January 2016 Chit Chat

carolhathaway wrote:I'm here! Everybody seemed to be busy and didn't write anything here. And since there's still no sign of George I didn't write as well...

Wonder if they've:

a) taken that trip to Lebanon to meet and visit her family?   
b) chillin' in the new house
c) African safari/vacation

PigPen wrote:

carolhathaway wrote:I'm here! Everybody seemed to be busy and didn't write anything here. And since there's still no sign of George I didn't write as well...

Wonder if they've:

a) taken that trip to Lebanon to meet and visit her family?   
b) chillin' in the new house
c) African safari/vacation

PigPen,
maybe we'll find out, maybe we won't. But would they go to Lebanon in January? I don't think it's a good month for vacationing at the Mediterranean Sea (if you want to do some sightseeing / want to get some sun and not just meet relatives).
To be in Sonning and enjoy their new home and / or working as well would make more sense to me...
Or go to Africa like they did two years ago.

They can be vacationing anywhere in the world George said there were places he wanted to visit with Amal.

I'm sure they broadcast the GG in the UK but it would be in the middle of the night for us so I didn't watch.  I quite like looking at all of the dresses (especially the, ahem, not such great choices) but I'm not all that bothered about who wins what - except when it's George!

Yes Katiedot.  In some ways my favorite part of watching the GGs or the Oscars is checking out the dresses.  There were some lovely ones last night.  I just hate the red carpet "talk" by the media.  Better to watch with the mute button on.  

George could be anywhere right now.  It's like playing "Where's Waldo" but we don't get any clues.

Annemarie - I'm sure that's why they cut so many comments from the show - NBC's legal division didn't want trouble from the PC police. I never understood why, if you don't like something on tv, you don't just change the channel. It's not as if there's no other channel to watch. Between the broadcast channels, streaming services and cable networks there must be hundreds of choices for every taste.

Whatever happened to "Live and let live"?

Well the f bomb was used frequently and I'm pretty sure the "c" word specifically was used last night (by Amy Schulmer sp?).  Yea NBC would come under serious fire for allowing that language to air!

.........Golden Globes only online or live reporting in the UK as far as I'm aware.

South Sudan could probably be added to Pigpen's list, tho not necessarily for both of them. We know that he goes there more often than advertised......

Oh, and a private airfield isn't too far away from the Sonning house...........

Just wanted to correct what I said earlier.   I was wrong. Dicaprio has won his third GG.  He has yet to win his first acting Oscar tho.

Hey, Katiedot. Question: Is this year's resolution in any way related to last year's?

Never mind. Just read the rest of the thread.

Way2Old,
so I'm a bit relaxed that I wasn't the only one here who had this association . Dirty minds...

Way2Old4Dis wrote:Never mind. Just read the rest of the thread.

huh?????

PP - Me too! LOL - Then I realized "read" = past tense! She "read" (finished reading) the rest of the thread. English is one messed up language!

I just read a comment on Facebook saying: "Facebook must be broken because I don't see any Turkish flags". In November, after the Paris attacks, everybody posted "Je suis Paris" and pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the French flag. Now nothing happens. Because only ten people were killed? Because it's not in a western Country?

It's a strange feeling when I think about terror attacks: I remember exactly when I first heard about the Paris attacks in January and November 2015, I can still tell you where I was and what I did when I heard about 9/11, I remember I was in Britain when in 2005 somebody detonated a bomb at the London tube.

But I tend to forget attacks that happen in other countries. Istanbul yesterday was talked all about the German press and TV because eight of the victims were Germans. But it didn't happen in Germany, it happened in Turkey. And nobody talks about the other two victims and all the people who were injured. And there were quite a few terror attacks in Turkey during the last year as well. Does anybody of you remember that in July 2015 in Suruc a suicide bomber killed 34 people and injured 76 others? I didn't until somebody mentioned it in the news yesterday.

Soon after the Paris attacks in November I went to a church concert, and the singers, a Russian choir, asked for a minute's silence for the victims of the Paris attacks but also for the Russian jet that was bombed in Sinai by ISIS and more than 200 People were killed. That had happened only a few weeks before, but I had totally forgotten about that and was really shocked.
Attacks happen all the time, and somehow we get used to it when it happens in the Middle East. But is it worse when it happens in our western countries? People are killed everywhere, and they are innocent victims, are parents, children, friends of people who are grieving for their death.

Yes carolh, I remember the attack in the square in Suruc, Turkey last summer.  There was a fair amount of press on it in the states.  This latest attack in Turkey barely got any press here ... at least where I live.  I thought 10 German nationals were killed but it's 8?  

There are so many news events that get reported on a daily basis.  I think people become a bit numb to the reporting of so many tragedies.  The  media plays a big part in deciding how big a story should be.  And deaths in western countries do seem to garner more importance than deaths in other parts of the world.  At least that's my perception.  Though there are exceptions.  Example the Kenyan mall attack a couple of years ago. And I think those exceptions have to do with the number of people killed to a certain extent.

Your last paragraph is telling and very true IMO.

Donna,
they always talked about ten victims all in all, one from Norway, one from Peru, the rest Germans. Now they write about ten Germanscwho were killed but eleven in total. So I don't know how many there are, the informations are contradictory. 

One thing that worries me about it is that the Turkish president talked about an ISIS attack immediately after it had happened but ISIS still hasn't admitted to the attack what they usually do.

carolhathaway wrote: In November, after the Paris attacks, everybody posted "Je suis Paris" and pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the French flag. Now nothing happens.

That's why I don't post flags/change my facebook profile photo etc. There are so many atrocities, both man-made and natural happening around the world, I don't know why I should only commemorate some of them and not others. So I don't.

Katie,
I'm not on Facebook anyway. I just read it in an article...

Sometimes I think that there's only so much horrible news that we can absorb before we just can't take in any more. We try to help when we can, but if we dwell on all the misery out there it will drain all the joy out of our lives.

Lizzy,
you're probably right.
Maybe it's a way we protect ourselves from all the horrible news.

Carryover from David Bowie thread:

Okay, I had some decadent days. 

When I was much younger and prettier and skinnier, I was simply walking down a street when a limo pulled over, and a guy got out and introduced himself. He was in town with George Benson, who was touring with Minnie Riperton, and he invited me to the show and after party. So I did something that I would kill my daughter and granddaughters for doing: I went.

Over the course of the next couple of years, the drummer would send me his itinerary, and I would pick the cities that I could fit into my school schedule. He played with, among others, Benson, Stevie Wonder, and Bowie during that time. I'd be picked up at the airport, go to the concerts backstage, and hang out at the 'gatherings' afterward. 

The answer to the obvious question: I have never done a single drug, and I don't like rock and roll.

Oh wow, what a rock'n'roll life!!! Colour me envious - it sounds like wonderful fun.

Yeah, good thing he was a good guy. I was about 19, or very early twenties, away from home, and didn't tell anyone when I left or where I was going. Cool and exciting, but plenty stupid.

No worries - just try not to imagine what your daughters/grand daughters are/have been up to that they've never told you about!

I pray that my daughter is out of her crazy phase, and that I never know the extent of her shenanigans. That said, with my history, it's a wonder I made it past twenty-five.

Way2,
what an amazing story! You surely told your daughter: "Do as I tell you to do, but don't do as I do."

I often think how focussed the kids are now, much more than I was at their age. They know exactly what they want to do within a certain time. If they plan to stay abroad it has to help them with their career plans. I often think that they don't enjoy their life. Although - did I enjoy to be young? When I was young? I guess not. 

By zhe way: It's so much fun that suddenly, after weeks of no news, everything is happening, there are news about George all the time, that's just fun!

I just want to say on the record  that if I win the lottery tonight, the first thing I'm buying is a fourth row center seat at an Adele concert.

Way2Old4Dis wrote:The answer to the obvious question: I have never done a single drug, and I don't like rock and roll.

So, Way2, you didn't allude to the 1st part of that quote...  

Way2,
I hope you won the lottery!

Just to envy you: I'll be going to an Adele concert in Berlin in May! I got tickets for my husband and me! YES!!! Although it's not front row of course but that doesn't matter.)

(I just wish I'd also gotten tickets for my husband for Springsteen in Madison Square Garden, he always wanted to see him in the States. But I showed him the Money Monster trailer last night, and he was  excited about that. So I guess he'll go to the movies with me to see it.)

I just read who's nominated for an Academy Award, no surprises I guess.
And then I realized that a German movie is nominated for Short Film, it's called 'Everything Will Be Okay', and the director grew up in a village about 8 miles away from my village!


And after that I read that Alan Rickman died of cancer. I really liked him as an actor: Remember him in 'Robin Hood'? Or 'Die Hard'? And, of course, as 'Professor Snape'?

Way2Old4Dis wrote:I just want to say on the record  that if I win the lottery tonight, the first thing I'm buying is a fourth row center seat at an Adele concert.

After you adopt me.

No Adele. No new dependents. *sigh*

Ridley Scott should have been nominated for the directing Oscar. (I would have left off the 'Room' director.) Jennifer Lawrence shouldn't have been nominated for Best Actress. I haven't made it through all of the nominated screenplays yet, so I can't give my peanut-gallery opinion on that.

CarolH, you are the only actual individual person I "know" who got tickets. My daughter pressed the "buy tickets" button at precisely 10:00am the day tickets went on sale, and we got nothing. Neither did anyone else we know.

Way2Old4Dis wrote:CarolH, you are the only actual individual person I "know" who got tickets. My daughter pressed the "buy tickets" button at precisely 10:00am the day tickets went on sale, and we got nothing. Neither did anyone else we know.

Way2,
I had registred on her website to get informed about news, and then got an email with a code. They allowed her fans to buy a certain number of tickets two days earlier than the normal ticket sale (which was Thursday for U.K. and Friday for the continent. So I was queuing for 75 minutes, and then I had the tickets! 
But I still don't have them at home, they said they would ship them by the end of January. Of course my credit card was debited immediately...

But if you or your daughter would register who knows? Maybe they'll do it again...

Ive seen Spotlight, Brooklyn, Bridge of Spies, The Martian and Star Wars.  I'll wait to give an opinion until I see more films in the running.  I doubt seriously that I will see The Revenent.  So if others here do would love to read your opinions.

Hmm. My daughter follows Adele religiously, and gets her updates from the website, but she didn't get a code. Interesting.

Way2Old - Maybe not available in the US?

Way2,
I don't know why I got that access code and your daughter didn't. But if you live in the States that could explain it. Maybe she gets a code when Adele plans to do concerts abroad?

Just read that Celine Dion's husband Rene passed away after a long battle with cancer. 

Rene was 73 he and Celine had three children five year old twins and and fifteen year old son.

Oh stop it!

What is it these days ? 

People die all the time, that's normal. It's just sad that they're all going at such young ages.

Dan Haggerty of "Grizzly Adams" died at 74 from cancer




FUCKING cancer...

Re concert tickets...I did the same with Elton John...on his FB page they gave a link to register then the day before the tickets officially went on sale I received an email from them and was able to buy my ticket then...four rows from the front! I first saw him here in Liverpool in 1971...blimey makes me feel OLD!

George kinda quiet recently?

I'm going to guess he might be storyboarding for the film he will be directing.

Just a guess though.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491175/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1

Lorna!! Good to see you back online. Hope you had a good Christmas/New Year?

Donnamarie wrote:Katiedot I still want to hear about your time in the Maldives. The beaches look tremendous. Did you indulge in this tropical paradise?

Hope nobody minds if I answer this question on this thread as I didn't want to take the Amal Interview thread off topic.

Yes, it's even more beautiful in real life than in the brochures - in fact, it's the only place I know of where you have to photoshop the pictures to make the pictures look as good as the reality. The beaches really are white and powder soft, the coco palms really do grow horizontally and yes, it's always warm there, year round. Even more beautiful is what's below the waves with incredible coral reefs usually just a few steps from the beach and the ocean is always warm. Diving is fantastic. Some friends of mine on an island where I worked went diving two days ago and found themselves accompanied by a pod of dolphins!

That, of course, is the life when you live on a resort island. Life for Maldivians on their own islands is a very different story. Maldivians over 30 who grew up on local islands (as opposed to the main "cities" in the country) remember life without electricity. Healthcare is still an issue, as is getting adequate nutrition into children because its next to impossible to grow foods on most of the islands as they're sandy with no topsoil. The Maldives has to import the majority of its food. I think it's the only country in the world where half of its national dish (fish curry with rice) has to be imported (you can't grow rice anywhere in the Maldives).

I believe the Maldives is still technically a third world country (or whatever the pc term that we're using this week is) although with a massive income from tourism and a very small population, its problems are logistical more than anything. But those logistics are daunting and it would take a lot of willpower to overcome.

The problem with the Maldives is that although the population is tiny (around under half a million), they're scattered across tiny, remote islands in quite a large expanse of ocean. Therefore, huge chunks of that population don't have access to decent higher education, any kind of good healthcare and there's close to no employment other than fishing, working in tourism (which invariably means leaving your home island and living on a hotel island which may be hundreds of kilometres from your home island) and some trades such as scratch farming, shopkeeping, carpentry etc etc.

These logistical problems aren't insurmountable. There's another, very successful, country that has (in some ways) comparable problems of a huge territory and a remote, scattered population and that country is called Australia. They've found successful ways to reach their population living outside the big cities and given that the Maldives is minuscule in size, I'm sure things could be worked out in the Madives too.

The problem of getting the Maldives to feed itself is a harder one. I can only think that hydroponics might be a solution here. The islands are in general too small and don't have enough top soil to make heavy farming a reality here.

The final two problems of the country go hand in hand IMO and I don't have a solution: unemployment and drug abuse. There isn't much work to be had and I can't see of any new industries that can come to the Maldives. Tourism is a finite resource (there are only so many people on the planet who'll want to come and visit). Drugs are a massive problem in the Maldives (we're not allowed to say this out loud in public) and as a result, all of the other bad things that come along with drug addiction such as violence, theft, sex slavery and so on.

I'm very pleased that Matt Damon got an award.
Haven't seen The Martian yet as I'm waiting for the DVD.

What I have been watching on TV, via Amazon Prime,
is Alpha House, a satirical comedy about American politics. The fact that I don't understand some of it 
makes no difference. It's well written, sharp and has some very funny scenes.
John Goodman is excellent and so funny at times.
He makes good use of his large face to pull off some great expressions.
Just wondered if anyone across the pond had seen it and what they thought of it ?

Joanna - I haven't seen the program, but I can assure you there's a lot about American politics that we don't understand either - and we live here!

It is a terrible month for losing talented individuals.  Glenn Frey, co-founder of the band The Eagles has died.  Only 67!

A sad loss.

Donna,
I just read it too. That's a really sad month!