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Messages - Rara Avis

#436
Film & TV / Alias Grace
17 September, 2017, 09:17:31 PM
Those of you who enjoyed 'The Handmaids Tale' might like the newest Margaret Atwood tv adaption that's coming to Netflix at the start of November.

https://youtu.be/TLAjAIo_NY8

#437
I think LF deserved a better end than he got. However with only one season left and the focus turning towards the battle between the living and the dead maybe the writers just didn't have the time to write a decent story to get rid of him. It would have been marvellous if the Starks had used Bran to find out everything he had gotten up to and for the audience to see the net close around him while he continued to play his little games unaware of the gravitas of his situation. In effect treat him the way he had treated so many others .. Ned, Catelyn, Sansa etc

He is *the* most important character the books because he is the root cause of it all.

LF had to have known about Ramsey so what was it all for ... we'll never find out now as they are unlikely to incude it in a Bran flashback. I really hope for tighter storylines in future.
#438
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
16 September, 2017, 11:01:17 AM
I managed to catch Atomic Blonde before it leaves the cinema.

It's gorgeous and cool, so stylish and yet a load of absolute nonsense. No one looked that cool in the 80s and the plot had more holes than a fishing net.

It was beautiful to look at but ultimately a very frustrating experience with the twist at the end being particularly annoying [spoiler]Oh yee ha, America saves the day once again[/spoiler]

However the fight scenes were particularly good as [spoiler]we get to see the combatants actually get knackered after a few minutes of struggle and end up looking like they actually have had the fight we've seen[/spoiler]
#439
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
14 September, 2017, 10:57:26 AM
That's sad to hear, he is an amazing actor and definitely the best thing about this movie.

Matthew McConnaghey was a bizarre casting choice for The Man in Black, who I would know as Randall Flagg from The Stand, I gather they are the same person although he has a different name on that world.
He just looked like a super-tan Christopher Walken so why didn't they just get CW to play the role. He might have been much better in it.

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 14 September, 2017, 09:36:12 AM
Yeah, considering the backlash the film recieved* over his casting, I thought it was the strongest aspect of the whole thing. He's given virtually nothing to work with, and doesn't get a chance to really portray the character from the books, but his presence and delivery is spot-on.

*From racists.
#440
I don't think it was entirely obvious where the LF / Sansa story was going to go. I know I was expecting some twist on LF's part, some clever plan he was working on, but we never actually found out what he was up to. When the 'twist' did come it was hardly much of a twist, the Starks stick together, and made the whole story line very frustrating. It was bad writing, it would have been a better story if they showed how the Starks were manipulating LF instead of trying to make us think that Sansa would betray her family.

I can't see Daario as the spurned suitor myself, he's a mercenary and Danaerys is royalty. I think that Cersei will bring the Golden Company to Westeros and when they see the army of the dead they will switch sides.

I'm interested to see how the Iron Bank handle this, the Bank and the city of Braavos were founded by freed/escaped Valerian slaves, the Targaryens are descended from Valeria but Danaerys has freed slaves everywhere she's gone.

Maybe the problem with this season was that lacking source material the writers floundered a bit trying to get on the pieces on the board. The final season might benefit from picking up existing narratives in the text.
#441
News / Re: Zenith returns in Prog 2050!
13 September, 2017, 09:01:25 PM
This thread is cruelly misleading.

#442
Off Topic / Re: Learn, Baby, Learn!
13 September, 2017, 08:55:45 PM
Archive of older novels here:

http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/books/

Includes a section on mathematics

http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/collections/6/mathematics/
#443
Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Collection
13 September, 2017, 07:00:57 PM
I received my first order about two weeks ago and was delighted with my mug, poster and the two novels. I had never read The Ballad of Halo Jones so to sit down and read the whole thing was a treat for me. I think the quality is great and I'm looking forward to receiving my next two.

There was a lot of debate about subscribing to this collection as many people are already subscribed to the MC and others. Would that not explain the reduced numbers signing up ?

As someone who read 2000AD for years, lapsed and returned within the last two years I see the collection as a way for me to re-read strips I'm already familiar with and become acquainted with characters I would have missed out on in the meantime. There's plenty of JD stuff out there already that I hope to get caught up on over the coming years but the release of this collection is just perfectly timing for me.

I am hoping the series will feature stories that might not have been reprinted except as part of a collection like this.
#444
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
13 September, 2017, 06:43:18 PM
I'm not a horror fan at the best of times so I'll be skipping 'It'.

I haven't been watching much stuff lately although I did go see 'The Hitman's Bodyguard' which I didn't enjoy. It's like they recycled Ryan R as Deadpool but made him good looking. Although there were a few LOL moments over all I think it might have been improved if they went full on dark comedy instead of criminal comedy caper. The movie has too much drama to be really funny and too funny to be taken serious.

The Dark Tower: I have not read the books so maybe that's a good thing. The movie is supposed to be a sequel and an adaption from what I gather and the confusion about the story they are trying to tell is evident. There was a good story to be told but it didn't come across on screen. I quite liked Idris Elba in it though and he had some great shooting scenes.

American Made: I love Tom Cruise so I don't think I can give an honest review of this. I really enjoyed it but it does feel like we've seen this movie before ..

The one thing I can wholeheartedly recommend is a documentary 'Winter on Fire' about the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine in 2014/2015. It's the best thing I've seen in quite some time.
#445
Sorry to come late into this but I have been otherwise occupied of late.

In regards to the LF / Sansa / Arya discussion .. I don't think that Sansa trusted LF after what happened with Ramsey Bolton but he did come to the rescue at the Battle of the Bastards. I think Sansa viewed him after that as a resource and a danger, one that she didn't know how to deal with. I think the point of the 'game' scene was that it outted LF. By leading her to the conclusion that Arya wants to be Lady of Winterfell he over plays his hand. Sansa knows full well that being the Lady of Winterfell or anywhere is the last thing Arya wants. If Arya wanted that she could have killed Sansa and taken her face in the previous episode but she didn't. When LF tries to portray Arya in that light it only confirms that he not only can't be trusted but that he is a danger to the Stark family. I understand that they filmed a scene which did not end up in the final cut where Sansa consults Bran about LF and Bran uses his powers to 'see' LF as the audience have. This was cut so that it didn't spoil the 'How do you answer these charges .... Lord Baelish' scene. However all being said it was a very disappointing end to what had been a major character.

As for Jon Snow / Sand .. isn't there a scene in S1 where Catelyn Stark talks about Jon. I'm half sure she mentions how Ned came back with Baby Jon, said he was his son and refused to say anything else. He was probably called Snow because they were up North and without knowing exactly where he was born he was given the name for Northern bastards. Maybe that was in the books though ...

In regards to the disastrous trip to capture a wight which resulted in the death of Viserion I don't understand why Dany didn't attack the Night King when he was on his ledge. Also Jon's group were in viewing distance of the NK  ... no one thought to bring a bow with some dragon glass arrows? The loss of Viserion makes me wonder where the show is going to with the whole ' the dragon has three heads' thing. Or why didn't Dany just swoop down and grab a wight ..

Also the appearance of Rhaegar was such an incredible disappointment. The actor did not do justice to the character at all. Hopefully if they show more of this story line they will get a different actor and a better wig.

Overall I think this was the worst season. It seems the focus was on getting all the characters together and getting the players in place for the final season but it could and should have been handled with much more finesse. There were simply too many moments where the audience was asked to suspend belief in regards to the timeline of events.

Oh and the use of the Golden Company will have to backfire on Cersei - they historically have connections to the Targaryens in the books. Even if that isn't brought up then Dany might be able to use her connection to Daario to get them onside.
#446
I think people are using spoilers to allow others to catch up on the most recent episode especially after two leaks.

Thinking out loud .. what if Viserion is not under the control of the Night King somehow? Or can be freed from his control ... No one knows how the wall was built .. what if ice dragons were used to make it ...
#447
Making a wight is a much better idea than catching one.

The walkers would be dead Wildlings, Caster's male children and other people that live on that side of the wall.

Yes but Ser Robert Strong obeys her and is brainwashed to be her personal bodyguard.

I've been watching a few videos online and there is speculation that [spoiler]Thormund[/spoiler] will die in the next episode. Please no!
#448
Prog / Re: Prog 2044 - The Magic is back
15 August, 2017, 01:18:49 PM
Oh my, look at that pretty cover. One more sleep ...
#449
Important stuff happening this week! Weird episode I thought. After the excitement of last week this seemed like another filler episode, in fact I might describe the whole season as a filler season. Nice to see Jon Snow and Drogon hitting it off and [spoiler]not only has it been confirmed that Jon is the son of Rhaegar, it's now been confirmed that he's not a bastard because Rhaegar annulled his first marriage and wed Lyanna. This makes him 'Da King in Da Norf an Da Souf'[/spoiler].
#450
I think Alt Shift X is the best GoT channel on youtube. It can take a while after each episode for the breakdown but they were worth waiting for. A really great analysis of each episode that adds on content from the books.

Quote from: radiator on 12 August, 2017, 07:14:50 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5TX2aLdB4s

Also, all this guy's other Game of Thrones videos are pretty great.