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...which all might sound like a great big moan, but rest assured - it's still the best thing on TV by some considerable margin. Absolutely gripping hour of TV.

Lots of invented non-book stuff this episode

I could tell, and I haven't even read the book this season is based on. Certain things are better in the show - for example Tywin, Margaery, Robert, Cersei and Robb in particular are all infinitely more fleshed-out and interesting than in the books I've read, but when they go this off-piste with the plot it just feels a little wobbly somehow. Though I liked the inclusion of Locke (a great non book addition IIRC that I thought we'd seen the last of back in season 3), the convergence of Bran and Jon's storyline here feels forced and a bit contrived. I could instantly tell they were making it up.

RE: that last scene - I love anything to do with the [spoiler]White Walkers and think they look great from a design pov (though I really wasn't sure about the horny chap we saw at the end, looked a bit cheesy), but I can't help but feel they've showed us too much here. Exactly what they wanted with the babies is far creepier when left to the imagination. Every time they show us more than a glimpse of the Walkers, they lose their power and menace that little bit more.[/spoiler]

I also felt that the Crasters Keep scene went way too bit far. Just implying what is going on there is horrific enough - [spoiler]showing it in such vulgar detail was gratuitous, and the ring-leader is practically foaming at the mouth. He surely wouldn't have lasted five minutes in the Night's Watch with that kind of attitude. And poor old Mormont! Once again, the show is not content just to kill off one of the only decent and honorable characters in Westeros, they have to heap indignity on his corpse to boot. I'm also not quite sure why the mutineers would want to keep Ghost alive?[/spoiler] Again, it seemed contrived to me.

I also thought the infamous [spoiler]rape[/spoiler] scene last episode was just totally misjudged and wrong-headed - the producers going for shock and excess and losing sight of the story at hand. I'm just going to have to mentally blank it out so I can enjoy Jaime from here on.

 

The Sex-Mek Slasher?

Sleaze?

Sex, Lies and Vid-Slugs?

The one about the Olympic sex team couple from the meg and it's prog sequel with the mutant with the talking penis?

A lot of the Dredd's from late-period Megazine v3 seemed to skew a bit adult as it was 'Not For Sale to Children' for a while.

Never understood the Kim Raymond hate either - he's a perfectly capable artist which can't be said for a lot of artists that the drew the strip in the 90s. I do frequently confuse his work with Jeff Anderson's though.

Should add, I slightly misunderstood the information my girlfriend relayed to me and thought the figure she gave me was in Sterling, not Dollars, so in fact the surgery is nowhere near as much as I thought! 

Thanks Shark. You are of course correct - we are deliriously happy with the little pup, as she is with us.

I think I will work through my anger by drafting a few emails to them, then deleting them. I do hope that they can sleep well at night, though, and spend the money we handed over in good faith on something nice for themselves.

We just adopted a dog. The dog itself is absolutely wonderful - in every way the dog we have long dreamed of having - beautiful, perfectly behaved; gentle, great with people, children and other dogs, loving and loyal right off the bat.

However, over the weekend we began to notice she had an intermittent problem with her back right leg. She didn't appear to be in actual pain, more minor discomfort, and after examining her foot ourselves we figured that it was the result of one of her claws getting snagged or torn. But having had her looked over by a vet this morning it appears that it is something far more serious that will require expensive surgery to fix, or else it'll be a slow decline that would result in having to have her put down.

I'm obviously gutted, but ultimately we love this dog and are fortunate enough that we are able to cover the costs (unlike the majority of people who buy or adopt a big dog, we only did so prepared and ready for any eventuality). With any luck the surgery will be successful and she will have a good few years of happy life with us. Fingers crossed.

Of course, this begs the question of whether her previous owners knew about the seriousness of this injury before selling her to us, and my hunch is 'yes, of course they bloody did', and will plead ignorance.

All along, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop as I couldn't figure out why anyone would give up such a wonderful dog - even though they gave us a perfectly plausible story, something didn't quite add up. There's always going to be an element of trust involved in these situations. You live and learn. Pretty resolute now to just say 'fuck 'em' and do what needs to be done, though I may very well be sending them a rather strongly worded text message.

Meh, pretty sure that some of the greatest songs ever written aren't particularly 'about' anything and their apparently 'meaningless' lyrics still resonate with millions of people without having to be so on the nose as to be cringeworthy.

What gets on my tits way worse than stuff like Rihanna and Lady Gaga (both of whom have some really catchy songs) are what are to me the insipid drones of Coldplay and the whiny moping of singer-songwriters like James Blunt.

I always feel a bit compelled to stand up for bands like Coldplay - yeah they're a bit bland and derivative, but it's always seemed strange to me to single them in particular out in a world where Nickelback exist. I also find those awful major label-backed US rock/emo bands with hilariously overwrought, juvenile and self-pitying lyrics far more objectionable.

Cut my life into pieces
This is my last resort
Suffocation
No breathing
Don't give a fuck if I cut my arm, bleeding!
Would it be wrong?
Would it be right?
If I took my life tonight
Chances are that I might
Mutilation outta sight
And I'm contemplating suicide

Literally only just realised that 'Comixology' is a pun on 'Mixology' - ie, the preparation and mixing of Cocktails.

If what passes for contemporary popular music doth offend my ears, then so does much of the sludge that pours forth from the missus' favourite 80's radio station.

Oh, absolutely. I think there's a lot of rose-tinted spectacles and revisionism that goes along with musical history, and it's as foolish as it is predictable to state that all music released since your own adolescense is culturally worthless. Some people would have you believe that everyone used to listen to The Clash, but a quick glance at old charts and TotP2 shows that really wasn't the case.

Being totally honest - there's a fair bit of modern pop that I don't find totally offensive - say what you want about 'Umbrella', 'Poker Face', 'California Gurlz' etc etc - they're great pop songs (Black Eyed Peas not so much). It's not for me, it's not aimed at me, and that's fine. I certainly wouldn't expect my young nieces and nephews to like the music I listen to. Likewise, boybands and novelty acts are nothing new.

What is different now, what the OP was getting at and what I had a bitch about in the 'Grind My Gears' thread, is that pop is so inescapable now. Pop music used to be confined to Radio 1 and The Chart Show, now it assaults your ears on every ad, in every shop, in car parks, when you're on hold on the phone. It's this assumption that everyone wants to listen to One Direction that bugs the shit out of me.

...barmen generally don't get any tips because they're not waiting on you personally and it's a less demanding job than the above.

If you don't want to tip barmen that's fine*, but don't try and tell me that dealing with drunken arseholes and cleaning up after them isn't a demanding job.

*and if the bar is busy, expect a long wait for your drinks. TIPS: To Insure Prompt Service

Fair point, being a barman - which I've done - is no piece of cake, but most of the time (pretty much any time that isn't Friday or Saturday night) it's pretty much stress-free, even kind of fun. I always found waiting (waitering?) far more demanding, and it's a job I've never lasted long at.

I was also talking in broad terms - in the UK, you might buy the barman the odd drink, but it's entirely discretionary. Over here, if you don't tip at least a dollar a drink you're some kind of freak.

Picking her up on Saturday morning!!! I will post a pic in the pet thread.

Yeah, well, that grinds my gears. If someone owns a business they should pay the staff properly as a cost of running it.
I'm not sure I could survive in that system - it goes too much against the grain for me. I think I'd just avoid service altogether.

Don't come to America, then . Seriously, restaurants are everywhere, and supermarkets are horrendously expensive, especially in big cities - even in the local Tesco/Sainsburys equivalents - so that cooking a meal for yourself seems to work out only slightly cheaper than dining out. It seems like it's more of the way of life here to have someone else cook for you, so tipping is unavoidable.