Alex

Yes, quite a bit. Obviously they've taken the basic premise and they also have a lot of the main characters but it's certainly sufficiently different from the novel to make it worthwhile (if you've already read the book). I think it does some of the ambiguity of the novel quite well, which is pretty rare amongst the numerous adaptations of his works. Also, rather than being a novel, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is a series of films showing an alternative history. I think it actually helps if you've read the book though. The feel of it, especially in the Pacific States is similar to the sort of post-modern take on film noir in Blade Runner. I actually thought that before I realised Ridley Scott was one of the executive producers. I think you'd like it.

Yeah, I don't see how that tournament experience can be anything but a good thing for the national side but it's all about what's good for the clubs. There needs to be a balance and the richest FA in the world don't do their job properly.

Just finished Season 1 of The Man in the High Castle which is a bit of a slow burner but I really enjoyed it in the end. Started re-reading the book as well.

Generally speaking, if you look at the better international sides then they have a settled team at their core. The likes of Wales and even Portugal are two that spring to mind, albeit they each possess a genuine world class player but more what I'm getting at is they way in which they sort of grown as a side together and each of them knows what their team mates are capable of and exactly what their roles are. A bit like a club side. England recently, and more particularly at the last Euros were the antithesis of that. When you look at the players England have they aren't going to be favourites to win anything but they also have some canny players and are obviously a level above the likes of Iceland whom they should be more than capable of beating. You get freak results from time to time where a side dominates and still loses but England were outplayed and outfought (and outthought in all honesty) by a team Newcastle would probably beat 7 or 8 times out of 10). With that in mind I'd like to see the England manager adopt something like that long termism and, in a sense, the manager and the tactics are less important than having that in place.

Chez's creating his own narrative here

Dead pleased for him and will always have time for him for what he did here.

Aye, there's a few cartoon hoolies on there like. Probably still live with their Mams.

Which is funny because the town itself is pretty much a 50-50 split. They claim anything that's in the historical county of Durham though. I saw someone on there saying the Duke of Northumberland stole Gateshead pits from one of the Prince Bishops. Which, apart from being a bizarre thing to bring up in itself, is fairly ridiculous considering Durham City could barely be less like (or more removed from) Sunderland.

Moyes channelling Fred Dibnah there

There's definitely a desire for change amongst a large amount of people. If you take the example of the US Presidential race you have someone like Clinton, who whilst not particularly likeable is basically a mainstream politician. She has just about everyone in the media on her side as well as just about anyone of note who has made an endorsement (not just politicians) and she's up against a pretty loathsome individual with virtually nothing but rhetoric and the world's most elaborate combover and it's still, even at this stage, a relatively close contest with the polls seemingly narrowing by the day. I don't think he'll win but the fact it's not quite cut and dry shows how disillusioned many people are.

What I think he means, and I was about to post something similar, is that there were similar things said about Brexit shaking up the establishment. It certainly hasn't lead to the sort of the things some were predicting. The morning after you had Peter Hitchens (who I'm not a fan of but I think assesses things rather well quite often) suggested it was almost inevitable the Tories and Labour would each split into two parties for example. That's not really any closer than it ever was (in the case of the former at least). Or, to put it another way, simply voting against the establashment isn't a good thing if the alternative is worse. That's where the parallels lie. I do take Zizek's point though. And he comes across like a lot of us in that it's a very poor choice to have to make.

Leazesque I was right post there Also, I see tomorrow's top-of-the-table Northern League clash between North and South Shields is a record 2,000+ sell-out. Canny

Brilliant that like, the politicians lied about what people were voting for beforehand and now they claim to know exactly what people want out of brexit. He's a right snivelling little cunt of a man as well.

Well they would say that

Independence Day had the disadvantage of being shite in the first place though

In the 2nd tier

Loved this one too

You probably remember this one from back then, Chez:

Love a bit of Herbert

I'm not sure he would either tbh. I think he knows it would be a really hard job and that he'll get other offers come the summer (if not before)

Aye it's defintitely possible when you look at what they've done in recent years. And I totally get what you're saying about Short and what would be the best thing to do. I just think (especially given his record) a couple more losses in the next couple of games (at the most) and Short'll shit his pants and sack Moyes. It'll also have a lot to do with whose agents have been onto the club too. I would imagine that, were Allardyce willing to return, then Sunderland would have him back in a shot. That, followed by relegation, coupled with our going back the other way would be too funny

You need a 'Happy Face made this' watermark on these things, HF