Jumbie

I did.

Also, I am Spartacus.

I saw the start of this series when it was airing after Monday Night Raw for a while. They switched out to late nights on Wednesday so I lost track, but I plan to catch up.

The setup is a computer security expert who gets drawn into a conspiracy to 'take down' an evil corporation through manipulation of their computers.

They draw on a lot of the tropes of Anonymous/Occupy Wall Street to talk about the way power is truly distributed in the economics of today's society. But they also make a point that technology is arming the people with tools to fight back.

A lot of the vibe feels like Fight Club. There is some satire of corporate values and trappings. Plus, the main character, Elliot, has some kind of vaguely described emotional/psych problems that he takes medication for and also used street drugs. He doesn't like people touching him etc and is socially isolated.

We get the world through his perception so, for instance, the evil corporation is actually called 'Evil Corp' even on newscasts or the logo on the building because that's how he perceives them. Christian Slater shows up early very much like Tyler Durden where we can't even be sure he really exists. Just like we can't be sure the men in the black suits following Elliot around are actually real.

The best thing is that the suspense is sustained, because we get the sense that 'Mr. Robot', Christian Slater's character, is some kind of devil. He says righteous sounding things like he's fighting for wealth redistribution and the little guy, but his methods clash with Elliot's sense of right and wrong.

Personally, I get the feeling from the first few episodes that Mr. Robot might easily just be a con man looking to pull off a conventional robbery or maybe just an outright terrorist looking to bring it all down and he's using the buzzwords of the Occupy culture to simply get Elliot on board.

The standout element for the show is smart writing for the most part and good acting. Christian Slater overacts just enough to make himself feel like a believable larger than life cult leader type and the lead actor has a kind of bulge-eyed awkward manner that really sells you on the character's internal conflicts.

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Bottom Line: Based on a few episodes, it looks good.

So Jon Stewart did bump into Rollins as I hoped. However, the results were not what anyone expected...

http://www.cagesides...-wwe-summerslam

This is on top of them getting Green Arrow Stephen Amell to do a match against Stardust.

Also: ESPN will be doing Sportcenter from Summerslam that Sunday with Jonathan Coachman

Hopefully Stewart vs Rollins continues...

So, no segment on "Tell me about your daddy?"

After I saw the resurrected Boycotts thread I remembered this one from 11 years back.

This is one of the few times I look at what I wrote 11 years ago and think, 'Yeah, I agree with myself 100%'

Generally, looking at the trends in music, the dancehall artists have indeed moved away from the gay bashing in jamaica. I don't know if that was from being squeezed by activists and protests and cancelled concerts or if it was simply moving on to other topics. After all, everything in music is about trends and new things grab the attention. Dancehall for instance went into a bit of a rap-style East Coast/West coast type thing, taking sides with the feuding gangs of Kingston and for a while that was all they could talk about.

Well, now that you've mentioned it, maybe DC will pay heed and realize the need an occasional lighter tone...

Coming 2021, Plastic Man vs The Elongated Man: Dawn of Twistiness.

In the context of the Marvel movie universe, I think Antman was a good fit by not being a good fit. In that it needed to be about less Earth shattering stuff. Considering that we just got cities falling out of the skies earlier, it's a good call.

I do agree with you in the inevitability of the plot a bit, since I wanted to see a twist of sorts to make us feel like the good guys had been thrown so far off track that things were blown and only a new plan would save the day. (Consider for instance the way the end of Terminator 2 comes about despite the good guys having a plan to do something else. etc) There's some of that with the villain revealing he knew their plan all along and foiling them etc. But they didn't seem to get set back in any severe way.

But that final fight scene in Antman was great. It felt Superhero-ey and the size gags within the fight scene (train on the window etc) were fun and made it feel fresh.

Now all I can think about is that Queer as Folk episode with the guy who gets Brazilian ass parasites on the beach...

Quotes in the sports forum are showing up for me as white text on an almost white background.

The article starts with Boston's decision not to bid for the Olympics and uses that to look at the larger issue of how Democracy and large government funded projects for sports seem incompatible. Boston was looking at 10 Billion dollars just for the organizing and city infrastructure costs. There would have been additional costs for the facilities themselves (Stadiums, arenas, velodromes, kayak courses etc). And that was just the organizers' estimates. Real costs tend to come much higher.

The internet is clogged with slide shows of empty, broken, useless stadiums built in the euphoria of a coming Olympics or World Cup then abandoned soon after, allowed to fill with weeds, rodents and other signs of human escape. Is there a better sign of Greece’s collapse than a pile of useless sports facilities crumbling since the torch went out in the summer of 2004? What use did Athens have for a baseball stadium anyway? It’s crumbling among the weeds just like the field hockey venue, the canoeing center and the training pool green with algae.

After Rome, Paris, Hamburg and maybe Toronto or Doha – all fighting to host the 2024 Games – the list of Olympic hopefuls may quickly dwindle until only bidders will be places like Beijing or Qatar or breakaway Soviet republic. These are places that won’t need to worry about local opposition when writing checks in the name of national pride. The concept of getting one big city to compete against another, with each promising more extravagance is probably an old one. Fewer municipalities will have the money to waste.

A similar grassroots opposition worked against the bid proposals in Oslo, Krakow and Stockholm for the 2022 Winter Games. The costs of hosting the Olympics seemed too extreme, the rewards too small.

As part of its [Winter Olympics] 2022 bid, Beijing’s organizers will pull from a nearby lake to manufacture the piles of snow needed for mountain sports and will construct a giant, high-speed rail line to whisk athletes and spectators from the city to the remote outdoor locations. Who can compete against this? Who would want to?

 

China will keep bidding for every international event that comes along, overwhelming competitors from more democratic nations by promising to deliver anything necessary to land those games.

http://www.theguardi...st-city-anymore

A similar controversy existed this summer for the Pan American Games held i Toronto. Hardly anyone showed up to the games. The Olympics tend to get more visitors since they are the blue ribbon games, but The visitors tend not to flow once the games are over. When citizens have to choose to pay, they can easily see that the price being asked by the IOC rent seekers is too much.

It seems to me that it would be a huge source of sadness when the Olympics, born in Democratic Greece will only be shopped around to countries who are autocratic and used to cover how un-democratic they are.

Diamond Dallas Page has amazing screen presence. Calling him an uninspired choice indicates lack of knowledge of his work. I can totally see him in the part of an aging hero in a drugged out, sex-filled world. That's his life.

I hear the casting director is just going to throw green rings out a window and see whose fingers they end up on...

'Kevin Hart, you have great will. You have been chosen.'

Seriously though, Tyrese should warm up by playing some small budget dramas between now and then. It'll silence his critics if he pulls it off or give ample time to find a sub if he cant hack it.

I think Tyrese did OK with a job that required him to portray a serious character in Legion. Of course, that movie had other issues, but he wasn't one of them. I think that once the director is clear, it will be a good John Stewart.

Let me tell you something: Joe and Barry's chemistry on the show is second to none.

The chemistry between Joe and Barry is superb! was a good finale - leaves you wanting more.

You and SoF are shipping Joe and Barry in your heads aren't you?

That's disgusting.

Hawt, but disgusting. You two oughta be ashamed. The man's practically his father.

Then again this is a show about him having the hots for a girl who's practically his sister...

What you talking about. I post for two weeks every SIX months.

Hate? A lot?

I like the guy OK, he's entertaining when used right. His delivery of 'We hungry' in F&F 2 was not just funny, but good acting.

But to claim credit for 6 billion in box office because he had parts in 2 big franchises? c'mon, he's pushing it.

Speaking of things that were popular 19 years ago, what's Adam Sandler doing these days? That Water Boy movie was set in Louisiana, right? He can do the accent and everything.

Politics needs a button to jump to the 'show new posts' page.

Oh please, Tyrese, The Japanese guy drew more money to those Fast movies than you did...

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I feel you on Kyle, Nick, but he can't be properly introduced until they kill off the Corps and all... He'll have to come along in the 4th movie. Tentatively to be released 2029. Which means, the eventual Kyle Raynor actor is probably about 10-years-old right now, running around the backyard with his friends pretending to be Starlord.

Just noticed Lebron James in a Heat uniform is our sports forum banner.

We should change that, given the many Heat fans around here.

Mel Gibson - racist

Cosby - rapist

Hogan - racist

Arnold - groper

Reagan - senile

Tom Cruise - nutsoid

Charlie Sheen - winning nutsoid

At this rate, there will be noting left of the icons of 80s malehood within 5 years.

Somebody go find Dolph Lundgren, Michael J Fox and Michael Keaton and put them in a box for safekeeping... Maybe throw in Tom Hanks, Matthew Broderick and Sylvester Stallone if there's space.

Do the wedges still win everything?