Etdlahq Memorial Bar - your shelter from forum crashes

[Deaddave]

evining all, id like a strong dark coffee please make it irish as well, i was up till 4am finishing a group assinment.. not fun, specialy when you relise you have to redo bits that other people have done wrong.

also i would like to point out that today is the 4th anerversry of darrel dimebags tragic death on stage.
*rasies glass*

 

[Trim]

*coffee, Irished, for the Vincent avatar* (BTW, I'm thinking about doing a Dirge of Cerberus speedrun, if only I had some motivation. And it's also the anniversary of John Lennon's assassination, too. Yeah, I've got an awesome birthday to celebrate. BUT Sammy Davis Jr. was born today, and that's hip, cat...

What, it's an American game just because we like to yell at & hit one another, then dance around like we're the greatest athlete ever because we dropped the quarterback a half a yard behind the line of scrimmage? What I like even more is when there's a play that goes for 40 yards, then when the defender tackles the guy after a huge gain the defenseman bounces up and starts flexing his muscles. I'm always screaming at the TV, "YOU JUST GAVE UP FORTY YARDS, SUPERMAN!!"

I don't play sports, but I'm a huge fan, and football is easily a top favorite. It's deceptively easy, really, and you see some huge hits. It's like a 60 minute game of American Gladiators with eleven man teams, except it's always gladiator vs. gladiator. It's an exciting sport with very little waiting around for something to happen. I kind of understand why it hasn't caught on across the world, but I fail to see how it's not an entertaining sport, that's for sure. Seeing so many injuries is a big negative about the game, but if I was getting paid three million dollars to get knocked around for twenty games I think I'd take my chances, too. ...Maybe THAT'S the American aspect you mentioned before...

Which Superbowl is it? I'm not trying to ruin the end of it in case it's a close game, but I hope New England's playing 'cuz they're my team, baby!!

 

[pancakeman]

Once my brother does whatever school the Corps wants him to in Florida, he's getting sent up to Maine. It will be sometime in the fall, we think, so we're thinking the change from the Florida panhandle to Maine in October will be fun for him. Keep him on his toes.


I don't like football, I just never got it I guess. It's not so much the sport itself, I actually enjoy playing it every now and then, it's the whole universe of it, to borrow a gaming term. The players are jerks, they make too much money, the fans bother me, all the crap about how it's the real national pasttime just annoys me. I prefer to watch cycling at home, without ever having to know what other cycling fans are like, or how much the riders get paid, or what kind of people they are.

Anywho, Dew for me please.

 

[Trim]

You hit the nail on the head as to the biggest reason I dislike the most mainstream sports: salaries. Have you seen these deals Manny Ramirez is looking for? The Dodgers were offering a two-year $25M deal, and he's holding out for a longer contract. While I love the guy, he's the laziest baseball player ever, getting toward the end of his career, and slow as molasses, but because he can hit a ball three out of ten times he apparently deserves to earn twelve million dollars a year. That's crazy.

As for comparing the attitudes of cyclists vs. more mainstream athletes, blame that on the media. Guys like Terrell Owens and Sean Avery will always make ***hats out of themselves, but if the cameras weren't always in their faces I'd bet the personal lives and selfish attitudes of a good majority of professional athletes in this country would go relatively unknown. I do wish athletes had a little more anonymity, but it all revolves back around to salaries. Question, though: I know cycling is more popular in some other countries, so do they get as much media attention as their country's counterparts in soccer and whatnot?

The American obsession with fame, though, is out of control. If I was ever famous enough to have paparazzi chasing after me all the time, I'd freak out, pull a Brittany Spears, and run someone over, too. I can't correlate why if someone makes millions of dollars a year that it gives others a right to stalk them and take embarrassing photos.

Um... /rant. Got a little verbose there. Get used to it. :wink:

 

[pancakeman]

I know cycling is much more popular abroad than here, so they would probably have some media coverage on the athletes. For instance, Mark Cavendish falling off his WiiFit pad or Tom Boonen crashing his Lambo got some attention. Then again, those are some pretty interesting stories, because Boonen was swerving to avoid a cat when he crashed his extremely expensive sports car, and Cavendish was just drunk off his mind and did something really funny.
Other than that, I don't really know how the press treats them, but I do know they are very popular. Fabian Cancellara, the guy in my 'tar, was voted the Swiss Male Athlete of the Year, beating out Roger Federer. In Luxembourg, the Schleck brothers and Kim Kirchen are up for the same honor.


As for the paparazzi, running over a few toes would probably happen a lot in a Pancake-is-famous scenario. Though I guess I could have some fun flipping off the cameras whenever I see them. Besides, I'm not the type to go out partying or anything, and I wouldn't even want to live in LA, so why would they care about me?

 

[John Remedy]

It's Superbowl XXXIX. New England v Philly. Like I say I'm about half way through, so please don't spoil it. Actually the 'American' I was referring to was the fact that every time there's a close up of a player his statistics (some of them very obscure) are shown at the bottom of the screen and that every ten minutes there seemed to be a break for the same three commercials that are already sponsoring the damn event.

One of the main things I hated about America while I was over there, the adverts on TV. Some of them are funny, but they're too quick, too short and too frequent.

 

[pancakeman]

Superbowl commercials are legendary both for their entertainment value and for their actual value. One company a few years back had a commercial consisting of a monkey dancing for 30 seconds, followed by some message about how they paid 25 million dollars for it. Some are really cool, though, like the one last year for Pepsi with Justin Timberflake being pulled through a city. The great part was all the stuff that was happening in the background, like Samberg in a dress.

 

[Trim]

Haha, we love stats around here. "Oh, this is the third consecutive time he's gotten an interception at an away game on third down in a zone coverage, but only the second time in his career where he's done it with his badger hanging out!" We make up stats just so more people can have jobs.

Blame TV for our short attention spans. It's a rare thing to find someone around here who can stand sitting around doing very little for hours on end. And the idea of daily afternoon siestas is laughable (not to me, though; I love naps).

As everyone knows, though, America is driven by the almighty [failing] dollar. In the UK, common practice in television production was to film for a half-hour, then as an after-thought drop some commercials in a couple places to space it out to a 40-to-45 minute program. Americans make shows that pander to the advertisers' schedules and still fill their creations with absurd amounts of product placement to basically make a half-hour commercial.

While I hate how often commercials occur, I will say that I appreciate short commercials. If you're in an average American household, the television's on for an average of like eight hours a day. Eight! Watching that much telly, you see the same adverts over and over (especially late-night) every seven minutes. If every Viagra, Extenze, or Girls Gone Wild commercial was any longer, I might get a little tempted to actually purchase some of these products.

 

[smips]

I always read this topic, but I never post...first time for everything I guess!

The American obsession with fame, though, is out of control. If I was ever famous enough to have paparazzi chasing after me all the time, I'd freak out, pull a Brittany Spears, and run someone over, too. I can't correlate why if someone makes millions of dollars a year that it gives others a right to stalk them and take embarrassing photos.

I have to agree with you TRM, America is obsessed with fame. However, my problem with it isn't so much that people follow famous people around and take pictures of them and such, but the image it sets for the country. The life of Brittany Spears and other such celebrities is not the same as the life of your average American. Sure, we still do things that make no sense to people in other countries, but we don't live as screwed up as the US media likely makes it seem. Maybe I'm not making much sense, but I know when I look at the news and see the lives American celebrities are living, it's a different life than the people I know and myself live.

@ Fast Eddie: Oh, that game...I won't ruin it, but I hated the ending!

 

[pancakeman]

If every Viagra, Extenze, or Girls Gone Wild commercial was any longer, I might get a little tempted to actually purchase some of these products.

Those three together might be trouble.

Another thing I love about cycling, nobody really cares about stats. If you won a race, people remember you. Nobody cares who took 6th, or who came in 8th on a sprint. It was like what the commentators were saying on one race a few weeks ago, Oscar Pereiro technically won the Tour de France in 2006, since Landis was caught cheating, but nobody remembers because he was awarded the win several weeks later, and by that time everybody was focused on the Vuelta. So it is a sport with a very short attention span.

 

[Jcakes1]

I am a sucker for watching any Sport that Australia competes in (even lawn bowls ). The main sports I follow are AFL (Australian Rules Football) and Cricket. I have been known to watch rugby union and soccer to a lesser extent. I also really enjoy watching swimming (as I used to compete when I was younger)

 

[pancakeman]

It seems all of America enjoyed swimming for the week that Phelps was competing, then completely lost interest again. We do that, as a nation. I remember when Lance was riding, he was a huge celebrity. Three years later, people have no idea who he is.
Or when the Red Sox went to the World Series, everybody was suddenly a Sox fan. I guess we love to see our own do well, but we don't feel good enough doing that, we have to pretend we love the sport as well.

That being said, I've been known to watch just about anything if America is competing at the international level. Hockey, Soccer, Archery, Curling, Gymnastics, Track & Field, Biathlon, Triathlon, all the other athlons, all that good stuff. Oh, and I'll admit it, I have watched lawn bowling too. :grin:


Gonna watch Charlie Brown Christmas tonight. My friends used to give me crap about it, but I watch it and other Christmas specials every year. I don't care what anyone says, Charlie Brown is awesome.

 

[Jcakes1]

One thing I always find amusing about different countries is what people mean by the word Hockey.
If the country in question gets a lot of snow and ice etc. Then Hockey means Ice Hockey. If the country tends not to get cold enough for snow and ice it means field hockey.
Field Hockey is actually a fairly big sport here, we usually do ok in the Olympics etc. ,though this year we got eliminated by China - something my GF was quick to point out (she's chinese). I got my own back when an Australian stopped china from getting a clean sweep of the Diving golds.

 

[John Remedy]

Right, I have thrown myself out of bed, even though I have man-flu. Today is my last chance to have a meeting with my dissertation supervisor before Xmas. There are no scheduled lectures, and it is the last official day of term.

Tomorrow I am going up on the train to see the wife, and help her bring her stuff back down for Xmas. First time I'll have seen her in over six weeks.

Not sure if there's a generic/worldwide brand name, but is the bar allowed to serve hot lemon (the stuff with paracetamol)? Or is it against H&S regulations in today's rule-driven world?

 

[Thyiad1]

*hands Fast Eddie a large Lempsip (max)*

 

[John Remedy]

@ Thyiad: You rock! Best person ever!

This may be more suited to a daily, but who doesn't love a venting barfly?!

...And so I made it to college. Going to get the forums and Facebook out the way before heading to the Uni bar for a big fry-up. I'm very nervous about meeting my supervisor, as I hate new people, especially those in power, and also using telephones, which I have to do too. I've taken some Tramadol to focus my mind and calm me down.

Green tea please.

 

[Jcakes1]

One Green Tea coming write up. I also used to hate talking on telephones (too suppliers etc.) but as it is part of my job I have gotten a lot better at it. I used to be nervous and write out exactly what I would say before I called, but I am not a lot more confident and generally will just dot point the main points about what I am calling.

It is kind of amusing given I used to work on commission going door to door selling electricity retail contracts (and was good at it too).

 

[John Remedy]

With my job at Mickey D's it's normally either a customer complaint (that could normally have been avoided) or an engineer/support tech ringing back to enquire about/fix a problem that a previous manager reported. I only work there two days a week and only run one shift a week so I'm left out of the loop every single time.

That reminds me of an anecdote where I moved out for the first time at 21, to rent a property for a year with a friend. A salesman knocked at the door, I answered and he said a jolly "Hello, is your Mum or Dad in?". It took me a while to stop laughing. Happy times.

It turns out I got 57% for my dissertation synopsis, which I am very pleased about. I have had to reschedule this meeting for three weeks, due to illnesses on both sides, and it is a great relief to get it out the way. I couldn't have done it without Thyiad's Lemsip and my fellow 'flies.

 

[Jcakes1]

Well done F_E (I think - I am not sure on the difficulty of your synopsis so not sure exactly how the result compares).

I used to always ask do you manage the electricity bills (to anyone over the age of 18). The funny thing was that I got very good at reading people and could tell at the begining if I was likely to get a sale, have a chance if I can talk them into it or no chance at all.
Funnily enough most of my sales were to middle aged women, particularly single ones who would say it is a pity my ex-husband wasn't like you

 

[water_moon]

A salesman knocked at the door, I answered and he said a jolly "Hello, is your Mum or Dad in?". It took me a while to stop laughing. Happy times.

Goltar got that last week, he's 29.

She asked for "Dad" and he responded, "I AM Dad...." that left her a bit flustered....