Chindie

It's a couple of things for me. The first series was a classic whodunnit really, but very tangible as well. You could instantly grasp the ideas in play and it's not an abstract idea - a young girl is murdered in a western city, the accused might not have done it, and each week we'll examine the evidence with interviews from a small group of interested parties. The second is a bit aimless, the idea seems to be to try to understand why Bergdahl did what he did, but that mystery isn't tangible, and there's too many people involved, and it's all a bit dull. The second thing I've concluded is that the first series has it's producers more engaged. They did everything, they took out from square one and were obsessed with it, Koenig was absolutely obsessed with Adnan and the case. Whereas the second stinks of them bumming around trying to think of a follow up that would pass muster, struggling, and having this story drop on their lap by someone who wants to publicise the story for a documentary. They aren't invested, it's largely a story everyone already knows and noone cares what Bergdahl was thinking when he wandered off... So it's a bit meh.

The second series falls off a cliff. Goes from absolutely riviting to mildly interesting occasionally.

The Parapod is worth a listen. 2 comedians, Ray Peacock and Barry Dodds, discuss hauntings and strange rituals (think stupidly elaborate versions of Bloody Mary games). But that's not really the point. Barry is a bit thick and a believer in hauntings and the paranormal, Ray is an absolute skeptic, and most episodes quickly descend into pisstaking, which can be very funny. They also do short extra episodes where they look at the ghost hunting equipment Barry has which are worth a listen as well.

Ah I see. I don't think they'll go down that route. Certainly not with anything on the current slate. The Netflix stuff fills the more adult quota. As for Black Panther, it's going to differentiate itself just be being about a fundamentally different type of hero. A black African superhero is enough to set it apart. It won't be enough to make it into a massive massive success but then it's never going to be so I doubt they care. Black Panther is more about just expanding the world the movies exist in, he's another cog that slides into the machine. It'll be interesting though, particularly if they lean heavily on the stuff where Black Panther isn't in America.

Iron Man 3 rounds off Tony Stark as a character, his actions after that movie make more sense after seeing that basically the events of the Avengers and Iron Man 3 shape who he is going forward - I don't think the Stark of the first film acts like I suspect he will in Civil War, for instance. But in the grand scheme of things again it's not an important element of the series so far. I generally agree with v4e beyond that. The lynchpin of Phase 2 is Cap 2, which kinda acts like Avengers 1.5 in some ways but merges that with political thriller tropes. It's one of the best movies of the lot and very rewatchable I've found. I should add that they can't do anything with Deadpool. He's considered part of the XMen franchise so that's Fox owned property.

Bits of Thor 2 don't make sense if you've not seen the Avengers, nothing in the main plot really but there's characters and references that you won't understand if you've not seen the Avengers. Cap 1 introduces the MacGuffin for the Avengers and helps explain Caps character, which is a running gag/theme of every film he appears in after, particularly providing a set up that is/will be very important in movies that follow, and various references in the later movies, some of which are fairly important. Nothing you can't pick up by reading a plot synopsis though. Saying that Cap 1 is good fun so worth watching, although it is the Marvel film that seems to divide people more than others - some think it's one of the best, some think it's one of the worst. Rule of thumb - everything post Avengers 1, watch the Avengers first. Of the entire run, the ones that you can skip (to date anyway, they may become more important as the movies go on) are the Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2. The Hulk is just a Hulk movie and so far the only tie in has been a single joke in the Avengers and a supporting character appearing again in Civil War. Iron Man 2 is pointless in the scale of the series besides introducing Black Widow, its only redeeming feature being some nice set pieces. Guardians of the Galaxy is currently skippable in the grand scheme of things but is brilliant and will be more important as Phase 3 goes on.

My house isn't exactly the most modern, we don't have central heating for instance. It's something that's always been on the agenda and then never done. So basically the only real heat source in the house is a gas fire in the living room. The house is also inherently quite cold. Typically I come home today and the fire won't work, which it does every now and then, and also it looks like the water tank has leaked based on the way wallpaper being wet below it and the smell of wet plaster... Seems even the house is saying to me just pony up for the heating you idiot.

The FBI want to use this to set a precedent in the future that if they would like to access an iPhone, they will be able to access an iPhone. They don't like the idea there's information they can't have. This is the perfect excuse to strong arm the key they want. Apple also have a stake in making sure they don't cooperate. They've pushed encryption as a big feature for the more security and tech minded audience in recent years. It somewhat undermines that if they say it's encrypted apart from the fact we have the key to unencrypt it the moment someone asks with a big stick.

He regularly does it in the comics. To the extent he knows he's in a comic book..

But what about trade with the Germans increasing in cost by 15% (hypothetical) because we're outside the EU now. Or the French getting arsey and selling their goods elsewhere at a better rate than they'll give us? Or the Italians deciding it makes more sense to but that product from Spain now because it's easier. And so on and so forth. We might gain £192m in our pocket on the face of it, but once you do sums don't be surprised if you lose more. And that's only taking the easy trade angle.

My point is that just saying 'we give the EU £X and the EU gives us back <£X' doesn't tell the whole story because the UK will gain from trading within the EU as well as directly receiving from the EU. I wanted to know if those figures actually take into account 'monies' we receive as a direct result of being a member that are not actually issued by the EU.

Does this account for what we get back that does not come centrally from the EU?

Or not as the case may be...

I'm not sure of the going rates for conveyancing at the moment so can't tell you whether that's expensive or cheap, what I can say is from the point of view of the solicitor, he could probably earn more, comparative to the effort, time, stress, pressure and risk involved in a residential conveyance, doing more or less anything else. If he makes a mistake, and you find this out, it'll cost him far more than he earnt doing the work in insurance premiums over the next 6 years. Like I said, conveyancing doesn't make much for solicitors because it's seen as an annoyance for their clients and everyone expects their solicitor to be able to do it, and most will, so the price goes through the floor and it becomes a stack it high sell it cheap service. And then it gets done by cheaper staff, mistakes happen and then someone's house isn't worth half what they paid for it...

Conveyancing doesn't make money so they try to bump it up wherever they can. Blame the fact everyone hates paying solicitors fees when moving house so the race to the bottom happened. Of course that also means everyone's having their house purchase legals done by someone who is fairly low ranking and also having to rush...

I've managed to severely hurt my ankle running for the bus tonight. Can't really walk, can't stand properly, can't really move my foot much. But the thing that pisses me off is I'm so concerned about having time of work I've flagged it up with my boss already, saying I'm off to to a&e in the morning if it's no better, and I'm worrying about not being able to get in to work and that reflecting badly on me. Which is ridiculous because I honestly can't walk properly. I'm hoping it's just a sprain or bruising.

In theory nothing. And nothing stops us doing that now. So we do. Although it's possible that the market might prefer dealing with us as part of the EU for whatever reason (ease, reciprocal relationship, opening other markets up inside the Union, etc). We could also arrange deals with EU countries when out of the Union as well, but it'll be more difficult and it's possible that that might make these markets look elsewhere in the EU for ease/cost/spite.

They've turned the heating on now.

You know exactly what I mean.

It's impossible to have a fair debate on this subject which is why the referendum will be farcical. Arguably already is with the cat fight between the leave groups. I don't think the EU is perfect, by any means. It's a mess of an organisation that has largely come together by making things up as it went along, and it's never had any solid structural plan, and it lurches from one path to another as different issues arise and different voices gain volume. It suffers enormously from a democratic deficit, which it's never overcome. And so on. But... It makes trading easier. It makes life a little more simple if you travel much in the locality of the European Peninsula, for business or pleasure. It's put all of Europe in each others pockets so we think a little harder before we try to destroy each other again. It's given each state a louder voice in an increasingly globalised world, which in turn has given each state a slice of the pie of an economic superpower. It empowers the big players by making it easier to sell to new markets and benefit from those markets people. Etc etc etc. Basically it's a money making machine at it's heart designed to make everyone involved have a heavier wallet. The problem is the benefits are fairly intangible to the average bloke (as are some of the negatives), and he gets the obvious side effects he doesn't like hurled at him constantly. To talk with any real understanding of the EU, how it actually works, what it actually is, what it's structures are, what it actually does, takes a considerable effort to bother with, and frankly it's all so dull I can't blame anyone for not bothering. But without that you can't really have a proper debate about it, on either side. I pity whoever has to come up with the Stay In side of things because they're going to spend months smacking their head against idiots ranting about the latest 'uman rights story on the front of the Heil, or the latest rhetoric from the sun about swarms of immigrants eating our crops...

I don't normally feel the cold, but it's so nippy in our office today my hands hurt and I can't hold my pen properly.

Watch the trailers. If you find the trailers irritating, you'll HATE the movie. If you like the trailers, you'll find something to enjoy. The character is inherently annoying, if you don't find him funny at the same time you'll be climbing the walls in minutes. The trailers actually don't give as much away as you might expect because the draw of the film is the gags and they are constant, even giving away a few in a teaser doesn't affect the viewing experience. The 4th wall stuff isn't that common, there are 3 or 4 obvious 4th wall gags and that's about it.

Which school of gear have you gone for? I ended up spending hours teaching down the top rank of each just so o could dress Geralt up differently...

Agree. Fisk is basically evil, but the series was careful to show there was a nuance to it, he has depth. Castle as you say is a goldmine for similar because he's defined as a character by being on the side of right but going about it completely wrong. The only thing that concerns me really is Elektra. Never liked the character and I'm concerned she's been shoehorned in due to the history of the character with Daredevil, and the actress they've got is a gamble.

I thought right away that Bernthal could be an awesome Frank Castle. Looks like I won't be disappointed. Could be another series where the villain steals it, although this time it's a little more complex than that as Castle should be the definition of an anti hero... Hype rising.