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Then… elaborate. I know it isn’t binary. Unpack your statement and explain how you believe the US bears some degree of responsibility.

Well an eight year old would generally find the Ewoks cute. Heck so do my wife and I. But for me the reason I like Jedi the most is it has the best space battle of any Star Wars movie and the best lightsaber fight (mix of emotion and style). Plus it has the Emperor at his evilest best. Throw in a great set piece to start and I can deal with fifteen minutes of Ewoks. Oh also has my favorite ending I just adore the ending montage. Empire is great but loses quite a bit on rewatch since it drags in the middle and if you know the spoiler well it loses something. Ofc he knew well ahead of this that Vader was Luke’s father so the ending for him lacks that bite. Ofc when I watched as a kid there was no internet.

I agree with 2 and 7. Why’d he like ROTJ so much ? The teddy bears ruins that movie, I hated them even as a kid!

My wife and I agree with 1 and 7 on the list. (Always liked Jedi more than Empire) But we put the original 3 tops ofc. I’d also put Sith as fourth on my list so I can understand ranking it high. He’s very much into ranking things so he gives us rankings on everything.

1 out of 7 in the correct position. Good work!

So we just watched The Force Awakens tonight. He liked it and gave me a ranking of the 7 movies so far. Be ready to have mind blown. 1. Return of the Jedi 2. Revenge of the Sith 3. Force Awakens 4. Phantom Menace 5. Empire Strikes Back 6. A New Hope 7. Attack of the Clones

There can still be some merit in comparing average life expectancy across populations provided it's gathered in the same way, because it's telling us something even if the unadjusted output figure is in itself completely unrepresentative (which, you're right, it is, and this is a perennial bugbear of mine). If (uncorrected) life expectancy in rural Cheshire was say 25 and the same in Manchester at the same time was 20, it's safe to assume that the quality of life in Manchester was lower, whether this be down to diet, water and air quality, unsafe working practices, violent crime, or all of the above (it's all of the above). Ordinarily I would assume that city-dwellers probably have slightly better access to medical care, but given that for the period we're talking about medicine - before antibiotics, and mostly before Pasteur and Lister - was almost universally awful, the greater availability of doctors may actually have been another factor making things worse for the city-dwellers (especially women having children, who were generally much better off with a local midwife than a doctor).

Marry: Johanna Westerling Bang: Sabitha Frey Kill: Alys Rivers Easy choices this time Next: some Essosi people Khal Drogo, Moqorro, Magister Illyrio

Helpful hints, I'll have to think for a bit.

The Sorcerer And The Assassin by Stephen O’Shea is a novel of historical mystery fiction about Dominican Inquisitors persecuting and torturing Cathar heretics in the 13th century. Someone starts killing the torturing inquisitors, so an investigator is summoned, with some similarity to Umberto Eco’s The Name Of The Rose. I don’t enjoy these visceral depictions of torture; it’s just unpleasant to read even if the novel is overall well written. Not the genre for me. The Silver Eagle by Ben Kane is the second in his series (Forgotten Legion) of historical fiction about a Roman Legion serving the Parthians in the far northeast corner of their empire following a defeat in battle — protecting a region on the Silk Road from incursions by steppe horsemen. This series is pretty good but develops very slowly as the author insists on relating the unfolding political crisis around Caesar a thousand miles away from the main characters in the legion in Parthia. I understand the desire of a historian to tell the bigger story of Roman history but it’s pretty unwieldy in the flow of the novel. Web Of Lies by Sally Rigby is a cosy-ish mystery novel and start of a new series (Detective Sebastian Clifford) as a DI from the Met retires and gets pulled into private investigation in a small town. There’s nothing revolutionary here but it’s a solid specimen of the genre. The protagonist is a slightly aloof, slightly superior upper middle class career detective, while his side-kick is an earthier, younger working class WPC. These oh-so-English class tones permeate the writing and characterization. It’s all a bit vanilla but fine for the genre.

11. It's not made of dragonglass. Another clue: Although it's mostly associated with Essos, this one is in Westeros.

All I can think of is Marwyn"s glass candle. (Not a question) Is it made of dragonglass? That's fragile-ish.

All Involved by Ryan Gattis is literary fiction set amid the LA riots following the Rodney King beating and the trial of those police officers. It contains a series of stories about different Angelino characters through the week of rioting. It’s well written and well constructed, although the depictions of lower class urban life feel a bit overdone now. Worth a read. Steel, Blood And Fire by Alan Batchelder is a grimdark fantasy novel and the start of a series (Immortal Treachery). This felt like an unsuccessful attempt to clone Joe Abercrombie. I thought it borrowed too heavily from elsewhere without showing enough spark of its own, but someone jonesing for some grimdark may enjoy it more than I did. No Strangers Here by Carlene O’Connor is a cosy mystery fiction and the start of a series (Kerry Mystery). I found it too cosy and twee. The best I can say is that the prose has authentic Irish phrasing, dialogue and casual idioms if that’s appealing but I found the main character too whiny, self-pitying and self-involved, and the set-up of the various characters too on-the-nose. A generic cosy mystery.

I wrote up an outline for Season 2 back in September when filming wrapped, and posted it back on page 21 of this thread. The teaser trailers since then haven't altered it that much - though they were notable for their lack of much new content or characters. Now we're on the even of new announcements at CCXP Mexico tomorrow, so as we get back into gear, I figured it makes sense to repost this with some slight updates and refinements. We don't know writers only directors. These are the CREDIBLE reports, not clickbait making stuff up for attention. Episode 1 - "A Son for a Son" - Directed by Alan Taylor Prologue: Winterfell reacts to news coming in by messenger-raven that King Viserys has died (they want to hook the TV audience in that the prequel Starks are in Season 2, because otherwise they're not really prominent until starting in episode 3) Rhaenyra flies to the beach of Shipbreaker Bay and finds Luke or Arrax's corpse (this was one of the unreliable narrator moments from the book, what happened to Luke's body; they took a third option) [Confirmed by teaser trailers] Reactions to Luke's death at King's Landing - Aegon II feasts Aemond at the "Cock's Inn", which we think is in Flea Bottom. The handmaid he assaulted, "Dyana", confirmed to be working there by new BTS promo shot (also showing the trio of prominent Green lieutenants we later see at the funeral next episode) Reactions to Luke's death at Dragonstone. Luke is given a funeral at the Valyrian mountainside altar (unclear if they're just ceremonially burning his clothes because they didn't find his body just Arrax's head) [Confirmed by new promo images that accompanied teasers] Jace is present for Luke's funeral: this doesn't bring up travel issues too much like Got Season 7, as the Eyrie is about as far north of Dragonstone as Storm's Ens is south (and Harrenhal is to the northwest) -- so apparently Jace stayed in the Eyrie for at least a few days, enough time for ravens to arrive bringing news of Luke's death, so he doubles back to Dragonstone, THEN continues back North to Winterfell -- this works well enough...and potentially also opens up the possibility of having a scene where Rhaenyra tells Jace about the Song of Ice & Fire prophecy BEFORE he goes to kingdom at the frontline of the threat beyond the Wall. We're not sure if we actually see Jace in the Vale or leave that off-screen; Jeyne Arryn does at least appear by episode 7 but with other characters. Daemon takes Harrenhal. Takes a minor wound or something, and while getting it patched up meets the mysterious Alys Rivers (source: leaked casting video). Daemon might actually take Harrenhal by complete surprise by landing Caraxes on top of Kingspure Tower during a thunderstorm, then bursting in on the unprepared household while they're eating dinner [Source: second teaser] -- IMDB lists Gayle Rankin appearing as Alys Rivers in episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4 but isn't always accurate. Final scene is Daemon sneaking into KL on a fishing boat, to set up Blood & Cheese. [Leaks I saw with my own eyes] Episode 2 - Directed by Clare Kilner Blood & Cheese at the start of the episode. We don't know if Maelor will exist in the TV show. While we originally thought the spy photos of a big funeral procession for Jaehaerys were in episode 3, they're actually from the back half of episode 2: Large invented sequence filmed on the streets of Caceres with many spy photos: the Greens hold a funeral procession throughout the city, with a herald shouting "Behold the work of Rhaenyra the Cruel!" - trying to propagandize this for all its worth. Alicent and a not particularly insane looking Helaena ride in a carriage behind the casket. When they pass through Flea Bottom, however, they are booed and people throw rotten (inedible) food at them. Alicent & Helaena pelted with rotten food so much they have to turn around. This is distinct from the full scale food riot in episode 7 (briefly glimpsed in teasers) Criston Cole and some (new?) Kingsguard ride behind the royal carriage - one of which is now confirmed to be Vincent Regan as "Ser Rickard Thorne" - I caution that it's possible that "TV-Thorne" has been condensed with elements of Willis Fell from the books, but we shall see. Riding behind the Kingsguard are three new prominent characters - who we earlier saw with Aegon at the Cock Inn and also in teaser shots following him into the throne room: Martin Reyne - from the Westerlands Leon Estermont - From the Stormlands "Eddard Waters" - as he is black, I suspect he is a condensation of Vaemond's sons & the Silent Five Velaryons with Marston Waters (the book actually does mention in passing the Marston is from Driftmark - so maybe he was a Velaryon bastard?) ....A running theory I have is that they're going to use the funeral as an opportunity to introduce all of "Team Green" together in one place for TV viewers, or at least as many as practical. Freddie Fox will play Alicent's brother Gwayne Hightower this season. We no longer think Daeron Targaryen is in Season 2, but that they'll start mentioning that he exists. Occam's Razor, we found out there was deleted dialogue from Season 1 episode 7, when Otto comes back from Oldtown after a long time, Aemond asks "hey how's my younger brother doing?" -- it's possible they re-use this basic setup with a slightly different context: when UNCLE GWAYNE arrives in KL from Oldtown, a (now older) Aemond along with Alicent ask "hey how's Daeron doing?" Speculation: Jace arrives at Winterfell in the last scene of the episode, to hook in viewers who otherwise would have stopped watching in horror after Blood & Cheese without promise of prequel Starks in the next episode. Episode 3 - Directed by Geeta Patel Reactions to Blood & Cheese. Spy footage showed Aemond overseeing the beheadings of several prisoners in a Red Keep courtyard; I think it happens in this episode, as in the book after Blood & Cheese the Greens responded by executing their remaining prisoners who wouldn't bend the knee. Cargyll Bowl should happen around this point, but we've seen no specific leaks other than teaser shots. Aegon II fires Otto and replaces him as Hand of the King with Criston Cole (Criston seen wearing Hand of the King necklace of office in episode four). Aegon's new Hand says he's ready to lead his ground army into the Crownlands, teaser line: "Good: to war then!" We SUSPECT that the Battle of the Burning Mill happens in episode 2 or early episode 3, filmed near Penmachno valley in Wales. They DID spend a lot of time setting up the Blackwoods and Brackens in Season 1 (in episodes 4 and 6). Only a trickle of casting news for named characters in both Houses. New teaser trailers briefly show Blackwoods / Brackens facing off. This ends with Daemon capturing the Bracken's castle with Caraxes, from the skeleton garrison they left behind while their main army was in the field; surrounded and trapped in the open, the Bracken armyt surrenders. Teaser line: "Our terms are simple, renounce the false king and reswear your allegiance to the queen, or your House burns" Speculation: much of this episode may be devoted to Jace with Cregan Stark at Winterfell. We saw them both at the Wall in teaser shot, might be this or a later episode after Winterfell. We know few specifics about how they're handling Jace in the North other than that it has been expanded, and leak from makeup department indicated we'll see wights again. We know this subplot is a big part of the season but not specific episodes, though trailers reveal Jace is back on Dragonstone by episode 7 to oversee the Sowing of the Dragonseeds as he did in the book. SPECULATION: Rumored flashbacks to King Jaehaerys shutting down the Nightfort baby sacrifices, revealing this is why the White Walkers are returning - they didn't exactly "leave" but were hibernating so long as they were placated with sacrifices (like Craster's Keep but on a larger scale) Episode 4 - "A Dance of Dragons" - Directed by Alan Taylor Battle of Rook's Rest. Starts with the aftermath of the Sack of Duskendale, leading in to Rook's Rest as a major action set piece (possibly THE major action set piece of the season). Baela riding Moondancer is at Rook's Rest, though it's unclear if she takes part in the battle (Massive Change) or is just a scout, or shows up in the aftermath racing to find Rhaenys, but flees when she sees she's dead and Vhagar is relatively unharmed (to explain how young Moondancer could be present without Vhagar easily chomping her as she did Arrax) Episode 5 - Directed by Clare Kilner Just as episode 3 was "aftermath of Blood & Cheese", this episode is "aftermath of Rook's Rest". Reactions from both the Blacks and the Greens. Dragon head paraded through the streets of KL, as in the book (from very obvious Caceres spy photos). Episode 6 - Directed by Andrij Parekh (who won an Emmy for his work on "Succession") We know very little about what any of the core cast members are doing in this episode. We know less about it than any other this season. Aemond and Criston plan their grand strategy for the main phase of the war beginning now: a pincer movement at Harrenhal by them in the east and the Lannisters in the west. Possibly the teaser scenes of Aemond and Criston at the small council table, Aemond saying he welcomes a direct confrontation with his uncle Daemon. The Lannisters gather the combined armies of all their bannermen in the Westerlands and arrive at Golden Tooth, castle of House Lefford which guards the mountain pass going from the Westerlands into the Riverlands. [Source: DETAILED spy video, later confirmed by shots in the second teasers] -- We know it's episode 6 because the actor playing Lord Lefford is listed on IMDB as only being in episodes 6 and 8. They prepare to launch their invasion into the Riverlands. Those teaser shots of Seasmoke following a confused Addam of Hull around seem to be from this episode. For all we know, it's possible that most of this episode simply takes a break from the lead cast members and instead gives us more extended screentime with Jace and Cregan - if they were at Winterfell in episode 3, then we dealt with Rook's Rest and its aftermath for two episodes, maybe we go back to see them arrive at the Wall itself with the Night's Watch. Possible the lead actors just don't appear that much in this episode to instead focus on the Night's Watch storyline (mind-blowing....but remember when Game of Throens seasons 2 and 3 would actually alternate between storylines so some characters just had an "off" episode then appeared heavily in the next? -- Well, here's hoping. Because I want more than one episode with the prequel Starks. Episode 7 - Directed by Loni Peristere In contrast to episode 6, we know quite a bit about what happens in this episode: Daemon is at Harrenhal by this point, standing on the battlements overseeing the troop formations of the various Riverlord Houses. Mentioned by name were Blackwood, Bracken (now that they bent the knee), Strong, Mallister, also for the first time Mooton, Piper, Darry, and even Vance (unclear which branch of House Vance) Oscar Tully rides into Harrenhal with a delegation of Tully knights. The green young boy meets with Daemon to reluctantly explain to him that Riverrun's armies have to remain neutral until old Lord Grover dies. Notice this means that the main campaign in the Riverlands hasn't even begun yet: the Lannister pincer from the west, and Aemond's KL pincer from the east. [ Source: major leak I saw with my own eyes] Rhaena arrives at the Eyrie, accompanied by a large entourage of knights, dragonkeepers, servants, etc. Jeyne Arryn [now confirmed to be Amanda Collin] rides down from the Eyrie with a dozen Arryn knights to meet her at the "waycastle" at base of mountain. [ Source: major leak I saw with my own eyes] No mention of Joff, but others pointed out to me he might have just flown ahead on his dragon (or the actor wasn't mentioned because the dragon is pure CGI). Aegon III accompanies Rhaena to the Eyrie. We have no idea who's playing Jess Redfort, or if she even appears on-screen this season - but there are many announced actors we couldn't link specific roles to just yet. Sowing of the Dragonseeds [source: major spy photos from Llanddwyn beach] We now suspect that the Sowing is more of an ongoing process that could last through episodes 7 and 8 and even into the Season 3 premiere. Addam is one of the first to arrive, WITH Seasmoke, which started to follow him around in prior episodes like a homing instinct (Dragons do have mysterious homing instincts in the books). When Rhaenyra sees Seasmoke with a new rider on the beach she instantly puts two and two together and realizes that Seasmoke would only bond to a new rider if Laenor died somehow off-screen in the past few years - which is why she looks so concerned in the teaser trailer shot of this, not so much about Addam but the implication "this means Laenor must be dead". We don't think Nettles has been cast in Season 2: she's notably absent from the shot in the second teasers of Rhaenyra having dinner with THREE successful dragonseeds (Addam, Hugh, Ulf) along with Jace and Baela. They DO have at least two black women in the lineup of dragonseed candidates: running theory is they're handling her much as they did Stannis's wife in Season 2, having stand-ins for crowd shots just to establish "there's a black girl", but not actually casting a permanent actor until the Season 3 premiere. Of course, it took longer for Nettles to tame Sheepstealer by gradually earning his trust, so it sort of makes sense she'd show up later than the others. Update: a major food riot breaks out in King's Landing due to the Velaryon naval blockade We used to think this was at the end of the funeral procession in episode 2, but that was just booing; this is a full-on large scale riot (and episode 2 happens so soon after the blockade has just started there wasn't time for food to run low yet) Ryan Condal made vague comments in the interviews accompanying the new teasers that Season 2 has "two big physical set pieces in it", ONE of which is the Battle of Rook's Rest. What's something else so big he considers it comparable in production scale? Probably a large-scale food riot in confined city streets, which requires a lot of stunt planning for safety. Alicent gets caught up in the food riots, apparently on her way back from the Grand Sept where she was lighting votive candles - as seen by comparing shots in the first and second sets of teasers. If you examine her clothes in the food riot shots of the trailer they're not the same as what she's wearing in the funeral sequence from episode 2. A rioter grabs her with an outstretched arm and a kingsguard hacks it off at the shoulder (teaser did have a shot of an outstretched arm grabbing her) Mysterious scene of Alicent at a lake happens in episode 7, which we know because of the filming schedule where it was shot in Wales, but otherwise no details about its in-story context. A dream sequence? New teasers also had strange shots of Alicent sinking under the water in a bath. Speculation: Alicent is so traumatized and exhausted after making it back to the Red Keep from the food riot that she numbly sinks down into the bath, getting oxygen deprived she has a brief dream/vision, but before too long her body reflexively sits up and she gasps for air (as this wasn't a real suicide attempt as such but just going completely limp in the bath, so she didn't weight herself down) Episode 8 - Directed by Geeta Patel We really don't know much about what happens in episode 8. The running theory was that it either includes the Battle of the Gullet, or ends just as it's starting with the Triarchy fleet on the horizon, saving the actual battle for the Season 3 premiere. I would point out that Geeta Patel doesn't have a prior history of doing big battle sequences. For a while we didn't know if Alan Taylor or Geeta Patel was doing the finale, but now that we know he's doing Rook's Rest...it seems less likely there's a huge battle (but hey, first time for everything). On the other hand, we suspect the Battle of the Red Fork is in this episode, as IMDB says Lord Lefford appears again: the main Lannister army enters the Riverlands, beginning the main phase of the war. It's possible that the big "action climax" of the season is in fact the Sowing of the Dragonseeds, a very CGI heavy sequence. Then episode 8 is just the aftermath of that. We DO know that in episode 8, Rhaenyra flies to Harrenhal and meets with Simon Strong. How and why are unclear. There are now rumors that Alicent arrives on Dragonstone in the finale, for an attempt at peace talks that go nowhere (other than an excuse to have the lead actresses get face to face drama interactions to serve as a season finale - not that I'm complaining as it fits the context) -- seems to be a riff on the brief point in the book when the war is dragging into stalemate and Alicent pleads "why not just Partition Westeros into two kingdoms? The Blacks north of the Blackwater and the Greens south of it" Unclear chronology: Jace's expanded story in the North: while teased in the Prologue and end of episode 2, the real focus is episode 3...Jace is definitely back on Dragonstone by episode 7. Meanwhile episode 4 is mostly devoted to Rook's Rest (though perhaps not exclusively?)....for all we know Jace is still at Winterfell plowing snow in episodes 5 and 6. At some unclear point, we'll actually see envoys from the Greens treating with the Triarchy's ruling council in Tyrosh -- They built a set of mostly tents with props labeled things like "Tyrosh chair" etc. - Others pointed out to me that F&B states their council was meeting IN Tyrosh at the time. Nice bit of detail. Turns out there actually were a few deleted lines from the long Green Council scene in Season 1 episode 9 that would start to introduce the Greyjoys. That as in the book, they say "we'll have to sway them to our side by offering Dalton Greyjoy a seat on the council as Master of Ships"....but then GOES ON to say something not in the books; Ironrod says "if that doesn't work we might have to sweeten the deal by offering him marriage to the Dowager Queen" - Alicent is not amused, Otto isn't enthusiastic but says "hopefully it won't have to come to that". I suspect they're going to recycle this by simply pushing it into Small Council scenes in Season 2, to give Alicent something to do, have them debate "maybe we should offer up Alicent in a marriage pact to the Greyjoys or Tullys" --- not that we'd see them on screen, just that they'd start mentioning they exist (similarly, GoT Season 2 mentioned Dorne and the Martells for the first time as part of the Myrcella marriage pact scheming without actually showing them on-screen).

Thanks. We have at least not been cutting the lawn too short all this time (it’s much longer than the lawn I managed at home growing up, although we were on amazing soil there), and I don’t see ragged tips on the grass stalks from blunt blades, but the landscapers have generally been ineffective in improving the lawn for four years so hopefully the specialists will do better. It’s not like I expect some artificially perfect carpet of lawn but it is galling to see garbage wild grass encroaching despite their supposed best efforts. And not cutting too short also makes the garbage wild grass more visible and spiky. I’ve used aeration because our house is of recent construction, which means the topsoil was all scraped and compacted just a few years ago. We have nice healthy, soft soil around the perimeter of our lot where I do most of my planting but the area generally circling the house has dense, inhospitable soil still, and was made worse just behind the house during the patio construction project two years ago (storing pavers, sand and aggregate; driving the excavator back and forth). That area of soil doesn’t drain well now in heavy rain and seems in need of some help. We do our over-seeding in the fall. I think that’s the right time for it. And we add lime in the spring to raise the PH. I think the missing piece has been a good application of pre-emergent herbicides for the weeds and wild grass, and some pesticides for the grubs in the root system. If we can just give the lawn grass an advantage over the weeds, then the over-seeding should help it dominate over time.

From the odds and ends side: Black Science - story is complete and collected. Rick Remender/Matteo Scellera. Gonzo multiverse story. Art is not mainstream but I really dig it and the color! If you’re looking for super heroes, I’ve recently started picking up trades of Radiant Black and the other Massive-Verse titles. I’ve also really enjoyed pretty much anything from Greg Rucka. He’s got one running fairly consistently now in magazine format called Forged that I’ve really been enjoying. I believe the first collected edition has recently been released. ETA: I’ve picked up a digital SiP collection but haven’t had a chance to start it yet.

So… the US and Ukraine bear no responsibility at all for Russian aggression? Correct?

North Western Europe.

Also from the trailer I mean, I'm really looking forward to watching the new Planet of the Apes in a couple weeks. But that's how it happened.

Below is the link to the latest trailer. https://youtu.be/EzFXDvC-EwM?si=hDZf_8-Z-7cotj6P My thoughts on one of the things Butcher said. Release date 13 June 2024 on Prime.

I spent a lot of time reading a lot of Marvel, though I went through DC phases. I saw a lot of good things about that Human Target series, and I'll likely give it a go eventually, if the library has a copy. I was actually trying to see if my LCL had King and Evely's Helen of Wyndhorn, but I didn't see any copies. I'm actually a huge Strangers in Paradise fan. I've read pretty much everything by Terry Moore and his stuff is actually the only comics I've collected in recent years. I also discovered Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt's The Sixth Gun, which was just a fabulous Weird West tale. Now my tastes run towards odds and ends now, but mainly because I dont think Marvel or DC is really accessible to most right now.

Don't blame me for your weird Canadian internet.

Haha. Just last week a friend of mine told me she was ready to leave, she just had to find her shoes and glasses.

Congratulations! That did not come up when I googled the same phrase. There were two Samogitian uprisings, Wikipedia tells me, the first one failed and the second one provoked the Teutonic Knights to declare war on Poland. If your peasant revolt brings war to a third country maybe you think that was a success story, maybe not so much for Poland. And after Polish-Lithuanian forces defeated the Knights, damned if the Samogitans continued conflicts, so to hell with them. As for the remensas (auto correct keeps changing this word) their rebellions brought some relief but the they were still serfs in the end. The UK peasant revolts were actually more successful in bringing reform, even though they were failures. ETA @Spockydog One of the more famous Japanese peasant revolts ended up with 37,000 peasants being beheaded. Man, those Japanese didn’t screw around. And none of them changed the system, though taxes may have been reduced.