TV Shows Discussion

[Ricamundo]

For "ROME" fans, try the HBO series :Spartacus, Blood And Sand".  8) An absolutely cool series, that is ultra bloody(lots o CGI) and plenty of flesh too. :-X  My Daughter D/Led the entire first series, and let me tell ya, its hugely addictive! I'd give it 11/10. ;D

[JRD]

Cool, thanks Ricamundo!  :-X

I`m still to watch ROME II, but will check on this one for sure!  >:D

[fragger]

Thanks for the reco, Ricamundo :-X

[Ricamundo]

You're most welcome guys. :) Let me re enforce that is is hugely violent, with lots of limbs being hacked off in slo mo, and fountains of blood spewing out all over. After all it is about Gladiators in ancient Rome. :-D

I forgot to mention that British character actor, John Hanna, is one of the main stars, and Lucy Lawless is ihis Wife. The Gladiators are all unkown actors to me, but i believe some are either Australian, or New Zealanders.

Its much more than just a gore fest tho. The writing and acting is top notch, just not a show for the faint of heart, or kiddies.

On a different note, are there any Top Gear fans here?? It is far and away, our favourite  weekly show these days.

[Art Blade]

nice recommendation, Ricamundo :)

I'm not exactly a fan of Top Gear, but whenever I come across some episodes on youtube, I watch them  ;D

[mandru]

On a different note, are there any Top Gear fans here?? It is far and away, our favourite  weekly show these days.

Is Top Gear still in production?  I was under the impression that I'd seen an episode a few weeks back on BBC America where the show hosts had announced that it was their last episode.

I could be completely wrong and laboring under an false assumption.  It's a decent show when I can to catch it.

[JRD]

I just saw Top Gear last week and it seemed pretty much a today's show! If it was a re-run, it was a recent one!

Those guys are funny!

This vid shows them skeet shooting with junk cars and a Carl Gustav  ???

automobile skeet shoooting

Oh and THIS one is a special show... in America  8)

Top Gear America Challenge Part1 of 7






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That new embbed feature is AWESOME!!!!  >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D

[Art Blade]

huahuahua!! Brilliant, both of them  ^+-+ :-X

[Ricamundo]

TG is alive and well and living @ BBC canada or America, but my daughter is D/Ling the latest episodes that are airing right now in the UK. I think since Jay leno was the "Star in Our Reasonably Priced Car" last year, he's turned a lot of the Hollywood set onto the show. Carmen Diaz and Tom Cruise were on last week.

I think i've seen every episode so far which has been on since 2003. Funny as hell, even if you dont know or care anything about cars! 8) But even better if you do. :-X

[mandru]

Nice clips. Thanks JRD.  :-X

But the first clip makes me ask the question why doesn't our SPAS 12 in FC2 have the same devastating range and impact as the SPAS Pump (2nd gun in clip) he got to play with?  :-\\

It's good to hear that I was mistaken and Top Gear is still in production.

[PZ]

I just posted in another off topic board about DVDFab, a program that allows you to rip your DVD collection to hard disc.  I'm currently ripping my Honeymooner's original 39 episodes to disc - started watching a couple of them - it's been a while since I've laughed that much.  I just finished the Christmas episode where Ralph put the mouse trap underneath the icebox - hilarious!

My next set - Alfred Hitchcock Presents  ;)

[fragger]

Thanks PZ, will check out that post. DVDFab sounds like a cool piece of software to have.

Hey, we just recently picked up the Honeymooners too, the original 39 episodes! That show is a scream! I haven't seen it since I was a little guy and I'd forgotten how funny it could be. It may be an oldie, but it still delivers :-X

[PZ]

If you want to rip DVDs, then you won't be disappointed with DVDFab.

The Honeymooners is a classic that will be around forever - Jackie Gleason is truly "the great one"!

[deadman1]

I just saw Top Gear last week and it seemed pretty much a today's show! If it was a re-run, it was a recent one!

Those guys are funny!

This vid shows them skeet shooting with junk cars and a Carl Gustav  ???

automobile skeet shoooting

Oh and THIS one is a special show... in America  8)

Top Gear America Challenge Part1 of 7






============================EDIT=================================

That new embbed feature is AWESOME!!!!  >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D

Cool vids  :-X eventhough the CG shot at the end of the first one was a fake. I remember those from my days in the swedish army and I know for a fact that had that been a genuine CG round the would have needed a new cameraman and camera.  >:D

[JRD]

Indeed it seemed to me as a fake first time I saw it. Either he got it on the first shot or they tossed dozens of junk cars down that ckiff!  ????

Also, it doesn`t seem to take the hit from the CG but rather explode from inside out. I`d expect the car to feel the punch and deviate it`s trajectory.

Funny nonetheless  :-D >:D

[Art Blade]

would have needed a new cameraman and camera.  >:D

;D :-X

[fragger]

Hey deadman, just on the subject of CGs - can you actually steer the rocket in flight the way you can in HL2, and if so, how? The round doesn't look to have any kind of guidance fins or anything on it, either in that video or in the game.

Just curious :)

[deadman1]

Hey deadman, just on the subject of CGs - can you actually steer the rocket in flight the way you can in HL2, and if so, how? The round doesn't look to have any kind of guidance fins or anything on it, either in that video or in the game.

Just curious :)

It´s not actually a rocket, it´s more of a huge grenade that´s propelled by a drivecharge. You have no control over at all after launch unlike the TOW for instance which is wire-guided. Here+s some more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recoilless_rifle

[Art Blade]

interesting article on wiki.  :-X

[fragger]

Thanks for that deadman, and thanks for the Wiki link, too. Quite informative article, that :-X

[mandru]

Indeed an interesting wiki article, it filled in some historical holes for me.   :-X

In order for the recoilless rifles to w@&k as much force had to exit the back of the tube as the weight of the round exiting the muzzle.  I've seen this effect referred to somewhere in FC2's information with the rocket launchers mentioned as being an alternate way to start fires with the back blast.

My dad carried a 57 mm M18 recoilless rifle in the Korean war, it was a two man operation.  Both the rifleman and the loader had to be constantly alert to keep the other men of the squad out of the way of the 50 foot zone for back blast and also alert to the fact that there was nothing solid like a cliff or building side behind them in their firing position that could reflect the blast back onto them.

It was also considered pretty bad form by your team mates to create a hillside fire so the enemy instantly knew where the squad was positioned.  >:D

Because of the nature of the weapon it had to be fired in a fairly clear area.  I remember my dad mentioning that because of that quirk, studies indicated that after firing the M18 in combat there was a six second period where the life expectancy of the rifleman and loader approached 50/50 from return fire.  Dad had commented that knowing the statistics didn't make him feel any better about the weapon because in the absence of good range finding glasses in the field the first shot was ofter fired to establish range and there had to be a second shot taken and the statisticians had never bothered to figure out a number as low as the risk factor that developed with the second shot.

[Art Blade]

overall, useless weapon I'd say.

[mandru]

The recoilless rifle series of weapons had their shortcomings, obviously or they wouldn't have been phased out.  For the M18, other than the fact that it could knock a hole in the side of a tank or strip one of it's tracks off from over a mile away, you're probably right Art but then the way I see it, anything that makes pretty explosions on demand fits into the grand scheme of things somewhere.   ;D

[Art Blade]

 ;D

[fragger]

I watched a tremendous BBC miniseries on DVD last night called "Space Race", and for anyone here who is interested in the history of the competing space programmes of the US and the USSR in the sixties (and I know some of you are), it makes for compulsive viewing. The series traces the origins and development of both countries' space efforts in four one-hour episodes, primarily focussing on the w@&k of Werner Von Braun and his Soviet counterpart, Sergei Korolev. But here's the thing - I thought this show was going to be a hard documentary, but in the event it turned out to be a narrated dramatization of a very high standard, with excellent acting performances from its cast of unknowns (at least unknown by me), top-notch production values and an adroit mix of archive footage and CG material. It's studiously accurate historically and quite an eye-opener in many respects – especially when it comes to the attrition rate on the Soviet side. Many of the Soviet failures and disasters were actually kept secret until well into the 1990s, and although I already knew about some of them, I had no idea of just how calamitous and costly in lives some of their failures were.

Regarding the two principal characters of the piece, the story of the shadowy and driven Korolev, from gulag prisoner to "Chief Designer" of the Russian space effort, is a tale not only of one man's triumphs and setbacks, but also of the despotism and madness of the USSR's leadership, the political and propaganda agendas of which would ultimately result in that country losing the race. Von Braun is portrayed in a no-nonsense warts-and-all fashion, and the series leaves you to decide whether he was a hero or a villain. For instance, he held the rank of major in the SS when his V2s were being built during WW2, and the construction of those rockets took a higher toll of slave labourers than the rockets themselves did of the British civilians they were aimed at. Von Braun was well aware of what was happening in the V2 manufacturing plant, but he later defended himself to his adopting Americans (those who knew being aghast) with what he believed were mitigating circumstances. Watch the show and decide for yourself.

I can't rate this series highly enough for space race history buffs. Being a long-time space nut myself, I bought it sight unseen, and it turned out to be one of the most entertaining surprises I've had for some time. Ten out of ten :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X