Unpopular Opinions

[MakemineVanilla]

13 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

My probably unpopular opinion is that Jude the Obscure is a great read.

I am a huge fan of Hardy and in some ways I consider Jude as personally the most important.

I heard Adrian Chiles say in an interview that he did all the Hardy novels at university, and it made him despise anything considered to be literature.

I did laugh!

[mjmooney]

11 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

I saw the 1976 adaptation of “The Signalman” the other day on BBC four. Quite enjoyed it as it goes, to the point that I’d probably give the short story a read.

Yes, I liked that, too. Ain't going near the book, though. 

The BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas box set is an annual watch in our house. 

[mjmooney]

2 minutes ago, MakemineVanilla said:

I heard Adrian Chiles say in an interview that he did all the Hardy novels at university, and it made him despise anything considered to be literature.

Typical thick Baggies fan. 

[tonyh29]

34 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

As with @Mark Albrighton, we did no Dickens at school. Most of what I know of the plots comes from BBC TV adaptations. Usually in b&w, shown on a Sunday evening, thus associated with Monday morning, and deeply depressing. We did however do Hardy - 'Far From the Madding Crowd' for O-level. I actually thought it was pretty good. And at least his characters didn't have names like Mr Pumplesnicket and Mrs Tosswobble. 

Only Dickens we did at school was Great Expectations  .. it was pants 

Being bored in the lesson one day as the teacher waffled on about it  , I actually wrote a parody piece called Pip goes to Luton ( it was the morning after Milwall fans trashed their football ground) about Pip being a football hooligan (think Great Expectations meets the Young ones) 

My mate Dean sitting next to me read it wet himself laughing then , gave it to Warren who did likewise , then passed it on to Sean and so on and so on  .. it was a precursor to going viral , a scrappy bit of paper , that ended up being a tattered piece of paper , I think pretty much everyone in my year read it at some point , even a few teachers 

its probably something you'd look at and read now and it wouldn't raise a chuckle , but at the time , I was famous for 14 mins 59 seconds as the bloke that wrote that really funny story 

 

Should say , I re-visited the book sometime in my 30's and it was actually OK , easier to watch the various adaptations the BBC have made though 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by tonyh29

[MakemineVanilla]

2 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

Only Dickens we did at school was Great Expectations  .. it was pants 

Being bored in the lesson one day as the teacher waffled on about it  , I actually wrote a parody piece called Pip goes to Luton ( it was the morning after Milwall fans trashed their football ground) about Pip being a football hooligan (think Great Expectations meets the Young ones) 

My mate Dean sitting next to me read it wet himself laughing then , gave it to Warren who did likewise , then passed it on to Sean and so on and so on  .. it was a precursor to going viral , a scrappy bit of paper , that ended up being a tattered piece of paper , I think pretty much everyone in my year read it at some point , even a few teachers 

its probably something you'd look at and read now and it wouldn't raise a chuckle , but at the time , I was famous for 14 mins 59 seconds as the bloke that wrote that really funny story 

 

Should say , I re-visited the book sometime in my 30's and it was actually OK , easier to watch the various adaptations the BBC have made though 

 

 

 

I am a big fan of the book and I think David Lean's film is a masterpiece.

[BOF]

6 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said:

The denouement shows he possesses a huge amount of social capital, which the minorities in the film are shown not to possess.

Does the portrayal of the villain Potter in a wheelchair, imply his moral failure is linked to his handicap?

[MakemineVanilla]

3 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Yes, I liked that, too. Ain't going near the book, though. 

The BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas box set is an annual watch in our house. 

M R James' Whistle And I'll Come To You, directed by Jonathan Miller is my absolute favourite.

[mjmooney]

2 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said:

M R James' Whistle And I'll Come To You, directed by Jonathan Miller is my absolute favourite.

Yep. Mark Gatiss seems to have taken on the mantle. He's done 'The Mezzotint' for this year (it's on Xmas Eve). 

[choffer]

On 14/12/2021 at 09:19, MakemineVanilla said:

Does the portrayal of the villain Potter in a wheelchair, imply his moral failure is linked to his handicap?

[The Fun Factory]

On 14/12/2021 at 12:10, MakemineVanilla said:

That is an amazing analysis and just shows how the sentimentality completely obscures the actual narrative which emerges in the dialogue.

Its all nonsense but there you go.

[foreveryoung]

Just been stopped on a high street and asked if I wanted to sign up and give to a charity. I said a polite no, but as harsh as it sounds the last thing I would think about this Christmas is giving to the Afghanistan emergency fund.

[lapal_fan]

11 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Just been stopped on a high street and asked if I wanted to sign up and give to a charity. I said a polite no, but as harsh as it sounds the last thing I would think about this Christmas is giving to the Afghanistan emergency fund.

How come?

[foreveryoung]

15 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

How come?

I won't explain,  it may be more unpopular.

[Seat68]

10 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

I won't explain,  it may be more unpopular.

Don't worry, you don't need to explain. 

[Xela]

I'm not a fan of any charity using 'chuggers'. People shouldn't be pressured/guilt-tripped into signing up for charity. It should be because they want to donate. 

[tonyh29]

18 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Just been stopped on a high street and asked if I wanted to sign up and give to a charity. I said a polite no, but as harsh as it sounds the last thing I would think about this Christmas is giving to the Afghanistan emergency fund.

This seems to be the latest thing , with signing up 

Coming out of Tesco the other day , Air ambulance collecting money  , made the rookie error of making eye contact with the guy and thus had to stop , he didn't want the coins in my pocket , or a moth eaten fiver in my wallet , he wanted me to sign up to a direct debit with monthly payments  .. didn't have time for all that malarkey so in the end they got nothing  ...  just wonder if this approach stops people from donating 

[PussEKatt]

42 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Just been stopped on a high street and asked if I wanted to sign up and give to a charity. I said a polite no, but as harsh as it sounds the last thing I would think about this Christmas is giving to the Afghanistan emergency fund.

The only thing worse than that is the starving people in Africa.As far as I can remember they have been starving and asking for handouts since the beginning of time.

[chrisp65]

Chugger: Hi, can I…

Me: Hi, no thanks.

 

Doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.

You don’t need to hate helicopters or helping heroes, or tell them your views on migrating birds, give a pre prepared rant on tax versus giving, or complain about the Woodland Trust decisions on trans toilets.

Hi, no thanks.

 

[lapal_fan]

24 minutes ago, Xela said:

I'm not a fan of any charity using 'chuggers'. People shouldn't be pressured/guilt-tripped into signing up for charity. It should be because they want to donate. 

Kinda of agree, but some charities don't get the exposure others do, so you wouldn't remember them, even if you wanted to give money to a charity. 

[MakemineVanilla]

2 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

Just been stopped on a high street and asked if I wanted to sign up and give to a charity. I said a polite no, but as harsh as it sounds the last thing I would think about this Christmas is giving to the Afghanistan emergency fund.

Chuggers usually try some emotional blackmail, which just makes the importuning even more unpleasant, but at least it confirms the decision to decline.