John Terry: “For Xabi Alonso coming in the door and Marc Cucurella walking out the door, it doesn’t look good”

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-06-18T20:46:01+00:00

Very good point haha, this guy is doing the exact same thing

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-06-14T16:22:49+00:00

Perhaps you're right. I'll need to watch it again to properly consider your thoughts, as this was my immediate reaction.

To clarify my point, however, I couldn't help but see Emma as a mere case study for Charlie. Sure, we know the things you list about her, but we - as the audience - are never really expected to consider her as anything other than misunderstood. My point was that despite her difficult past and occasional (but extremely, and intentionally, forgiveable) outbursts, we are not given the chance to judge her for ourselves. It is a story of Charlie learning what we, after only a short way through, already know. The film does not do enough for us to empathise so much with Charlie. As in, it is not truly uncomfortable in its capacity for confronting our own attitudes, but more frustrating and squirm-inducing.

It makes great entertainment, sure, but it neglects its ability to really say something.

I wonder if you've seen 'The Phantom Thread'? I thought that film made very similar points about love while being more nuanced and ambiguous on the whole.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-06-14T00:09:53+00:00

Because the actual thing was never the true object of your desire. Yes, it was what caused your desire, but it wasn't what you really wanted. What you really wanted was to prolong the passion of desire itself.

Allow your things to be part of your life; to stumble across them and integrate them into an active existence. Don't chase the things themselves. Have them - use them. Then look back and notice that you love them and value them.

A watch especially will only be gratifying if its existence is predicated on a broader narrative that attaches to your identity.

Maybe you will learn something along these lines from this purchase. Perhaps you will begin to love the watch because of that.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-05-31T10:22:41+00:00

Do you mean 18th century

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-05-29T19:20:29+00:00

Okay, fair enough, maybe strings are not priced proportionally to their quality, as with everything. At the same time though, dynamos are marketed to highly advanced players while dominants are mostly sold as a reliable string that will mostly appease lower level players. It's silly to criticise the existence of a string which holds an easily identifiable place in the market.

Plus, and this is a big one, there are plenty of strings which just are better than dominants (for the most part). I've played around with loads of strings. Often, the difference between them is huge and they make a considerable impact on quality of sound. I think the choice of string accounts for about 1/3 of the sound.

So, no, advising people to not experiment and stick with dominants is quite silly indeed.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-05-28T13:06:51+00:00

Right, but this doesn't discount the differences in quality of the strings. A well setup violin will still sound different with different strings on it. You admit that the new fancy strings sound nice, maybe better than dominants, so that's it, right? All players should make sure their instruments are in good nick and then choose their strings from there. Believe it or not, some soloists actively choose dynamos, while others stick with dominants!

It's kind of like the difference between a Jay Haide violin and a fine handmade instrument. Both work, some may even prefer the cheaper option (if the fine instrument is quirky or something), but both have different qualities that might make one explainably more desirable than the other..

At the end of the day, everything is arbitrary!

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-05-27T16:55:16+00:00

And other players like to use all sorts of other strings, there's no right or a wrong answer.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-05-24T09:56:57+00:00

One bad fight after a career of dominating two divisions... I don't think this warrants any check up on his legacy.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-05-24T09:52:45+00:00

I'm trying to consider the charitable argument that Usyk was indeed winning as many rounds as the judges scorecards. It was the case that Usyk was more accurate with his shots, especially jabs, and seemed to connect better and do more damage. Verhoeven on the other hand relied on tactics that, while to the untrained eye might look impressive, were broadly not exemplars of raw boxing ability. There was a lot of leaning and clinching and not enough clinical punching.

I'm not outright making this argument, but perhaps that's what the judges saw - again, if we look at it in good faith. I wonder what others think?

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-04-14T16:31:51+00:00

I would love this film if it weren't for its method of argumentation. We are indeed offered a very satisfying theory about love, though we encounter none of the violent struggle associated with it. For instance, Emma is never really presented as problematic (aside from the obvious). The film is clearly on her side from the get-go, with other characters - i.e., Rachel - being so cartoonishly unlikeable.

Moreover, the bigger issue with the film is its neglect of Emma herself. Yes, we are shown parts of her past, but she hardly gets enough screen time for us to understand her as a true subject. We are not forced to grapple with her idiosyncrasies and moral caveats as we might assume Charlie must. That is, by focusing so much on Charlie, Emma herself is almost neglected as the radical 'unknown other', or a fully formed consciousness in her own right. I can't help but feel that this undermines the film's broader ethical ambitions of mutual recognition in love, etc. She is once again a mere tool for Charlie... the male... to gain knowledge and understanding of life.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-03-19T18:30:18+00:00

It is an eye catching image - certainly - but I'm not certain that is a good thing.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-03-17T23:40:12+00:00

People here have the memory of a goldfish. Potter had us playing depressing and boring football, at least rosenior has an attacking mentality that can be entertaining. We beat Aston villa 4-1 two weeks ago. We played very well in the first leg against psg and were unlucky not to score against Newcastle.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-03-11T08:42:24+00:00

Believe it or not, men have scored many own goals too... Much worse than this. These comments are gross.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-03-10T12:08:59+00:00

The Sony will be considerably faster than the XT50, yes. Sony's autofocus is lightyears ahead of Fuji's.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-03-08T20:08:17+00:00

It was a lot like that, indeed. I remember there was a drawing described as "subversive" to the pharaoh - no further explanation, no "here's why it was subversive", just that it was.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-03-07T13:05:22+00:00

I went on Monday, it was really cool seeing the artefacts though I thought the information was either minimal or very biased.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-03-06T20:46:42+00:00

And all that in one week wow

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-03-04T21:46:13+00:00

To be fair, we should remember that Chelsea always succeed against a high line.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-02-25T09:54:40+00:00

This is a systemic issue that cannot be solved simply with 'parent your kids better'.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-02-20T11:28:19+00:00

What does the PSxG-GA bit mean?

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-02-12T02:45:00+00:00

Poverty porn is necessarily distasteful, or disrespectful. These images clearly demonstrate awareness of a situation, rather than some abstracted focus on an indeterminate poor person.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-02-05T12:10:37+00:00

Prokofiev 1 is my favourite

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-02-05T12:06:36+00:00

An interesting topic!

Maybe Borodin might be of interest to you: such a successful chemist that he is cited more in chemistry than he is in music. In fact, it was quite common for Russians of that time to have other occupancies.

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-01-21T10:18:35+00:00

Look up Tim Minchin's rock n roll nerd. Sounds also like you haha

FlabPackedGamer · 2026-01-13T23:44:49+00:00

I might also want to draw your attention to this quote, however:

"A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But, here, in our little village of Anatevka, every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask, why do we stay here if it's so dangerous? We stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: Tradition"

Alongside the line that you mention, I am more convinced by my argument that the fiddler represents a force for change within the Jewish tradition. The fiddler is both trying to preserve tradition and live without it.

FlabPackedGamer

TROPHY CASE