ithanos

Cameron has been quite open on why he made the first Avatar and why he's continuing to make more Avatar films. Then after a couple years of overt activism. Seems he's thought deeply about what he's doing with these films. Doesn't seem upset about it to me. I wouldn't bet against him.

Cool, although the thread is a spoiler one, I'll spoiler some parts to spare the random clickers. Why the last 10-20? I was the most engaged during that part, the build up was intense, so much that... I did feel the overall length could've been 30mins shorter - but I'll see if I feel the same after a second viewing. So so many highlights but just a couple come to mind...

Just got back from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. It was simply amazing and spectacular - puns intended but fully warranted. Recommended. The plethora of animation styles can be daunting to the senses, it does run 2hrs 20min, and you end up welcoming passages spent in any verse just to catch your breath and rest your eyes. I won't delve into the plot here, will save that for the old Spider-Verse thread if I can find it. Before I forget, the soundtrack is lit, see it in a cinema with a good audio system. My viewing enjoyment, and that of many sitting near me, was spoiled by a trio of kids seated in the centre who were restless throughout - taking phone calls from their moms and using the torch on their phones to search for items dropped. Thankfully the cinema sound system was loud and the movie made use of it so I managed to filter them out for the most part, but I'll have to plan a second viewing to get a better experience.

Interesting. I would have guessed the complete opposite. However it makes sense as the eggs I've been sourcing this year are fresh. I get them from my local kebab shop owner who has laying hens at his farm - he gives me a text message whenever he has a dozen or so extra he can sell. They're all-sorts of sizes and still have crap on them - but they are much better eating than supermarket eggs. Thanks for the ideas, I'll may try them out. Cold soba noodles are the best, I prefer the buckwheat kind, massaged with a little oil and soy sauce. Had forgotten about poaching the eggs. I have poached batches before and, depending on how careful you set the raw egg in the bath, they come out tidy.

I soft boiled 8 eggs. Plan to use these throughout the week in various delicious meals. Cooked them to perfection, if only they were judged by the inside softness. Had some bother peeling the shells off, the exterior appearance by the end of it all - what the fuck man! Only one of the eight came out unblemished. The rest look like this side of the moon - one was even round I must've lost a third of the white! Fuck! How can I garnish more than one bowl of delicious ramen with half cratered soft boiled eggs - this is some bullshit. It'll at least be a week before I can soft boil another batch. Need to figure out where I went wrong. Did I cool them under cold water too fast?

I haven't read the source material but I presume accents were not described? That could be likely going in and probably hold for a generation, maybe two. But if there's any type of early childhood school system in the Silo then this is where the next generations will acquire their accents, and over time they should all blend. I'll leave it as a challenge with the adaptation to screen that has not been successful (maybe even a TV trope we have to accept). At least they have actors who are willing to mask their natural accents for the project - no Sean Connerys here, where all his character roles had Scottish accents (and winning Best Supporting Actor playing an Irish American cop at that).

Enjoying it so far. I like the Silo itself as an engaging backdrop and they've revealed enough, especially giving some sense of scale in the third episode, to give it some needed character. Like knowing the layout of Babylon 5 or the Enterprise D and their many levels and inhabitants. A few things don't gel for me about this world. I agree with the musings up-thread about Ferguson's accent. I can paper over this to continue watching. However, considering a population about the size of a small town, 5-15 thousand I'm guessing, which has been siloed (no pun intended) for 5 generations (140yrs I think I heard), even with the class separation we've been shown, and accounting for speech impediments, wouldn't they all have the same accent by now? It's possible this could be a result of the casting, due to the production location being in the UK. Robbins, Patton, Jones and Common seem to be using their normal US-TV accents, so it seems the accents from the non-US contingent, as a collective, is not consistent. Also, there have been a couple instances so far where characters have not known who people are. I would contend that even if the Silo's current population is upwards of 15 thousand, if this was your entire world, then there should no more than 2 degrees of separation between any two people in the Silo. And anyone in a position of authority should know, or know of, everyone else. With regards to the Silo's populous over generations I hope they explain how the first generation coped with resources. The Holston's experience in the first episode (really liked Jones & Oyelowo in their roles) hinted at so much. Clearly at some point population control became mandatory for the survival of the society. Did they have enough food/accommodation capacity to grow from the start, or was there a generation of scarcity at the beginning? Also, a little nitpick, but I would have a report presented on adding safety nets across the span at each 10th level - that's if they can spare that much resource in materials. It could serve a secondary purpose as playground space.

Star Wars by Wes Anderson Trailer | The Galactic Menagerie Welcome to the "Galactic Menagerie," a whimsical and visually stunning fan-made fake trailer that reimagines the classic Star Wars universe through the eccentric lens of Wes Anderson. This enchanting mashup brings together iconic Star Wars characters with Anderson's trademark symmetrical compositions, pastel color palettes, and quirky humor. Journey to a galaxy far, far away and experience a unique adventure featuring Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, and other fan favorites. Watch as they navigate the Galactic Menagerie, a universe filled with eccentric creatures, charming droids, and peculiar locations reminiscent of Anderson's beloved films such as "Moonrise Kingdom" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel."

Thanks for the heads-up, the new stuff was well worth the wait. The third installment felt like a teaser, with the end credits scenes. Ended up re-watching them all as a trilogy and it flows very well, especially the first two installments.

Its February already, damn. Early lessons after seven classes of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. One, keep your fingernails very trim. I was just discussing this matter with another practitioner and noting, though my fingernails were trim, that my thumbnails were a bit too long. Ten minutes later, after trying an escape, I accidentally gouge my chin with my thumbnail. Took some skin out and there was claret flowing. Got bandaged up to continue but couldn't avoid getting some blood onto my brand new pristine white Gi. I should have an interesting scar right in the centre of my chin in a few days time. Two, I never realised one could develop bruises on top of bruises.

I started Brazilian Jujitsu earlier this month. I've never before done any form of martial arts in my life, but was drawn to the skills of grappling as an application of full body movement - so I'll try Jujitsu for a few months to see if I enjoy it and in turn find value, physically and mentally, from it. After 5 lessons I can identify my strengths and weaknesses, and where to apply focus and attention for future practice. My signature move is the tap out - I can tap with either hand, and when that's not possible I plan to incorporate a foot tap into my repertoire that doesn't look like a leg spasm. It's very humbling but I'm cool with that. I still go to crossfit classes, but these days I only give full effort when practicing the strength movements. If choose to do the conditioning work, that always follows a strength element, I scale back the intensity so I'm not burnt out. To avoid over-training I plan to reduce crossfit to 3 sessions a week, allowing 3 sessions for Jujitsu. So far, I'm enjoying both.

Ash people, right? Cool, they could be Na'vi dwarves. I shall posit they're no more than 7feet tall at most.

Seeing the results from France, would you consider participating to at least the 2nd season of this change? I haven't played since my early 20's, so I cannot attest to what it's like playing year in year out.

Rogue theory. We got Unobtainium in the first movie. Amrita in The Way of Water. I'm predicting, in the next installment, a new Na'vi tribe will offer some other mystery of Eywa for the RDA to salivate over. Prolly some shining substance that rhymes with Mythrall. I see what he's up to. Cameron is setting up his own Infinity Saga with a clutch of magical elements. Assembling the five lions of Voltron so when Voltron Aywa draws back with that blazing sword she can pass final judgement on mankind and his greedy ways.

I had the better part of six weeks off of any intense workouts - pretty much all of November with a week added either side. It was somewhat planned - as I was out of town for a friend's wedding which led to spending a few weeks visiting with friends & family. Before this break I was in the best shape of the year but i felt I was over-training, so having the time off became quite beneficial - physically, mentally and maybe more importantly socially. I think I will plan to take 4-6 weeks off of any physical training every November from now on, as an end of season thing. I found in December that my strength had only dropped a little. I was quickly at the same strength I was before the break and I feel stronger. Fitness though was a completely different tale - it had basically vanished after those six weeks. However, after 3 weeks of grind, that fitness has returned to recognisable levels - but shit that was hard to get back. I hit 51 a couple weeks back, and I'm looking forward to finding out how 51yr old me can develop, physically, in the coming year. I know my DEXA and have my VO2Max results to guide me. I've also looked into adding sprint training to my regimen and need to plot a force velocity profile sometime soon. Longer term physical goal (read: heath) is to build the best fortress I can between now and mid 50s so that I can defend it with a minimum of maintenance (strength training to jealously maintain muscle. In turn, with muscle anchored in bone, bone density should be maintained) and resources (a fixed daily protein target (not a %), with good fats and fermented veges). That is the physical health plan anyway. My break in November taught me a couple sobering realities - I need to maintain social bonds (which were great to revisit) and build meaningful relationships (F*&k). I think I'll be selfish for a little while longer and just focus on building the physical fortress for the next half year. I hate, hate dating but I guess I'll have to delve back into it eventually.

I don't get it? Its gratitude I guess. To offer an analogy, if I've enjoyed a good dinner, I may thank first and foremost, the chef for the great meal - but then sit around, letting said meal digest, and ponder on the fine ingredients and how they all came together. What difference will it make to them? If I can be a little selfish, I stuck around during the credits out of my own interests simply because I was feeling "fuck that was amazing! lets see which FX studios were involved with this" at the time. They may never know and that's OK.

No. It was not shown in my session. We got trailers for Ant Man 3 (nothing new) and the Super Marios Bros Movie, the latter looked really good.

Caught a midday session today. I wear glasses and wore the 3D glasses over them for the viewing - there were no issues. Interestingly, the last movie I watched in 3D was the first Avatar movie which was easily the best 3D experience at the time. This time it felt just as seamless. I've been fortunate enough to have scuba dived in crystal clear waters and seen up close rainbows of coral, whale sharks and giant stingrays and immersion in the underwater world is simply breath taking. At times I felt like a child in wonder, thrown into the BBC's The Blue Planet. The technical achievement in this installment is absolutely incredible. Everyone who goes to watch this movie needs to pay that army of technicians and crew some due and sit through to the end of the credits. I thought the main action scene outdid the first. Story wise, I had lowered my expectations so it turned out to be a little better than expected.

There was a moment in the second half where, if Canada had pressed on to score, they could've led, which would have been interesting to see England chasing the game for once - alas a brilliant length of the field try put an end to that. Agreed professionalism needs to be nurtured across the top tier as much as possible. Absolute cracker in the second semi between France and New Zealand. Right down to the wire.

Wow, what a game developing between Canada and England.

A retired frog samurai wants nothing more than to be left alone and spend his remaining years in peace on the golf course. But when he unwillingly becomes the protector of a baby turtle he must draw his club for one more round. An animated amphibious adventure for golfers of all ages.

The grinding forward dominant style of France and England and their discipline in implementing that style, rightly has them rated ahead of NZ and Canada. NZ in particular has had to rebuild their forward play after the disastrous end of year tour last year. They need that parity up front to then launch their devastating back play/open play style. It has improved but is still a weakness. Still, if one semi final turns out to be NZ v France, I think on the back of home advantage, NZ can edge out an injury hit France.

Great game between Australia and Scotland. Thoroughly enjoyable contest. I gotta feel for Scotland though, some superb defence in the first half of the second spell, but Aus finally made use of the wind advantage and spread the ball a bit. The officiating in this game was top notch I thought.

Dusting the cobwebs off of this thread. Found it languishing on page 3. Last time I viewed a page 3 I was almost blinded by the headlights. I hope everyone who uses this thread, as a regular prompt, has been diligently attending to their physical well-being. I think I mentioned it some months ago but my gym reopened after lock-down in early October 2021. That anniversary is only a week or so away and the countdown is marked in my browser home page calendar as "The Fourier Year" (for the personal transform). The weight I had allowed to creep up on me over 3yrs was lost in the first 7 months of the Fourier year, and the last few months have been spent trying to work out ways to keep muscle whilst losing fat. I took a DEXA scan for the first time in March of this year (I wish I had taken one at the onset last October) and had a second DEXA five months later in August. The results indicated I had maintained lean muscle mass (yay) and dropped only fat, which lowered my overall fat%. Interestingly, my bone mineral content/bone density had increased during that period, which was a pleasant surprise (we went through a 3month hypertrophy cycle at the gym which everyone was getting bored of towards the end but it seems to have paid off - deadlifts ftw). With the DEXAs providing valuable reference I booked myself a VO2 Max Test, scheduled in a couple weeks. Never done a VO2 Max test before and am kinda not looking forward to the process. These tests, DEXA, VO2 Max test, are not cheap but I seek the insights they can provide and that has greater value.

What a season, so emotional. Almost couldn't believe the 3rd race finish. Pick a team, lay some bets and enjoy the ride, or roll, as it were.