Off Topic Thread too point uh

Narrative has somewhat evolved nowadays in modern shows where instead of being confident in the survival of characters you instead become confident in the completion of the narrative. Sometimes that means a character cannot die because the narrative is totally dependent on them. Some shows can't avoid that no matter how smart they are, Breaking Bad was dependent on Walter White for example.

In Game of Thrones they've done a great job of avoiding this in Westeros because each arm of the narrative isn't dependent on particular characters. Sansa and Jon make each other nominally redundant. The Lannisters make each other redundant etc. You can't be confident in the survival of any of them because it wouldn't terminate the narrative. Even though Jon survived against silly odds, it was always a complete possibility that he would die again ad Sansa would be left running those things. That would mean the narrative was reliant on her but the return of Arya could aleviate that.

The problems in Essos are two-fold. One, they haven't got that redundancy in their narrative. Even though there are multiple characters there the only thing that's keeping them there is one character. The other issue that escalates the relevant of that is the fact that there is only one arm of the narrative there. Not a single character in any other group is fleshed out and there is no reason why anyone else would win or why you would care if they didn't, so there's very little reason to care about the who, what, where or why. Everything on that entire continent is just a roadblock for the narrative delaying their arrival in Westeros. It's the narrative equivalent of a loading screen. There's nothing to invest in, even if the characters were more interesting than they are. The only things on the continent worth watching are boobies.

I think that this has been unavoidable for GoT because the only way to solve that particular problem would have been to spend many more hours on it. It actually would have potentially worked as two seperate series with a combined final crossover series or something like that but that's in hindsight. In a way it's interesting to think that it's a problem they've highlighted for themselves because they've avoided it so consistently in other areas. It's been a feature of modern literature that I've always liked so it's great to see so many shows embracing it and it's something that would greatly improve a lot of others. Unless a story is incumbently focused on a character, the narrative should remain redundant of any single agent.

mfceiling

And that folks is how you qualify for the last 16 in a major soccer tournament.

*unclenches arse cheeks*

Was anyone else completely unaware that at the end of August the eFlow tags will not work any more on the M1, m7, M8 and n25 / n7 toll plazas?

Synode

awec wrote: »

Was anyone else completely unaware that at the end of August the eFlow tags will not work any more on the M1, m7, M8 and n25 / n7 toll plazas?

That's a pain. Looks like some sort of contract dispute. Hopefully they get it sorted

Synode

Rory McIlroy after pulling out of the Olympics (where he would have represented Ireland) citing fears over the Zica virus!!

I wonder will he be available for the 2020 Olympics

Buer

Synode wrote: »

Rory McIlroy after pulling out of the Olympics (where he would have represented Ireland) citing fears over the Zica virus!!

I wonder will he be available for the 2020 Olympics

Whilst a legitimate excuse, I suspect he was eager enough to find one. I suspect he's just disappointed the reason didn't present itself when he was under the microscope for selecting a nation to represent.

The golf is becoming a bit of a joke at the Olympics after such a publicised effort to have it reintroduced. A good few major winners from modern times have distanced themselves from the tournament. Any further withdrawals and the winner might have to have an asterisk next to their name...

Synode

Professionals shouldn't be anywhere near it (nor the boxing). The Olympics has always been about amateur sports

Buer

Synode wrote: »

Professionals shouldn't be anywhere near it (nor the boxing). The Olympics has always been about amateur sports

That's tentative, in fairness. Large part of the Olympics haven't been amateur for a long time.

I would imagine most see athletics as the central event at the summer Olympics. Whilst the likes of Usain Bolt make the vast majority of their money from sponsorship, he makes what would be considered a pretty handsome living from prize money. For example, Bolt would have pocketed around $150k from the world championships last summer so he's far from amateur.

Aside from the likes of basketball and tennis which have superstars involved who earn astronomical money, there are multiple athletes who make a decent enough living from their sports. The amateur days ended a long time ago.

Buer wrote: »

That's tentative, in fairness. Large part of the Olympics haven't been amateur for a long time.

I would imagine most see athletics as the central event at the summer Olympics. Whilst the likes of Usain Bolt make the vast majority of their money from sponsorship, he makes what would be considered a pretty handsome living from prize money. For example, Bolt would have pocketed around $150k from the world championships last summer so he's far from amateur.

Aside from the likes of basketball and tennis which have superstars involved who earn astronomical money, there are multiple athletes who make a decent enough living from their sports. The amateur days ended a long time ago.

Track and Field is a million miles away from Amateur. Many countries have athletes in programmes where they are remunerated in the forms of grants on top of sponsorship. All kinds of fee's and awards are paid to take part in leagues and some athletes are also employed by sports brands.

I had to pay back a sizeable chunk of change to go from professional back to amateur to compete at NCAA and if the Olympics worked the same way the sport would change over night.

If track and field events went completely amateur tomorrow they would need to cancel all existing world records as they would never be broken again.

Deleted User wrote: »

Track and Field is a million miles away from Amateur. Many countries have athletes in programmes where they are remunerated in the forms of grants on top of sponsorship. All kinds of fee's and awards are paid to take part in leagues and some athletes are also employed by sports brands.

I had to pay back a sizeable chunk of change to go from professional back to amateur to compete at NCAA and if the Olympics worked the same way the sport would change over night.

If track and field events went completely amateur tomorrow they would need to cancel all existing world records as they would never be broken again.

Are you thee Venjur, the famous shot-putter?

awec wrote: »

Are you thee Venjur, the famous shot-putter?

Threw a few of these

bilston

The Olympics were probably tainted in Rory's mind because of all the s*** he got around it. We just have to take his word for it that the Zika virus is sole reason he has pulled out but it is easy to be cynical on this.

Anyway as said Golf has no place at the Olympics. Nor does Tennis or Football, but then at least the Football is nominally U23.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Threw a few of these

Can I have a medal?

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Can I have a medal?

Rory didn't take too long to change his mind... http://www.the42.ie/rory-mcilroy-rio-olympics-zika-virus-2800990-Jun2016/

I’m ready to play. I feel like the advice I’ve sought out over the past 10 days has put my mind at ease and makes me more comfortable going down there knowing that, even if I do contract Zika, it’s not the end of the world.

The politicising of the whole thing was shambolic too. Having a reason not to play and alienate people is fine imo.

swiwi_

Suspicious number of regular rugby lads posting in the soccer thread.

Not looking at awec or anyone else.

Deserved win: there was 2 clear cut penalties not awarded in the first half IMO.

Podge_irl

I am not going to be able to watch the seniors, U20s or the football this weekend. All because of one ****ing wedding. The football is on an hours train away but nooooo ill be on a plane. I may murder my friend.

swiwi_ wrote: »

Suspicious number of regular rugby lads posting in the soccer thread.

Not looking at awec or anyone else.

Deserved win: there was 2 clear cut penalties not awarded in the first half IMO.

Soccer is my first love mate.

Will be missing the second half of the final test on Saturday cause it clashes with the Northern Ireland match.

Ireland win tonight meant Northern Ireland play Wales instead of France.

swiwi_

Would love it if Ireland beat France. Just for the Henry cheating.

Also the Swiss don't like the French. Uppity bigger neighbours and all that.

Would love to see Iceland progress, 330`000 population with 10% apparently in France to support their team.

BBDBB

mfceiling wrote: »

And that folks is how you qualify for the last 16 in a major soccer tournament.

*unclenches arse cheeks*

Apparently so.

*never in doubt ;-)

awec wrote: »

Soccer is my first love mate.

Will be missing the second half of the final test on Saturday cause it clashes with the Northern Ireland match.

Ireland win tonight meant Northern Ireland play Wales instead of France.

Is that true?

BBDBB

swiwi_ wrote: »

Suspicious number of regular rugby lads posting in the soccer thread.

Not looking at awec or anyone else.

Deserved win: there was 2 clear cut penalties not awarded in the first half IMO.

Love em both swiwi

Not gonna apologise for it

Delighted to see the clean sweep

swiwi_

At first glance I thought the 24-side tournament was a bit lame. Basically Europe minus the Faroe Irelands. And Holland.

But it's actually worked out very well.

There is way too much sport on this Saturday, and I'm going to have to choose between rugby and soccer :eek:

Buer

swiwi_ wrote:

At first glance I thought the 24-side tournament was a bit lame. Basically Europe minus the Faroe Irelands. And Holland.

It still is. The tournament is severely diluted.

But I not longer care.

Dave_The_Sheep

Soccer players often get stick from rugby fans about being cheating prima donnas, but there's a few that pretty much get universal respect. Buffon is one of them - straight over to O'Neill/Keane tonight after the final whistle. Classy individual.

I've turned off soccer a fair bit in the last decade or so, but it's great to see the fans who have stuck with it get rewarded with nights like tonight.

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Is that true?

Is what true?

awec wrote: »

Is what true?

Are you an apostate?

mfceiling

Hi Scotland,

Can you water the plants and put the bins out. We're staying another week.

Thanks,

Wales, England, Ireland and Northern Ireland