pacman

You did get a bit annoyed on our last discussion & I thought you were getting upset. (You know the one, I don't want to start it again) I never know when an American is joking (you guys seem to lack a sense of humour) but thanks for setting me straight. I am always reminded of your view of conspiracy theories, it is on your sig. Have a nice day.

Seriously? After all these years? You still worry what I might write? At least I didn't draw any conclusions regarding a conspiracy surrounding the Mossad felllows. Just for the record, I believe there have been many conspiracies foisted on the public over the years, look at the Tobacco industries scam that lasted 50 years. But there has to be some very persuasive evidence before I would dream of entering a public forum to debate it.

This is not surprising. I talk with friends in the US who have often asked me where I heard the stories I ask them about. We have come to understand that there are subjects that don't get aired in American media. That censorship doesn't apply in Australia & I get to read stuff my American friends don't. I cannot think of anything recently but it was in full force while George W was in office. Hence the reason why the rest of the world hates him while many Americans think he's a good guy.

You never read my post from earlier this year when I wrote that the 1600 (?? not sure of the exact number now) Israeli lobbyists in Washington are not there to give advice to the politicians, they are there to give instructions. Israel doesn't need to pay the US, it is wealthy Jews who use their power & money to keep Israel in the manner they have become accustomed. Don't forget the US Federal Reserve is a privately owned bank controlled by Jews. Goldman Sachs recently bought a large stake holding in the Fed for umpteen billion dollars, their CEO Lloyd Blankfein is another member of the "club". They will never cede control & they will never stop supporting "home".

I don't remember the Israelis picked up for applauding 9/11 in NYC. Or I do vaguely, the image I recall clearly on television was of the Palestinians who were dancing & "whooping" when they heard the news. They had to be quickly stopped being as it is they rely on US money. When I read the Israelis were Mossad agents I didn't assume they were behind 9/11 but I understand why they might have been cheering. If they knew there were Arabs piloting planes into the WTC they knew any wavering of support for their situation would cease to exist. It's the same scenario when Churchill knew in advance that Japan was going to invade Pearl Harbour in WWII. While he didn't support them, he had a vested interest in the raid being carried out because Roosevelt had made it clear he needed a reason to go to war. Likewise Israel have benefited from the hardening of western attitudes against Islam.

I am sitting here amused at how I let my logical brain be persuaded your picture was San Gimignano. One, you ask for the name of the CITY, San Gimignano is no city. The urban sprawl seen in your picture is nothing like the reality of SG. Second, there isn't a tower in SG that stands out like the one in the picture. Both those thoughts crossed my mind but I was swayed to answer when I read the clue "medieval Manhattan". I felt sure I had heard SG referred to as that. So against the evidence pointing against SG being the right answer, so great was my need to be heard before PDogg remembered, I rushed in where angels fear to tread. I've covered much of northern Italy but I have never been to Bologna. I do make a mean Spag Bol though, do I get a consolation prize for that?

Thanks RX. That's what you get when they only buy one banner per country. To hell with the truth......... it's international!!

WTF! The red city? Oh well, back to the drawing board. I think it's a Museum of Torture, not horror. Full of medieval instruments that were used on miscreants back in the dark ages. Worth a look IMO.

Representing Cambodia? Thought she's Thai....

I assume you are referring to me. It would help if you use the quote function. (Clear your browser if it doesn't work properly) Where did I compare the US to LOS? That's ridiculous. In Thailand we wouldn't expect justice, in the US it's reasonable to expect it to be a given. Where was I rationalising? I was making an observation, nothing more. You are reading things into my post that aren't there. I guess you haven't looked closely at the Patriot's Act. Good luck with your "rights" if you ever fall foul of that. Otherwise, yes, I agree, the world looks to America as a place where people have rights. That's fine, no argument. There have been terrible things done to innocent people in LOS & most other Third World countries. In First World countries we expect things to be different. It's one of those tragic facts that the same screwed-up, vengeful thinking can be found in "civilised" countries as well as the poorest places on earth. There's only a veneer of protection when things go horribly wrong. I think the junta is trying to change things. It will take years to end the corruption & incompetence but from the little I've seen & read, they are trying. If you mean the "general problem" is the aforementioned incompetence & corruption then yes, I understand. Enough money for what? To pay off the police & the authorities to avoid trouble? I don't think anyone can "live above all of it" regardless of their wealth. That's assuming I have understood what "it" in this context means.

I know it too but the name isn't coming to mind. I damn well should think of it though, I've only been there three times. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh................. just remembered, San Gimignano. I remember looking at the map & noticing Florence, Sienna & San Gimignano made a neat triangle. And I remember there is a Museum of Horror (or some-such name) in SG. I first went in with my father years ago, next with a girl I met up with & later with a couple I was travelling with. I only mention the above to allay suspicion especially as I am sure I spelt the name correctly. The second G always fascinated me & after many trips to Italy I enrolled in the local Dante Alighieri Society to learn Italian. I wish I had kept it up.

The US justice system is a travesty by all accounts. The concept of Plea Bargains where you have to decide between a shorter custodial sentence for something you never did rather than a brutally longer sentence if you are found guilty, how on God's earth is that justice? Combine that with a system that sees legal officials elected to their office & judges & prosecutors fear losing their job if they don't get enough convictions or they haven't passed the death sentence often enough to satisfy a public hungry for revenge, it's a system designed to fail. I have heard of people so frightened by their brush with American police they have decided never to go back. I'm sure they won't be missed but it's a hell of an indictment on the country that stands between a free world or the Islamisation of the west.

I did see all the fuss about that & watched Bono's apology. I recently downloaded iOs8 on my phone & never thought to look to see if U2's new album had arrived. Sure enough, I just looked now & there it is - 11 U2 songs. That brings my music collection on my phone up to............... 11 songs. Thank you Apple.

These are not movie names but I do understand the question. I don't know these characters but I'll make a stab at number 4. Is it Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca? Rick Blaine? Rings a bell, been a long time since I saw it.

It's amazing that we could think ourselves to be alone in the Universe. When you consider there are trillions of Galaxies each with a trillion stars & each of them with its own Solar System (possibly), there would appear to be far more likelihood of other life forms. It's a very human trait to think only us has arisen as the sole life force anywhere.

Me using irony to be funny? Of course it was intended, I actually used that line in my Sig years ago. I just thought how amazing to win one of those things when you're still at school. Malala is now a global celebrity who has a platform to attack Islamic ideologues for as long as she wishes.

Mandy Patinkin is a wonderful character actor. Now that the head of the Homeland Dept has been found to be corrupt he seems destined to return to the top job. Or maybe they have something else in store for him but whatever it is, we all know he is going to be a major presence in the new series. And Morena Baccarin from Brazil, she's cute. I just read she was a classmate of Claire Danes. Surely that will guarantee her return to the series?

Malala Yousafzai, the 17 year old Pakistani school girl has jointly won this years Nobel Peace Prize with the Indian child worker Kailash Satyarthi. Malala was in class when her headmaster interrupted the lesson to give her 'an important message'. Fuck, when I was in class the only important message I ever got was to tell me I was in trouble. Again. Imagine! A Nobel Peace Prize...... I'd kill for one of them....

I liked her, she had attitude. She's going to feature later in the show IMO. There was too much attention given to her 'back-story' for her to only be a walk-on. (Is there such a thing as 'fuck-on'? Apart from in LOS that is.) From last season to this season, Quinn has become an alcoholic & I predict the 'large one' will be written into the story as his saviour. She's either gonna wind up pregnant or needing rescuing & Quinn will redeem himself by either saving her or marrying her or both. It's only idle speculation & if I'm wrong ................. sue me.

It doesn't offend me & I haven't told anyone smoking is bad in more than 30 years. Live & let live is a good way to go. What does offend me though are the cigarette companies & I will happily be rude to them. I can't think of one good thing about them. The bastards.

I guess the writers had to make Carrie a bit neurotic, a bit weird, they can't have a regular strong woman getting on & doing her job. How boring would that be? Or were they worried a strong female lead might not rate? Anyway, she's even more batty than she was before. And Claire Danes does pull a very tortured face, that anxious look she has is one of her best acting moves. None of that bothers me & I am only hypothesising here but what is strange is her relationship with her daughter. She doesn't have one. And she doesn't care nor is she wanting to be around the child. Is this laying the ground work for a plot development where her baby gets kidnapped & Carrie is faced with a major crisis? I certainly hope so otherwise her lack of maternal instinct is a very strange twist to add to the show. Why would they make such a thing of it if they aren't planning some big drama around the child? It's television & when it comes to children you just know if the parents aren't loving & happy at the start of the show, they will be good by the end. IMO.

I saw Gone Girl this week. It's good. Very good actually, I enjoyed it very much. I'm not a fan of this genre of movie, the "happy" marriage that goes wrong but this is no Kramer Vs Kramer. You need not be concerned about being stuck in a "chick-flick" melodrama about a relationship that hasn't worked out. I have just deleted a comment I wrote comparing this to two other films because I don't want to raise expectations. It is best viewed with zero knowledge of what's to come. For the first part of the movie I found myself groaning at the banal dialogue wondering when it would shift up a gear. But it does, in a long film, the slower the build-up, the more effective it is when something happens. I'm not a big fan of Ben Affleck, he's a bit the same whenever I see him in something. By that I mean he doesn't change anything about himself when he appears in a film. Ben Affleck is a leading man not a character actor. But it's his on-screen "arrogance" that makes him perfect for this role. Likewise Rosamund Pike is excellent in a first class production. She could actually win a Best Actress award for her role.

Shouldn't the thread be re-titled "Ladyboys with a Death Wish" ? I have lost (& am losing) too many people to smoking. It's none of my business what these girls do but they will never realise their country was targeted by Big Tobacco because most first world countries made it too hard for them to sell their product.

The simple fact that Armstrong had the gall to appear in this documentary gives a clear indication of just how detached he is from reality. That he alone was responsible for two generations of the best bike riders in the world from ever being able to achieve their dreams should see the bastard locked up for life. And the removal of his remaining testicle if I had any say about it. And he doesn't see that he did anything wrong. He is the most narcissistic megalomaniac who ever competed at anything. It is so hard to recommend Nymphomaniac. Not because it isn't well filmed or well directed or well acted but because it is a test of endurance to sit through it. I have no regrets whatsoever about seeing it, I walked out of the cinema happy but I knew there was no one I could go & say to them they should see it. My non-movie-going friends would think I had finally lost the plot. And if they did go see it with their wives, OMG, I would never be invited anywhere again. The sex is shocking. AND REAL!! The original Trip, The Trip, was well done. The Trip To Italy doesn't have the same.... what's the word I'm looking for?.......... awkwardness. When Coogan attacks Brydon in the first movie, Brydon's response is real. Or he acts like it is. In the second film their interchange is more "acted". At least that's the impression I came away with. I thought the idea of having Brydon scoring with the pretty girl was a nice touch. The writers wanted to give Coogan a message. Subtle but clever. A shame Calvary didn't get a wider release in the US. I'm sure it would have succeeded with some money spent promoting it. Maybe the Catholic Church saw to that. Please watch it & tell us what you think. I do not claim to have special insight with movies, sometimes I like things others hate. As for Nymphomaniac, watch it by all means but just remember when you are somewhere in the third hour wondering where it's all heading, remember I said it's a test of endurance. And it does help to be familiar with Lars Von Trier. Those who love him will go see anything he's made, some approach his work with caution. I'm starting to get him but I'm still not convinced to go back & watch some of the weird stuff he was so widely criticised for. Anyone here see Dogville?

The link gives a different story to what we are getting on the news here. She is being referred to as his girlfriend not his wife. Perhaps they went through a ceremony that isn't legally recognised? And it was only this morning she was reported as being "transgendered" with no mention of her line of work. The police arrived at the apartment after neighbours complained about the smell. As soon as the killer opened the door & saw the police he bolted. They found his body in an industrial bin. I thought the boyfriend was waiting for a chance to remove her piece by piece however the reports are saying they found parts of her boiling on the stove. That elevates the guy from a jealous lover to a deranged lunatic. At least he had the decency to kill himself.