Mexal

Garbage. We are so fucking slow.

58 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

 

Well firstly, he wrote Memento, The Prestige and TDK with Chris and he didn't write Inception and Tenet so, you know, he was keeping the average up for quite a while. 

Secondly, by most accounts Person of Interest is really good and ends very well, so I  wouldn't judge Nolan just on Westworld even as a tv writer.

Thirdly, he's not writing or showrunning this. 

I liked inception

And yes, Person of Interest is amazing. Shining example of building a network show that includes a case of the weak and a broader storyline that becomes increasingly important as the show goes on. 

This is a frustrating game.

1 minute ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they get better without Randle? 

I don't think the Knicks are a contender this year, but they could take out any team in a seven game series. I just can't see them doing it four times, but they're not too far off. They should be really aggressive this offseason. There's a few FAs that look like nice fits and they absolutely should try to make a monster trade for a star on a bad team that needs to blow it up.

Nah. They got better when they traded for OG. When OG, Randle and Brunson were playing, they were 17-2 or something like that. Then Randle went down, then OG and then pretty much everyone so at one point, it was Brunson and a bunch of back ups. In 2024, Brunson's +/- is the best in the league, even better than Jokic. His impact is MVP and All-Pro level.

I do agree that they're not really a contender and also agree they can beat anyone but likely not 4 times. So we're aligned there. With Randle, think they could have beaten anyone but with this team, think it'll be tough. One more scorer would be helpful.

4 hours ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

Brunson seems like a floor raiser. That's not a bad thing, but it leads me to believe that he needs a better player to pair up with him if the goal is a chip. The good thing is I think a lot of dudes would really like to play with him. 

Eh. If Knicks had Randle, they could give Boston a run. Without him, they can still compete with Boston as evidenced last night when they were up by 30 against their starters in Boston. Brunson needs a team around him, like every star player, but there aren't more than 5 players in the NBA playing better than him right now (and I'd even argue it's less).

Europa League went pretty poorly for England. Arsenal/City/Villa need to win and Liverpool has to find some way to come from behind. West Ham won't beat Leverkusen. All the pts are the same at this stage so it's just about moving on and eliminating German teams (i.e., Bayern and Dortmund).

9 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

He looks round and see him coming towards him and then looks back towards the ball. Gabriel could step to his left, he could try and shove him out of the way, he could see Kane backing into him and try and step wider to the right around him to get to the ball. Come on there’s no guarantee where Gabriel was going to go.

Uh, ball is in the air, literally the only way that defenders play that when a CF is backing into them is to get close behind them or jump in the air to head it (which Gabriel never had a chance at because he took an elbow to the throat). I've never seen a defender go around a CF when the ball is in the air, letting them behind them if they miss. This play happens like 10x a game (or more if you don't play out of the back) and the CB is ALWAYS directly behind the CF.

12 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

The Gabriel penalty is a weird one. I absolutely agree it’d be a stupid thing to give Bayern about a 90% chance of a goal for but it’s also pretty clearly a penalty under the current rules. I’m not sure refs should be deciding which rules they’re going to follow because they think it’s a bit of a stupid situation.

On the Kane elbow, he knows Gabriel’s there but he doesn’t know exactly when his head/neck is. I think he’s probably trying to box Gabriel off from the ball rather than deliberately elbow him in the neck so there’s a bit of room there to give a yellow for the ref. Having said that Kane’s got a bit of tendency to do stuff that’s pretty reckless with the safety of the players around him (backing under centre backs who’re jumping for the ball springs to mind) and he couldn’t have any complaints if he got a red.

Kane and Gabriel are basically the same height. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to know where the head/throat is when you look behind you to see where he is and throw your elbow around at your own height  Where did he think that was going to land? His stomach?

2 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Kane forearm Yes, he looked where Gabriel was. He then tried to back into him, and did hit him with his arm/elbow. However, Kane used his arm as a mere tool (apparently ref slang) to get an unfair adavantage, and not as a weapon (a gain apparently ref slang) to actively attack Gabriel. Thus it's a yellow.

Yea, I don't agree. Kane looked to see where Gabriel is, backed into him and then swung his elbow around at head height. He didn't jump and use arms for leverage, didn't make any attempt to play the ball, didn't do anything to gain an actual advantage other than backing into him, just took a swing at his head with his elbow. Sure, I guess you can say taking out the player behind you with an elbow to the throat/jaw is gaining an advantage but come on. It was so obviously deliberate.

1 hour ago, Corvinus85 said:

She still wants to die because of the pain of losing her family and the shame, but not on Buntaro's terms. He only wanted to do it now because of the situation at hand and to continue to possess hus wife all the way to the end.

That was my interpretation too. And you heard it from Hiromatsu to Buntaro when he said "now you understand what it's like to be denied". It's clear she still wanted to die, just not with Buntaro.

12 hours ago, Zorral said:

I was wondering if they'd ever get around to that

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tea ceremony.

I dunno.  Others in many venues write of how intensely they feel these scenes and circumstances.  Somehow, I fail to be moved. The book, at least upon first reading, did affect me a lot.  But this television series doesn't have me invested in anyone or in the events.  Is that because I already know how it all turns out?

Yea, this isn't me. I feel the scenes, get the characters and felt the pure pain that Buntoro felt in that moment. I also felt Toronaga's pain at Hiromatsu. This show hits me in all the right spots, an adaptation of a beloved book that just hits all the right marks. I cannot stress how much I love this show.

I've watched that penalty call 100x now and it's a clear 50/50. Whatever it was called on the field is the way it would go. Saka throws his leg yes, but Neuer steps and extends his leg into Saka's path. I still firmly believe that if that was Bruno, Kane or any other generic white guy, he'd get the call.

As for the penalty shout against Arsenal, this is the one time when a ref used some common sense. They clearly weren't doing anything for advantage, no clue what they heard on the field and it would have been idiotic to call something like that in a CL game when it clearly wasn't intentional in any way. The worse call was Harry Kane not getting a red for purposely looking at Gabriel before intentionally slamming his elbow into his throat.

6 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Bayern have an excellent record against English teams at home in European competitions.

IIRC, between 1970-2023, only Norwich, Liverpool and Manchester City have beaten them in Europe at the Allianz.

 record or not, that team is beatable and we play well away.

My takeaway from that game is we can win in Munich and should. So on we go.

I wish Saka just shot it and none of this would matter. I’ve seen Kane get that penalty 20 times but never seen Saka. So just shoot it instead.

Worst half we’ve played since Fulham. Defense in shambles.

I assume there will be turnover at Liverpool following Klopp. The first manager after a club legend generally has a tough time, especially if people move on. Next year will be very interesting for them.

Doku should have been a penalty. Difference with ours is touching ball was incidental as Jesus was beating him, ball was near Jesus and he was through on goal as Lamptey went through him and took out his legs. A bit different than the Doku one.

4 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Come on. He's seen him coming, nicked the ball away and is absolutely going for the penalty but he's not obliged to hurdle Wan Bissaka's leg.

Fuck off. You're really burnt out on the best manger we're likely to have for the forseeable future? Ok then.

He’s not but Wan Bissaka didn’t actually touch him and all of the contact was generated by Elliot wanting the penalty. As I’ve seen us NOT get calls in very similar situations because of trailing legs or defenders kicking out but not touching, I can say it’s very soft and I’m surprised VAR didn’t spend 5 minutes looking at the angles as they do every single Arsenal penalty. Hell yesterday, NBC spent 5 minutes questioning Jesus penalty and he was literally taken out. Just thought it was interesting when you see that angle, no VAR looks and every Arsenal penalty over analyzed.

3 minutes ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Our front three must be the most wasteful in front of goal.

Salah especially has been absolutely average. 

Klopp plays Konate against relegation fodder Sheffield but plays the inexperienced kid Quansah against United at OT. Nice one Klopp 

Oh well, it's now Arsenal's to lose this PL race.

Still need to win out and our run in isn’t super easy plus CL. More turns to come.

Pretty weak penalty. He actually never touched him and Elliot’s trailing leg hooked him. I’ll take the dropped points but have no idea how VAR didn’t even spend a second on it like they do every Havertz tackles.

https://x.com/nonewthing/status/1777009151543013715?s=46&t=S9IqtHPqFubF4uuPMeayuA

Caught some highlights of the Arsenal game yesterday. What a team we have been in 2024. 10 wins, 1 draw, 35 goals for, 4 against, 4.98 xg. 5 straight away game clean sheets. Next closest defensive record is city with xg over 12. 4 months of pure bliss as a fan. 

Also, Kai Havertz has been immense since he’s become our starting CF. £60m well spent.

18 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Now there's a story. Folks in-game helped motivate you to do better in school? 

Also, people now run independent servers. There's some info here on how it all works, should you want to know more: https://emulator.ac/how-to-play/

I had some good friends and they were willing to write some of my essays / poems and college entrance essay in return for in game things I did for them or use of my account (my character had a very strong PVP reputation) or other things. It was helpful...

I slowed down playing significantly in 2002. I started WoW in 2003/2004 and haven't played a MMORPG or anything like it since. Way too much of a time sink.

16 hours ago, IlyaP said:

This is what led to me ultimately leaving the Asheron's Call community - a lot of us were in high school together, and ended up going off to college, university, etc., and just...didn't have the time or the interest in it anymore as new interests caught our attention - like going to concerts and dating and university assignments and whatnot. 

And persistent/online/mud games really are at their best when you've got friends with whom you can play. Doing it solo can be fun, but the fun that can be had is pretty finite.

Memories. I played a ton of AC in high school. Played a bit of WoW after that in college and never really played a multiplayer game again like that. AC was special, what a community. If it wasn't for some of the people I met, I wouldn't have done as well in high school or gotten into the college I got into.

6 hours ago, Spockydog said:

Pretty sure all three are going to drop at least one point.

I'm just happy because a) we're up there, and b) ain't nobody laughing at The Arsenal anymore.

Yea, same. Even if we don't win this year, it's been an absolute blast. Best football we've played in a long time. I would love to beat Bayern to at least keep CL alive. Just fun to be in the running.