hardtack

That or a high incidence of dysentery

I loved watching kids almost choking themselves to death trying to out drink Gerry Gee while Ron Blasket (a tisket a tasket) looked on with a sadistic grin across his dial. King Corky and Princess Panda were always a bit dodgy (rumor was that PP went on to work in adult films). Happy Hammond was a snappy dresser in his plaid suits. Even as a child I could tell that Uncle Norman was a senile old [censored]; still have a vivid picture in my mind of the time he broke his leg on live TV falling down the tiered seats as he walked through his audience.

Rivers was a more than handy backman... and would have been regardless of who he played for (unfortunately, by the time he got to Geelong, injuries had gotten the better of him).

Yeah, it seems to happen to a lot of them... De Niro, Depp, Steve Martin, Oldman etc. Lure of the easy $ maybe?

He and Gudinski...had to have $20 each way...I'm a happy once a year punter (truth be known, I only found out about those connections after the race).

And what else is boxing if not violence at its most primal... I think Raging Bull is a brilliant piece of film making and one of De Niro's finest moments.

In some ways I prefer Woody's left of centre films like Zelig and Shadows and Fog.

Fair enough... I'm just not unhappy that we have him there in the meantime :-)

Not every player needs to be flexible... sometimes there can be an advantage in having a playing who is good at just one thing, and I feel that in defence that is not always such a bad quality to possess.

I think Jetta will stay ahead in the pecking order simply because the others (Wagner and Smith) lack the raw aggression that he brings to the game. I'm not too concerned over his disposal by foot as his job is more to lock the ball down and get it to someone who can move it out of defence quickly (Hunt etc). Like you, this is just my take on it.

I'll be doing my usual new year's pilgrimage to Melbourne with my youngest son, arriving on the 3rd of January and staying for about 10 days. I'm hoping this will get us the opportunity to watch 2 or 3 sessions... I remember at the beginning of this year there was one at Gosch's followed by one at Casey in the first week of the new year (hoping it will be the same this year).

Well it's funny how these things happen, but I just turned on the TV to watch some Melbourne Cup day action, and there on Foxtel's TCM channel is "5 Million Years to Earth" (aka Quatermass and the Pit)! Guess which won out for my viewing pleasure :-)

Yeah, I'm a big fan of that as well... Bruce Dern was excellent. I just have a real soft spot for 50's and 60's sci-fi.

I'm currently waiting on a number of blurays I ordered from Amazon in the UK. Firstly Lindsay Anderson's brilliant "If" and then four films from the Japanese director/actor/author/talk show host Kitano "Beat" Takeshi: "Hana-bi" (Fireworks), "Kikujiro's Summer", "Dolls" and "A Scene at the Sea". If you haven't seen anything by "Beat" Takeshi, I would recommend you try to check some out. Japan has turned out some superb directors and he is right up there with the best. They may not be everyone's cup of green tea, but there's only one way to find out for yourself.

Love, love, love it!!! Along with Forbidden Planet and Earth vs the Flying Saucers, that is one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made.

Ok, we can go to the movies together :-)

Haha! Well, I'm guessing we won't be going to the movies together :-)

Many years ago (decades even), there was a beautiful old heritage listed pub in George Street Sydney which was standing in an area where Harry Seidler and his cohorts were constructing what is now Grosvenor Place. They suggested to the Sydney council (I think it was) that the pub was unstable and should be demolished, but their request was rejected...just a couple of weeks later the pub caught fire a Seidler suggested again that the remaining shell was a hazard and should be demolished. They were ordered to repair the facade of the building which was then incorporated into the final Grosvenor Place building to great effect. i never liked Seidler and that effort did nothing to raise him in my esteem.

I've liked just about everything that Tarantino has been involved in... while The Hateful 8 might not be his best, it's still a very good film. Inglorious Basterds was excellent and Django was very very good... I also absolutely love Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs. However, a couple of my favourite films that he was connected to but that weren't directed by him are, True Romance and Desperado. As far as directors go, I think Tarantino is one of the more consistently good, possibly only surpassed by (in my opinion) the Cohen Brothers (although I also place Jarmusch and Herzog pretty much up there as well).

I thought LS&2SB's was a brilliant piece of circular story telling. It virtually started a whole new genre of British gangland films that were comically violent like its follow up Snatch, Sexy Beast, In Bruges and so on. As for your list of films, most are films I enjoy watching but there are a few I don't get too excited about. I'm a big Wes Anderson fan though... even though they are not of the same ilk, but as you liked Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (I love that film also... sequel not so much), then you might enjoy The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Darjeeling Limited.

Green was the Lions leading goal kicker twice in what was essentially 4 seasons. His last season (in which he kicked 25 goals by the way) and half of this season were cruelled by injury: http://www.lions.com.au/news/2016-01-13/injury-update-green He was delisted because he was asking for too many $'s and an agreement couldn't be reached... this probably reflected more on his injuries and the fact it might take time for him to fully recover from his foot injury than his abilities, so he would have been deemed as not being worth the $500k he was asking: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/pay-dispute-leads-to-josh-greens-departure-from-brisbane-lions-20161025-gs9uw7.html I don't think he would be a waste of a rookie place at all... he really impressed me in a number of games I saw him play early in his career at a time when the Lions weren't at such a low ebb.

Hopefully he does better than Ang Lee did with The Hulk.

RIP Pete Burns, frontman for the 80's 'glam rock/disco' band, Dead or Alive (massive cardiac arrest)...was never a fan, but You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) was interesting if nothing else. 2016 seems to be the year of taking as opposed to giving where pop culture is concerned.

You HAVE to be taking the [censored]! I'd be interested to hear what you consider to be a great film.

Has anyone bothered to check in Arkham Asylum?