MikeJD

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Everything posted by MikeJD

  1. MikeJD
    Not exactly 'these days', but The Auteurs were making good use of a cellist back in the mid-nineties. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_-htd-xy0Y I've no idea whether anyone who's not of a certain age and/ or British will remember The Auteurs, but they were a fine band.
  2. MikeJD
    Jeez, talk about sweating palms! I don't know about hers, but mine certainly were watching that. The first time she looked along that narrow beam a couple of minutes in, I was like 'Please please please don't walk along there.'
  3. MikeJD
    Run Logan Run. There is no renewal. And what's more, Soylent Green is people!
  4. MikeJD
    I don't really enjoy watching sports at all, and the bigger the event the more of a bore it is for me because it's inescapable. The Wimbledon tennis championships, the football (note: not hand-egg) World Cup... these make me want to crawl into a cave and stay there until they're over and people are talking about something else again. That said, London 2012 was the first time in a long time I'd experienced anything akin to national pride. Like your typical cynical Brit I'd been convinced we were going to screw it up, and I was happy to eat my words when it turned out to be something of a triumph.
  5. MikeJD
    Depending on your pack jobs.
  6. MikeJD
    He plays quite a few instruments, but I don't think that's one of them . Personally I find him very easy to ignore, in spite of the media frenzy. He seems destined for self-destruction and I don't envy him that - it's just a shame for the kids who idolise him that he's gone from ideal role model to... well, less-than-ideal role model... in what seems like hardly any time at all.
  7. MikeJD
    Hmm. Reads like one of those comments you see on news stories about skydiving fatalities.
  8. MikeJD
    He was great in A Series of Unfortunate Events. And Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. But I guess that wasn't really a comedy, so... My nomination is for Gravity. I can't say I loathed it, but I did think it was massively overrated.
  9. MikeJD
    Isn't that Mrs Shroppy?
  10. MikeJD
    In my case I hope there'll be a trusted friend telling my family: "You might want to lend me Mike's hard drive so I can erase some files before you check it."
  11. MikeJD
    'About bad smells' 'rideshare to Elsinore' 'Use your hybrid as a generator' 'Your House Is On Fire...'
  12. MikeJD
    Goodfellas is definitely one of my favourites - Scorsese's best, I think, and that's saying something. It's got such energy. Brilliant performances, flashy direction, fascinating characters, endlessly quotable dialogue, period kitsch, humour, violence... I could watch it any number of times. I didn't like Casino nearly as much.
  13. MikeJD
    That's precisely two more than I need.
  14. MikeJD
    Again this is playing devil's advocate, so forgive me. I'm not really a one-device-fits-all-purposes kind of guy, but I know that's the Luddite in me. Your current strategy seems to be to replace as many different possessions as possible with your smartphone (although I'm not clear why - none of them is taking up much space! ) Freefall at high altitude makes for a harsh environment - cold, moisture, wind, potential for hard knocks. As I see it, if you take your toy to altitude and lose it or kill it, you're now without your phone, MP3 player, GPS, gym log, variometer, skydive log... I agree it's an interesting experiment, but just because you could replace your altimeter with your smartphone doesn't mean you should. All that said, I'd be interested to hear how you get on - just make sure you have a backup the first few times you try it.
  15. MikeJD
    That's Canadian Scottish, not Scottish Scottish.
  16. MikeJD
    Depends on which region and how strong it is. Most people apparently associate a Scottish accent (assuming it's understandable!) with sincerity and trustworthiness. It's one of the reasons lots of companies base their UK call centres in Scotland.
  17. MikeJD
    Well, there must be fifty ways to leave my lover. And possibly fifty ways to woo her back, but then I guess those count as two different things.
  18. MikeJD
    To be fair, movies exist for the entertainment of a big, varied audience - 99% of whom have almost no frame of reference for skydiving. In that context it makes sense for the filmakers to put the handle where they did. Look at an actual sport rig deployment system from a non-jumper's point of view. Why the hell would you put that little grabby-thing all the way back there where you can't even see it? That's stoopid!
  19. MikeJD
    I'll pass on the first trip, for the same reason I'm seldom in a hurry to get on the first skydiving load of the day. Let's see where the first load lands. Or in this case, if the first load lands.
  20. MikeJD
    Can't say I've noticed that, but I don't actually see any issue with it. It's just a way of using a pun and alerting the reader that it's intentional. I do a similar thing sometimes, but I use 'ahem' instead of 'well'. Not sure whether you find that more acceptable, or if it, ahem, still sticks in your throat.
  21. MikeJD

    Am i out of order?

    MikeJD replied to mx19's topic in The Bonfire

    And not even just that. In my experience, living with a couple is often more difficult than sharing with two single people. You can easily start to feel like an intruder into their cosy domesticity.
  22. MikeJD
    Interesting! I'd seen the original monochrome photo of Lewis Powell before, and thought that it could easily have been taken a century later - he looks like a modern movie star. The colourisation just adds to that impression. As regards how valid this technique is, I guess these versions are no less 'artificial' than the original photos - after all, we don't see in black and white. Presumably whoever's done the retouching has researched the proper shades for the uniforms and stuff.
  23. MikeJD
    Aw, c'mon. Where are the repost police when you need them?
  24. MikeJD
    ...this technology could be the greatest boon to skydiving wear since the wingsuit.
  25. MikeJD
    Well.... well, it needed to be in The Bonfire too. (Mike mutters something about Australians always getting to celebrate anniversaries ahead of 'everyone else').