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#651 Re: The Garden » Current Events Thread » 303 weeks ago
James wrote:To anyone here who doesn't know much about the Q cult, check this out....
One of my high school friends seems to have got into this stuff.
The stuff he is saying most of the year was so crazy that to me it was almost like a parody of a conspiracy theory. Like at first I thought he was making fun of the hyper-partisanship around us by taking on a character or something for laughs, but then I realised he was dead serious.
I tried to mildly engage to debate the likelihood of some of it early on but he pretty much said if I continue we can't be friends.
Due to lockdowns haven't seen him in person anyway, so I just try and direct online conversations away from it. But it does worry me.
Some of the q stuff is sooo insane that you have to be an idiot to believe in it. It's the far both left and right that's the worst thing in the USA. The left has the BLM stuff. It's more reality based but there's a certain intensity and hate that I find frightening. There is this sports forum I post on daily. This one far left guy just wouldn't shut up about it and always spouted about injustices here and there. I asked him point blank, why are you complaining about it here? It does no good. Eventually, he also started threatening other posters and got banned.
Both these groups devote a lot of energy to this stuff. And I'd just rather them use their time more wisely or smartly. It just strikes me as just a waste for various reasons.
#652 Re: The Garden » The Wrestling thread » 303 weeks ago
On the booking vs writing debate, I've always felt that the booker also had some responsibilites on how the match went (ie the payoff). The writer's responsibility was more or less write an engaging enough story where the fans want to see these guys fight/wrestle. Sometimes booking and writing overlapped I guess. They both need to be strong to create a satisfying feud though.
Guess one of the most famous ones where the match totally sucked and was overbooked would be Starcade 97. It should have been an easy book/matchup with Sting destroying Hogan and the Nwo. Instead, you got some convoluted match that ended up involving Bret Hart and some clusterfuck finish. Totally screwed up what should have been an easy story/angle to finish and wasted the build of it.
#653 Re: The Garden » The Wrestling thread » 303 weeks ago
James wrote:20 man writing teams? There shouldn't be writing teams period.
Booker's don't exist anymore in wrestling? What the hell do the smaller feds do?
I agree, one booker and maybe some close confidants he checks in with for advice are all that should be needed. WWE have two A shows to book, a B show and a bunch of C shows, all running every week with their own rosters. It really just should be Vince as head booker of the whole promotion, with 1 guy underneath him for each show.
Instead you have for Raw and Smackdown:
Vince
A Head Writer
A Whole team of other peopleAnd then a similar but smaller situation with HHH for NXT.
It's too many people. Just have Vince and a small booking committee where each member is in charge of one show each, and a bit of coordination amongst them (Vince may not want guy A being champ if guy Z is champ on the other show etc.)
Those guys are pretty much useless because Vince still has final say over pretty much everything. They could write the best angle and it'd never hit tv because Vince still runs everything. They are useless to me in that regard.
Also, a HUGE deterrent for me in current WWE product is just the awful commentary work. The older guys (Monsoon, Ventura, Ross etc..) treated it like a sporting event and a big deal. The current stuff just sounds very lame and cringe worthy.
#654 Re: The Sunset Strip » Most Recent Movie You've Seen » 303 weeks ago
Yeah, I'm making a list of seventies films I've missed. I watched Marathon Man and All That Jazz for the first time a while back, and Roy Scheider was incredible. So much more to that guy than Jaws.
Also watched American Graffiti. What hell happened to THAT George Lucas?
Sorcerer, starring Schneider is also really good. It also had the misfortune of coming out the same year as Star Wars and had an incredibly misleading title. I think it's better than Marathon Man, which should have ended 5 minutes earlier than it did. Also, not really in the mood to go to the dentist after watching that film.
A cool 70s movie worth checking out is The Prince Of The City. Its similar to The Deparded , kinda like the NYPD is in cahoots with crime and a young officer tries to expose it. Its very similar, in fact.
Its got the grittiness & film look. Looking For Mr Goodbar was another, although geez it was in the 90s when i saw that, not sure how it held up.
Prince of the City was a 1980s film, although it has a 70s film feel. It has Jerry Orbach and Treat Williams. It's solid, I watched it. Cutter's Way with Jeff Bridges that was released in 1981 has that same "feel". A couple of more 70s films:
Who'll Stop the Rain--nice post vietnam thriller starring Nick Nolte as a guy from the run from all types of pepople
Charley Varrick--Walter Mattheau in an excellent heist/con thriller.
Also, the 70s films just had better music and soundtracks, especially with the funk infleunced ones. Some of the 80s soundtracks with the synths are really cheese and add to this sort of light and happy mood that talked about earlier.
#655 Re: The Garden » Current Events Thread » 303 weeks ago
To my mind trump has a right to question the mechanics of the 2020 election, just as pelosi has a right to question the mechanics of the 2016 election.
I'm not against him questioning the mechanics of the election. But afterwards when his own AG said the election was fair, those election officials re counted 2-3 the vote totals in Georgia and nothing changed, those lower courts kept on rejecting his lawsuits. I mean shit, you had that one guy basically have to correct all the erroneous claims that Trump made in that infamous phone call.
After ALL THAT, he still claims that the election was stolen. At that point, there is a difference between him and Pelosi. That's not really questioning at this point, he's in denial. He was basically pedalling a lie and that point. He just couldn't stand that he lost. I mean, he raised his objections, they got proven wrong and instead of admitting it. He doubled down on it and this riot/insurrection happened because of it.
#656 Re: The Garden » Current Events Thread » 303 weeks ago
I skimmed through the speech again and I totally forgot how he labeled the media "the enemy of the people". I get that people don't trust the media (actual reporters who fact check and have multiple sources) but they do provide a valuable function and service in a government and democracy. See Woodward and Bernstein on Watergate or just a bunch of other ones that have revealed corruption or wrongdoing by people in power.
#657 Re: The Garden » Current Events Thread » 303 weeks ago
Here's my problem with the impeachment:
1. The attack of the capitol is totally unacceptable.
2. Trump's speech did not call for any violence and in-fact used several phrases that directly suggest the opposite.
3. Before being de-platformed Trump tweeted twice saying while he understood the anger and the frustration and while he also does't accept the election result there can not be violence and that his party stands for law and order and respecting authority etc.
4. It may be that the far right groups who staged the assault were motivated by Trumps claims of a phoney election despite his calls for peace. However, if this is the case, it should be noted that senior figures from the left claimed the previous election 2016 was hijacked for several years.
5. Likewise radicals from the left staged violent incidents in the preceding years - including things like violently capturing a city block, driving out police, and declaring it a seperate society. While some of the triggering incidents (floyd) are understandable, no political figures from the left have been held responsible for their ideology creating radicals when there have been crimes to the extent that we now seem to be suggesting figures on the right are responsible for the existence of right extremists. Additionally some on the left made statements that are questionable - such as the suggestion to confront trump cabinet members when they are seen in shops etc.
Looking at that wider context - and while I think there's a lot of regrettable things about Trump - I just don't get the logic of he can be fairly blamed for what happened at the capitol.
He's really only done the same tactics that the other side has been using, and there's no doubt to me that in another scenario we could easily see a similar incident based around the left.
What's really disturbing to me - is that despite the above - and despite actively calling for no violence - he's going to be impeached for inciting violence.
It's almost like we're all so outraged about this that what actually happened doesn't seem to matter anymore. I find it really disconcerting. I'm not even a Trump fan but the way this has all played out simply doesn't make sense.
Sorry, I disagree with a lot of these parts.
2)He didn't have to directly call for violence as IRISH has laid out better in his posts on this topic.
3) Maybe. But that one address he gave during the riots wasn't exactly calming
4)You're using "both sides do it", argument. People on the left can claim whatever they want to as long as it doesn't end up in violence and chaos etc. People on the right can claim that Obama isn't a US citizen as long as it doesn't end in the stuff that we saw on Wednesday. The fact that Democrats were salty about the 2016 election didn't result in a loss of life or chaos. Why should it matter as it pertains to this event what the Democrats (in this instance did or claimed)?
The rest of that stuff later on is just more of both sides do it.
And this is the part you miss: he's the President of the USA. His words have more meaning and value than some other lesser person. And he is supposed to be above this stuff.
#658 Re: The Garden » Current Events Thread » 304 weeks ago
Also, I'm reading that corporate donations have basically ceased to Republicans. I'm not exactly what that means...does it mean that all Republicans are losing donors?
Yes and no. A fair number of these corps have specified that they will stop donating to those lawmakers who objected to the certification of the election results.
On the other hand, there are those businesses like Facebook, Microsoft, and Google who have just stopped donating period.
#659 Re: The Garden » Current Events Thread » 304 weeks ago
Posted it earlier. There are definitely signs of a plan. Don't see why anyone can't speculate on it. If it's true or not is still unknown.
A day after the event happened, Jim Clyburn (Democratic House Member) said, they knew where my office was (it's unmarked) and they didn't go toward the one with my name over it.
Yeah they need to investigate this further.
#660 Re: The Garden » The Wrestling thread » 304 weeks ago
The highlight moments of the past 15 years are few and far between and they are all just moments. Moments that started or came during angles that all eventually died.
Hardy Vs Punk feud in 09. Actually good start to finish.
Nexus, great start and then killed at Summerslam
Punk's pipebomb, great angle and that build from the pipebomb to him winning at MITB. Gold. After that, all downhill rushed and blown. That angle actually generated a small bit of buzz it was that good.Honestly other than those three, there has been some good matches and good moments here and there as well but they are all part of 3 hour long shows filled with garbage. Even those two storylines I mentioned... to watch at the time you had to sit through so much shit.
They need to cut RAW back to 2 hours and get back to basics. Ditch the 20-man writing teams and get back to a small team. Could also be wise for Vince to take a less hands on roll at this point, but that will never happen.
I've tried to enjoy AEW, but it's all too ridiculous for me.
USA is the one demanding that Raw be a 3 hour show. That's about the only thing I'll maybe defend WWE on.
The Punk pipebomb thing might be the most disappointing end to something I've seen in the last ten years or so. It somehow ends with Kevin Nash facing HHH in a ladder match. Total clusterfuck and a waste of a classic and should have been career builder for CM Punk.
