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Flatterer!

For all the issues of a Thatcher or a Bush, they worked within existing systems and norms. Now, we face people installed through terrible voting systems who are out to destroy such systems and make it harder to take on the executive.

This is why I am actually quite concerned about Cummings / Farage.  the former has gone quiet but he very publicly departed from Downing Street.  There was no doubt he was going and not coming back and he was making damn sure everyone knew it.  So the question is what is the bar-steward up to?

As for Farage and his new "Reform" party, just consider his track record.  He has pulled UK politics sharply to the right with his Euroscepticism.  He has a track record of outright and dog-whistle racism / discrimination.  He has contributed to the polarisation of political debate in this country.

The devil may well be in the detail but what reform is he actually after?  I mean, we all know that the outrageously antiquated voting system in this country is unfit for purpose.  Tory boundary reforms are simply going to make matters worse, not to mention giving nationalists ammunition with their reduction in Scottish and Welsh seats.  Is he actually offering anything productive though?

Personally I am absolutely disgusted with the performance of politicians in recent years in the UK.  The extent to which the electorate has been exploited for personal political gain (in Cameron's case resoundingly disastrously) is beyond belief.  Considering the depths to which politicians have descended prior to this in our lifetime, their performance is terrifying.

What is most outrageous is the half-wits and charlatans that have now been installed in positions of power not just in politics but across national institutions.

Of all the characters in the Expanse Amos is by far the most intriguing.  There is a barely restrained feral dimension that he lets loose like a finely honed weapon.  The effect is devastating.  Yet at the same time there is a morality that tempers it.

What I've found most interesting though is the way he has personally internalised that control.  At the outset Naomi was his 'governor'.  There were times when even she struggled to keep him in check.  Now he uses force just enough to make his point, only fully unleashing it on those he considers truly contemptible.

I think that what got on Oxfam's goat was the tendency of collectors to pick up rare books for a pittance and then flip them for silly money.  That being the case I kinda get the attitude that says "well, why can't we have it instead?"

Mind you, it's getting more than a little crazy these days.  Especially amazon.  Used to be that you could pick up older, less desirable gn's for a decent price.  Nowadays anything that is 6 months past discontinued is priced to wince!

ebay's gone to the dogs too.  I don't get why they're pushing private sellers with the fees they charge now.  Only folks who can use them are businesses.

I guess that explains some of the shipping costs from the states now.  Seeing as how ebay charge 10% on postage and packing too ... 

Tory minister .... lying ..... 


This is my shocked face ...   

I would have to say that mood is definitely a factor in film choice.  Having said that, some of the issues here are increasingly becoming a factor in my choice of purchase vs simply watching as stream becomes available.

So for me, some of the titles I would have to throw into the mix are:

For a Few Good Men ( "YOU WANT THE TRUTH!", oh and Jack Nicholson, a Sorkin script, ...)
Top Gun (for the cabbage in all of us)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (an interesting exploration of descent into insanity?)
Last Starfighter (pure nostalgia, early CGI ...)
Silent Running (need to ask?)
Gattaca (on a whole heap of levels from cinematography, through casting, via the general underlying concept, not to mention an amazing score ...)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (original, not the Reeves abomination! ... a superlative example of how SF should be done)
Tuskegee Airmen (early HBO and a cracking exploration of this aspect of racial injustice in America)
Andromeda Strain (original again, not the noughties remake .... Crichton at his best for my money ...)

Having said that, there are so many others here that I would have to agree with.

I feel like it should come with a health warning: this could terrifying the living shit out of you!

Listening to LBC a little while ago.  An American expat was trying to explain how Americans think about politicians.  Apparently Trump is an "honest crook" and its all down to folks growing up on the X-files!

Oh, and the highlight of the conversation?  He was saying that he believed Biden was crooked even though he had no evidence to support it.  His justification:  well, he's been a politician all these years.  Trump is not a criminal though, despite the massive body of evidence that supports such a view.

I pray that he doesn't have kids!

Comparisons are also being made about the stark difference between police handling of the storming of the Capitol and the BLM protests back in the summer.

As for the parallels with Bad Bob Booth .... well, that one is proving terrifyingly accurate.  Trump has also apparently announced that he will not concede!   

On the subject of Tooth parallels, currently re-reading the 1750's and just passed the second series of Zombo with a president that fires everyone in sight, is totally psychotic and refuses to give up power (even after he is killed himself!) 

  :|It is quite scary how prescient Tooth is sometimes! 

And now, unfortunately, reported dead again!!

I'm sure that's the name of a film ....

Want to say an Alan Rickman film????

We'll have all schools in,
we'll have all schools out,
in, out, in, out,
Your head will spin about ...

You do the Covid-cokey,
And you cough and croak,
That's until Johnson's out!

There's the old wisdom that the most popular covers for comics feature, apes, dinosaurs and the colour purple.

[ ...]

You know what to do next PJ!

Charlton Heston in a rocking chair?

TBH I've had a dual sub for years now.  With the kids and everything else life throws at us getting to a comic shop on owt approaching a regular basis has proven to be a non-starter. 

Not to mention that the quality of comics shops around here isn't great.  We've got a stall on the market but he tends more towards collectables.  Cardiff isn't much better these days either.  FP ... well, less said the better.  Comic Guru's reputation leaves a lot to be desired.  The stall in Jacob's market is probably one of the better options and then of course there is Troutmark which is hit and miss, depending on when he's had another splurge.

To be completely honest though I've pretty much lost it with American comics now.  Possibly part of this is because I've collected all the ones that I really want.  Part of it is there is just so much dross about, at stupid prices and insane frequency.  So most comic shops don't hold much appeal for me.  Especially since so many of them only really carry a very limited stock.

How many of them will survive the pandemic is anyone's guess.  Those with a strong internet presence will probably manage.  It's going to be bloody though!

I suppose in some respects the asynchronous nature of forums can make debate difficult.  It feels a little at times like there is greater engagement when quite a few folks are lurking around and dipping in and out of various threads. 

When there are lulls between responses it can be a little tricky to keep track of things.  Especially if someone has taken the thread off in a different direction for a bit.

It does feel a little like places like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all about 'oh, look at me, how wonderful I am' with a healthy dollop of abuse and vitriol if someone has the gall to mess up.

But yep, there is a sort of 'broadcast' / 'discuss' variation in some places.  It's also interesting how some threads can lay fallow for ages then suddenly reappear.  ... and of course there's always the good old flippant / sarcastic comment to keep folks guessing!   

Hmmm, one of the dyslexia training sessions I attended a long time ago dug into the implications of all-caps text for readers.  They cited research that seemed to show that all-caps presents a problem for some readers as all of the words are the same shape. 

When normal text is used, the shape of each word is more distinctive and this aids the reading process.  So we were basically told to avoid all-caps in materials that we use with the kids.

I guess it's the same as with the choice of font.  The more stylistic fonts used on some scripts (some of the Defoe's for instance) that are emulating a more dated speech or text from diaries and so forth are quite difficult to focus in on at times.  At least that's how it feels to me.