Bluey's Dad

Well, there's the AFL's out. Jobe's suspension was imposed by WADA, not the AFL Tribunal. Jobe therefore technically was never suspended by the AFL Tribunal and thus technically can keep his medal. Sigh.

Indeed. My vomit bag is at the ready.

He'll probably be given some sort of bonus. Will likely take it in stubbies.

Absolutely brilliant! I imagine the last few lines would apply to a variety of AFL topics. Hilarious.

Episode 7 is the best one so far, and I think Episode 3 with his prison flashbacks. The best episodes seem to be the ones set in the past. Jessica Jones is far superior, I'd watch that first.

I haven't seen Twin Peaks, but my number #1 TV show of all time is Babylon 5. JMS (the author/director/producer) planned the entire 5 season run before he began shooting the pilot, from memory I think he wrote or co-wrote every episode except 3 or 4 of them. Quite an achievement for 5 seasons of 20 or so episodes, plus 5 telemovies. The way the plot threads meet up with each other years later is astounding. Season 1 has a time travel episode, which shoots scenes from season 3. Then in season 3, you see the same episode from that point of view. There are plot threads that don't pay off until season 5. At the end of season 4, he was told the show would not be renewed, so he shot the last episode. He was then thrown a lifeline by another network, and continued onto season 5, HAVING ALREADY SHOT THE FINAL EPISODE!! If you watch the show in chronological order, you actually have to stop before the end of season 4, watch season 5, then watch the final episode of season 4 because that's actually the 'last episode'. It's only let down by 2 things - special effects (which were revolutionary at the time, but are now dated), and a few miscast actors. I was a Star Trek kid, so had actually stayed away from Babylon 5 in my teenage years. I watched it in my 20's, and I'm glad I did, the subtleties would been lost on on my younger self. There's no way I would have been able to follow the politics of the various races and governments at the age of 10 or 11. DS9's politics, although interesting, weren't nearly as deep as B5. B5 also has 2 astounding actors in Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas, the latter of which is the only actor who's been talented enough to make me cry while acting through layers and layers of alien latex make-up. Andreas's character, G'Kar, goes through a character arc so extreme, and done so brilliantly, I don't think we'll ever see it done again on TV. It took an author planning ahead 5 years and one of the most talented actors I've ever seen to pull it off. Some of his speeches gave me shivers. @A F I highly recommend Jessica Jones if you get the chance. Krysten Ritter is AMAZING, as is David Tennant. Luke Cage is good, but not on the same level. Someone linked me a story the other day that internet idiots are complaining the Luke Cage (the show, not the character) is too black. It's about a black superhero who lives in Harlem, I'm not sure what people were expecting, and his comic book is rooted in the blacksploitation frenzy of the 70's.

woah woah woah. Are you telling me Phillip K Dick's novel has been made into a TV series? Is it at all loyal or has it just been turned into a crappy 'what if the Nazis won' thing? Also OZ is brilliant. Despite some pretty outlandish storylines, it keeps pretty grounded and the characters are just so well written and acted. I can't say enough good things about it. I think I might pop it back on my re-watch list, after I finally get around to Luke Cage and Stranger Things (both Netflix shows). While I'm on Netflix, I highly recommend Jessica Jones. Some people will be turned off by it being a Marvel property, but it works as a single season run in its own right. I probably am little biased though as David Tennant plays the villain. I watched it right after Dr Who, so it added a lot to the unsettling mood after watching him as the Doctor, then as a sexual abuser. Just on Amazon, if it comes to Australia, do you know how much of the catalogue we'll get access to?

I'm stealing this one.

Wow. 'Asked to go with the story', a step further than my own conspiracy theory. Chris Kaias was a great source of clarity during the ongoing media misinformation saga (if that poster is indeed him). Tweet from Andy Maher. Still nothing solid (what bf post is), but very disturbing. Fits the narrative of the players knowing what was going on. Good link, thanks Ted

Or it was a flimsy excuse to get himself out of the regime without pissing everyone off. Or he said no and made up the needles thing when it all came out, to cover for his mates. Like I said before, the players' lack of disclosure on their ASADA testing forms indicates that they were complicit. They knew, they hid it. Otherwise it's a bloody big coincidence that 34 players 'forgot' they were taking 'thymo' when filling out their forms. From there, I infer that Zaharakis knew, didn't get involved, and made some [censored] up about needles so he didn't have to take a moral high ground stance or rat out his friends. Sounds pretty clever to me. But really, who knows, right? The truth is buried at the bottom of a shredder.

Well, this thread certainly has been... educational.

Not true. He had a press conference and did some interviews. Clearly a media [censored].

Agreed. It's further compounded by the text messages between some of them asking if they 'go their thymo' injection yet. Text your teammate to ask if they got their shot, but not write down the shot on the disclosure form? I reckon the players have gotten off very lightly, the media could have gone very hard but didn't.

What further astounds me is that even if one subscribed to the 'players are victims' narrative, then the EFC is surely the perpetrator? The lack of outcry against the EFC continually astounds me. My only explanation is that the players' lawyers have told them to keep quiet until settlement talks have concluded.

The other week someone called it 'Max Gawn's Magic Chunder'. Perfect forum name if ever there was one.

Thank you for putting it much more eloquently than I was about it to! Remarkable and foolish comments, as you say.

On a purely theoretical level Nasher, I agree. He's done his time, we move on and hope he plays well for us. But my gut doesn't feel right about it. I accept the situation, but with some unease. I feel the same way about Hibberd. I don't think there's anything rational about the feeling, it's just there.

@Nasher we have a paging system? nice! Oh and something something Declan Keilty.

Yep, Watchman is probably #1, agreed, followed by the Dark Knight, but both of those are DC properties. Having read a lot of Deadpool, it didn't seem bold or fresh to me, it felt like an extremely loyal translation from the comics. I was really pleased with it, and really liked having an actual Russian Colossus. For some reason he was American in the other X-man movies. But yeah overall, comic book movies seem to be in decline. It's really unfortunate given there is still so much untapped potential. DC in particular has a lot of material to work with, and are only bound by the continuity of 3 films, where Marvel's movie universe has a much greater continuity burden when considering new properties. The bat family in particular is a very rich vein. BvS alluded to Jason Todd, and I'd love to see some Robins on the big screen. Before DC went and retconned the hell out of everything, they were getting to a really interesting place with Batman. He was actually starting to heal his psychological scarring by building proper relationships with his surrogate sons. A mentally healthy Batman was an interesting prospect to comic book readers who have been subject to watching Bruce get lumped with drama and death for decades. But DC squibbed it. I'd love to see an on-screen parental relationship with Bruce & Dick/Jason/Tim and see where they take it.

I actually enjoyed that fight scene, but other than that I agree it wasn't great. Age Ultron was indeed horrible. I enjoyed the first avengers movie much more. Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool are my favourite Marvel movies. First Class as well (Fox I know, but Marvel characters).

Watched the extended BvS last night. You were right, it is a significant improvement on the original theatrical release. It fixed the biggest problem with the movie, which was that the conflict between Superman and Batman felt forced. The extended version really gives a lot more air to their motivations, as well as Luthor's plan. Even Luthor is a better character, with more references to his father and gods, the significance of making Superman kneel in front of him is enhanced greatly. The parallel between Luthor and Bruce is much clearer as well, with both being frustrated with the new paradigm of what 'power' means in a world with Superman in it. Both feel impotent, and react in different ways. Although this is suggested in the original, it's fleshed out in the extended version and the characters feel much more 3 dimensional as a result. Showing Luthor behind the killings of bat-branded criminals is also a huge change. This should never have been cut, as it caused a massive outcry in the theatrical release when people thought Batman was marking people for death. Wonder Woman is actually referred to as "Ms Prince", which is great, because in the original she had no name at all! Superman saves a lot more people as well, and goes a long way towards showing the audience that he's a symbol for hope. You still don't get what I like to call the "Christopher Reeve tingle" when he's on screen, but it's significantly better. It still has a couple of issues, but by fixing the central one, the other issues aren't nearly as bad. The extra time given to the African incursion conspiracy was really worthwhile, to the point where I can't understand why it was cut. It makes A LOT more sense in the new version. I guess it was a time thing, with the extended version coming in at 3 hours. Watchmen is also one of my favourite movies. Could talk for hours about that flick. Loved it. I am still shaking my head over Suicide Squad. It was terrible.

As a DC fanboy, this pleases me greatly. I'm gonna go grab a copy! Thanks Ethan :D

Currently rewatching Firefly. Still one of the best TV shows ever.

I also loved it. The first episode it probably the weakest.

There's a show called 'Ascension' on Netflix that has an interesting premise. Kennedy approves and launches and inter-generational spaceship in the 60's in secret, with the aim of preserving the human race in case of nuclear war. Now, 50 years later, the ship is populated by the children and grandchildren of the original crew, and has its own political system and society. The ship is rocked by its first ever murder and they are completely unequipped to investigate and handle the situation. It sounds very interesting. Do not be fooled. It is horrible. Stay well clear.