Wolfie

1 hour ago, David said:

No knee, in the car, just made me chuckle a little seeing this to the left.

Well, their logo does look a bit like someone doing the splits.

Ready or Not

A woman marries into a weathly family but finds out on the big day that the family must all play a game at midnight due to an old deal with their mysterious benefactor. The game turns out to be an extreme version of hide & seek, with guns, axes & crossbows.

Great fun. Silly, gory, tense & funny. Some great lines & satire about The Rich thrown in as well.

9/10

16 minutes ago, SouthStandDan said:

Picked a properly useless car dealership for my new car. Spent half my morning on the phone going through the car finance guff. Agreed everything, sent all the bank stuff, good to go they said. Turn up and they've not even completed my application, felt like a right tit. I understand car salesman need to hit their targets, but pushing me to collect a car when the dealership hadn't finalised the paperwork was really bizarre. Good job I live a few miles away or I'd have been fuming.

Anyone else had issues buying cars from somewhere like available car? 

I detest potentially high pressure sales environment of any sort & car dealers are probably the most obvious example.

It's all the target driven fake friendliness & free cups of coffee, while things are going well. For my last car purchase, I swear that I had both male and female sales people flirting with me to make sure all bases were covered. Mind you, I am stunning in the flesh.

It then looked like I might not be able to sign the dotted line for a couple of days - missing their target date - and you should have seen the change in attitude - bordering on aggressive. If I hadn't been getting a really good deal, I would have walked away at that point. As it was, I got it done in time. They got their sale and I got a decent bargain

19 hours ago, Boycie said:

Unless he can see it happen with his device he dunna wanna know.

Its like the double clicking when using the iPad bug.  Most infuriating.

have you cleared your cache?

2 hours ago, David said:

Not true. But it’s hard to fix something that you can’t see yourself. Wouldn’t expect you to understand.

I have tried on the same iPad as you, it doesn’t require double pressing, so how would you like me to fix it?

My iPad does the double press thing too. 

Just sayin......

Booksmart (Currently on Prime)

Two high school girls decide they've missed out on all the fun and decide to party, on the night before graduation, when they realise all of their classmates have also got into the same top colleges.

Entertaining & reminiscent of some of the John Hughes-type coming of age films in the 80's

7/10

Ad Astra

Brad Pitt goes off to find his dad, who may or may not have gone dolally on a long term mission to Neptune, whilst trying to save the world from damaging energy bursts coming from his dad's ship.

Bits of it were good. Bits of it were interesting. Stupid final few minutes spoiled it, though.

5/10

A side salad to a main course served on the same (hot) plate.

"Hmmmmm, hot lettuce"....said nobody ever.

6 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

Have never been a massive Trekkie and always felt The Next Generation was the dullest of its incarnations, but Picard has a good first episode (Amazon Prime). Set up some interesting ideas. They're doing one episode at a time, so no binging. 

I'd give that prize to DS9. I persevered with it for ages and then it apparently got really good just after I stopped watching.

I watched Picard last light & agree with you. I've also just started watching Discovery but Picard seems the more interesting premise.

That dreadful sentence whenever I visit my folks.....

"While you're here, can you just......... *insert IT / technology related issue that needs sorting*"

11 hours ago, ariotofmyown said:

@David and/or other posters. I never listen to podcast in past, but if there was ever to be another one, then one based around mental health could really make a difference to the world beyond this forum.

Some incredibly emotional stories on here and you can see how this community has helped people going through tough times. It acts as a good counter balance to the football and politics thread...no one posts any rubbish on this thread and it shows nearly everyone is pretty decent really.

Elis James & John Robins have a 5Live one called "How do you cope, with Elis & John"

I've only heard snippets so far but it sounds really good how they discuss (in an entertaining way) how well known people have coped with difficult stuff, from depression to bereavement etc.

Worth a listen.

8 hours ago, Andicis said:

Have to say, I'm struggling with my anxiety a bit at the moment. Have loads of stuff I need to get done tomorrow, I went to bed at 11pm, and now 3 hours later at 2.17 as of typing this, I still haven't managed to get any sleep. 

For the past week or so I've been getting dry mouth, headaches, and just in general feeling extremely anxious in all situations. Feels like it has been getting worse over the past year in general, but this week in particular it's become a real intolerance and a huge hindrance to my life.

To anyone who may have been to a doctor for anxiety related issues, did it help you? Would you recommend it? The concept of taking pills for anxiety admittedly makes me anxious, ironically.

Definitely. You've got to break the cycle of anxiety.

I suffered badly with it a few years ago & took too long to go and seek help. By then I was hardly sleeping and barely able to function at home & work.

By then, the doc could see that I was in trouble and gave me a few days worth of diazepam (low dose), to just bring me down quickly and then I was put on a course of anti-anxiety medication. It wasn't an overnight cure but it took the edge of it and removed the fear of having panic attacks - which I still had but they were less frequent and not as severe. I don't recall any side-effects at all.

Like you, I didnt want to be on mind-altering medication for ever and after about 9 months, I felt well enough to request to be weaned off them slowly. Another 4-5 months later, I was off the meds and felt able to cope.

Best of luck, mate.

A man entered a restaurant and sat at the only open table. As he sat down, he knocked the spoon off the table with his elbow. A nearby waiter reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out a clean spoon, and set it on the table. The diner was impressed. "Do all the waiters here carry spoons in their pockets?"

The waiter replied, "Yes. Ever since an efficiency expert visited our restaurant. He determined that 17.8% of our diners knock the spoon off the table. By carrying clean spoons with us, we save trips to the kitchen."

The diner ate his meal. As he was paying the waiter, he commented, "Forgive the intrusion, but do you know that you have a string hanging from your fly?"

The waiter replied, "Yes, we all do. Seems that the same efficiency expert determined that we spend too much time washing our hands after using the men's room. So, the other end of that string is tied to my winky. When I need to go, I simply pull the string, do my thing, and then return to work. Having never touched myself, there really is no need to wash my hands. Saves a lot of time."

"Wait a minute," said the diner, "How do you get your winky back in your pants?"

"Well, I don't know about the other guys, but I use the spoon."

A warning to all, be careful about drink driving as we are getting close to Christmas. Quite rightly Police are out checking on people. ?‍♂️ 

Last night I went out for a few drinks. Cocktails then wine. (Not a good idea)

However, knowing I was over the limit, I took the bus back home. 

We passed a police checkpoint and I could see they were pulling over drivers giving them breath tests. They waved the bus past.

I arrived home safely and without incident, which was a surprise as I've never driven a bus before and I’m not even sure where I got it from.

? ? ? ?

Love Actually

I like this film less every time I watch it - which is quite a few times now. More & more of the storylines are annoying on each viewing.

If it wasn't for the "Emma Thompson crying in the bedroom" scene, I don't think I'd bother again. That bit gets me every time, though.

2 hours ago, Van De Squid said:

Knives Out - 8/10. Really good who-did-it type film. Loses a point due to Daniel Craig sounding like Frank Underwood! 

I really want to watch this but haven't managed to fit a "date night" in, to get to the cinema.

The Jim Smith Room.

Applause for whoever came up with that

That is all.

Triangle - Currently free on Prime Video

A group of friends suffer a yachting accident and take refuge on a cruise drifting on the open sea, but quickly realize they were better off on the upturned yacht

Melissa George (ex Home & Away) & Liam Hemsworth in a decent horror that keeps you guessing til the very end.

8/10

10 hours ago, Ewe Ram said:

That Elf on the Shelf nonsense. Who the hell has the time to do that kind of crap?

 

Some of our friends do this & post the elaborate set-ups daily on FB etc.

I just have a problem with the whole concept. Miss Wolfie is a good kid, so why would I want to impose an evil looking elf on her, whose puropose is to spy on her the whole time & report back to Santa if she steps out of line?!.

We have 4 or 5 friend couples who we get together with from time to time.

The trouble is, while we get on with them all (obviously), it's becoming increasingly apparent that they all hate each other.

We had Miss Wolfie's birthday party at the weekend and quite a few came back to ours afterwards for coffee etc. I spent a large portion of that time watching their bitchy & back-biting interactions with each other. One friend even pretended to go for a nap on our sofa for half an hour just to annoy one of the others. He admitted it to me later.

It means that we have to avoid these types of gatherings but then maybe not..........It ended up being quite amusing both at the time and reading the texts since from friends all moaning about each other.

Walking down the street, a Member of Parliament is hit by a lorry and dies. His soul arrives in Heaven and is met by St. Peter. He says, "
'Welcome to heaven. Before you settle in, it seems there's a problem. We seldom see anyone in such a high office around here, so we're not sure what to do with you.'
'Just let me in,' says the politician.
'Well, I'd like to but I have instructions from above. You'll have to spend one day in Hell and one in Heaven, then you can choose where to spend eternity.'
'Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in Heaven,' says the MP.
'I'm sorry, but we have our rules.' replies St Peter

With that, St. Peter escorts him to the lift and he went down, down, down to Hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and dressed in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.
Also present is the Devil, a very nice, friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They're having such a good time that before he realises, it's time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and wave as the lift rises...

The door opens in Heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him. 'Now it's time to show you around, Heaven.'
So, 24 hours pass with the MP joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing harps and singing. They have a good time and, before he realises it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns. 'Well, you've spent a day in Hell and another in Heaven. Now choose your eternity.'

The MP reflects for a minute, then answers: 'Well, I would never have thought it before, I mean Heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in Hell.' So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down down to Hell.

When the doors open he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and refuse.
He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the rubbish and putting it in black bags as more garbage falls from above.
The Devil comes over and puts his arm around his shoulder.
'I don't understand,' stammers the MP, "yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened? '
The Devil looks at him, smiles and says, ' Yesterday we were campaigning...

Today you voted

We appear to have found ourselves in the middle of 3 series at the moment:

Guilt: Not what I thought it would be but good nonetheless

Dublin Murders: This one didn't grab me immediately but I'm getting drawn in more & more as it gets more weird. Struggling a bit with the accents though - but that's just me.

His Dark Materials: Only seen the first one so far but they appear to have done a good job.

Special mention probably should go to HBO & Netflix (even though I've paid for neither of them), who have raised the standard for TV dramas in terms of production values and attracting A-list actors.

11 minutes ago, Smyth_18 said:

So it's the car that's sounding the horn when I'm doing the speed limit and the BMW is so impatient to get to work because it didn't set out earlier?

Absolutely. I believe it came out of the same internal meeting where it was decided to locate the indicator stalks in the boot.

Car defrosting season is upon us again.

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank BMW for now making their cars loudly sound the horn twice when I lock it on the drive with the engine running, to defrost it a bit.

I discovered the new feature this morning. Lovely for the neighbours.

12 hours ago, bigbadbob said:

When we.leave we'll have a bit more cash to spend on these good causes

£350m a week (give or take £150m)

The Perfect Host

I love it when I find a film I've never heard of on Amazon Prime & it ends up being good. This one's really good:

IMDB: Injured after committing a bank robbery, John Taylor is desperate to find a place to hide out and approaches the home of Warick Wilson. John manages to get himself invited into the house by posing as a friend of a friend and spinning a sob story of lost luggage and a violent mugging. Inside, Warick, a consummate host, is making the final preparations for an impeccable dinner party. He insists John stay for the party, but as the evening begins it becomes obvious Warick may not be what he first appears.

David Hyde Pierce (Niles, from Frasier) is fantastic in this weird, twisty thriller

9/10