Well–this is what America wants. This is what they get. They have no idea.

This country is fucked.

Jeff Fisher is very consistent:

2012: 3-5

2013: 3-5

2014: 3-5

2015: 4-4

2016: 3-5

I saw this film today. Some thoughts:

The special effects(though heavily inspired by “Inception” were out of this world. Very well done. I saw this in 3D, by the way. It was a fun ride.

Having said that–the film was just that–a ride. Now that’s okay. I love rides. And yes–the ride was worth the price of admission. The film doesn’t fare as well when breaking down into story, characters and logic.

Let me start with logic. For this type of film I am more than ready to just toss it out the window. I get it. We’re dealing with magic, other worlds and dimensions. Who has time for logic? So that didn’t bother me. Well–maybe it bothered me a little but no more than any other film of this type. No big deal.

Characters. I didn’t think they were particularly well defined. I had no real feel for the relationship between Dr. Strange and Rachel McAdams character. Doctor Strange is somewhat rushed along because…well–there are special effects to get to(frankly I don’t think I’ve seen more special effects in a film ever). In some ways special effects were the main character. I had zero feel for the wonderful Mads Mikkelson. He had very little to work with, in my opinion.

Tilda Swinton is a wonderful actress but I had no real idea what to make of her character. I know they were trying to show that things aren’t always white and black but they just sort of tossed it in there without me ever feeling the character’s inner torment at that reality. The speech with Doctor Strange didn’t quite cut it for me. Her face was mostly without emotion–almost a mask.

Benedict Cumberbatch was great–as always. He looked like he was having fun. He didn’t take any of this too seriously.

Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Mordo seemed to have very little to do. He felt like a character there just to help the plot explain things but not particularly important.

Story: Nothing new here, really. We’ve seen it all before. Typical Marvel. That’s okay–but nothing new.

Highlights: the special effects(worth the price of admission, as I said–very cool), the cape which had a mind of its own and was actually a “character’ in the film. I liked that a lot. the librarian was also a fun character–and as I mentioned Cumberbatch was great for the role of Doctor Strange. I’m not sure where it goes from here. We’ll see. Some appearances in other superhero films? More of his own adventures?

We’ll have to see.

I did like the film. It didn’t blow me away but I did like it.

Greg Beacham ‏@gregbeacham 38m38 minutes ago
The Rams’ defense sacked Cam Newton 5 times and held Carolina to 244 yards and 1 touchdown. That ought to be enough to win, right?

Brian Billick ‏@CoachBillick 2h2 hours ago
Is there a better player than Aaron Donald being wasted on such a bad team? I guess Gurley qualifies here too…

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by PA Ram.

Just got back to see from the second half on. Evidently I didn’t miss much in the first half.

I got nothing. No answers. Close but no cigar. 3-5. Same ol’ season it seems once again.

They just can’t get a running game going consistently and they show no ability to fix it or stick with it or whatever. Passing game can look very good or very bad. Nothing steady about this team. Just good enough to lose.

Sometimes the team just seems…well…dumb. They don’t seem like a smart team.

From a weird on-side kick, to the horse collar tackle–it’s always something.

I have no expectations this year beyond maybe 6 wins.

Back to the drawing board–but not a lot of draft picks next year.

Life goes on.

Billy_T wrote:

Another issue: The FB(facebook)ization of media, news, information. Heard a discussion on BBC radio this morning, caught just waking up. So I didn’t get all of it. But it hit me as one of those “duh” things, and provoked more thought beyond what they were saying.

Algorithms. Riffing off the Netflix idea of personal likes and dislikes generating suggestions for other films and TV, etc. We’re heading toward a day when the only sources we consume will be on our likes list, or those the algorithms suggest. Which obviously means folks will build their own little bubbles, and won’t venture beyond them.

Rather than “the democratization of media,” we’re regressing into little feudal fiefdoms of our own making. Example: I’ve been struck by comments from several Trump supporters who say it will be a landslide in favor of their candidate, because all the people they know — on facebook and in their neighborhood — are huge Trump supporters. Of course, it’s likely they’ve blocked or “unfriended” people who don’t agree with them about Trump . . . and this is likely happening a lot on the Dem side too.

Customized ignorance, basically, with a major assist from software programmers.

That is frighteningly true.

Everyone will create their own “reality” and nothing will get past that.

Just a little something about myself: everyday, on my ride to work I listen to Rush Limbaugh. My blood pressure boils, I argue with him in the car as people passing by see me talking to myself. I read Free Republic from time to time, or Drudge or other rightwing articles.

I do this because I really do want to hear what and how they think about things. I want to hear how they form their version of truth. I want to understand it. I think that is important.

Philosophically, I am opposed to it, of course. I believe there is a role for government to play–an important one.

But I do understand a bit, why people buy their story. How they are able to sell it. What buttons they push.

It has no effect on me, but it certainly does others. And yes–I’m sure that bnw can explain how the left does the same thing to me.

Rush told a story yesterday of why the Democrats want open borders(not true by the way–at least in the sense he described it). But the explanation was that Democrats want poor and dependent people flooding the nation, people who will become dependent upon government–because they will become lifelong Democrats and help to insure a permanent political majority. essentially, they will destroy Republicans and their values of “compassionate conservatism” and become enslaved by democrats to the government teat. of course, the hard working, REAL Americans will have to pay for all of this. Moral of the story: GOVERNMENT=BAD.

It’s a familiar story. He says one version or another of the same story all the time.

The right hears this sort of thing all the time. It has become a TRUTH for them.

But yes–I may not agree but it does help me understand why they do the things they do a little better.

So it is important, to me, to understand and read different sources. Even those I disagree with.

But it isn’t to everyone. They build a wall(sound familiar) and nothing else gets in.

That’s the sad future and it will mean a divided country for a long long time.

No matter what happens on election night–this is a divided country and neither candidate has a chance to unite it. For half the country the president will be illegitimate. If Clinton wins the congress will go to war with her over everything. It will be worse than the Obama years.

If Trump wins, the congress will stampede through all their dream legislation, deregulate everything, provide the wealthy with even more tax cuts , repeal Obamacare and basically replace it with nothing, make a play for social security, probably cut medicare, pour billions into the military, stack the Supreme court and create a bigger divide between rich and poor.

It’s going to be ugly.

I live in the city. Always have.

But I know some people like the article describes, and the picture he paints matches up pretty well to the one I formed in my head when I gave it any thought at all.

I think there may be a bit more to it than that.

And he seems to dismiss racism as being part of it–at least in the sense of hating blacks for being black. I’m not sure I agree with that. I think there is plenty of that on Trump’s side.

And I’m not saying everyone–for any Trump supporters reading this—but yeah–there are plenty of David Dukes.

Also–change.

As societies modernize and change there is always conflict.

This is not new.

And honestly, there are things that these very divided sides can agree on. The system, as it is being run today doesn’t work for everyone. The establishment MUST address the economic disparity and yet–where the agreements come, there are large disagreements over the solution.

I’m not sure how that gets fixed.

Eh. I’m not so sure I’m impressed with your list, zn.

After 5 other teams, Collins ended up with the Titans and had one good season. He was replaced the following year. So I’m not sure why you think Collins had his best years under Fisher. While Bradford may have had his best year under Fisher, he never had a GREAT year–which is what you want from a #1 pick.

Foles melted down. It happens. It happened under Fisher.

Fisher has not(besides McNair) impressed me with QBs. So I stand by my point. Fisher does not have a great history with QBs–especially with no running game.

I will say I like what Keenum is doing with his limited ability. And I thought Mannion looked better in pre-season.

But we’re talking about the #1 pick in the draft. He has to be a top tier guy. He has to be. You don’t draft a “game manager” at #1. If you give up all those picks you do it for greatness.

I hope you’re right. I hope that Goff is all of that. He has to be because if they missed on him they will suffer for years.

I hope you’re right.

But I just look at Fisher and his history and think it would have been wiser to take the most pro-ready guy. No one disputed that was Wentz.

But I get it–the Rams are playing the long game. If Goff becomes Montana I can sit down and shut up and smile. And breathe s sigh of relief. And laugh at how silly my post was when I questioned the pick. And I’ll love every minute of it.

It has been a very good bye week for the Rams.

Give Fisher credit.

Yeah–my jaw hit the floor when I first read about this.

I shouldn’t be shocked, I know.

There is no such thing as equal justice.

They’ve been going after Clinton forever.

It really doesn’t matter. They went after Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and they will go after Clinton. It’s what they do. If it would have been Sanders they would have gone after him.

The goal of the Republican party is the destruction of the federal government–short of running the military perhaps. So guilty of anything or not–it doesn’t matter. They are out to push the brakes, take a wrecking ball to it all–and let private enterprise have it all.

If Jesus Christ ran as a Democrat it would be the same thing.

We’ve seen the show over and over. Clinton, Sanders, Biden–pick your Democrat….they’d find things to go after.

They serve no other purpose.