no' since their parents were told they could make millions) that we can't relate to them or they to us. But will still burn our money on them anyway.
We've lot faith in each other. Maybe it's more of a London attitude but people avoid the simple human contact of saying 'Good Morning' to each other as much as they can. We seem paranoid that the stranger is evil, the work college has it in for us and the boss is doing everything they can to keep us down. We have no belief in the Good Samaritan, no thought that anyone will actually do a selfless act and anyone who does is obviously after something.
We're at a low in this country, but I'll be damned if the Olympics aren't pulling us out of it by the throat. I was scared before the games started. Not that we wouldn't get medals, I was scared the actual running of it would be an embarrassment to the country. I had visions of Ussain Bolt missing the 100m final while stuck in traffic, the swimming delayed because the pool was leaking and Boris setting himself alight with the torch. You see before the Games it had become very taboo in Great Britain to be proud of the country. The Cross of St George is constantly asked to be taken down in a variety of places because we lost that flag to a far right bunch of buffoons. The shame on us is we never took it back. The Union Flag suffers the same stigma, although to a lesser extent. Other countries beam with pride when they hear their anthem or see their flag, we in general have our head down and scuttle on politely. The Games is bleeding that rightful pride back into us. For the most part it's being run superbly. Yes there is a ticket issue but from what I can see this was actually out of our control. The venues are stunning, the volunteers are making these games by giving up time for free to help us, to make our day and experience better. Britain is pulling together for the games. You can feel it, everyone is smiling a little easier, everyone is just a little more happy and more importantly it's now deemed ok to express pride in our country Will it last? Hopefully, but one thing is for sure, it hasn't hurt.
Thanks for putting into words what so many of us are thinking, just let me know when you are moving into politics you can have my vote. Being honest the Olympics had started and I wasn't bothered, why have events before the opening ceremony is beyond me, which in itself was a good performance & didn't let any one down. But now I am hooked on following & cheering on the efforts of the individuals who at least for a little while are doing their damdest to put the Great back into Britain.
Sports personality of the year should be a fantastic programme this year.
ps. I know its a foregone conclusion as to the winner, but its one **** of a supporting cast.
Tommy mate - I completely agree with you. I'm gonna be a kinder marker than yourself as well and give you a B+ for your efforts
I myself found I was negative at the start and getting annoyed everytime I heard Jonathon Pearce say 'Team GB' during the football. My turning point was the first women's gold in the rowing. The joy on their faces and the noise from the crowd were massive emotion turners. In addition, the singing by everyone to the national anthem has been heart warming and makes you proud - something which you rightly said has been missing for a long, long time.
As a parent and a teacher, I hope our kids watch these games and see what can be achieved by hard work and effort and they find new idols and heroes.
Less nightclub pics of footballers, less Jordan, less Jodie, less scandal, MORE pride, effort, hard work, proper idols.
My soapbox moment over now too....................
Tommy, Thanks for putting into words what so many of us are thinking, just let me know when you are moving into politics you can have my vote. Being honest the Olympics had started and I wasn't bothered, why have events before the opening ceremony is beyond me, which in itself was a good performance & didn't let any one down. But now I am hooked on following & cheering on the efforts of the individuals who at least for a little while are doing their damdest to put the Great back into Britain. Sports personality of the year should be a fantastic programme this year. ps. I know its a foregone conclusion as to the winner, but its one **** of a supporting cast. Posted by Woogie8688
Cheers Woogie
I think a lot of people are feeling the same. The riots really did more damage to the national psyche than we ever thought IMO. The Olympics are helping us get over that.
I don't think the Sports Personality award is a foregone conclusion. I know Wiggins is an overwhelming favourite right now but Ennis with be right in the mix plus if Murray can win the US Open I think he might pip the lot of them. Either way John Terry will be stripped and ready to collect it.
Tommy mate, hurry up and change your password your account has been hacked by a miserable sod lol !!! Posted by simonnatur
Haha Simon. Yeah a lot of that post was a downer but i think it was appropriate. It was meant to be positive and I think it was in the end. The feel good is coming back, now I just need the run good
Tommy mate - I completely agree with you. I'm gonna be a kinder marker than yourself as well and give you a B+ for your efforts I myself found I was negative at the start and getting annoyed everytime I heard Jonathon Pearce say 'Team GB' during the football. My turning point was the first women's gold in the rowing. The joy on their faces and the noise from the crowd were massive emotion turners. In addition, the singing by everyone to the national anthem has been heart warming and makes you proud - something which you rightly said has been missing for a long, long time. As a parent and a teacher, I hope our kids watch these games and see what can be achieved by hard work and effort and they find new idols and heroes. Less nightclub pics of footballers, less Jordan, less Jodie, less scandal, MORE pride, effort, hard work, proper idols. My soapbox moment over now too.................... Posted by phil12uk
Completely agree Phil. Jess or Bradley are a million miles better role models to have than many of the present ones. I don't really blame the Jordans or Jodies of this world, they're trying to get what they can with what they have. I blame the papers turning them into role models with so much exposure, practically telling the younger generation they can become famous with little effort.
I barely watched the Men's football, I watched a lot of the women's footy and really enjoyed it, but I'm very much over Men's football at the moment. It's great to get into these other sports and to see the amazing talent within them.
got to agree with you mate. my kids are/have been talking about the Olympians alot went there on Friday with the family and had a great time the volunteers certainly helped make the day as they were all great, even when they couldn't help they did their best. facilities at the Olympic Park are great, everyone happy as well. my son (age 9) is certainly enjoying it seeing sports he hasn't seen before. he likes his sport and you never know he might get inspired. here's hoping!! )
In Response to Re: Many Rivers To Cross. A Diary. : PM sent!! Posted by TommyD
Thanks Tommy - I totally missed that in the film!
I'll just add my two pence worth on your other post aswell, if I may.
I was having a chat with my Corporate Services Director before a meeting @ work yesterday & he expressed a similar view to yourself - he said that he was worried we would make a complete horlicks of these Olympics before they started and was quite relieved that we hadn't and was really enjoying them now.
I remember when we were bidding for these games, the general negativity surrounding our bid (again, there was this talk of "embarrasing" ourselves by using Beckham as a PR stunt etc - followed by the spontaneous joy when we beat Paris to get them.
What is this peculiar British mindset to continually beat ourselves up about everything? I simply don't get it. Yes, no doubt the riots were appalling - I live in Wood Green, right next to the heart of where these riots started - I saw scores of kids, teens & young adults smashing and raiding Wood Green Shopping City @ 2am & brazenly & calmly walking off with their ill gotten gains (most without even covering their faces, & their were dozen of arrests in the next couple of weeks).
I was shocked and appalled by the senseless looting & damage and burning of shops, buildings & people's livelihoods, even though I am so used to being surrounded by crime, having lived in (relatively) poor areas of SE & N London all my life. & yes - our banks, politicians & press have all let us down.
However, we have bounced back from those riots (& 7/7, which tragically occured the day after we won the right to host the games) - & we will bounce back from everything else too.
I just wish people were generally a lot more positive about what we have in life - yes, a certain degree of cynicism is healthy - but it all too quickly seems to descend into carping, snidey self-flaggelation, this is not good for the heart & spirit peeps!
Even in 2012, we are still the 7th largest economy in the world & currently sit 3rd (!!) in the Olympic medal table. We live on a beautiful island & don't get taxed for playing the game we love - be proud & happy of who you are and where you are from, no matter who you are or where that is.
Comments
I'm a comic book geek so it's really hard for me to be impressed with comic book movies. For me they have to be completely original or follow a classic story arc to the letter for me to be pretty happy. I saw the trailer for the next Superman reboot, I am hopeful but I think Superman Returns while not great was a perfect set up for a great Superman movie. It's a shame they are not going that way. I still haven't seen Amazing Spiderman but I'm pretty pumped about it. Heard mixed revues though but as I rarely agree with people about movies it doesn't matter too much.
In poker news, I had an ugly end to July. Glad to see the back of it to be honest, I always seem to have a poor record in this month. Going to try to put in a ton of volume in August, just need to iron out the kinks in my game, old Mr Station is creeping back in and I need to find the happy medium between him and Master Scared of the Nuts.
Loved the Olympic opening ceremony, followed by be really disappointed by Team GB's performance so far. Yesterday was finally a good day and many kudos to all the medalists. Of course you can quite rightly say I can't do as well in Judo or Cycling as some people I may be frustrated by. Very true, but I haven't been paid for my image rights for a Limited Edition Shampoo set, I haven't done several documentaries saying how I'm going to win X event. This is not a cross the board criticism, there have been some great Team GB performances which have got no where near a medal (Zoe Smith in the weightlifting springs to mind). If they are getting close to PBs or even breaking British records then hats off to them, fabulous effort. If they have trained at the Olympic venue for 18 months and don't even qualify for the final then I think the people who have been hammered by merchandise salespeople and Olympic levies have a right to be disappointed. Never to the level of some of the twitter trolls you've seen in the news, but we are allowed a very British tutting.
Come on Tommy, cheer up - let's get behind the guys & gals and just enjoy the whole shebang - this is a once in a generation event & we won't know what we had til it's gone!
Def thumbs up4the ceremony - Bond, Bean, Becks & Brunel - Best of British!
Gl 4the Aug Grind, I'm gona try to get my highest ever points total aswell (20k+).
EDIT - Saw Dark Knight last night, enjoyed it but didn't understand what happened @ the end! Pls cud u PM me if u hav time, many thanks.
Mucho Congratos to the Gold and Silver Medalists in Team GB C2 Canoing and all of the medalists. Going to diary about the young lady who's in the Judo final later, still in bits after watching the semi final bout.
That was when I fell in love with the Olympics, well before the extraordinary scenes and success we have seen this weekend. I now have come to realise that London and Great Britain not only will benefit from this but needed it.
So why my hysteria and negativity before the start? Not my normal attitude, I'm in general positive and very rarely become as off the calm considered way of thinking as I became before these games started. The simple fact as i see it is that most of the people of Great Britain have lost faith in so many things.
The banks let us down, then we bailed them out. They seemed to react to this by rubbing our noses in it and just carried on how they always did. Everyone went skint apart from the people who made us all skint.
We've lost faith in politicians, we feel they are all the same, very few have the interests of the people at heart, only their own expense charging self serving ways. None of them can affect any change and won't try.
We've lost faith in the police. We don't believe they can keep us safe anymore, they are swamped in paperwork and health and safety. The riots happened and there wasn't a thing they could do about it. They were also, rightly or wrongly, blamed for the riots starting in the first place
We've lost faith in the news media, too absorbed in selling their work on the back of celebrity culture and sleaze they now hack the phones of the families of dead children and fallen solders while putting no-marks on their front pages. It's not about news and balanced critique anymore, it's about shifting copies/ad-space while keeping us all scared because they insist in telling us there is a suicide bomber hiding in every corner and everything gives you cancer. Fear and sex sells copy, **** the news.
We've lost faith in the education system, most young people are told they only have unemployment to look forward to unless they are born into the higher classes. Teachers are blamed for not producing well rounded individuals while having their hands tied up from actual teaching because of a thousand levels of paperwork and box checking which must be seen to be done. The public have lost faith in teachers because all they hear about are kids with knives stabbing each other before settling into a life on benefits with fourteen children of their own.
We've lost faith in heroes, because now heroes are not people who fight wars or save people from fires, they are people who can score a goal and be snap called a legend. They then fall out of a nightclub at three in the morning yet in the time it takes for their hangover to clear they earn more than we do in a year. The people we used to cheer as one of us now are so disconnected due to money and being told they were great for their skill for so long (in other words they have never heard the word 'no' since their parents were told they could make millions) that we can't relate to them or they to us. But will still burn our money on them anyway.
We've lot faith in each other. Maybe it's more of a London attitude but people avoid the simple human contact of saying 'Good Morning' to each other as much as they can. We seem paranoid that the stranger is evil, the work college has it in for us and the boss is doing everything they can to keep us down. We have no belief in the Good Samaritan, no thought that anyone will actually do a selfless act and anyone who does is obviously after something.
We're at a low in this country, but I'll be damned if the Olympics aren't pulling us out of it by the throat. I was scared before the games started. Not that we wouldn't get medals, I was scared the actual running of it would be an embarrassment to the country. I had visions of Ussain Bolt missing the 100m final while stuck in traffic, the swimming delayed because the pool was leaking and Boris setting himself alight with the torch. You see before the Games it had become very taboo in Great Britain to be proud of the country. The Cross of St George is constantly asked to be taken down in a variety of places because we lost that flag to a far right bunch of buffoons. The shame on us is we never took it back. The Union Flag suffers the same stigma, although to a lesser extent. Other countries beam with pride when they hear their anthem or see their flag, we in general have our head down and scuttle on politely. The Games is bleeding that rightful pride back into us. For the most part it's being run superbly. Yes there is a ticket issue but from what I can see this was actually out of our control. The venues are stunning, the volunteers are making these games by giving up time for free to help us, to make our day and experience better. Britain is pulling together for the games. You can feel it, everyone is smiling a little easier, everyone is just a little more happy and more importantly it's now deemed ok to express pride in our country Will it last? Hopefully, but one thing is for sure, it hasn't hurt.
Well that was a bit of an essay, been a while....
I think a lot of people are feeling the same. The riots really did more damage to the national psyche than we ever thought IMO. The Olympics are helping us get over that.
I don't think the Sports Personality award is a foregone conclusion. I know Wiggins is an overwhelming favourite right now but Ennis with be right in the mix plus if Murray can win the US Open I think he might pip the lot of them. Either way John Terry will be stripped and ready to collect it.
I barely watched the Men's football, I watched a lot of the women's footy and really enjoyed it, but I'm very much over Men's football at the moment. It's great to get into these other sports and to see the amazing talent within them.
went there on Friday with the family and had a great time
the volunteers certainly helped make the day as they were all great, even when they couldn't help they did their best. facilities at the Olympic Park are great, everyone happy as well.
my son (age 9) is certainly enjoying it seeing sports he hasn't seen before. he likes his sport and you never know he might get inspired. here's hoping!!
I'll just add my two pence worth on your other post aswell, if I may.
I was having a chat with my Corporate Services Director before a meeting @ work yesterday & he expressed a similar view to yourself - he said that he was worried we would make a complete horlicks of these Olympics before they started and was quite relieved that we hadn't and was really enjoying them now.
I remember when we were bidding for these games, the general negativity surrounding our bid (again, there was this talk of "embarrasing" ourselves by using Beckham as a PR stunt etc - followed by the spontaneous joy when we beat Paris to get them.
What is this peculiar British mindset to continually beat ourselves up about everything? I simply don't get it. Yes, no doubt the riots were appalling - I live in Wood Green, right next to the heart of where these riots started - I saw scores of kids, teens & young adults smashing and raiding Wood Green Shopping City @ 2am & brazenly & calmly walking off with their ill gotten gains (most without even covering their faces, & their were dozen of arrests in the next couple of weeks).
I was shocked and appalled by the senseless looting & damage and burning of shops, buildings & people's livelihoods, even though I am so used to being surrounded by crime, having lived in (relatively) poor areas of SE & N London all my life.
& yes - our banks, politicians & press have all let us down.
However, we have bounced back from those riots (& 7/7, which tragically occured the day after we won the right to host the games) - & we will bounce back from everything else too.
I just wish people were generally a lot more positive about what we have in life - yes, a certain degree of cynicism is healthy - but it all too quickly seems to descend into carping, snidey self-flaggelation, this is not good for the heart & spirit peeps!
Even in 2012, we are still the 7th largest economy in the world & currently sit 3rd (!!) in the Olympic medal table. We live on a beautiful island & don't get taxed for playing the game we love - be proud & happy of who you are and where you are from, no matter who you are or where that is.
I'll leave you with a link to my favourite prose, which sums up my philosophy to life in general - I hope you like it: http://www.inspirational-short-stories.com/desiderata-poem.html
Peace.
Priyesh (AKA PJ / Jingle).