ithanos

Nicely done. "An astronaut encounters a terrifying anomaly approaching the International Space Station." Interesting, I wonder if green screens are finally on the way out.

Aw fuck this was fun!

In a Parisian suburb, a promising young boxer must find a way to finance the future of his little sister, a piano prodigy. The editing at the end is perfect. Phenomenal short film.

An historic win for Argentina against New Zealand today, 25:15. I've got to find some extended coverage but the update feeds I've been following suggests an inspired attitude by the Pumas on both attack & defense, and ill discipline & poor handling on part of the All Blacks. Well done Pumas, its been a long time coming.

Just got back from the game. A fairly modest crowd but it was expected, considering Covid, and the NRL grand final was only a week earlier at the same ground (League is an order of magnitude more popular than Union here in NSW), and the fact its been raining almost continuously for a week. Was hoping the Wallabies debutantes would be able to keep it together but alas the ABs really put them to the sword when the chances were given. The defensive tackles up the middle and close to the ruck were quite effective for the Wallabies but at the blindsides they were definitely exposed. And the tackle count eventually wore them down. I'm still buoyed by the fact 8 Wallaby debutantes were blooded this month and there's promise there, and also Jordan Petaia was more than a handful at centre - he could be a fixture for the next decade. Looking forward to seeing how France go, they looked scary good last week.

Yep, pretty hard lesson for Penrith there. A bit of back luck, or good luck going with Melbourne, in that opening period. Still a very young Penrith squad and I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the finals or near about next season. Haven't caught the Six Nations opener but saw extended highlights of the Wales v France friendly and the French look very enterprising.

Koroibete failing to score his second try came at a critical point. Kudos to Mo'unga for sacrificing his frame until Leinert-Brown could come and assist. But agreed about the Aussie errors, no excuses with the pitch and conditions. I got to say, daytime rugby on a fine day in front of thousands looks magnificent. Australia & Rennie will take more out of that loss than what New Zealand will take from the win. The next match, in a fortnight, is in Sydney and should be more of a contest. With regards to South Africa pulling out of The Rugby Championship, I'm not surprised. Their local Super Rugby competition has only just started so they would've been under done had they sent a team, definitely not ideal. It also mean SA would potentially go into the Lions series next July (global disasters pending) without playing any tier 1 tests since the WRC2019.

Wallabies team 1. James Slipper 2. Brandon Paenga-Amosa **Form change 3. Taniela Tupou 4. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto 5. Matt Philip 6. Ned Hanigan **Form change 7. Michael Hooper 8. Harry Wilson **Position change 9. Nic White 10. James O'Connor 11. Marika Koroibete 12. Matt To'omua 13. Hunter Paisami 14. Filipo Daugunu 15. Tom Banks Reserves: Jordan Uelese, Scott Sio, Allan Alaalaota, Rob Simmons, Liam Wright **Form change, Jake Gordon, Jordan Petaia **Return from injury, Reece Hodge All Blacks team: 1. Joe Moody 2. Dane Coles **Form change 3. Ofa Tuungafasi 4. Patrick Tuipulotu 5. Tupou Vaa'i **Injury change 6. Shannon Frizell 7. Sam Cane - captain 8. Ardie Savea 9. Aaron Smith 10. Richie Mo'unga 11. Caleb Clarke **Injury/Form change 12. Jack Goodhue 13. Anton Lienert-Brown **Form change 14. Jordie Barrett 15. Beauden Barrett **Return from injury Reserves: Codie Taylor, Alex Hodgman **Form change, Nepo Laulala **Injury return, Scott Barrett **Injury return, Hoskins Sotutu, TJ Perenara, Rieko Ioane, Damian McKenzie Team sheets for the second test between Australia & New Zealand today at Eden Park. Weather is mainly fine. Rennie's rewarded his back-line by naming an unchanged line up and made a couple changes in the pack to shore up some deficiencies from last week - namely Paenga-Amosa at hooker for a better line out throw and shifting Wilson to No8. The All Black changes are a mixture of injury and form, and there's a possibility Reiko Ioane may have to pull out if he doesn't pass a physical this morning. With the young lock Vaa'i starting it would be a nice challenge to see what he can produce. If anything the NZ bench is stronger than it was last week (if Laulala and Scott Barrett are fully recovered from injury) and this could be the key going into the final acts of the game. ----- Making the trip out to my sister's place to watch the game live with her family. They're out by Penrith Panthers way so they'll be buoyed by the win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs in last night's second NRL preliminary final. Souths did well to keep in the game I thought but that young Penrith side seemingly has no fear. The'll need to cut down on those errors if they're going all the way in next week's grand final against the Melbourne Storm.

I wonder if this trend will become mainstream. Even if a source never gets adapted how useful could a visual trailer be for a novel? I can think of several novels I'd like to see professional level fan trailers for. Another fan made trailer, ZVP. This one's been out a while but still worth revisiting. It's a bit long but eventually reveals itself as a trailer, hence the title, albeit a mash-up one... and boy is it bonkers!

Like for the thread title. All I can think of is how to pronounce Deniece.

International test rugby this Sunday between Australia and New Zealand. WALLABIES: (1) James Slipper, (2) Folau Fainga'a, (3) Taniela Tupou, (4) Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, (5) Matt Philip, (6) Harry Wilson - debut, (7) Michael Hooper - captain, (8) Pete Samu, (9) Nic White, (10) James O'Connor, (11) Marika Koroibete, (12) Matt To'omua, (13) Hunter Paisami - debut, (14) Filipo Daugunu - debut, (15) Tom Banks RESERVES: (16) Jordan Uelese, (17) Scott Sio, (18) Allan Alaalatoa, (19) Rob Simmons, (20) Rob Valetini, (21) Jake Gordon, (22) Noah Lolesio - debut, (23) Reece Hodge ALL BLACKS: (1) Joe Moody, (2) Codie Taylor, (3) Ofa Tuungafasi, (4) Patrick Tuipulotu, (5) Samuel Whitelock, (6) Shannon Frizell, (7) Sam Cane - captain, (8) Ardie Savea (9), Aaron Smith, (10) Richie Mo'unga, (11) George Bridge, (12) Jack Goodhue, (13) Rieko Ioane, (14) Jordie Barrett, (15) Damien Mackenzie RESERVES: (16) Dane Coles, (17) Karl Tu'inukuafe, (18) Nepo Laulala, (19) Tupou Vaa'i - debut, (20) Hoskins Sotutu - debut, (21) TJ Perenara, (22) Anton Lienert-Brown, (23) Caleb Clarke - debut NZ should be comfortable favourites but I honestly believe Aus have the better long term coach in Dave Rennie. He's as mercurial as they come and he's patient. The pool of players he has coming through the Australian rugby system is relatively young and inexperienced but I sense the ceiling they can reach under Rennie could be very high within a few years. I'm beginning to loathe the NZ habit of selecting players out of position. It's both a testament to the development of players who can cover multiple positions, and a bane when you can't or won't select a player at their best position or the best available player for a position. Jordie Barrett is only an adequate test winger, but has matured into a fine fullback this year and should be given the opportunity to start there. Also great to have this played in the day time, Wellington forecast is cloudy with the prospect of evening showers.

Easing into the night listening to Toots & the Maytals. Toots Hibbert passed away today, aged 77, from complications stemming from Covid (unofficially). Thanks for the soothing vibes Toots, it was a groove.

My bus driver (an old fella) had his playlist going just loud enough so that I couldn't drown it out with my own tunes (I didn't want to keep turning the volume high and risk long term hearing damage). So I listened to what he had playing and now its stuck in my head. Gawdammit, these are songs my mum & aunties listened to in the 70's!

Moving.

Try this mash up: 1. Open this video. MUTE the audio. Set the playback speed to 0.75. 2. In another tab, open this video (you will use it as your audio). 3. Play the second video and then go back to the first video and watch that in full-screen mode, preferably in a darkened room. Enjoy. <Credit to the comment in the Rogue Wave - Eyes video for this suggestion>

Worth a few laughs.