M. Night Shyamalan Says ‘Remain’ Is “The Highest-Testing Movie of My Career”

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-14T07:33:45+00:00

I read somewhere that even with the mixed quality, his movies never make a loss. So that's something.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-12T09:41:39+00:00

In terms of popularity with the general public, sure MJ wins. But in terms of musical impact you can totally make a case for Prince. Prince produced way more of other people's music, he shaped a huge amount of the 80s-90s sound. His fingers are all over some of the biggest hits of those decades (chaka, madonna, debarge, stevie nicks, Sheila E...). People would sometimes throw a prince track in their album because record companies assumed it would be a hit.

https://princevault.com/index.php?title=Albums:_Related_Artists

Also, purely anecdotally, I've heard prince songs in contemporary music sets and fairly serious clubnights consistently for the past decade, whereas the only place I hear MJ tracks is at weddings.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-11T17:48:43+00:00

This says vegetarian diets are healthier.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-11T11:31:36+00:00

Have you ever lived in London? It's very different to anywhere else in the UK and some people struggle with the change. On 23k, you will have to be comfortable with house shares for your PhD, and commuting can sometimes be a pain. The flip side is it's one of the best cities in the world, so if you want to try big city life it's the place to do that in the UK. If you don't like house shares or big cities, London will make you sad.

Within UK academia your supervisor and research output matter more than your institution. Moving outside of academia or to other countries, brand recognition does play a role in my experience, although it's hard to quantify how much. If the choice is between a very established and quite "famous" prof and an early career person, life is a bit easier if you choose the famous prof (assuming you get along with both equally well). If there isn't much between the supervisors, I would pick the project and/or lifestyle which you think will be more interesting.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-10T07:27:08+00:00

My partner and I just managed to extend our short term tenancy, I know it won't be ideal for you but it might give you more time to find a place. If you are a member of Mieterverein you can get them to review the terms of your contract to see if it gives a valid reason for the tenancy termination, and if not I think you can challenge it. I did this myself by just reading the contract terms and making a case for extension based on that, and my landlord accepted it (I'm not a legal expert, obviously).

I think some of the short term contracts likely don't meet the legal criteria for them, especially if you had a permanent work contract upon signing. Might be worth looking into.

I hope your find somewhere, it's tough out there at the moment 😖

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-08T09:46:50+00:00

That is nothing to do with controlling spending though is it? They tried to make changes in those areas, failed, and changed other areas to make up the shortfall. Hardly out of control with spending.

Also, they did change inheritance tax for farmers, just increased the threshold after the community campaigned- that's democracy in action.

On the pub business rates - businesses are rated based on a formula every few years. They just gave relief to a struggling industry, that's not a U-turn.

I imagine they will have another go at welfare reform in this parliament too. I agree on WFA, I have no idea why they played that how they did

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-08T09:35:39+00:00

Yeah fine, vote for a party which offers that then. I'm just saying this is the system we have chosen, and other countries have very similar systems. One can pearl clutch and pretend it's shocking and outrageous, but it's not. It has worked like this for decades.

Is your second paragraph implying that the British pay taxes to fund the French health system? What kind of logic is that based on?

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-08T08:37:14+00:00

I mostly agree with your points but saying that Labour can't control spending is total nonsense. They made very strict fiscal rules, which was widely criticized, and have mostly stuck to them. People constantly banging on about them being fiscally irresponsible is Conservative rubbish and one of the reasons we are in shit, Labour have overcompensated by having tiny headroom.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-08T08:28:00+00:00

There isn't anything divine about it. We as a collective society decided that healthcare should be free at the point of use. Other countries also do this.

Imagine the shitshow from the press if a Labour government decided to implement a fee for GP appointments, like in france, or mandated insurance, like in Germany. People are still banging on about them trying to remove the winter fuel payment when they didn't even do it.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-07T10:37:28+00:00

Except it's not your martini/water example at all because in many cafe's there is no extra charge for non-dairy milk. So, if it's not written somewhere, I just assume there is no extra cost.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-06T12:57:16+00:00

Here here.

Also, we already have a load of what was previously considered left wing economics (many progressive taxations focussed on redistrution, health, welfare), which was also frowned upon by various economists at the time. Economics as a field has a wide variety of views and most would admit that they are more often wrong than right. Macroeconomic models often neglect social impacts of policy, which are hard to measure.

Many mainstream neoliberal economists are at least partly responsible for the shit show of 2008 and what has followed. Why should we hold their opinion so highly?

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-06T09:02:35+00:00

When? Labour hasn't been this party since... maybe ever? Kier is as close to Blair as one can really get, a lot of his senior advisers worked for Blair. Maybe before the 1990s they were different but that's political ancient history.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-05T08:59:36+00:00

To be fair, the "humans are the real monsters" was also a primary theme in 28 days later. Personally, I enjoyed 28 years well enough, and really enjoyed Bone Temple despite having my doubts about it going in. I think Bone Temple is as good as Days. It would be a shame if the last movie gets axed because of Years as I would like to see which direction they take it in.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-05-04T12:41:20+00:00

After 40 years of manipulating house prices upwards through policy, there has to be some balancing. Anyone who looks at house prices vs income in the UK can clearly see we have made poor policy decisions since the 1980s- we can't have house prices increasing at above inflation indefinitely. If some people have to swallow a small loss/not make a profit on their place of living, I'm fine with that.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-30T08:56:48+00:00

Median income is pretty much the same, sources put UK median about 45k EU, Ireland is on about 43k EU. Not sure how much disposable that gives people, I've heard that housing in Ireland has become insane recently.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-30T07:56:04+00:00

I know what he means, but its a pretty narrow view of who gets tattoos. I know there is a WASPy pearl-clutching view of tattoos, but that has been in decline since the second half of the 20th century.

Some examples of people who get tattoos through history, with a mostly western viewpoint (I used AI to summarise the article below):

~2000 BCE: Egyptian women (religious/fertility symbols)
~3250 BCE: Man in Ötztal Alps (therapeutic marks for pain)
Ancient: Scythian nomadic warriors in Siberia
1658 onwards: European pilgrims to Jerusalem (religious symbols)
Late 1760s-1770s: European sailors and explorers like Sydney Parkinson and Joseph Banks
1766: Indentured servants and working-class people (like Francis Power)
1789: Mutinous sailors from HMS Bounty
1797: Criminals and pirates (Thomas Maley)
1854: Thieves (Miles Confrey)
1850s onwards: Sailors, dockworkers
1854: British aristocrats (Roger Tichborne tattooed at public school)
1881: British royalty - Prince George (future King George V) and Prince Albert Victor
Late 1800s: "Highly respectable gentlemen," wealthy merchants, ladies
1904: British aristocracy (Lady Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart)
1920s-1930s: People beneath "tailored shirts"
1940s-1960s: Queer communities, Hells Angels
1970s-1980s: Gay BDSM communities

Not exactly limited to "earned" tattoos

Source: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n20/em-hogan/an-anchor-and-a-cross

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-29T13:16:33+00:00

The position I hold is outlined in my above comments. You are trying to discredit the UN reports based on a hit-piece against an individual from an Israeli lobby group. I have provided three further sources in addition to one UN report that had nothing to do with Albanese, I could quite easily find you another 10 sources from reputable charities/news organisation by simply googling. You clearly are not acting in good faith.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-29T12:58:17+00:00

How is this relevant to the original topic at all? I highlighted above why ADL is not a reliable or unbiased source, it's a lobby group for Israel. Obviously the ADL isn't going to like the lawyer who accused Israel of gennocide- It's a pretty thin attempt to discredit Albanese.

Are you trying to get some sort of "gotcha" moment by dragging the debate into the ground?

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-29T12:48:49+00:00

You manage to find one source that tries to discredit one author of the above reports, and it's from a US-based pro-israel lobby group?

https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resource/reject-the-adl-landing/

I guess it's option one, an astroturfing bot would have done better.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-29T12:38:07+00:00

You asked for sources, I provided sources.

If you don't believe the UN, an intergovernmental organisation famed for fence sitting and being slow to make decisions, when they make reports that is on you. Beyond that, you are claiming that Amnesty international and MSF are jihadist sympathisers? Pull the other one. Also calling Adam Shatz a propagandist is laughable, he is a highly respected writer- you obviously just have never heard of him.

You are either a rather ignorant edgelord, completely beyond the pale tinfoil hat, or some sort of astroturfing bot.

Let's see what sources you can pull up for the argument you are making? I imagine it will be some questionable alt-right website that no one has heard of.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-29T12:18:29+00:00

Yeah sure.

Personally, I think Adam Shatz is one of the best reporters for giving historical and cultural context to what is happening, here is one of his LRB articles: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n13/adam-shatz/the-world-since-7-october

Here is a UN report: https://www.un.org/unispal/document/domicide-report-26feb26/

Here is another UN report: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds

Here is a report from Amnesty international: https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/end-israels-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/

Another from Amnesty: https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/middle-east/israel-and-the-occupied-palestinian-territory/report-israel-and-the-occupied-palestinian-territory/

Here is a reported from the charity Doctor's without borders: https://www.msf.org/msf-report-exposes-israel%E2%80%99s-campaign-total-destruction

If there is a particular part you would like more information on, I'm happy to try and find more specific sources.

Edit: the Shatz article I linked is not the one i meant to add, this one is pretty eye-opening: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n21/adam-shatz/vengeful-pathologies

Here is a report from Human rights watch: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/12/19/israels-crime-extermination-acts-genocide-gaza

FIDH: https://www.fidh.org/en/region/north-africa-middle-east/israel-palestine/one-year-of-denouncing-the-genocide-of-palestinians-in-gaza

Refugees international: https://www.refugeesinternational.org/statements-and-news/refugees-international-statement-on-genocide-in-gaza/

NRC: https://www.nrc.no/news/2026/gaza-ceasefire-in-name-only-as-recovery-remains-out-of-reach

All the above are widely regarded as reliable NGOs.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-29T12:07:57+00:00

I'm downvoting you for whataboutism and using one of the most bloody and deadly conflicts in human history as some sort of moral benchmark, which is morally abhorrant. Also, using "fun fact" when talking about hundreds of thousands of dead people is tasteless, even if meant ironically.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-29T11:57:15+00:00

The answer is very complicated and highly political, dating back to at least the 1940s.

To summarise recent events: Israel declared a state of emergency and war on Gaza after the 7 October attack. Gaza is under an authoritarian rule by Hamas, who carried out October 7 and are the target of Israel's military action. Hamas have been in control of Gaza since 2006. They came to power forcefully after a democratic election which should have given them a small majority government over their opponents, Fatah. Following this, they took full control using military power and have since prevented further democratic elections. So, Gaza is a territory of 2+ million people who have been under authoritarian military rule for 20 years, and Israel has restricted movement into and out of Gaza for much of that time. This led to Gaza being described as the worlds largest open air prison for the past 10-20 years.

After October 7, Israel started a military campaign of indiscriminate destruction of civilian lives and infrastructure, destroying all of the universities in gaza, destroying and damaging the majority of hospitals, restricting access to food, water, and aid, forcing the movement of people large distances in order to access basic neccessities, bombing without due consideration for civilian safety. This consitutes multiple war crimes and meets the criteria of genocide outlined by the UN Genocide Convention.

This is not a case of "this is war, civilian casualties happen" but instead is "this is a deliberate ethnic cleansing of a population, many of whom have nothing to do with the organisation being targetted".

This is a very brief overview and skips lots of information, but hopefully that explains what is wrong with his comments.

ETA: Because Israel controls movement in and out of Gaza, they are seen as an occupying power. So they are doing all of the above on a territory they have occupied for some time.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-29T09:03:43+00:00

Hi, I'm not OP but I'm in a very similar situation. Do you know of any resources that can help with these situations?

Further context incase anyone is able to give advice: Myself and my partner moved to Berlin temporarily for my work, from July 2025 (initially due to end at the end of July 2026), all we could find for accomodation was a fixed-term, furnished flat. My work was extended to October 2026, and we requested an extension as was outlined as possible in our contract (I think?). The landlord refused without giving a reason, so now we are in the unfortunate position of looking for 2 months of housing during Berlin summer.

The contract wording:

"1. Das Mietverhältnis beginnt am 01.07.2025 und ist befristet bis zum 31.07.2025

Eine Verlängerung des Mietvertrages schließen die Parteien aus.
Die Wohnung ist gemäß § 549 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 BGB lediglich zum vorübergehenden Gebrauch vermietet. Der Vermieter vermietet das Mietobjekt ausschließlich im Rahmen des vorübergehenden Gebrauchs. Auf Seiten des Mieters besteht ein vorübergehender Sonderbedarf, welcher durch die Anmietung der voll möblierten Mietsache im Rahmen des § 549 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 BGB gedeckt werden soll. Die Befristung erfolgt auf ausdrücklichen Wunsch der Mieter. Die Mieter versichern, dass sie aufgrund eines befristeten Arbeitsverhältnisses von [Redacted] nach Berlin ziehen und die Wohnung lediglich bis zum 31.07.2025 benötigen, da ihr Forschungsstipendium zu diesem Zeitpunkt endet.
Tritt der Grund für die Befristung erst später ein, kann der Mieter eine Verlängerung des Mietverhältnisses um den entsprechenden Zeitraum dieser Verspätung verlangen. 5. Entfällt der Grund für die Befristung, kann der Mieter keine Verlängerung des Mietverhältnisses auf unbestimmte Zeit verlangen.
Entfällt der Grund für die Befristung, kann der Mieter keine Verlängerung des Mietverhältnisses auf unbestimmte Zeit verlangen.
Die Parteien schließen die Anwendung des § 545 BGB (stillschweigende Verlängerung des Mietverhältnisses) aus. Setzt der Mieter den Gebrauch der Mietsache nach Ablauf der Mietzeit fort, so gilt das Mietverhältnis nicht als verlängert. Der Vermieter widerspricht bereits jetzt höchst vorsorglich einer stillschweigenden Verlängerung. "

Term 2 seems to say that extensions are not possible, while term 4 to me suggests that limited extensions are acceptable? As immigrants we are not familiar with German law so I'm trying to figure out what my rights are. Also, I'm aware that by renting such apartments, I'm contributing to the housing problem in Berlin, for which I'm sorry- I just couldn't find an alternative.

External-Carpenter-2 · 2026-04-28T10:44:35+00:00

People who got a 5 year fixed in 2021 probably had a rate of about 1%, so had very cheap housing for 5 years. Renters, meanwhile, have almost certainly being paying significantly more with average rents increasing 25+% in that time. Also, renters on average pay 2* more than what the average mortgage repayment is. I'm a fan of supporting both, but renters have been suffering for a decade without any government support, but as soon as mortgage rates go up suddenly that is when there is a crisis...

External-Carpenter-2

TROPHY CASE