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LCHorn

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Posts posted by LCHorn

  1. 1 hour ago, F250 said:

    13 Assassins

    The Twilight Samurai

    I've only seen these two but both are great suggestions.  Twilight Samurai is Sanada playing different song and probably an even better performance than Shogun. 

     

    49 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

    another difference between the book and this show is yabu's character.  i remember him being more sinister in the book but the way he was played here makes him a lovable goofball with an unfortunate bent toward self preservation in a culture that expects loyalty to the point of death.  i think i like this portrayal more- he's almost a touchstone to modern sensibilities.

    I agree, in fact a lot of the changes I noted in the series I thought were sensible and interesting.  Another one was sidelining the courtesans and leaving out the arranged marriage between Blackthorne and Kiku.  It's a little wish fulfillment for a male book reader but including it here would undermine the absence created by Mariko's sacrifice. 

    All of the post finale reviews/interviews with the creators are asking about the possibility of a season 2 and the show runners have basically said "Anything is possible" but that they are out book to adapt.  They are reading Tai-Pan, however, and that would also be worth a modern adaptation. 

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  2. 1 hour ago, gsoda3 said:

    that was the point. it's supposed to be a reveal, a heel turn for toranaga.  he's a narcissist who sacrificed his son, hiromatsu, and mariko, amongst all those villagers and samurai just so he could become shogun.  he was the bad guy all along, just as bad as, if not worse than, ishido.

    I’ve already gotten far enough away from the book that the fx series encourages doubt on my interpretation of things, but I took away (from the book, mind you) that Toranaga saw Mariko and Anjin as subordinates but capable of understanding him and his plans, basically how he saw the world.  Everyone else was held captive to tradition and custom.  
     

    He’s not amused by Anjin, rather he appreciates his insight, his expertise as a navigator, and because he’s a foreigner (and not welcome anywhere in Japan), he’s basically the only person he can have a heart to heart with and not feel like it’s at risk of being used against him.  Plus, he knows about Mariko’s affection for him and that’s confirmation of his judgment.
     

    The book doesn’t make him a heel; he’s the only one capable of imposing order in Japan and he’s willing to sacrifice his loyalists if it furthers that goal.  In the book’s world he’s just holding Mariko back from dying so that her death can serve a greater purpose and she seems to understand this.  
     

    I don’t recall a bargain with the Portuguese to burn the boat (I may just be misremembering it), rather, he burned it because Anjin’s friendship was important to him and it was the only way to keep him from leaving (in the subtle, Japanese elite way of navigating conflict). 

  3. I’m not a documentary fan but watched this on Hulu the other day.  It’s about Punky Brewster and a bunch of celebrity kid actors reminiscing on the rougher parts of growing up in the industry.  
     

    One thing that comes through is they all appeared to really like Soleil Moon Frye in a sincere “we just loved hanging out with you” kind of way (who shot it and I guess could have easily shaped it that way).  

    image.thumb.jpeg.e3e71c8e2e5315935de6f4ea50f367ec.jpeg

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  4. 25 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

    That would almost make no sense because those type of conversations would have happened before he decided to return. 

    I’m presuming Sarkisian promised him a chance to earn it in the spring but with an understanding they’d need him at nickel if he didn’t win CB outright.  
     

    That said, if those suggesting Brooks are right, perhaps that’s partially due to Brooks being told he’s going to lose some snaps to Barron.  Either way, both would be looking at ‘24 as a contract year.  

  5. 3 minutes ago, WBT said:

    Since when does Dana have any say in playing time.  We need him to pull a Click and take the bad players away when the manager keeps playing them

    I could be wrong but I suspect Abreu is injured, anyway.  Otherwise, whoever observed him coming off the spring (coaches/Brown/scouts) and didn't raise the red flag should be fired. 

    Someone should rename a .100 batting average the Abreu line. 

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  6. Aside from just terrible, terrible luck, I think the main issues are:

    1.  We are still in the Abreu experimentation stage.  Singleton was retained as a cheap back-up option (cheaper than Belt) with Cabbage as a candidate if his 2023 performance had carryover.  They are trying to ready Loperfido, I.e., they have options and they are working though them.  
     

    2.  Relying on Hunter Brown and JP France to be core members of the rotation hasn’t worked out.  Brown looks like he’s on the failed starter track and and France is basically a sixth or seventh starter on a good team.  
     

    I think #2 is more ripe for criticism and a total organizational break-down, i.e., they needed a veteran starter BEFORE Valdez and Javier showed poor health.  The pitching coaches shouldn’t be shielded from blame on this, either, if they were communicating to the front office that they would be fine without adding a starter.  Can you imagine how shitty our record would be without Blanco selling his soul to the devil?

  7. On 4/15/2024 at 10:40 PM, Stringer said:

    We also really like The Sea Beast and have heard good things about Nimona.

    Nimona is good and I’m all for normalizing same gender relationships in children’s entertainment, but it’s almost as bad as Wish in how it plays like a checklist of “wokeness”.  

  8. 1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

    All that being said- our manager is a dipshit- he's pitching the bullpen too much and in the wrong situations, he's running out Abreu when he doesn't have to, he's running out Singleton when he doesn't have to, and he's fucking around with Meyers for reasons I don't understand.

    If I might rebut, if I was hiring a manager with no previous experience, and he was replacing a seasoned and somewhat independently minded employee, I’d want someone who made very plain he would work as part of a collaborative team and would follow best practices as set by the general manager’s office.  
     

    I also would think that some messiness is just a by-product of it being April and wanting/needing to experiment.  What’s unfortunate is that they are losing and that’s not giving them much cover.

    TL:DR It ain’t Joe, it’s Dana (or just the front office).  
     

     

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  9. 2 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

    Buck Showalter

    I liked Buck Showalter 20 years ago when he was an early analytics adopter and his  peers were playing catch-up or getting fired.  He also seems like an asshole and maybe that’s what THIS version of the Astros needs.  

  10. I think it was Will Carroll who used to write about injuries for Baseball Prospectus and described “staying healthy” as the sixth tool for ballplayers.  
     

    His position was that it was the next frontier in analytics-a lot of the low hanging fruit in terms of tactics and strategy has been discovered and disseminated.  Minimizing injury (and selecting players who avoid) still has lots of proprietary benefit.  

    • Drool 1
  11. 4 minutes ago, achooloco said:

    Essentially a big nothing burger since he won't yet suffer any real consequences.

    If you believe the polls, a certain slice of the electorate is feeling wistful about economic conditions before Covid and crediting those to Trump.  
     

    Every day that Great Leader’s in court and on the raw end of embarrassing testimony is another step toward reminding them just how tiring it is to have the news cycle revolve around Trump.  That’s a real consequence and has far more civic value than a fine and a class E felony conviction.  

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  12. 52 minutes ago, bolverk said:

    Luttrell, Morgan
    TX-8: 
    From Willis, Texas
    Sam Houston State University

    I would have thought someone with his background would be in favor of killing Russians however it’s done, weird.

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  13. 10 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

    That’s all hand-wavy bullshit. There’s no substance to this idea that Jews and Muslims have always been at odds, vying for control of the Middle East.

    @UpperWestsidehas been making the same claims about Israel and Iran on that thread, with the same misunderstanding of history.  
     

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  14. 28 minutes ago, The Original Greaser Bob said:

    The anjin is such a dork.

    I’ve disgreed with the thread commenters saying this in the first couple of episodes, but in hindsight I was wrong.  Mariko is 100% badass and I have no idea what she sees in Blackthorne.  
     

    Probably the biggest weak spot in an otherwise excellent adaptation.  

  15. 12 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

    And ask a trusted realtor friend for a referral for a photographer, and have it shot for 150 bucks or so because the photos are what you'll be judged by and they need to look great. 

    I’ve said this at least twice previously on the thread but l’ll repeat it again here-everyone thinks “oh, realtors don’t do anything, maybe I can be cheap” or “lenders are just a conduit for money, maybe I’ll go with the online lender who’s cheap.”  
     

    Do not cheap out on getting a pro to do photos-it’s a huge difference and I continue to see high value houses (even $1m plus) with inadequate cell phone photos.  

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  16. 2 hours ago, jdhorn92 said:

    Does anyone have thoughts on renting to nurses?  My limited research shows they do extended runs at hospitals, 90 days-  6 mos and sometimes longer if they like the gig. 

    I did a loan a couple of years ago for a traveling nurse that was doing this specifically (this is when it was cheaper to finance a purchase as a second home).  Three bedrooms and the math made it the two that were occupied by other traveling nurses meant she’d live for free, and that saved her from paying apartment rent on a one bedroom she’d only need 2 weeks out of four.
     

    I thought it was a terrific idea, personally.  This is kind of stealing from Warren Buffett, but I’ve seen so many people get into real estate presuming it’s easy and find out there’s a lot the “you can retire on passive income!” wealth coaches don’t tell you.  If you have, however, specific knowledge about an area (because you live there) and your customer (because you are employed in the same profession) it can really help mitigate that risk.  

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