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Linguist's corner: article contains word "contumelious".

My new favourite word (after obstreperous)

Thanks for explaining Funt. It makes way to much sense.

Now, I would like to say, as a right-leaning kiwi*: Fuck Trump and tricycle he rode in on. If narcassism had a colour, it would be orange. The election this year is likely to be a freaking shit show.


*in fairness, a right-leaning kiwi is usually very left of a left-leading American.

It's been a while, so I can't remember the forum rules around politics and swearing. In fairness though, the guy is a prolapsed anus with an orange tan, so I'll let my comment stand until told otherwise.

Thanks for explaining Funt. It makes way to much sense.

Now, I would like to say, as a right-leaning kiwi*: Fuck Trump and tricycle he rode in on. If narcassism had a colour, it would be orange. The election this year is likely to be a freaking shit show.


*in fairness, a right-leaning kiwi is usually very left of a left-leading American.

Louis Gossett Jr.
Oscar & Emmy winner for An Officer & A Gentleman and Roots.
Also in Enemy Mine which this young Sci-fi fan thought was underated. And the Watchmen series which was bloody good.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/29/entertainment/louis-gossett-jr-death/index.html

This is the best analysis I have read explaining why GoT tell off a cliff

Seasons 1-5 employed sociological storytelling then (coincidence that the source material dried up?) the writing became more psychological.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/observations/the-real-reason-fans-hate-the-last-season-of-game-of-thrones/

Well, shit, she's not wrong.

Also, apparently there is no point in going back in time and killing baby Hitler. There's my weekend plans ruined.

[Shogun]

Loving the new series of Shogun - amazing sets, great writing and more Toranaga-focused. When the episodes drop, I watch them in the evening with my son. (Don't tell him that I watch them earlier in the day and then tag them as unwatched.)
Struggling to get through Masters of the Air. Great aerial scenes, but it took me 4-5 episodes to work out who anyone was.
Rewatched Game of Thrones with the wife, final season is not as disappointing as I remember it (or the hype). Were people just pissed that Dani turned evil and John didn't become king? Oops spoilers...

[Tunguska: The Visitation]

Currently playing Tunguska: The Visitation.
Small studio game, kind of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. if it was an isometric RPG. Difficult(ish), dangerous and fun.

A kiwi rock band I used to listen to about twenty years ago recently released a whole bunch of stuff online which their agent had held back for 'reasons' until their contract expired.

Having spent the year saving up for a holiday for the family. we all took off for Sydney for a long week of relaxation. Then the lot of us caught covid and I ended up in emergency.

If it makes you feel any better... for our twentieth wedding anniversary, I flew my wife and I first class to New York, booked four nights in a very fancy Manhattan hotel... and on the morning of our first full day there, just after breakfast, I said "Ooh. I don't feel so good..." and had to run to the loo in our hotel room, where I basically remained for two full days, barring the nights, when I had to sleep in the shower.

It was certainly a... memorable trip, albeit not necessarily for the reasons I'd hoped.

Sounds worse than my pre-honeymoon to Venice where I spent two days holding tight to the hotel toilet.

Anyway, I flew back home last night. Feeling better this morning and have just had a morning coffee and taken some flu medicine.
On closer inspection, I think I've picked from the wrong end of the Night and Day pack. Going to be an interesting day at work...

Having spent the year saving up for a holiday for the family. we all took off for Sydney for a long week of relaxation. Then the lot of us caught covid and I ended up in emergency.

On the plus side, apparently my heart is in really good shape.

PS: on an unrelated(?) note, there are a metric crap load of bats in Sydney. Who knew?

PPS: The A&E I got taken to was St Vincent's - so apparently the Aussies have canonized me. Finally, some recognition!

Edits for PS & PPS as my brain catches up with events.

It's Christmas Eve over in my side of the world. Knowing that many of you (like myself) had challenging years, I thought I'd take ten second to say Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, a great Hanukkah and every other sort of merriment that may apply to you.
Spend it with loved ones and come back for a better 2024.

AV.

Have been using a VPN on my home computer, recently this has caused Google to think I'm a bot.
So then every time I search for something, I'd have to tick the 'not a robot' box* and then go through the 3x3 click on a bus/stairs/car/motorbike** nonsense repeatedly until it lets me through.
One time I counted thirty attempts at clicking on the stupid pictures and it still wouldn't let me through.
I fixed it by typing in 'bing.com' whenever it happened and using Bing*** instead.
After about a week, Google stopped asking for recaptchas.


*While hiding my avatar
**The drokking recapta pictures always give me existential nervousness - is the motorbike rider part of the motorbike? Is the shadow part of the bus? Only god and Google know and neither one is fracking telling.
***Bing is, for all intents and purposes, a complete dive bar toilet bowl of a search engine. Most times, I'd be better off asking my mum.

I'm some eejit.  I just heard Jim Moon discussing movie Easter eggs in his excellent Hypnogoria podcast, and it's just occurred to me that they're so-called because they're hidden and you have to search for them.  I just thought it was because they were nice things to have.  I know, I know- I'm not the quickest on the uptake.

Legend has it that during the filming of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, the cast had a literal Easter Egg hunt. Some eggs from that ended up being visible in the final cut. And there you have it, actual Easter eggs -

What the absolute fuck is that all about? Maths is now just a subjective opinion? Shit off.

I think I'll be talking to my bank manager about that. "My mortgage is $450,000? That's just, like, your opinion, man."

Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood - I was a big fan of Tarantino from Reservoir Dogs through to Kill Bill Vol. 1, but I struggled with Vol,2, and haven't enjoyed anything since. But I was intrigued by this, the performances are strong, the dialogue isn't deliberately convoluted speech, and it's very well shot. I've still a lot of questions about it, and what Tarantino was trying to do with the ending, but despite that it's his best film in  years for me.

I bailed on my first viewing of this - Quentin Tarantino's obsession with feet <shudders>