MikeJD

Finally saw it last night, and making allowances for the fact that it is just a movie, I had a great time. The only things that bothered me (includes SPOILERS) were: 1) The nods to the original series, although they were part of the fun, made things a bit uneven. So on one hand we have fantastic, spectacular CGI but then we also have aliens that are clearly just girls in green body paint or little people dressed up in latex suits, and given that they could have done so much more on that score I can only think that was part of the homage. 2) It looked like there'd been some last-minute cutting, maybe to get the length down (or maybe to secure a younger certificate). For instance one minute we're seeing the brain bug thingy being force-fed to Captain Pike and then we don't see him again until his rescue (after which, presumably, they manage to extract the thing again, although no mention is made of it) - there has to have been a deleted scene or two in there. 3) The whole time travel plotline seemed redundant - it had the whiff of being inserted just to allow Leonard Nimoy to appear in his original role. Fun movie, though, and a nice reboot to the franchise. After that great start, I only hope the sequel turns out to be more Dark Knight than Quantum of Solace.

I'm an ugly, boring guy. If you're not using that crutch, can I borrow it for a while?

Me too. Me three. I can understand how some of his early remarks upset people - but has anybody actually met him in the flesh yet? Because there is no "meeting" people on internet forums. I think he may turn out to be no more or less offensive than the average jumper. And I have to say (at the risk of boosting his supposed arrogance) that I've never seen anybody roll with the punches as well as he has in this thread - lots of really quite vicious posts directed at him, and not a single insult in return. How often do you see that in an internet forum?

It's the whole 'single word' thing that's the problem, and seems like a pointless restriction. I can think of any number of 2-word phrases for each of these. I had a look here. 1) What about 'unruffled' or 'unflappable'? They also list 'levelheaded' which is probably best, but I don't like it as a single word. 2) How about 'collaborative' for number 2? That's the best I can do to suggest someone who is team minded. I think you've already got good words for point 3.

Well, you could still get to dress up as one!

Although I hear they've started doing that sky jumping stuff in other countries as well now. When I think of the 'skydiving community', it's on a worldwide scale - and it's still a small community! For me one of the greatest pleasures of the sport has been travelling a few thousand miles to a big annual boogie, and jumping again with many of the same people I know from past years - lots of whom have also come from abroad.

Oh, cool! When I was a kid, my favourite bit of lego was a little turntable thing - two circular pieces snapped together that could freely rotate. Seriously, that was the height of lego sophistication back in the day. Anyway, that's the piece of cosmic lego I'd want to be.

Now, you two. Don't tease the new guy. Although this does bring back fond memories of the old Eloy DZ bus whose original lettering had been doctored so that it read 'First Assembly of SkyGods'. Austin, new forums appear extremely rarely. But you can post about whatever you like here (within the rules) - and everyone does!

Welcome to England!

I thought I'd already addressed this.

I'm with you, Nataly. I couldn't finish the book because I disliked the writing style so much. For me he's one of those authors who tries to create excitement through excitable writing, which leaves me cold - his corny 'cliffhanger' chapter endings in particular really put me off. I guess the hype was a factor for me too because it added to the disappointment. Funny that somebody else mentioned Robert Ludlum since for me he's an even worse offender! The authors I really like create atmosphere with a lot more economy. Ian McEwan, Martin Cruz Smith and Robert Harris come to mind. All that said, Mr Brown is the best-selling millionaire and I'm not, so... Sorry, that's all pretty off-topic. I haven't seen the Da Vinci Code and I'll give Angels and Demons a miss unless it gets rave reviews. I like Tom Hanks but he's not enough of a draw.

You can't go back to Constantinople. Been a long time gone, apparently.

'Moose' is also slang for an unattractive woman, so it always makes me giggle too because it's so offensive! I think it's UK-specific slang though - am I right?

Maybe it's a confidence thing rather than a learning problem. If it's her responsibility to make sure the report is correct, it could be that she needs the reassurance of someone looking over her shoulder rather than that she doesn't understand how to do it. If whoever is helping her were to be 'unavailable' a couple of times, she might suddenly discover that she can do it after all and that would break the cycle.

I have to side with Amazon on this. Most 'reality' TV just seems cheap, cynical and nasty. Plenty of people smarter than me enjoy it, but I think like the whole celebrity culture in general it sends the message that it's ok to be dumb, insincere and offensive as long as you're a 'character'. Some of the US shows seem even worse than the British ones. I love that little caveat where they say some scenes have been recreated for entertainment purposes. No, really? Anyway, I'll go away now to complete my transformation into my Dad.

You'd probably have to be pretty unlucky to get in any real trouble, but even so it's not for me. If you're going to do it, why not keep it within the dz.com community? People are all over, and you've already got a connection. I'd feel much happier putting up somebody that I'd talked to on here. As long as they hadn't been mean to me on here.

Step away from the binary code...

What I'd really like to know is, do animals wake up and realise it was a dream, like we do? I'm guessing that kind of concept is beyond them, so that as far as they're concerned dreaming experience and waking experience are all the same. No wonder they act so weird sometimes.

There's a big cat sanctuary very close to my home DZ in Kent (England). When we camp in the summer we can sometimes hear them roaring at night, which is kind of cool. Also, the enclosures are open-topped - and it is possible to find yourself over that way depending on the spot. A couple of weeks ago someone ended up landing on the site, luckily between the enclosures rather than in any of them. Tiger attack would have made for a pretty unusual incident report.

I misread that the first time. I thought you were saying it evolved into a higher life form, and then you married it!

Depends how near the back it is. As long as I can't see it, it's fine.

Nice pics! The first one, where the reflection isn't so obvious, is quite something. I like the comments on there that the tiger is just curious and the little girl probably would have been perfectly safe without the glass. Yeah, riiight. Agree that domestic pets are generally more tolerant of children, but tigers and snakes?

Oh, I think caving is very cool. It's just not for me. Probably a topic for another thread, but I'd like to know whether any cavers on here have had to overcome a feeling of claustrophobia, or whether they are all just naturally immune to it. I'm not a chronic claustrophobic - I'm ok riding on tube trains and in lifts - but crawling through a tunnel under a few hundred feet of rock? Nope. I remember reading Tim Cahill's account of guys spending days underground and sleeping halfway along tunnels too small to turn around in. If that were me, I wouldn't be getting any sleep!

Rent the movie.. Touristas Oh, I saw that. I think it was released as Paradise Lost over here. For why I don't like the idea of caving (with or without the swimming!), see The Descent. Not for the mutant predators, but just the idea of getting wedged in a narrow passage deep underground.

Unless it's your harness that goes - in which case, bungee and skydiving start to look a little more alike! For me, it'd be caving. No way, no day.