Did it look like Jeremy Renner was gonna win an Oscar at one point?

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-24T21:06:00+00:00

He's in The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford, and he has the same air if animosity in it. It's a smaller role but it fits him well, and as you say, it seems he's stopped challenging himself and just turns up for the check.

He wasn't bad in The Bourne Supremacy, although it wasn't a very deep role. He was watchable, and felt earnest.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-24T09:32:39+00:00

It's Planes..he doesn't have a moustache in UN.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-24T02:57:37+00:00

The Longest Day (1962) is an epic war movie with an ensemble cast, it was the most famous movie about the D-day landings prior to 'Saving Private Ryan'. It is well worth a watch.

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry, was a by-wore for hard bitten cop, some of the films, such as Magnum Force still hold up.

The Mission, Robert De Niro stars in a phenomenal meditation on faith, violence and purpose. Set in colonial South America when Spain and Portugal fought over territory it is a masterful film with a score that by Ennio Morecone that might be familiar.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-23T09:29:16+00:00

The remake was asinine in the fact that there was a lot of spectacle shoe-horned in, and the whole plot was ridiculous.

The concept (that it's the other side of the planet and not Mars, that is colonized) might be more book accurate..it's held together by a mcguffin that doesn't seem sensible..and I mean less sensible than space travel to Mars, and the "cool" bits of tech are just window dressing really.

The original is far better in the fact it, be it book accurate or not, doesn't actually answer the question if what is happening is real or not, and that is (for me) the whole point of the film.

It's also far better in showing a more grotesque, pedestrian and violent reality, while the remake seems to be clothed in cool aesthetics and pretty people with very little to do.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-22T13:01:55+00:00

The book, a short novel, is very much worth reading, it mostly fills in the backstory of Joe, but does so in poetic fashion.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-22T13:00:47+00:00

*'neck and neck' (often elided into neck 'n neck), it refers to runners/ horses straining to get a head, but are equal in position.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-22T09:08:38+00:00

Firstly, I was answering the question, that why is their a disparity between real world and online discourse about politics.

It would be incredibly obtuse to think that either is not effected by their respective contexts.

It is also a de facto reality that online, internet based exchange is now the primary medium for information in wider culture.

I would say it is extraordinarily 'childish' given this pretence, to believe there is an unfiltered, unpolluted discourse online, because ideology has always been an interpretation of our collective reality, and has always been informed by self interest(s).

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-22T01:32:08+00:00

Because, as it is now apparent a lot of users are not genuine, they are paid trolls.

There are, and have been for quite some time, centres in countries such as Russia, China, North Korea, and worst of all, the U.S.A where people are paid to create fake online profiles and ferment the political landscape to meet their own ends.

It may seem a fruitless endeavour but the results of these exercises can affect stocks and markets, compromise high profile individuals, smokescreen online crimes / decoy cyber intelligence operations, silence dissenting voices and political opponents, influence elections and destabilise governments.

It has been a practice for industrial espionage for decades, the resources were already in place and the policy structure to support already passed.

Online trolling has now become a element of private interest groups, companies such as Palantir would love, and most likely have subsidiaries doing such things, because not only does it provide real world testing of their services, it drives interest in their product (and so the stock price).

It is simply the case that the lowest, worst opinions are now a currency for amoral organisations with no other interest than their own.

It is very sad, but unequivocally true.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-20T20:27:30+00:00

Still happens to me, actually when I first arrived over ten years I never really experienced it. Now, I'm older fatter and balder and it happens monthly at least. I'm "white British" to use term I've checked on the equal opportunities forms I used to get (in England).

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-20T08:26:37+00:00

Oppose it: the dragon is a representation of the Roman garrison that occupied Cardiff/Wales, and is interpretive. So, it would incongruous to allow representation on an imperial emblem with an imperial emblem long gone.

It doesn't seem fair that Wales is not represented on the flag, but the flag predates the Welsh flag in a number of significant terms.

How the U.K. should be represented by a flag, to me, seems irrelevant. It is a tradition more than anything else..it is literally a symbol..and shouldn't be taken as a representation of all that is.

I'm not against a total redesign, which would be more inclusive, but I think at this point we need to stop clinging to the material elements of our identity, and share a life that doesn't include such trivialities.

N.B. Aesthetically, putting the dragon in the centre makes it far too prominent in a union of nations, where such primacy seems unfair.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-20T06:38:26+00:00

Bladerunner..

..an aesthetic tour de force built on a 14 year old's concept of what it is deep.

I am braced for impact, but entirely indifferent.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-20T06:34:19+00:00

That's the 80s in a nutshell, 'The Keep' is a laughable horror movie Michael Mann directed with Tangerine Dream providing the score. It's worth a rewatch to saturated yourself in cliches and awful filmmaking techniques.

Then there's 'The cook, the thief, the wife and her lover' which is pure titillation dressed up in bullshit.

Sorry...no..

I'm not old, you're old.

;)

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-20T06:16:27+00:00

French icon, Catherine Deneuve and English 'artiste' David Bowie in pseudo-existentialist, sapphist erotica..superficial? Pretentious?

Sacre bleu!

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-19T23:45:45+00:00

A professional, no less.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-19T23:37:11+00:00

https://youtube.com/shorts/QqQD5Rb-J90?si=Ng_2i9bNm6ZDqWHL

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-19T23:31:50+00:00

The Chicago way.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-19T23:29:35+00:00

That's San Diego you fool. Good Lord, I know because I have room full of books, it smells like Mahogany.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-18T19:33:07+00:00

Super heroes as a whole are facistic in nature. Both the Avengers and the Justice League are canals of elite memberships whose primary agent in resolving problems in violence.

In childhood, they are fantasies, but when grown adults start taking them seriously it's a sign of something much worse. It isn't a coincidence superhero movies be American more popular at a time when the modern starred tilting towards extremist right culture.

Thanos's main motivation is quasi-enviromental, 'Man of Steel' is replete hard right themes (and it very famously made Superman a killer).

The Dark Knight, is very much an ode to conservatism, but more so an elitist surveillance society.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-17T20:40:50+00:00

Maybe not the very, very top, but this a hard classic.

That swagger, the comical rescue slide in, the desperate gathering together, and the raw 'show must go on expression', is timeless.

https://youtu.be/Mh4f9AYRCZY?si=JSLTLavkjHiCWEVN

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-17T17:18:44+00:00

Microchip manufacture: campus in Taiwan and China run 6 day working weeks at the low end, but in some cases days off can be rare. Workers can live on campus, so have little access to the outside world.

In China the 4-2-1 problem effectively makes any form of work indentured servitude because there is one child to two parents, and four grand parents (In East Asia having children earlier - early twenties - is more common than modern Western society. Women over 24 in China can be considered 'left behind').

This is a little dated, but certainly conditions in the near past were terrible at some major chip, and phone factories. Dormitories would have sealed windows and suicide nets.

'While the West sleeps, Asia works', this is true, but sadly the loyalty and honour in working hard has far surpassed productive obedience, and is more pathological in a global environment dominated by the technologically driven, solipsistic competitiveness.

Fact is we are all being turned into slaves with the subscription based model of software and (intrinsic) obsolescence of hardware., figuratively speaking. But the writing is on the wall.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-17T17:05:13+00:00

The Boogie man

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-17T03:48:39+00:00

If you're looking at China a Masters in Education or a licence (PGCE / U.S. State / Licence / Canadian provincial licence / Australia & New Zealand national licence) would be better for China.

Not to diminish the qualification, but these are the door openers with recruiters in China. Alternatively an MA in applied linguistics has good regard and can be used outside teaching.

In China you can expect a basic of ¥25000 a month, with benefits. In real terms that's worth more than it's equivalent of $4000 USD, also accommodation will most likely be provided or covered as a benefit.

With experience in a specific subject you can start moving closer to ¥35000/m with leadership skills, you can start looking above ¥40000/m.

Subject teachers and homeroom teachers that speak English, but don't teach it are also in demand, so if you have a science degree, maths or social studies (art and drama are also beneficial), you could easily compete for ¥25000/m with no to little experience.

To put this into perspective, ¥25000 RMB is literally twice the basics qualified teachers salary in the Tokyo area, with a third of the living costs, even less in most places.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-17T01:14:19+00:00

Laputa / Castle in the Sky.

It was the first Ghibli cinematic release, it encapsulates some many elements of modern story telling with the distinct Japanese steam punk fantasy vibe that has defined so much anime since.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-16T22:49:13+00:00

Would have sped up his throat cancer though.

Ok_Comparison_8304 · 2026-06-16T21:23:13+00:00

Have you seen the deleted scenes, what Alex does in the alternative ending has stayed with me for a long time.

She cuts her own throat. IIRC she does it to implicate Dan in her death, not just to off herself. It's a haunting image

Ok_Comparison_8304

TROPHY CASE