2022 Current Events Discussion Thread

[opusthepenguin]

The NFL's Washington Football Team, formerly known as the Redskins, has officially changed its name to the Washington Commanders.

Bleccch.

I was rooting for them to become the Insiders.

[Volante]

The NFL's Washington Football Team, formerly known as the Redskins, has officially changed its name to the Washington Commanders.

Bleccch.

Maybe the plan is to make a new team name every year...you know, merch sales.

Also: Washington Durs. Washington Commodes.
If you're not going to focus group your name, at least pitch it to a group of 6th graders...

[econgator]

The NFL's Washington Football Team, formerly known as the Redskins, has officially changed its name to the Washington Commanders.

Bleccch.

Maybe the plan is to make a new team name every year...you know, merch sales.

Also: Washington Durs. Washington Commodes.
If you're not going to focus group your name, at least pitch it to a group of 6th graders...

They should have just stayed the Football Team.

Or, as was stated on PTI, "The Commies".

About the best they can do, although it really makes no sense to do it that way, is to call them the C'ders (pronounce cedars).

[seaborgium]

The NFL is overdue for a team with a name not ending with S. They should have been the Washington Irving.

[trainman]

This kind of team name was only trendy for a very brief period, but my vote would have been for The Fat Cats in Washington.

[alietr]

The NFL is overdue for a team with a name not ending with S. They should have been the Washington Irving.

Mother (Jewish) greeting her child after the first day of school:

Mother: So, bubbeleh, how was your first day of school?
Boy: Fine.
Mother: Did you like your classmates, bubbeleh?
Boy: Yes
Mother: And does your teacher seem good, bubbeleh?
Boy: Yes
Mother: Tell me, bubbeleh, what did you learn on your first day?
Boy: I learned my name is Irving!

[alietr]

A pair of Chinese athletes, Zhao Jiawen and Dinigeer Yilamujiang, light the Olympic torch to open the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Dinigeer is (according to Chinese state media) a member of the Uyghur ethnic minority.

Maybe the plan was for a policeman to push Dinigeer into the cauldron.

Frankly, "honoring" her like that is just adding to the insult. I wonder which members of her family were being held hostage.

[teapot37]

A pair of Chinese athletes, Zhao Jiawen and Dinigeer Yilamujiang, light the Olympic torch to open the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Dinigeer is (according to Chinese state media) a member of the Uyghur ethnic minority.

Maybe the plan was for a policeman to push Dinigeer into the cauldron.

Frankly, "honoring" him like that is just adding to the insult. I wonder which members of his family were being held hostage.

Zhao is male and Dinigeer is female. Both will be competing at these games; Zhao in Nordic combined (a combination of ski jumping and cross-country skiing), and Dinigeer in cross-country.

[alietr]

A pair of Chinese athletes, Zhao Jiawen and Dinigeer Yilamujiang, light the Olympic torch to open the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Dinigeer is (according to Chinese state media) a member of the Uyghur ethnic minority.

Maybe the plan was for a policeman to push Dinigeer into the cauldron.

Frankly, "honoring" him like that is just adding to the insult. I wonder which members of his family were being held hostage.

Zhao is male and Dinigeer is female. Both will be competing at these games; Zhao in Nordic combined (a combination of ski jumping and cross-country skiing), and Dinigeer in cross-country.

I shoulda checked that one first. Thanks.

[opusthepenguin]

Spoiler

The Power of the Dog leads all films with 12 total Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director (Jane Campion), and Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch). Denis Villeneuve's Dune nabbed 10 nods, including Picture but otherwise mostly in technical categories.

The Best Picture nominees:
Belfast (about director Kenneth Branagh's childhood in Northern Ireland during "The Troubles")
CODA (about a girl growing up with deaf parents, the title is an acronym for Child Of Deaf Adults)
Don't Look Up (the... divisive climate change allegory about astronomers warning of an impending asteroid strike)
Drive My Car (also nominated in the International Feature category, a Japanese theater director mourns his wife while staging a production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya; adapted from a Haruki Murakami short story)
Dune (part 1 of the adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel)
King Richard (Will Smith plays the father of Venus and Serena Williams)
Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson's story of a 15-year-old kid (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman's son Cooper) who falls for a 25-year old (Alana Haim from the band HAIM; her sisters, mother and father play her family in the film) in early 1970s Los Angeles)
Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro helms a remake of a 1947 noir film)
The Power of the Dog (Campion directs this western; title comes from Psalms 22:20 in the Bible)
West Side Story (Steven Spielberg directs, 60 years after the original; Ariana DeBose as Anita is the frontrunner for Supporting Actress, which was won by Rita Moreno for the original)

Man I miss getting a newspaper!

[Bamaman]

Never even heard of most of those movies. I am aware of the Williams move and the West Side Story remake. Did not know about the Dune movie.

All the others are blank stares for me.

[econgator]

Never even heard of most of those movies. I am aware of the Williams move and the West Side Story remake. Did not know about the Dune movie.

All the others are blank stares for me.

Same here, except I definitely know about the Dune movie.

[davey]

To my knowledge, at least 7 of these 10 pictures are available to watch at home right now. Nightmare Alley, which was released in theaters 2 months ago, just went up on HBO.

[MarkBarrett]

10/10 knowing of the movies before the noms and 1/10 seeing (King Richard) them. Up for acting - I also saw Being the Ricardos.

[opusthepenguin]

Up for acting - I also saw Being the Ricardos.

How was that? Nicole Kidman just strikes me as completely wrong for the part.

[MarkBarrett]

Up for acting - I also saw Being the Ricardos.

How was that? Nicole Kidman just strikes me as completely wrong for the part.

The movie is worth seeing just for behind-the-scenes of a TV show stuff. I watched it as a very casual viewer of I Love Lucy and the film did not make me want to suddenly binge all of the episodes.

The leads were distracting throughout the movie as I found it impossible to stop thinking, "She's not Lucille; he's not Desi." In a way it's kind of fitting that three got acting noms, yet Nina (Ethel) Arianda did not. J.K. Simmons is terrific and makes his role work even though he also does not look like William Frawley.

[opusthepenguin]

Up for acting - I also saw Being the Ricardos.

How was that? Nicole Kidman just strikes me as completely wrong for the part.

The movie is worth seeing just for behind-the-scenes of a TV show stuff. I watched it as a very casual viewer of I Love Lucy and the film did not make me want to suddenly binge all of the episodes.

The leads were distracting throughout the movie as I found it impossible to stop thinking, "She's not Lucille; he's not Desi." In a way it's kind of fitting that three got acting noms, yet Nina (Ethel) Arianda did not. J.K. Simmons is terrific and makes his role work even though he also does not look like William Frawley.

I would expect no less of J.K. Simmons. Thanks for the mini-review.

[cinemaniax7]

Up for acting - I also saw Being the Ricardos.

How was that? Nicole Kidman just strikes me as completely wrong for the part.

The movie is quite enjoyable as long as you don’t go into it expecting impersonations; that’s not what they’re shooting for. Nicole Kidman creates a fascinating character who's based on Lucille Ball, but she's not trying to "do" Lucy. The dialogue is excellent, the direction is solid, and Simmons is terrific. Kudos also to Bardem and Nina Arianda, who plays Vivian Vance.

[trainman]

I checked out of "Being the Ricardos" early in the movie when a CBS executive character says something to the effect of, "You'll know everything's okay if you tape a show Friday night." They had a consultant listed in the credits, but either they didn't catch that, or Sorkin ignored them.

Spoiler

No one would have said "tape" a television show in 1952. Videotape had just been invented, and wasn't commercially viable yet.

[alietr]

I checked out of "Being the Ricardos" early in the movie when a CBS executive character says something to the effect of, "You'll know everything's okay if you tape a show Friday night." They had a consultant listed in the credits, but either they didn't catch that, or Sorkin ignored them.

Spoiler

No one would have said "tape" a television show in 1952. Videotape had just been invented, and wasn't commercially viable yet.

Wasn't everything on kinescope back then?