Cid_MCDP

The relegation firing squad will hit... 20. WBA 19. Stoke 18. Boro Blackburn's on the way up.

Going to see it tonight with some friends. Can't wait. If it's great, well then awesome. If it sucks, then it's time for a new sig. Did it come out across the pond as well?

Fuck yes. Good lord, I've been hoping for that for years now. It's not like anything would really change much- you couldn't come to work high just like you can't come to work drunk, can't drive high like you can't drive drunk, etc. Plus, it'd be a great way to pay for some of the deficit my country has run up. Tax it like it's booze or smokes and call it a day.

wtf is that avatar of yours That's a lady, Leazes. you don't say. It looks like a chinese one with big tits, quite rare. Who is it Burt Kwok. Ca-tew? My little yellow friend, I'm hiome!

Can one of you lot send Hughton a load of duct tape so he can tape all of our fullback's arms to their sides? What are the odds of having so many men with the same dream of becoming assistants on the same team? Someone should buy them each a set of flags for their birthdays. Seriously though, a better result than expected. Too bad we don't play as well against the weaker teams.

I thought the exact same thing. Sam Rockwell was great, but only with the material he was given to work with. If I hadn't read the book a whole lot of the movie probably wouldn't have made sense as I found myself thinking back to the book to bridge the gaps. Some of the jokes were only half there as well meaning that they fell flat in the movie, Denny's rock obsession seemed tacked on in the movie for example. I'd love to know how much of the movie was cut out for a shorter running time. Word. Here's the thing- Chuck's books are sorta confusing to begin with- Narrator = Tyler, etc. To further complicate a rather, nontraditional shall-we-say storyline with the piss-poor editing of this film is a recipe for lameness. I really feel bad for the people involved. Choke as a film had a ton of potential because the novel has a bunch of interesting stuff- at least as interesting as Fight Club, but it's just a very uneven movie. It feels very rushed. The editing especially, but even some of the scenes seem a little flat and probably could've used a couple of re-shoots. Kelly MacDonald especially I felt was pretty, well, boring and ultimately wasted. I really hope the production team/ director/ etc. has nothing to do with the rumored Survivor movie. That's my favorite Chuck book- here's hoping these same people don't fuck it up (no idea if they're involved or not).

Watched Choke tonight. Kinda disappointed. Liked the book quite a lot, movie was either unfocused or a lot ended up on the cutting room floor. Still had some extremely funny parts, but not quite as good as I would've liked. Sam Rockwell did a good job.

The concentration on the thrower's face is immense! Curly Howard was nothing if not a method actor.

Oh no question about that- Afganistan and Iraq are both perfect examples of organizations/ regimes/ whatever we funded at one time then fought another. There's not a doubt in my mind after being old enough to remember the whole Iran-Contra deal that shady stuff is still not only going on, but is the price of doing business these days. I wonder if after the USSR tanked the folks in the intelligence community didn't all sit down and have a Justify Your Existence meeting... Sorta like how nobody wanted a new Windows but Microsoft made one anyway to stay in business and make money? I kinda think the same thing happened with the intelligence community- these dudes all operate off the books anyway- their budgets are just black holes from which not even light can escape, and in some twisted, idealistic way, I could even see how these deluded individuals would think they were actually helping.

Sorry, my American is showing. Replace with Duff. Duff in the middle? God help us. I'd love to do 4-3-3 and it would be a good idea against the likes of Bolton, but not without Guthrie, Barton, or Nolan involved. Yeah, it isn't exactly what you'd call, "ideal", but with the injuries we've sustained to the midfielders you mention, that's why I think it might work. The idea would be our front 3 puts a bunch of pressure on. The midfield has been almost transparent the last couple of matches I've watched, so in my nutty world, we're better off committing 3 bodies to doing a questionable job at best rather than 4.

Sorry, my American is showing. Replace with Duff.

Harper S. Taylor Coloccini Bassong Enrique R. Taylor Nolan Jonas Martins Viduka Lovenkrands Come on Chris and Colin! Time to break out the 4-3-3! I still say since we've got more (theoretically) strikers than we do mid-fielders, we ought to just start running 4-3-3 against teams without a lot of offense. Especially after Beye comes back.

Well you'll never convince me removing Saddam was an absolute bad thing™ (whatever the reasoning or lack of planning); leaving him in power was killing Iraqi's day in day out (directly and indirectly) and oppressing vast amounts of people with a police state that controlled things down to the very street level. Saddam had directly killed many hundreds of thousands of people over the years (through direct policies, not with his bare hands), and indirectly killed millions. Leaving him in power would have certainly made the last few years less bloody in Iraq, but that's an argument that can be applied to almost any conflict or tyrant no matter how bloody and brutal (it can be applied to Kosovo in fact). Ignoring that for now though, you need at least two sides to have a war. Iran was supplying several sides in the recent Iraq civil war (directly and through Syria), its intention was not just to honk off the USA, but also to destabilise Iraq by encouraging as much sectarian violence as possible. Iran directly killed many thousands of innocent Iraqi's (Kurdish, Sunni and Shia) for political goals, people that would not have died had Iran not supplied weapons money and other support to several sides. No matter how much you may or may not hate the USA, Iran was nothing but a "bad guy" in Iraq with much blood on their hands, any US guilt does not absolve Iran of that. Removing Saddam wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but the way it was gone about was. There's tons of asshole dictators oppressing/ torturing/ killing their people all over the world. That doesn't mean it's ok for the U.S. to go against the U.N. and invade them. In my opinion, that's where we fucked up. Unlike many of my countrymen, I hate this idea of the U.S. being this World Cop. It's stupid, wasteful, and ultimately only pisses everyone else off. I'd much rather see this country take all of the resources, money, and manpower and use it on itself rather than Iraq. I guess maybe if we had it all figured out with a strong economy, 1% unemployment rate, no racism, and parity between a governmental surplus and defecit for the past 30 years you might be able to talk me into it, but with things being what they are (and were, for that matter- when we got into this mess we weren't much better off as a country), it's hard for me to go rah, rah, rah, we just saved a bunch of Iraqis who never asked to be saved to begin with. It's nothing to do with being a world cop and all about strategic asset grabbing. CIA and Mi6 are still supplying arms and logistics across the planet, even to known Al Kidder (Chechnya etc) to make sure the get oil pipelines and strategic corridors. The last thing it is about is some kind of world cop thing, that's just for consumption by a clueless american public. I don't know man, I think you're right about the CIA and Mi6 part, but I honestly believe the rest of the military, congress, and certainly Bush were all about enforcing their will on the people who deserved it (in their opinion). I'm not one of those people who was all, "Bush is an idiot! Ha, ha, ha." The dude wasn't a great speaker by any means, and was corrupt as the day is long, but don't forget, the man is a Yale graduate. Did he act stupid? Did he do stupid things from time to time? Sure, but to make him out to be some Paris Hilton is to seriously underestimate him. I think he understood the "strategical importance" of places like Iraq, but I also think he was too shitty of an actor to completely not believe in all his Axis of Evil bullshit. I really do think there's a large contingent of people who were running this country around 2002 that were seriously invested in this World Cop idea like it was a second manifest destiny. Now, to imply they hadn't also considered the fallout of such activities and their subsequent effect on corporations like Haliburton, KBR, and contractors like Blackwater I think would be disingenuous. I think it was viewed as a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of deal. Not only do we get to spread democracy and Christianity, we also hook up the stockholders! Nice!

Vancouver hasn't been in the league long enough to be NUFC. I'd say my beloved, much-malinged Los Angeles Kings are pretty close to the NUFC of the NHL. Never won? Check. Questionable ownership? Check. Disliked by rest of league? Check. Always seem to play opposites (win games against teams they should lose, lose games they should win)? Check. Big-name former player as coach? Not yet, but Tony Granato stood-in for the Avs and got a few games under his belt... and Robitaille could always turn coach...

Well you'll never convince me removing Saddam was an absolute bad thing™ (whatever the reasoning or lack of planning); leaving him in power was killing Iraqi's day in day out (directly and indirectly) and oppressing vast amounts of people with a police state that controlled things down to the very street level. Saddam had directly killed many hundreds of thousands of people over the years (through direct policies, not with his bare hands), and indirectly killed millions. Leaving him in power would have certainly made the last few years less bloody in Iraq, but that's an argument that can be applied to almost any conflict or tyrant no matter how bloody and brutal (it can be applied to Kosovo in fact). Ignoring that for now though, you need at least two sides to have a war. Iran was supplying several sides in the recent Iraq civil war (directly and through Syria), its intention was not just to honk off the USA, but also to destabilise Iraq by encouraging as much sectarian violence as possible. Iran directly killed many thousands of innocent Iraqi's (Kurdish, Sunni and Shia) for political goals, people that would not have died had Iran not supplied weapons money and other support to several sides. No matter how much you may or may not hate the USA, Iran was nothing but a "bad guy" in Iraq with much blood on their hands, any US guilt does not absolve Iran of that. Removing Saddam wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but the way it was gone about was. There's tons of asshole dictators oppressing/ torturing/ killing their people all over the world. That doesn't mean it's ok for the U.S. to go against the U.N. and invade them. In my opinion, that's where we fucked up. Unlike many of my countrymen, I hate this idea of the U.S. being this World Cop. It's stupid, wasteful, and ultimately only pisses everyone else off. I'd much rather see this country take all of the resources, money, and manpower and use it on itself rather than Iraq. I guess maybe if we had it all figured out with a strong economy, 1% unemployment rate, no racism, and parity between a governmental surplus and defecit for the past 30 years you might be able to talk me into it, but with things being what they are (and were, for that matter- when we got into this mess we weren't much better off as a country), it's hard for me to go rah, rah, rah, we just saved a bunch of Iraqis who never asked to be saved to begin with.

True, but they were fairly open about it, and were replacing Saddam. The difference with Iran is they were basically fighting a shadow war and denying all knowledge of it (much like their nuclear weapons program). Yet clearly they were doing it. Also Iran was fuelling the violence, even if every US troop had been pulled out Iran had vested interest in a unstable Iraq that at best eventually came under the control of Shia religious leaders, but even that they wouldn't have like very much (a 3 way split would have been more preferable for them). Or do you believe that Iran was justified in stoking Iraq's civil war (it was of course stoking sunni/shia violence too) simply to honk of the USA? They weren't open about it at all. It was a tissue of lies that started with WMD, then went on about democracy and ended with 'we just didn't like the cunt'. Not open about it at all. Our government threw several accusations at the wall intended to piss us Americans off enough to want to kill that little brown man, but what finally did it was the WMDs. Prior to that there was the whole genocide thing, the might-have-maybe-had-something-to-do-with-9/11-(or not) thing, and the he-tried-to-have-George-Bush-Sr.-assassinated thing. In the end though, it wasn't, "We just didn't like the cunt." We blamed it on you guys! It was that danged old incorrect British Intelligence report (disregard the fact we haven't listened to the British about anything remotely militaristic since, oh, WWII...)

That's ironic as hell- here in the states ESPN doesn't carry hockey at all!

High hopes for this one. Looks like it's going to be great. Hey Stevie, you ought to at least read the graphic novel- it's by a Brit.

Dunno if any of you all are into NHL hockey at all, but if you're wanting to watch a good game or are curious to see your first game, you could do a lot worse than tomorrow's matchup between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins. The Capitals have been vastly improved since coach Bruce Bodreau took over about a year and a half ago. They made a deeper than expected run into the Stanley Cup playoffs last year and this year have been dominant in their division and some would say, their conference. The Capitals are tied for second in the East, the on-ice contributions of NHL goal scoring leader Alex Ovechkin, Left Wing, playing no small part. The Gr8 One leads the NHL in goal scoring with 42 in 57 games after a slow start due to a death in the family which obviously weighed heavily on his mental game and ultimately demanded a return trip to Russia for a funeral and to spend time with his family. The Pens have played a little below themselves as a team this season which is common when a young team makes it to the Stanley Cup finals the year before, but you wouldn't know it by watching Pittsburgh Center Evgeni Malkin. The Russian star leads the league in points with 84 (26 goals, 58 assists) in only 59 games this season. Despite Malkin's best efforts, the Pens are fighting for a playoff spot in a relatively tight Eastern Conference and currently sit 10th. Both teams are young and extremely gifted offensively boasting some of the biggest names in the NHL today. Additionally, neither have outstanding goaltending (although Washington's defense is superior to most teams) which should make for a high-scoring affair. There is definitely a personal rivalry between Capitals Ovechkin and Alex Semin, and the Penguins Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, which only serves to make these games between their teams all the more entertaining. The game starts at 12:30 Eastern US tomorrow. Don't know who shows NHL games over there (if anyone), but if you're curious at all about hockey, tomorrow's game should be a great one to watch. On a sidenote- Ovechkin scored another one of his "how'd he do that" goals the other night against Montreal. Good stuff-

But have we seen uglier directors? Lols, now that's a good question.

But, but, but... You've seen uglier football!

Profit? You mean companies not wanting their property to be illegally distributed? I download as much copyrighted material as anyone else but you can see why the companies want to prosecute. Fair play to the lads though for sticking to their guns though. Thing is though, they're just a search engine. If they get sued successfully, then Google, Yahoo!, et al could be brought to suit on precedent. Side note, I always just thought Fop was the past tense of Fap. Musicians used to live on charity once upon a time innit. Hey! I buy my entertainment. I'm just saying suing TPB sets a bad precendent. Assuming, of course, you don't want to see every search engine capable of generating a result for ".MP3" get sued. I'm down with paying for music/ movies/ TV shows. I'm not one of those, "Everything should be free!" people. I actually have an album on iTunes that generates me 20 or 30 bucks a year from downloads. Piracy is a problem, but going after search engines isn't the way to fix it.

Profit? You mean companies not wanting their property to be illegally distributed? I download as much copyrighted material as anyone else but you can see why the companies want to prosecute. Fair play to the lads though for sticking to their guns though. Thing is though, they're just a search engine. If they get sued successfully, then Google, Yahoo!, et al could be brought to suit on precedent. Side note, I always just thought Fop was the past tense of Fap.

Ah come on. Kate's attractive. It's just cause they keep showing her with that kid that's turning us off.

You realize we don't show boobies on American network TV, right? Folks getting shot/ stabbed/ set on fire/ raped? Sure. No problem. Boobies? THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!