The rules are pretty straightforward.
Rule #1 Don’t discuss the presidential race.
Rule #2 DONT DISCUSS THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Anything else is fair game.
We have a lot of exciting local primaries, important ballot questions, and a lot of organizing to do for 2017 and 2018 races that will have a far more immediate local impact than who’s the in the White House.
Sox are barely in the hunt, will the Pats go 4-0 with Jimmy the Panther? Will Horford be enough to stop Lebron in the East? How will the Broons rebuild?
Early Oscar favorite Nate Parker derailed by sex assault controversy, can we separate the artist from the man? Worked for Woody, not for Cosby.
And borrowing from David, confess your unpopular opinion about a particular subject (for the record: he loves Dominos!)
sabutai says
Blazing Saddles was Gene Wilder’s best movie, and it wasn’t even close. Playing the straight guy is the toughest role in comedy, and he was brilliant in that flick.
I really have no opinion on question 1, 3, and 4. I need to read up on those.
It’s getting hard for me to watch NFL (from someone not above some fantasy football). Every time I watch it, I just think of CTE. Nor does it help that I just got a huge serving of rugby during the Olympics.
Why does MTV have Video Music Awards if they don’t play music videos? It would be like NBC hosting the NFL player awards.
jconway says
The Waco Kid was a highly underrated character and my favorite part of the film.
I was going to boycott fantasy and just watch the Pats and Bears (wife’s home team) but got sucked into a $20 league at the last minute and now I am preparing mu auto draft since I’m the only church goer in my league.
And I think you meant ABC? Though technically they own ESPN which has carried MNF forward. Really happy Mike Tirico won’t be announcing this year, though worried he will replace Al Michaels.
Jasiu says
I actually watched more English Premier League than NFL last year. Of course, those headers are an issue for the same reason. I did watch the Super Bowl, but that was more to hang out with the neighbors and have someone else make me margaritas.
Have to admit the rugby was way too much fun to watch.
Why did MTV have their awards at MSG the one evening of the year when I arrived at Penn Station? What a total friggin’ zoo.
I need to have a Gene Wilder binge weekend.
scott12mass says
Where do limits of societal control extend into the sports arenas? I played some football and years ago if you “got your bell rung” you got pulled for a couple series and got sent back in. Unless you couldn’t remember where you were, then you got pulled for the game, but practiced next week.
We’ve had pro wrestling. fake wrestling but real injuries for years. Boxing has historically recognized people with CTE as being “punch drunk”.
Now with the rise of MMA (mixed martial arts) “cage matches”, even including women, we’ve reached a new level of violence. They even have “amateur nights” (a nephew went) where you can walk in the ring and try your hand at beating the crap out of a random stranger (chosen by a weight category to make it fair). Has it gone too far? Consenting adults?
JimC says
Blazing Saddles is all over the place with its satire. YF is focused and beautiful — the scene with Gene Hackman is pure comedy and brilliantly executed. Also, the Dr. Frankenstein character is Wilder’s creation, so he plays him fully.
I’m with David on Domino’s.
Fantasy sports wreck regular sports.
jconway says
Women and men’s. And NBC proper was too banal to broadcast it, fortunately I had the cable stations it was on. It’s a much safer sport, it’s pretty similar, and more and more schools have teams. I could see it become viable. I also think MLS is producing more competitive and talented teams, still eons away from EPL though. I guess Sox fans gotta pull for Liverpool but I like the Spurs myself.
lodger says
You’d be a Spurs fan, I was during the Modric, Van Der Vaart, and Bale, period and still try to watch their games. And you’re right, we Bostonians should support Liverpool, at least until it’s sold.
Stats show there are about 11 minutes of actual action in an NFL game, and 100 commercials… And people wonder why I watch La Liga.
jconway says
And I have a soft sport for Arsenal which my college roommate likes which makes me a very bad EPL fan. Anyone but Man U, they are the Yankees/Lakers of the EPL.
petr says
truly soft if you like the Spurs and yet refuse to hate Arsenal… =-} (google “St Totteringhams Day” or ask your roommate about it, sometime…)
For myself, I consider Chelsea to be the EPL equivalent of NYY, (and consider A-Rod to be the MLB version of Diego Costa) therefor, in true Boston fashion, I root for West Ham United (maternal grandfather was an ironworker) as well as for whoever is playing against Chelsea. But, I’ll go along with the ManU — Lakers analogy.
Jasiu says
We did most of our Olympic TV watching via the NBC Sports app (mostly on an Apple TV). I’m doing the same thing for the US Open right now (Watch ESPN). It allows me to actually watch the sport / match I want to watch and not be at the whim of a producer who decides to switch to something else or show an interview that I don’t want to see.
One does still need a cable / satellite subscription to access the content, but all of the additional content makes the cable bill much more palatable.
AmberPaw says
Just … thanks for this thread jconway.
jconway says
It’s a public service 😉
My unpopular opinion is that the Big Short was boring and overrated and glorified people who made money off the suffering of others. Wolf of Wall Street is a much, much better film about a similar subject.
sabutai says
After the thirtieth ponderous minute of DiCaprio’s debauchery I turned the movie off. I get it — he was rich, profane, and tasteless. Repeating that message without moving the plot an inch made for a bad movie.
I still like Boiler Room.
Peter Porcupine says
And it was REAL.
Only other film to catch that world was Glengarry Glen Ross….steak knives…
jconway says
Affleck channeled his Baldwin for the conference scene clearly inspired by “coffees for closers”. Also people forget Vin Diesel is a great actor when he can land a good part.
centralmassdad says
They played the “Puttin on the Ritz” number on Terri Gross the other day, and I found it gut bustingly funny, again.
Also, I am sick and damn tired of the teeny tiny goddamn “close” box that I must hunt for and close every time I do anything on this site. WTF is that thing anyway? If I miss it, and click something else, its chaos until I find the damn teeny close box. Eff that thing.
sabutai says
One challenge with Blazing Saddles is that it’s almost impossible to quote a decent chunk of it in memory of Gene Wilder that isn’t also amazingly offensive when out of context.
I still love the line “You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.”
Jasiu says
I’m not sure what one would think seeing this movie for the first time right now. Would it be clear that Brooks was mocking the stereotypes?
I remember when it was first shown on network TV and how much had to be edited / modified. It ruined the movie. Heck, they even overdubbed the audio from the campfire scene with horse neighing. I guess the general public had never heard a fart before.
I loved Alex Karras as Mongo. For some reason, when he punched out the horse it had me on-the-floor laughing.
Oh, and sorry about the “up your’s”… 😉
johntmay says
Chattanooga rolled out a fiber-optic network a few years ago that now offers speeds of up to 1000 Megabits per second, or 1 gigabit, for just $70 a month. A cheaper 100 Megabit plan costs $58 per month. Even the slower plan is still light-years ahead of the average U.S. connection speed, which stood at 9.8 megabits per second.
No, we have to deal with corporate suppliers who, in my opinion, see who can suck more than the others.
Case in point: Today, I received a letter from Verizon informing me that the router they sold me is shit and that I will now be charged a maintenance fee of $3 per month for this shitty router unless I pay $60 for a better one.
I was in no mood to argue and spend hours on hold, so I went to their website, bent over, grabbed my ankles and tried to agree to give them their $60.
Their website could not process the theft and I was given a notice that I needed to call them at their 800 number.
The 800 number was nothing but voice prompts and prerecorded replies, no way to give them the $60 them were taking from me. After 45 minutes of trying, I was able to contact “tech support” where you get a real human being. I told this human being that while he was a nice guy and in the unfortunate position of receiving my anger, I did not want him to take it personally.
I had enough. I told him to cancel my Internet, Cable TV, home phone and numerous cell phone lines. I had enough. Anyone who thinks that dealing with a government office or the RMV is a pain in the ass has NO idea how bad it can be until they try to work with ANY internet service provider.
Well, we lost the connection. Imagine that. To his credit, the Verison guy did call me back, asked if I would not cancel if Verizon sent me a new charger at no fee, and I said yes. After all, my other option is Comcast and they are just as bad.
Can we please get municipal Internet?