The Rose & Crown

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This topic contains 990 replies, has 68 voices, and was last updated by  Craig 9 years, 3 months ago.

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  • #17688
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    I can’t remember if anyone’s posted this, but seeing as we shamelessly promote ourselves on Dan Martin’s Guardian blog:

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/danmartin/26-reasons-the-bbc-is-actually-brilliant

    #17689
    Anonymous @

    @rob is back!  Welcome back, friend.  What’s up?

    #17690
    Rob @rob

    @Shazzbot 😀

    Working away from home and for some strange reason it seams that Wiltshire is in the void or time locked with sssssllllooooowwwwwww interthingy in fact snailmail is faster than email

    So with 36 hours a week at home only have time to pop in

    Missing you all and greatly looking forward to Whovember 🙂

    Saw that the Moff is talking about linking Children of Earth Fires and 13 ….. intriguing

    Mahoosive hugs all around

    #17853
    Anonymous @

    OK, this is one for the boys.  Hubba hubba  :-).

    I found a post on the Guardian by MercyCroft who linked to this picture of Katy Manning (and more …).

    MercyCroft
    04 October 2013 3:38pm

    Do you mean THIS Katy Manning, who’s clearly showing us the most effective way to disable a Dalek?

    #17917
    Anonymous @

    (re-posting to ensure members have a chance to see this …)

    OH MY GOSH!

    I was second-time lucky in the latest draw for remaining Doctor Who Celebration tickets.

    I have purchased 4 tickets in the Ice Warrior category for Friday 22nd November.

    Any Forum members who are available on that date to go to the Excel in London, please PM me.

    #17964
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    So, I tried this ‘Are you an Internet addict’ quiz on the Guardian – and got a result of ‘you barely even seem to know what the internet is’.

    Apparently my ability to maintain websites and my having to be physically dragged away from the screen rate as nothing -when weighed against the heinous crime of not caring about posting a selfie on Instagram 😀

    #18128
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    @Shazzbot: Right! I’ll have pitcher of margaritas please- and one glass! Not exactly weeping, just feeling a bit shakey.

    @scaryb: thank you! you can uncross them now. Think it went ok… its weird doing exams on a computer, I kept getting worried about the structure, having to remind myself they’re not marked in quite the same way as assessments. Used lots of examples, so that was good…

    @Bluesqueakpip- that was fantastic advice- very true yet I had never heard it before. Than you for reminding me to take the time at the beginning to select which questions to answer.

    Now I can start on my creative writing module that started five days ago…

    #18130
    Anonymous @

    @miapatrick – Wha-hey!  I’m sure our barmaid is around somewhere …

    Or, even our barman … :-D.

     

    #18145
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    @miapatrick – glad the advice came in handy. It’s the product of sitting several OU exams. 😯

    Creative Writing? A215 by any chance? I did that two years back, so if you find that you need someone to give you feedback, feel free to PM me.

    #18147
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    @Bluesqueakpip- it is indeed and thank you, that would be great. I was actually working myself up to ask you since you’d mentioned that you did it a while ago 😉

    #18156
    ScaryB @scaryb

    @miapatrick

    Glad it went OK. Any margueritas left…?

    Barman!

    #18185
    ScaryB @scaryb

    Pub games to pass the next 20 mins –

    Currently trending on Twitter – #DoctorWhoSitcoms

    eg 2 Pints of Custard and a Packet of Fish Fingers, Modern Family of Blood, and this is my fav –

    Embedded image permalink

    #18186
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    Only Fools and Daleks.

    Till Regeneration Do Us Part.

    Last of the Artron Energy.

    Time Lords Behaving Badly.

     

    #18187
    wolfweed @wolfweed

    @scaryb – Great!

     

    ‘Alons-y Fools & Horses’ by Rufus Hound

    ‘Everybody Loves Raymond Cusick’ by Gareth Roberts

    ‘Terry Nation & June’ by Scottish Falsetto Sock

    God there’s loads!

    #18188
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    Drop the Dead Dalek

    The Vicar of Gallifrey

    Ever Decreasing Time Vortex

    #18221
    ScaryB @scaryb

    Cheers @everyone…

    Last thought before I slide under the table (again) – is it complete coincidence that 7.2’s Big Bad was the GI? Who has just been rediscovered. Feeling very meta all of a sudden… *hic*

    This is nice article in the Graun – http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2013/oct/11/doctor-who-missing-episodes-enemy-of-the-world-web-of-fear?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

     

    PS Everybody Loves Raxacoricofallapotorius

    Porridge (but not the one you think!)

    (oh and thanks @wolfweed for compliment on my facelift; time to get furry.  Thank you for all the pics)

     

    G’night all

    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    #18222
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @scaryb

    is it complete coincidence that 7.2′s Big Bad was the GI?

    Indeed.

    It now all makes sense. Why re-introduce the GI to an audience who, for the most part, would never have been aware of the GI?

    For this reason alone, everyone (even @jimthefish !!) should be watching “The Web of Fear”.

    I am not sure that the connection between the GI and new Who will necessarily carry over into the 50th special–that seems to be headed in a different direction…the Kennedy assassination and breaking the 4th wall, of course! But it may continue to play out in season 8.

    As @scaryb has pointed out, this is more new old Who than has been discovered in the previous 25 years. A cause for celebration, if ever there was one.

     

     

    #18225
    Anonymous @

    Re: Doctor Who Sitcoms…

    The Ood Couple

    Dad’s Army Of Ghosts

    Bless This House

    Cyberman About The House

    The Pandorica Opens All Hours

    The Doctor In The House

    Absorbolofly Fabulous

    Are Ood Being Served?

    #18233
    FishComBobulated @fishcombobulated

    @scaryb

    The same thought passed throuh my mind as I watched the first two episodes tonight. Which thought then transmuted: How long has SM known about and been watching these lost episodes? And how much have they informed his choices on many levels, from the inclusion of The Great Intelligence in his writing to the casting of Peter Capaldi (after seeing just how well the older actors with their wiser, more age worn visages work when you get down to basics of telly-making).

    What a night! “Web of Fear” is an absolute revelation! I am such a giddy goat.

    #18235

    It’s almost as if some of the footage needed to be remastered to make it ready for broadcast…

    #18244
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    Mark Gatiss also mentioned in the various interviews that his script for Sherlock S3 has been influenced by Web of Fear. So it’s pretty clear the production team probably got to watch the episodes as soon as they were vaguely watchable.

    Which might well have been ‘as soon as they were returned’ – Philip Morris was saying what good condition they were in, considering their age and the Nigerian climate.

    Wonder if Richard E. Grant got to see them as well?

    #18247
    FishComBobulated @fishcombobulated

    @IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan – They needed to be remastered (and what a fine job), but I imagine that SM et al got to see them these past several months if not years in some cases. And the influence from them on the direction of writing and casting has been quite palpable.

    @bluesqueakpip – Given what Gatiss said, and the journalistic work done by certian sites like Bleeding Cool over the last several months, compounded by the fact that all implications point to the Beeb having known this for possibly at least one or more years while they could collect the eps, hence allowed Moffatt and Gatiss and select others to view the lost eps before the remastering process even began, only allowing those at the highest levels of Who creators via NDAs in a most clandestine manner, to take secret advantage of the wealth of the Lost Classics in their writing processes. Occam’s Razor. It’s the simplest explanation to so, so many choices in the direction that these showrunners and writers have taken over the whole last season. Not to mention the casting of Capaldi.

    #18430
    Anonymous @

    @shazzbot @scaryb  Thanks for the support 🙂

    I wish my reasons for quitting were health motivated. However, without wanting to get ‘political’, with the cuts to Housing/Council Tax benefit it was that or be unable to afford heating this Winter 👿  So sadly, I still can’t make it to London. Still, I’m optimistic about being back in work soon and I’m sure the opportunity for a future meet-up will present itself (2015 will, after all, be the 10th AG Who Anniversary).

    I had a bit of a lapse last night. Had a ‘hot date’ and with it being the first time I’ve seen the inside of a pub (or had a drink!) for over a year, I got a bit carried away and has a couple of cigars. 😳

    #18727

    @jimthefish

    Continued from here:

    But it’s not their job, is it? They’re trying to get as much of their shit in the paper as they can

    The smart ones know that that is exactly their job: anything they do to get a rep for making the hack’s day easier means that when they have something they want to promote (or …. er… unpromote) the more likely they are to get a sympathetic hearing (one of a former colleague’s favourite yarns was of his first editor picking up the phone to Tim Bell and – being a tad the worse for lunch – laying down the law about how to treat reporters). Trouble is most of ’em a Pretty Little Posh Girls too thick to get a proper job.

    Actually, it’s all three. I know a lot of good reporters who don’t get the chance to chase good stories because they’re having to top and tail press releases and churn out nibs and fillers all day.

    Likewise, but ultimately it is the training. If all they know how to do is spot “a story” they do a disservice to their readers. And the quality of the writing is fucking shit these days as well. And that brings up the lack of decent subs….

    Put through in-house law courses and then dumped out there and left to get on with it. It’s how it always used to be done and I think it produces better journos than sitting in a lecture hall for four years.

    Absolutely (I was fortunate enough to have an excellent news editor who taught me more in six weeks than my next one did in two years).

    Don’t agree in the slightest. Apple gets an embarrassingly easy ride.

    Clearly you don’t read the business pages.

    And quietly downgrading the little issue of workers’ rights in the factories etc. on many occasions

    Or – as is actually happening – ignoring that all electronics makers use the same factories, but that only one of them is signed up to the Fair Labour Association, only one that has run audits since 2007, only one that a track record of firing suppliers who employ child labour (after it’s own auditors caught them). Which one do you think that might be?

    Of course, the most high profile story about Apple’s abuses turned out to be a complete 100% fabrication.

    Foxconn’s suicide rate is lower than China’s as a whole and when  Apple made them cut back on shifts it was the workers who complained. The problem is not Apple, but the West’s jumping so enthusiastically into bed with China in the name of cheap trinkets. The same factories build for Samsung, HTC, Moto, Blackberry etc etc.

    But the headlines only mention the one firm that has tried do some little thing about it (the same one that was one of the first in the USA to treat gay couples on exactly the same footing as straight for workers rights purposes)

    “The Story” vs “The Truth”.

    The lack of the most basic fact checking is appalling. I bought one of their toys once, so thought I’d do some checking.

    (If you want an entirely different subject, look at the way Barry Hearn gets treated about his attempts to blag Orient into the Olympic Stadium – again, basic questions not being asked)

    Doesn’t matter.

    It very does matter. Hypocrisy is not a sound basis for a creed.

    Besides, news should be defined as “Stuff voters need to know”. Everything else is entertainment.

    ‘More people are buying life insurance, a survey by an insurance company has found.’

    That’s changed then – I used to write that shit on a Friday (‘cos I could actually interpret the research and weed the puff out).

    But I have now more or less washed my hands of the whole grubby business now and am now trying to figure out what the hell I’m going to do with the rest of my working life….

    You and me both. The occasional feature like this: Of metaphors and monsters but little else (excuse going via my blog, but EG slightly arsed up the intro on the online version).

     

    #18731
    ScaryB @scaryb

    @jimthefish @pedant

    er… hope I’m not interrupting

    😉

    Fascinating discussion tho, and argued with passion on both sides. I would add that some editors are very keenly aware of the pressures put on them by owners/boards/CEOs to run with particular stories “which are of special interest to their readers”. Sounds OK? What it means is that there is a narrowly defined demographic which is targeted by the papers to the exclusion of developing new readerships by eg running stories with a wider brief, which possibly require a bit more journalistic skill.  Celebs? Great. Soundbite? Fab. Regurgitated months old story of a celeb “who was nearly the new Doctor”? Wonderful – run it! If the editors don’t comply, they’re out the door.

    There’s also the problem that news, and more especially features, are seen as secondary to advertising space. A late sale on ad space comes in – story space gets squeezed, or bumped altogether.

    Meanwhile I submit this amusing piece from the BBC website on the prickly tale of Jumpergate, which apparently had the wires buzzing this week, and seems pertinent to the discussion – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24586951

    (Start with what you want the story to be and never mind that the truth might not quite fit)

    Now just don’t get me started on subs 😈

     

    #18738

    @scaryb

    (Start with what you want the story to be and never mind that the truth might not quite fit)

    Jumpergate is the classic – Davey was maybe a bit naive in following a leading question, but that is no excuse. “A story” not “the truth.” And yes, of course truth is multi-faceted, but whether the Davey household wears jumpers is not one of the facets. Indeed it distracts from the truth: which is that very-high-fixed-cost utilities cannot be run as private businesses (and that customers, rather than shareholders, are being asked to pick up the tab for investment). Because that is a truth that the current conventional wisdom  – led by the most barren, empty and vacuous era for economics since before Adam Smith – will not permit on the table.

    But there is nothing in principle wrong with a newspaper or mag “writing to its readership” – indeed, in advertising-financed media it would be suicide not to. But have publishers clung for far, far too long to an obsolete business model (much as music, film and TV still try to). And with people now used to content being free at the point of delivery, putting the genie back in the bottle is no simple task. Apple (ooh, look: Apple again) demonstrated with the iTunes Music Store that if you make something available in a very easy to consume format at a reasonable and easy to grasp price, people will buy into it in bulk. So there is at least one alternative model.

    But a rush to the bottom is not the solution in a democracy – except for the powerful, who don’t want to be investigated.

    A free press needs to be free of much, much more than government interference.

    #18740
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    customers, rather than shareholders, are being asked to pick up the tab for investment

    @pedant – that’s rather a given, isn’t it, in an era where the shareholders are allowed to insist that the management focus on maximising their return to shareholders.

    ‘Shareholder value’ – a principle that has destroyed many fine companies.

    #18754

    @bluesqueakpip

    management focus on maximising their return to shareholders.’Shareholder value’ – a principle that has destroyed many fine companies.

    Or asset stripping as it is otherwise known. All part of “the most barren, empty and vacuous era for economics since before Adam Smith”

    #19073
    Timeloop @timeloop

    Not sure where to put this, but I thought it to be halarious and some of you might enjoy it as well:

    They made a Sherlock version of CLUEDO =D See pictures here and here , the board game is sold by the official BBC Shop =D

     

    #19083
    Anonymous @

    I’ve noticed a couple of new members have also adopted ‘Maldovar’ as their avatar. Maybe we could form our own Blue Man Group tribute act 🙂

    #19189
    Timeloop @timeloop

    Why is it so quiet in this forum just one month before the 50th?

    #19313
    Anonymous @

    @shazzbot

    I’d only have asked you to post in the Rose & Crown had your rambling photos in your link included people with ‘interesting ideas’ on how much clothing to wear in public. 🙂

    I assume your referring to ‘The Naked Rambler’. As a fellow naturist, I consider him a Hero only I haven’t the guts to go ‘au naturel’ outside the confines of ‘allocated spaces’ or when I’m sat ‘On The Sofa’ 🙂

    #19317
    Anonymous @

    @fatmaninabox

    I haven’t the guts to go ‘au naturel’ outside the confines of ‘allocated spaces

    Is that what you’re calling your restraining order nowadays?  😆

    #19320
    stevethewhistle @steve-thorp

    @fatmaninabox, @Shazzbot

    With the bumper crops of nettles, thistles and brambles in recent years, I would have thought that naked rambling was not a very practical idea.

    I have not come across the naked rambler or his female companion on my travels, but photos of me streaking (I have retired from it now.) in the wilds of Derbyshire may still exist from the mid 1970s, when I used to go walking with the Manchester University Hiking Club. (The things some people do for free beer!)

     

     

    #19329
    Anonymous @

    @steve-thorp

    photos of me streaking (I have retired from it now.) in the wilds of Derbyshire may still exist from the mid 1970s

    1st rule of naked rambling:- destroy all evidence 🙂

    (The things some people do for free beer!)

    Back when I was younger and a bit more reckless, I’d have done it for nought 🙂 but not near nettles, ouch!

    #19572
    WhoHar @whohar

    @pedant @jimthefish

    An interesting discussion. In terms of getting the truth out there you would think t’internet would be an enabler. However it seems to be going the other way because:
    a) there is so much shit out there that people revert to what they know eg BBC, Guardian…
    b) The opportunity to spout shit is increased exponentially so disinformation abounds.
    c) Google is ubiqitous and – because it tracks and profiles – it limits your choices

    #19574
    WhoHar @whohar

    @bluesqueakpip

    “shareholder value”

    I think the key here is whether the shareholder value is short term (effectively asset stripping) or long term which is more aligned with a sustainable business and employee interests.

    Sadly neo liberal bullshit means 95% of companies are run for the short term

    #19575
    Anonymous @

    @whohar

    Google is ubiqitous and – because it tracks and profiles – it limits your choices

    Well, I use DuckDuckGo, and I have AdBlocker ** and Ghostery in my Firefox browser.  It is indeed possible to live a Google-free (and ad-free) life.

    ** I used to do computer mentoring at a community centre in central London, and the first thing that hit me (and I mean, almost literally HIT me, as in an ocular assault) was the ads on every web page.  Jumping, dancing, blinking, moving, flashing … I almost felt nauseous.  Isn’t that reaction a bit, erm, counter-productive for the advertisers?  ‘See our product, think about ralphing‘.

    #19578
    WhoHar @whohar

    @shazzbot

    I too use DuckDuckGo but 95% of t’internet don’t.

    The ads don’t actually bother me that much now as I have developed selective viewing when online so can basically ignore them.

    #19579
    WhoHar @whohar

    “Ralphing” though. Class.

    Ralph and Huey would always be there at the end of a night.

    #20280
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    First assignment for my creative writing course- 89%.

    Am opening a tab for @Bluesqueakpip- thank you so much for your help.

    #20281
    Anonymous @

    @miapatrick – wha-hey!

    We’ll raise a few non-virtual drinks for you at the pub gathering two weeks from tonight.  So sorry you can’t make it down to London to celebrate with us in person, though.  🙁

    #20282
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    @miapatrick – 89% ! Whooo hoooo! Well done you!

    (What she’s very modestly not saying is that above 85% is ‘shows potential for publication’.)

    😀

    #20287
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    @Shazzbot- thank you. Really wish I was going- there’s always next year, right? (I did hear a suggestion of a meet up live blog with pictures of the dogs taking food. I like pictures of dogs, especially when they’re taking food 😉 )

    @bluesqueakpip 😉 defiantly make it all the sweeter!

    #20289
    Anonymous @

    @miapatrick – if anyone at the table is eating, my boy Triton will have his whiskered nose thrust so far up their fork they won’t know where the tines end and his nostrils begin.  😀

    #20294
    Miapatrick @miapatrick

    Sounds like a good boy! 🙂

    #20295
    Pufferfish @pufferfish

    @shazzbot – I see your Airedales and raise you one ancient whippet in Ood cosplay fail:

    #20296
    Anonymous @

    @pufferfish – you now are REQUIRED to come to the pub get-together!  😀

    #20297
    Anonymous @

    @miapatrick — congratulations!! Help yourself to an extra jammy dodger or six. You’ve earned it.

    #20299
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    I’ll just add my congratulations @miapatrick. Hope you’ve had a couple in celebration!

Viewing 50 posts - 251 through 300 (of 991 total)

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