Just checked FB and my timeline is full of people tailgating at 9 am, and all I can think is “man, I don’t miss that shit at all.” A whole day, just lost. Although considering what Baylor is going to do to WVU, maybe some drinking is in order.
I felt the same way during homecoming last weekend. I never noticed how much time and effort goes into being a drunk until then. You have to make sure you have the booze, you have to deal with hauling around coolers and ice, you have to make sure you have a driver, and then you spend the whole time focusing on activities to get “fucked up,” then people spend the whole time talking about how “fucked up” they are, then you start to have no fun because your whole day was centered around getting “fucked up,” and now you are “fucked up” and having no fun because you’re “fucked up.” So then you go home and eat a bunch of crap and go to bed and pass out, and then wake up feeling like shit because you got so “fucked up” and you commiserate with others about how “fucked up” you all were and take your own personal remedy so you can feel better. And then, once you are feeling somewhat human again, you repeat the whole process to get “fucked up” again.
Something is “fucked up” here, no doubt. I don’t miss drinking or that crap at all. I wish I could go back 25 years and slap the shit out of younger me. I wonder how much money I would have if every dollar I spent on booze I had invested.
In fact, I think I am going to take a nap with the dogs while everyone else is standing outside in the cold and rain, wake up and watch the game while in my bathrobe (heaven is a thick terry cloth bathrobe), and then maybe go see Fury.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I, too, look back on the 6 years I spent in college, and wonder what the appeal was of getting fucked up. Today, instead of getting fucked up, we’re going to take the girls to Longwood Gardens and then go have paletas (popsicles) at La Michoacana in Kennett Square.
WereBear
Congrats on good plans!
I had a full day planned that did not involve football. But I feel the beginnings of a sore throat, so I wonder if I’ll get to any of it if it keeps raining.
PJ
I know you know this, but is possible to drink alcohol without the goal of getting “fucked up”. And it takes no more effort than drinking anything else that comes from a store. Being a drunk takes much more effort – to paraphrase Mickey Rourke doing his best Snagglepuss in Barfly, “people think it’s easy, but it take perseverance.”
ruemara
It seems a touch early to think about booze or bbq. Or football.
PurpleGirl
JC: Your plans for the day sound good. A nap with the animals is an excellent idea.
Two weeks ago I slept with a cat in my lap and that was a nice feeling. (I was staying with the head of a cat rescue shelter and there were cats/kittens all around me.)
Emma
I’ve noticed the same thing in relatives that seem to think “having fun” means drinking until you become an obnoxious jerk. It killed at least one of them.
Gin & Tonic
No zealot like a convert.
Raven
In 21 years I’ve missed it once. I was at a conference in Madison and was sitting outside behind the union. There were tables full of people just drinking away and having a great time. I sort of wished I could have joined them.
Wait till you go to music sober. I’ve seen Santana, the Dead, Petty and a host of others and it’s great straight.
R-Jud
It’s cook-ahead Saturday. Tomato sauce is cooling down and will go in the freezer shortly, bread dough is nearly ready for the oven, and next on the list is a lentil curry and black bean chili.
I’m taking a short break while eating some of the white bean and orzo soup I just made. There will also be salad dressings and (for the Bean herself) some peanut butter and banana cookies. Also planning to hang some pictures and get ready for the half-marathon I’m running tomorrow.
It’s amazing how much energy one has when one’s thyroid is no longer fucked up.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
While it’s indeed early to think of booze, I’m considering day drinking in despair at the post racial Supreme Court ruling.
FourTen
@PJ: #notalldrunks!
JC: Speaking as a man who never did any of that (what, never? well, hardly ever.) I have to say you are absolutely right, I’ve got almost every penny I’ve earned and I’m gonna retire at 45, friendless and alone.
Schlemazel
@R-Jud:
Would you share the banana-peanut butter recipe? I love that combo & it sounds like something I want to try. Thanks.
Saw the #1 & 2 womens hockey teams play in Madison last night. One thing I will give ‘Sconie fans is they know how to rock an arena. It was a great game (and it ended the right way!) made better by a building full of folks cheering like crazy. Game 2 is at 3 this afternoon and I am expecting more of the same.
I come from a long line of alcoholics and I never noticed that it took much effort on their part, it came naturally to them. I am extremely fortunate in that I enjoy a drink now and again but I have never felt the NEED to have one nor any drive to get fucked up since I turned legal age.
BGinCHI
I want to see Fury too.
If you have Netflix, I highly, highly recommend the BBC show “Peaky Blinders,” about a criminal gang in Birmingham (England) in 1919.
Written by Steven Knight of “Dirty Pretty Things” and “Eastern Promises.” Very good stuff.
RepubAnon
As John correctly notes: if your goal for the day is to drink until you’re “fucked up”, you’re already there…
p.a.
Tailgating for a 12 or 1 pm game IS lame. Alcoholics feel extra pressure to reach an effective level of “fuckedup-ness” and non-alchies feel left out. Friends who are Patriot season ticket holders note that night game crowds are usually the least noisy. Their theory is that by 8pm the crowd is so drunk they have little energy left. Once the cold weather sets in, I see no point in drinking alcohol, especially cold beer! Alcohol constricts blood vessels; not what you want if you’re trying to stay warm.
Botsplainer
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Roll with it. Voter registration efforts now have to start with proper voter ID. Make the fuckers eat it, and 20 years from now, announce “We’d treat white conservative Christians the way y’all treated us when we were in the minority, but we happen to be decent people.”
aimai
@R-Jud: I was on benadryl a few years ago for some reason, prescription strength. Turns out it acts on me like speed. I did things like cook an eleven course meal, clean the house, and decide while offering my guests their hot appetizers (literally at the same moment) that I should make and bottle hot rosemary/olive oil as gifts for the guests to take home. And I did it.
R-Jud
@Schlemazel: Here you go! Two things:
1) I just use plain old brown sugar, not the spendy “natural” sweetener recommended;
2) For best results, enlist a five-year-old girl dressed as a “Spider-Man Witch” to help you make the batter.
Marcelo
I feel the same way about smoking – how impractical it is. It must cost a FORTUNE, first of all. And every hour or so you have to stop what you’re doing, walk over here and smoke.
My wife’s family had a ton of smokers (they’re all on vaping now) and we used to try to play long card games and it would go til 3AM because after every round 5 people would go smoke and 5 people would join them and they’d take half an hour to come back. Now that they’ve all let it go for vaping it’s SO much better. Shit gets done.
Amir Khalid
This guy thought he was being clever: Russian Tennis Federation president Shamil Tarpischev was fined US$25K for calling Venus and Serena “the Williams brothers” on TV. He says he was just kidding, honest.
WereBear
@Marcelo: There exists a theory of addiction that some people are drawn to it because it so very simplifies their life. There’s really only one thing they need to concentrate on, and they can accomplish their goal several times a day.
Tiny Tim
I drink more than is either psychologically or physically healthy, but it’s being a long time since “getting fucked up” was any kind of goal. Drinking is basically boozey dinners and while we all drink, there’s a limit on what is generally socially acceptable behavior and that limits the drinking. One can still drink a lot – and too much – in that context but it’s a different kind of thing.
Tokyokie
The town in which I grew up was maybe 20 minutes from a state in which the legal drinking age for beer and wine was 18, so as soon as kids got driver’s licenses, they’d obtain fake IDs so they could spend weekend nights in a border town drinking beer and cheap wine to the point they were throwing up, then try to return home safely. There was no part of that ritual that sounded remotely like fun to me, so I didn’t participate. And once I grew older and figured I could handle my alcohol, I figured it wasn’t a good habit to pick up, so I still don’t really drink. And from what Cole just described, I don’t think I’ve missed a whole lot.
gbear
I’m less than a month away from my 30 year sober anniversary and there are a couple dozen other reasons besides drinking that I wish I could go back and slap the shit out of my younger self.
I’m really glad to hear you’re sticking with this, John. It’s great that you can feel committed to it.
jeffreyw
I’m thinking a good old fashioned hamburger noodle bake is just what I need to stay busy for a while. Requires research. And I have this free advice for folks putting their recipes within reach of the Google: Take at least one fucking picture, please. Thank you for your attention.
Amir Khalid
@Tokyokie:
If taking some substance made me throw up, I’d quit taking it. Apparently, that’s not true for everyone. Your story sounds like proof that aversion therapy doesn’t work, at least for the young and stupid.
gbear
@PJ: I’m not sure you’re up to speed on the term ‘addiction’.
Randy P
Yeah, but isn’t it possible to have fun without getting “fucked up”, even at parties where some people are working on getting drunk? I’ve never been into football, but the outdoor barbecue part of tailgate parties always sounded kind of cool.
@Tokyokie:
Drinking age when I was in college in New York State was 18, so drinking was legal and VERY common, and this was always my reaction to stories of drunken escapades. I could understand wanting to go out with buddies to hang out in bars and BS over a pitcher of beer, but I could never understand going out with the express purpose of getting drunk, as if the friendship and conversation were irrelevant. And when someone would tell a story of waking up in a bathtub with vomit on them, not knowing whose bathtub it was or knowing what had happened the previous night, I would be sitting there thinking “and why would anything about that experience make you want to repeat it?”
I didn’t get drunk when I was out in drinking crowds. Nobody bugged me about it. And I kept my irritations to myself.
JR in WV
@Tokyokie:
When I was a kid in WV the drinking age was 18, and by the time I was 16 I looked 25, so I could get a hot dog and a beer anytime.
But I always hated puking and being dizzy, and so never tried to get more drunk than a tiny buzz for many years. Now if I’m out I drink a G&T before dinner and some wine with. At home I might refresh the G&T once. Sometimes I have a bourbon and branch water night cap.
That’s all.
Now, if WVU was to be leading Baylor big time I might make a small exception, but what are the odds of that? I watched Baylor come back for a win not too long ago, both of those teams looks really strong, quick, well drilled and very talented. Scary, in other words.
That said, “Let’s GO Mountaneeeeers!”
Biscuits
I am currently planning a tailgate party for our firm. They are sponsoring a tent and catering the whole thing, including an open bar (is that considered tailgating?), and they bought everyone’s ticket including guests. Anyhow, it’s on a Saturday. It’s nice that they do this for us but it will blow my whole day…on a weekend. And, I’m really not looking forward to having to be around my drunken superiors. I’d settle for a facial. I’m an ungrateful employee. First world problem. Sigh
gogol's wife
@BGinCHI:
I saw the preview for Fury when I went to see the latest Colin Firth movie (only thing that gets me into a multiplex), and my friend and I were giggling all the way through. It’s lots of ugly CGI landscape and Brad Pitt uttering inane aphorisms with deadly seriousness. I don’t know how anyone could sit through it, even if it weren’t hideously violent.
Dolly Llama
Um, is anybody interested in college football?
Go DAWGS! Neuter the HAWGS!
PJ
@gbear: He’s not talking about addiction, he’s talking about tailgating parties.
BGinCHI
@gogol’s wife: I’m a sucker for war movies. But yeah, mixed reviews. I almost never get to the movies these days so it was purely aspirational.
Check out “Peaky Blinders.”
Also really good is a Yorkshire program (again BBC) called “Happy Valley.”
It’s about the WV of England with bad behavior. Great acting.
Amir Khalid
@gogol’s wife:
When I went to see The Maze Runner, I saw the trailer for Fury, starring Brad Pitt, back-to-back with one for Unbroken, directed by Angelina Jolie. There’s just no getting away from those two, is there?
Jude
@Gin & Tonic: YUUUUUUUUUUUUP
aaangus
@gogol’s wife:
Yup, that was my take as well.
However, our esteemed host is a tanker so I understand his desire to watch it.
chrome agnomen
finding a driver?? we don’t need no stinking driver!!
Botsplainer
For some dumbassed masochistic reason, I decided to look at an MRA/MGTOW board.
Never have seen a more pathetic crowd of losers on the internet, and I used to post on FR, for God’s sake.
An example:
mgtowforums.com/forums/threads/my-wife-tried-to-run-me-over-with-the-car-today.21522/
Gin & Tonic
Am I a loser for having no idea what those acronyms mean?
WereBear
@BGinCHI: Thanks! Added to my list, and just the kind of thing we like!
It took five hours for my 2009 PowerBook (for work) to download Yosemite, and only about 45 minutes for my 2013 Mac Air.
That’s an amazing advancement in a short time.
Breth
I’m pissed off today because I saw a movie last night that Tom Cruise was actually good in and didn’t seem like he was just playing himself.
Edge off Tomorrow is a great sci-fi movie with lots of unexpected humor. Now itching for when Guardians of the Galaxy comes to Amazon.
Betty Cracker
@Dolly Llama: Soooooooeeeeee Hawgs!!!
Not Adding Much to the Community
Fury is good, but it’s not the feel good movie of the year, if you know what I mean. It’s not an action movie. There is a lot of action, and a lot of guys dying in ugly ways, but that almost takes a back seat to the emotional lives of the men in the tank. “Downbeat” was one descriptor that seemed apt.
Betty Cracker
@BGinCHI: “Happy Valley” was awesome. I eagerly await the next season.
Schlemazel
@R-Jud: THANKS!
I never have been interested in any of the ‘natural’ sweeteners so we are good to go there. I am highly suspicious of any flourless baked good unless they are using ground nuts so I guess the peanut will have to do (I like mine with EXTRA gluten, thanks!)
Maybe my granddaughter but she is more likely to be a fairy ballerina than a spiderman witch.
John Cole +0
@Gin & Tonic: I’m really not a zealot. I don’t say a peep to others. In my mind, people don’t change until they decide for themselves.
Botsplainer
@Gin & Tonic:
Mens Rights Activist/Men Going Their Own Way
Be thankful you don’t know. It’s a cesspool, and not in a good way.
shelley
Found another fun series on Youtube, “The Worst Jobs In History’. The title pretty much explains it all. Each episode is a different time period: Medieval, Tudor/Stuart age, Georgian, etc. (And the host is Baldric from ‘Blackadder!’) It’s funny how many of these jobs involve having to use human urine.
John Cole +0
@Breth: I loved that movie.
Not Adding Much to the Community
@gogol’s wife: It wasn’t CGI landscape; they filmed it in the English countryside, standing in for the German countryside. Rottentomatoes.com currently tracks it at 80% positive reviews, up from 76% a few days ago. It’s hideously violent, but so is war, and that’s the point. Ultimately, the movie seems to be about the waste and futility of war, full of sound and Fury, but signifying nothing.
Edited to put this on the last line:
TLDR: trailers aren’t the movie.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Gin & Tonic: Not at all. As a female type person, I’ve learned that they are acronyms for groups of “aggressively misogynistic poorly socialized men who validate one another’s hostility.” The actual names, I’m told, are Mens Rights Activists and Men Going Their Own Way.
Douchecopters with chips on their shoulders, in other words.
aimai
@Botsplainer: I feel sorry for the guy if the story is true. He’s not “a loser” he’s in an abusive and potentially dangerous relationship. However the responses he gets are pretty vile and include this gem:
Basically: everything “we” do if we are men is valorized while if a woman were doing it (padding expenses, taking money, behaving violently) it is all evidence of woman’s basically evil nature.
shortstop
When people first get sober, they all think they’re never going to have any fun again. It doesn’t usually take very long to find out they were hugely mistaken and that life is freer and easier on a physical and logistical level without booze. The head stuff, the emotional stuff that goes with being an addict, is harder.
Schlemazel
@shelley:
Saw that on BBC a couple years back – great look at history & how maybe things could be worse!
It is worth a watch.
BGinCHI
@WereBear: Did that yesterday. Macbook pro about 20 minutes or a bit more. Don’t love the look of the new desktop but not a big deal. I’m sure it does 20 things I don’t even know about….
shortstop
@BGinCHI: That sounds quite promising.
shelley
oof, when I was a teenager , that was the difference between New Jersey and New York. With the inevitable crash-ups of cars coming back from Manhatten late Friday and Saturday nights. Which sounded like so much fun. By the time I turned 18 it was the national legal age (for a while, anyways)
WereBear
@shelley: That is an awesome series, hosted by the actor who plays Baldrick on Blackadder.
No matter how bad a day at work we’ve had, it was a potent reminder that in the past, it was certainly worse.
shortstop
@BGinCHI: You will love it.
BD of MN
He likes the warm feeling but he’s tired of all the dehydration…
The Hold Steady
shelley
Considering the nature of Cole’s post, maybe we shouldn’t be celebrating drinking. But when you first became ‘legal’ did you do anything to mark the occasion? I went into our local package store and bought a six pack of Becks. And was mightily offended when the clerk didn’t card me. But I shouldn’t have worried. We spent summers down at the Jersey Shore, and down there I was carded till I was 28.
Not Adding Much to the Community
@shelley: I turned 21 in the middle of the Indian ocean, on board a Navy frigate. There was no party.
BGinCHI
@Betty Cracker: Seriously, they can’t make that fast enough.
“Hinterland” is good too, though mostly for being shot in and around Aberystwyth in Wales and with full on Welsh accents. Mrs. BG used to live in Aber and we have been back several times. Such a lovely town.
Anyone watch “The Bletchley Circle”?
BGinCHI
@John Cole +0: Gonna watch via Amazon Prime tonight.
Cole, give us a report on Fury after you see it.
Ayer’s other movies have been excellent (esp. “End of Watch”).
shortstop
@BGinCHI: I did. Great concept and started out strong, but then the writers started phoning it in and it lost steam.
ETA: Wait, I was unaware of the subsequent series. I’m referring to the original miniseries.
BGinCHI
@shortstop: Yes. You see that La Colombe is opening a cafe at Clark & Foster??
Can’t wait…. Also Middle East bakery expanding!
Tim c.
If it strikes your fancy, I think a fair number of us would be curious as to what you make of fury having been a tanker yourself.
Botsplainer
@aimai:
Well…YES! Why do you have a problem with that?
/MRA whiny ass titty baby mode
Mike J
@shelley:
I think I went to the same bar I had already been going to for five years to see a band, and had the one or two beers that I always had when I saw a band there.
BGinCHI
@shortstop: Bummer. Looks too good to be true….
dr. luba
@BGinCHI: Watched it when it came out, enjoyed it. British accents and code-breaking, what more can you ask for?
shortstop
@BGinCHI: I wouldn’t say it’s not worth your time.
WereBear
@BGinCHI: If just five of them are useful I consider it a success.
Hillary Rettig
wonderful post, John!
gogol's wife
@BGinCHI:
“Peaky Blinders” sounds great.
shortstop
BG, you might like Island at War, a miniseries about German occupation on a channel island. It’s a bit soapy but interesting in how it depicts islanders’ relationships with their occupiers. Unfortunately, its ending is abrupt and loose-endy enough to cause frustration. Apparently they were planning a second series but it didn’t come off.
I have Land Girls in my queue but haven’t started it. British domestic life and civilian activities during wartime have always fascinated me. I wish there were more stuff on Bletchley that actually dealt with Bletchley.
Tokyokie
@Amir Khalid: I didn’t even get to the aversion stage. I just figured that any social activity that involves vomiting isn’t really fun, no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise. So I went to a lot of movies in high school instead.
Ruckus
@BGinCHI:
What sys did you have prior to update? I’ve resisted going to mavrick but yosemete looks like I should catch up with normal. Haven’t seen any reports about absolutely wait till the next release.
shortstop
@BGinCHI: Where? The corner place that used to serve Turkish crepes or something? What went into that sushi bar that used to be a Persian restaurant (before your time)?
I still do a good portion of my shopping at the Middle East Bakery, even living in Buena Park!
gogol's wife
@Not Adding Much to the Community:
If it wasn’t CGI landscape then it was just bad cinematography. And the dialogue spoken by Brad Pitt was horrific. So that’s not in the movie? It was the equivalent of “In Soviet Russia history writes you” or something like that.
gogol's wife
@Not Adding Much to the Community:
There are tons of great war movies that are not hideously violent.
rustypickup
My last drink was at a college football tailgate, I cant even remember if I went to the game. I don’t miss that at all. With a little luck it will be 25 years next month. Don’t worry about 25 years ago, start with today, it’s all you have.
RaflW
My partner and I really like going to parties and enjoy socializing with our friends. But at a certain point, we realized that we like going to the beginning of parties and leaving as the drunk-talk starts.
Its amazing how boring people are when you are sober and they aren’t. These are smart, successful people, and they are not (IMO) alcoholics. They’re fun and interesting thru drink 3-5 (depending on body weight & habits). Then we go home, having had fun, and avoid the mess.
Works for us.
Bobby B.
Tailgating is fun and involves babes with cutoffs and halter-tops, if the beer commercials are true.
Howard Beale IV
@PurpleGirl:
Extra points if they were purring.
Mike J
@shortstop:
Have you seen Danger UXB? It was made in the 70s? 80s? It’s about a squad that deals with unexploded ordinance in London during WWII. They are billeted in civilian houses so you get a mix of military and civilian stuff. I think they’re all on youtube.
WereBear
Seen it and loved it!
shortstop
@Mike J: I have not and that sounds right up my alley. Thanks!
Ruckus
@Not Adding Much to the Community:
Middle of boot camp was 21 for me. People called me gramps. Yeah no celebrating there. But drinking was never a big deal in my house, folks did it but never to excess and as I had my first taste at 3 at a party my folks threw, it really wasn’t that big a deal. I think my Sicilian side of the family had it right, alcohol doesn’t have to be a big deal.
Ruckus
@Tim c.:
Have a good friend who was a tanker and he thought it was very good.
khead
@Bobby B.:
Or car fires. I keep waiting for the Mr. Mayhem DUI commercial….
Howard Beale IV
@aimai:
Sounds like you’re suffering from its anticholinergic effects instead of its antihistaime effects.
PurpleGirl
@Howard Beale IV: Most of cats stayed in Cassie’s bedroom. They didn’t come to see who in the house. Mia — the one who stayed with me — was the one who I thought would stay away. But she sniffed me a few times and then settled into my lap. She purred very low.
Ruckus
@shortstop:
Danger UXB is very good. A little light on the civilian side of things but still a good look at life during war when things can still go very wrong but they aren’t actively shooting at you every second.
Scamp Dog
@Botsplainer: ok, under what circumstances would you say “it’s a cesspool, but in a good way”?
BGinCHI
@shortstop: Saw that Island at War show. Have not tried yet.
Did you ever try the French show “Spiral”? Give it a chance. Good stuff.
raven
@Ruckus: No shit, I went in on my 17th, did 25 months in Korea and VN and got out 2 months before I was 20. Got thrown in jail for underage drinking two weeks after I got out.
BGinCHI
@Ruckus: I’m not very geeky so not a good source for this question. I have been consistently updating, so I’m not sure what to say.
Mavericks was a bit buggy at first but now all seems stable.
Others here will know more.
BGinCHI
@shortstop: Yeah, the Algerian crepe place is out. ME bakery bought that space and are expanding. Takeaway food and so on, which is going to be terrific.
Colombe is going to be an amazing addition….
raven
@Ruckus: I was a beta for Yosemite so I’ve had it for a couple of months. The only thing I don’t like is that it killed iMovie HD.
shortstop
@Ruckus: It sounds great. I’m interested in the military side of things, too. It’s just that having grown up in the US at a time in which civilians could avoid virtually all sacrifice during military engagements (other than losing loved ones who were serving, which I realize isn’t a small thing), I’m interested in the extent to which UK civilians got fully immersed in wartime efforts. People did things and went without here, too, I know–Rosie and rationing and so forth–but not to the incredible degree that Britons did.
shortstop
@BGinCHI: Algerian, right. So where is Colombe going?
The Other Chuck
@Scamp Dog: Digging a latrine comes to mind …
Ruckus
@gogol’s wife:
Then they aren’t really war movies. They are drama/action movies set during war time. If you make a movie about war and it isn’t violent, you aren’t doing it right because war is massively violent, deadly and horrible. Any depiction that leaves that out just isn’t a war movie.
You don’t have to like the violence, I sure don’t, but without it, it just isn’t real.
Hamburger Hill is a perfect example. I spent some time in a military hospital with a sargent who described this movie to me very accurately 14 yrs before it came out on screen. The reality was far worse than the movie and the movie was pretty damn violent. But he was there and all the movie did was give me a visual of what he had told me. If a war movie doesn’t do that, it ain’t doing it right.
BGinCHI
@shortstop: The old vitamin store.
Ruckus
@raven:
Yeah I never had the problem of being able to drink underage, I looked about 14 when I was 20 so I was never able to drink in public till I really was 21.
shortstop
@BGinCHI: Ah! The “Going Out of Business!!!!!!” sale finally ended after a decade or two.
WereBear
@BGinCHI: I only just got Yosemite for my Mac — all I can say at this point is that the icons are more colorful.
But I also got the latest for my iPod touch which is Yosemite compatible, and WOW. Plenty of useful things going on, like when we are typing, it guesses the word you want BUT makes it much easier to ignore or choose. Much better way of auto-completing.
Very well reviewed online, if that helps. I tend to upgrade within a couple of weeks… long enough for other people to weigh in with sudden awfulness, but I’ve found dragging ones feet tends to pile up the potential complications.
And it’s free!
BGinCHI
@Ruckus: A film like Bridge on the River Kwai does both, I would say.
divF
@shelley: Turning 21 for me was more about music – up until then, I hadn’t been able to see any bands live because they played in clubs that served alcohol, and you had to be of legal age to get in. So I spent my 21st birthday standing in front of the bandstand watching / listening to Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen. I remember a pticher of beer being involved, but not as much as the music.
BGinCHI
@WereBear: That feature on the iPhone OS now too. Much better predictive than before but still, I think, woeful. Why can’t it learn words you commonly type?
No flying cars and now this!
Botsplainer
@shortstop:
Foyle’s War is my favorite, by far.
It starts right after Dunkirk. Foyle is a Great War veteran, and is a Superintendent Inspector in a seaside town in the South. German invasion is felt to be imminent,there’s a shitload of spying occurring, German air raids are frequent and the big question on everyone’s mind in nearly every case is “how will this investigation hamper our war effort”.
There are a lot of grey areas, plenty of “for the good of the realm” decisions swallowed distastefully.
Ruckus
@shortstop:
Sounds right up your alley then. I watched it when it came out and watched again a few yrs ago and it held up very well.
WereBear
@BGinCHI: For me it wasn’t the flying cars: I wanted a Robot maid!
True, Roombas are a start, and I have a Litter Robot.
MikeJake
Kegs ‘n’ Eggs bitches, woooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!
I don’t know if I miss those days, so much as I miss my ability to be able to do that.
BGinCHI
@WereBear: I see we have different priorities.
scav
@BGinCHI: Middle East bakery as in Foster & Clark!? on site!? Eta, got it, makes sense, but that storefornt churns. The Alcohol store had links to the last ME restaurant there I think. Eta 2 Whopps, i was thinking about two store down. Corner corner is out.
WereBear
@BGinCHI: I don’t commute… any more.
If I still did, that would change things!
shortstop
The predictive autocorrect is good, but I feel persecuted by the prominence of the ridiculous emoticon menu and the ease with which I keep accidentally hitting it.
Ruckus
@BGinCHI:
Yes it does. But a movie about war time won’t need the level of violence that movie about war will need. And I’d say Bridge was one of those. I’d put it in the drama about war category rather than a war picture. Dos Boot is to me one that could go either way. Most of the movie is just a drama about people in a crappy situation during war(Like Bridge). Yet there are several violent war scenes in it that show the awful death and destruction of war.
shortstop
@Botsplainer: That’s in my queue too!
WereBear
@shortstop: I picture a focus group of teens and tweens.
WereBear
@Ruckus: One thing that really struck me about Das Boot is how they had this really incredible scene that they barely got out of… and I realized they would get to do it again. Tomorrow.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: Me too! In the beginning I put on closed captions until I became adjusted to the accents. She is a very talented actress.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
I can’t remember the last time the Gopher football team was favored by double digits. The hockey team, sure, but not the football team.
Meanwhile, I watched the women’s hockey team play an awesome game last night (the same one Schlemazel was at). I guess they didn’t like some other team taking over the top spot in the polls for the first time in two and a half years.
Ruckus
@WereBear:
That’s helpful! I avoided mavricks because of all the bad early reviews. And now I waited long enough that I can miss it altogether.
Ruckus
@WereBear:
Yes that is one thing about it that Das Boot really portrayed and that is the boring sameness about ship life, day in and day out, which can be punctuated by sheer terror for a while. And then you get to do it all over. Again and again.
pamelabrown53
@Botsplainer:
“Foyles War” is the shiznit. I’ve watched the entire series twice. I, too loved the tensions and obstacles between solving a particular crime/murder and “national security”. Stellar series.
WereBear
@Ruckus: I was one of those complaining about Mavericks: it really messed up many vital features on their office software. I got to check off the “Genius” box on my review sheet for how I came up with work-arounds and alternate methods of doing things.
So it wasn’t like there wasn’t an upside… for me :)
JPL
I was just polled by the local nbc station in Atlanta. Jason Carter is running an ad that questions Deal’s personal finances and if people are paying attention, it should help Carter. It amazes me that people vote for crooks but Rick Scott is Governor of FL, so iokiyr.
Jewish Steel
I seem to be impervious to alcohol addiction, but I did spend about 5 years in the 90s being a total rock star. 7 nights a week. It was fun, but I should have stopped after 2 years.
raven
@WereBear: That’s not Yosemite it’s IOS8.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
There’s no evidence that we’re going to see any punts in the Minnesota/Purdue game.
WereBear
@Jewish Steel: Seemed to me that John, in his post above, was referring to the practice of getting as drunk as possible as fast as possible.
I agree with him. It’s not a good way to do it :)
BGinCHI
@Jewish Steel: No rock stars allowed in Normal.
Mnemosyne
I was going to get all involved in the various conversations, but I have packing to do, so I’m just going to drop this here (stolen, as so many of these great clips are, from Fred Clark at Slacktivist):
Kennedy Center Honors Tribute to Mel Brooks (2009)
Of all of the other honorees, I think Bruce Springsteen is the one who most enjoys it, though they do get Robert DeNiro to crack up, too.
raven
@BGinCHI: That is where I saw Commander Cody!
shortstop
@BGinCHI: I beg to differ. I spent part of my youth there.
ETA: The “still a child” part, so come to think of it, I was in contact with few rock stars.
Amir Khalid
@WereBear:
I’ve never been drunk. (No, really.) But it seems to me that when one is drinking, one would want to stay at the intermediate “pleasantly buzzed” stage as long as possible, rather than to rush for the shitfaced and puking alcohol poisoning stage.
WereBear
@Amir Khalid: This agrees with my own philosophy.
I don’t believe in moderation for everything :) but for recreational substances, it’s an excellent plan.
Tommy
My LSU Tigers play KY today. They have a better record in the SEC then LSU. I fear we might lose. Losing to KY is unheard of. Basketball sure. Not football.
shelley
Movie rather than a series, but my favorite Brit WWII flick is ‘Hope and Glory’
Not Adding Much to the Community
@gogol’s wife: “it was just bad cinematography.” So award-winning cinematographer Roman Vasyanov is not to your taste. De gustibus, etc.
shortstop
@shelley: That’s a great one.
Thanks to everyone for the excellent viewing suggestions in this thread. Having a bunch of good stuff lined up to watch is like money in the bank or a drawerful of clean underwear.
raven
Try 84 Charlie MoPic or Go Tell the Spartans. Then there is The 317th Platoon:
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Newcastle United wins! Newcastle United wins!
Ruckus
@shortstop:
Danger UXB is on Netflix, DVD only.
JPL
The Young Lions was a pretty good war film because it went beyond the blood and horror of war and examined the feeling of the soldiers. It’s an old film but it showed anti-Semitism that existed on both sides of the war.
shortstop
@Ruckus: Thanks!
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): That’s Newcastle United win, Yank.
jl
GO! some college team or otherr! ROOOOLLLLL (color # 1 here) and (color # 2 here)!
Jewish Steel
@BGinCHI: Not since I gave it up!
Tripod
I like Sam Fuller’s war movies. He walked the walk as an infantryman from North Africa to Germany, and instead of a literal depiction with lots of red corn syrup and whiz bang cinematography, he worked to get to the emotional truth of his experiences.
EdinNJ
The only thing worse than a recovering alcoholic is a former smoker when it comes to lecturing others.
Looking forward to my Scarlet Knights putting a scare into the Buckeyes and possibly shocking the college football world. But probably not.
Tripod
On addiction:
There are some people who are genetically matched to various intoxicants, but most of us get off on the Pavlovian responses to the beats of the habit. Securing the keg, setting up the table and plastic cup, tapping it…. any idiot can get blotto, the ritual, that’s what it’s all about.
raven
@EdinNJ: Don’t read his blog if you don’t like it.
raven
@Tripod: Walter Matthau was a line doggie too.
PaulW
Regarding the South Florida Bulls, they’re a lousy team but they’ve got talent that can get better by next year. Especially the running back, freshman Marlon Mack, is a f-cking beast. If he can get a decent O-line in front of him he’ll be another Emmitt Smith getting 140-yard 3-TD games every week.
PaulW
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
With the SCOTUS ruling bringing back the poll tax (the costs of a photo ID) to Texas, tell me there’s a fundraising effort to raise money to help poor people pay for the legal photo IDs they’ll need to vote. It’s the only way to get around this BS law to vote in people who will then get rid of that damn law.
Mnemosyne
@Tripod:
I never had children, but if I had had a son, he would have been named after Samuel Fuller. Because he worked outside of the studio system, he was able to put things into his film that the Breen office never would have allowed.
He wasn’t allowed to show blood in Fixed Bayonets because of the censorship rules in place, but he was able to show steam rising from the sergeant’s multiple wounds as he lay dying in the snow, which is one of those details you only know if you’ve been there and seen it.
(Also, people who say there were no movies about the Korean War until M*A*S*H are talking out of their asses, because Fuller made two while the war was going on — Fixed Bayonets and The Steel Helmet.)
raven
GO DAWGS!!!!
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Touchdown Yeldon. ROLL TIDE!
J R in WV
.
.
.
How About Those Mountaineers!!!
(4) Baylor 21 – WVU 41 FINAL
WHOOOO….
Let’s Gooo Mountaineers!!!
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Yeldon is in Beast Mode today!
J R in WV
WVU wins their biggest game since they scored 70 points in the Orange Bowl against Clemson. They set records every time they got the ball late in that game.
Now they crush #4, Baylor, 41-27, and it wasn’t that close, really. Wow!
Got tickets to the Symphony tonight :
Smetana: Overture to the Bartered Bride
Byron Adams: Concerto for violoncello
Julie Albers, cello
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6
Got rave reviews from the Friday night show, will probably be better tonight with yesterday under their belt. And I love all these pieces, hearing them live in the Clay Center tonight will be another peak experience. I was raised on Classical, Big Band and Jazz by my parents, and got into rock on my own when I went to college.
Going out to dinner too. WVU won, a big Saturday night in West by Gawd Virginia!!!
My Dad would be so happy, so proud of his Mountaineers! I always tear up thinking about how he loved WVU football. A good thing I’m past being sensitive about showing my emotions.
I cried like a baby watching the last few minutes of the Fiesta Bowl in 2008 WVU 48 – OK 28, wishing Dad could be watching his team putting in another great win.
LookingForACanadian
Love my Gopher football!!
Soprano2
You don’t know how annoying drunk people can be when you’re not drunk until you’re sober dealing with a bunch of drunk people. They’re not nearly as funny or interesting as they think they are.
Robert Sneddon
@Ruckus: My father was in submarines for a time during WWII, Royal Navy not Unterseeboot Kereigsmarine though. He saw Das Boot on the TV once and he said the only thing missing was the smell, a mixture of diesel, battery acid and rubber boots.
I saw a “making of…” about the original film, the set was just about as claustrophobic as a real WWII sub. There’s one scene tracking a crewmember as he runs virtually the length of the boat with a steadycam operator running backwards in front of him. Very impressive.
Charles Pierce
Cole — real happy yez are doing well but I found your lack of faith in the ‘Eers…disturbing. Completely bizarre officiating but a great game.
raven
Just beating the dog shit out of the Hogs who EVERYONE picked. GO DAWGS!!!!
SteveGravelle
@Robert Sneddon: Great film….I seem to recall some of it was actually shot aboard the UBoat in the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago, or was that urban legend?
burnspbesq
@Tokyokie:
Sounds a lot like Bergen County, NJ in the early 70s, except we had two “upgrades:” (1) every high school had its “own” bar just over the NY line about which it was fiercely territorial, which could get ugly if you were dating somebody from another school; (2) the road back from our bar (Steak & Brew on Route 59 in Monsey) was a glorified Revolutionary War horse trail, with 200-year-old trees on both sides, making it far too easy for a rookie drunk driver to kill himself and two or three of his besties.
The crowd i ran with figured out which liquor stores would sell beer to underage kids, and we drank in the parks or in the basements of the kids whose parents didnt care.
burnspbesq
Oh, and on topIc, Duke is bowl-eligible for the third year in a row.
raven
38-6 at the half.
Geoduck
I think I’ll give a pass to watching the now-ceremonial trampling of Washington by Oregon.