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Je_June_ is Bustin' Out All Over (NC Thread) Je_June_ is Bustin' Out All Over (NC Thread)

06-16-2008 , 01:15 PM
Katy, I really liked your analysis of the two movies....very well done. Wook, while I don't agree with the emotion you're giving to them, I certainly can't deny it's there for you!
06-16-2008 , 02:01 PM
Quote:
One reason that I love the second film so much is because of the ending. The ending is both joyous and open-ended. As Dom points out, we don't know what will happen. It is perfect because it mirrors life. Decisions are tricky. Disappointments abound. There is both a joy and trepidation attached to life. In between the crap there are moments of pure fun and hope.
Katy, agree with almost everything you wrote. I'm not sure that it mirrors life, but, as Wookie has done, we find ways of injecting our lives into what we see. In a sense, though, I disagree about the movie's open-endedness. We all know how it ends. All you need do is ask yourself what you would do.
06-16-2008 , 02:04 PM
i disagree, John....Looking at Jesse and Celene at the end of the movie, they looked very comfortable with their choice - Jesse seems like he's going to stay. My choice would be different - I couldn't cheat or leave my family for even a minute....so i don't think what happens is as easily assumed as you think.
06-16-2008 , 02:07 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blarg
The thing was, it's speculated that Earth used to get bombarded with so many meteors and asteroids etc. that the entire ocean came from the water left by meteors. Can you imagine that level of bombardment? And think of all the other things that must have been left behind.

So where you draw the line at what is terrestrial and extraterrestrial is probably pretty tricky. The metals, for instance, are things that get formed in the heart of stars supposedly. Plenty of metals here, though. So Earth is basically in significant part extra-terrestrial anyway.

yup, one theory on where our water came from is from comets/asteroids etc...

its also very well accepted that all elements heavier than hydrogen/helium are formed in stars and distributed through the cosmos in supernovae explosions...

the theory that life was seeded from extraterrestrial sources is called panspermia if anyone wants to look into it more deeply...
06-16-2008 , 03:04 PM
Do all of you know that Celene and Jessie pop up, for just some brief moments, in another Linklater movie - The Waking Life?

I didn't really pay any attention to it at the time since I hadn't seen either of these Before movies. I can't remember exactly what they said in that movie, but I just remember seeing them together...I think they were talking about love or something.
06-16-2008 , 03:27 PM
yep...I can't stand that animation thing in some of Linklater's other films, though, so I didn't watch it...same goes for the Keanu reeves one he did a few years ago.
06-16-2008 , 06:37 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by diebitter
Life is not a rehearasal. When you get a chance, taking it is better than reretting not taking it.
Words to live by.
06-16-2008 , 09:12 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs. Utah
Words to live by.
But what does reretting mean?

Is that a British term?
06-17-2008 , 12:07 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominic
i disagree, John....Looking at Jesse and Celene at the end of the movie, they looked very comfortable with their choice - Jesse seems like he's going to stay. My choice would be different - I couldn't cheat or leave my family for even a minute....so i don't think what happens is as easily assumed as you think.
Dom, I don't mean what's necessarily implied in the movie--if anything is implied at all. Instead, if we project our emotions onto the characters, we can simply choose the ending we would like for ourselves. Open-ended works sometimes allow for that. I believe he's going home because that's what I would do.
06-17-2008 , 02:10 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by entertainme
I'll answer here.

So, during a phone conversation with her I mentioned that hubby and I were dating....before he had a chance to tell her.
Sometimes men need a little push for their own good

So the worst thing you've done to a guy is angle to marry him. hmmm. . . <eg>
06-17-2008 , 10:06 AM
Heard an interesting discussion on my local radio station this morning. They were talking about how expensive it is to live in London. Pretty interesting. Basically they were trying to make us Americans feel better by pointing out that Europe has been suffering from really high gasoline prices for years.

The guy in London said that recently gasoline was $17/gal (due to some strike that's going on - crazy!) I guess normally it is around $9/gallon. That's American dollars I believe. He also said that it costs $16 in toll fees to enter London and that parking meters are something like $1 for 20 minutes. (Does that sound right to you Brits? I'm not sure if I got these figures correct. )

He also said that public transportation is not much cheaper than driving your own car. Over here we assume that people in Europe use public transportation because it is cheap. I was surprised to learn that the savings aren't that great.

One other thing he said is that people were encouraged to buy diesel cars because the cost of diesel would be cheaper. But this guy said there isn't a significant difference between diesel and gasoline. It's something like a $300/year savings. DB, does that sound right?

So now those of us who heard the conversation are feeling less sorry for ourselves this morning and are feeling bad for people who live in London. He said he can't wait to come to America for his vacation because it's cheap in comparison.
06-17-2008 , 10:25 AM
I think those prices for the toll and parking are a lot more than that now

Diesel is more expensive to buy per gallon but you get much better fuel economy

Petrol is around one pound twenty a litre and diesel is around one pound thirty
06-17-2008 , 10:30 AM
Five hundred miles in my diesel costs me aroung a hundred and sixty bucks or so for comparison
06-17-2008 , 02:25 PM
okay, I'm sitting here eating some vanilla yogurt - I love everything vanilla - and just realized I have no idea what exactly vanilla is.

Is it a plant? Is it from a tree? Is "vanilla bean" actually a legume??

I haven't been this confused since I tried to figure out the difference between red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers.
06-17-2008 , 02:32 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominic
okay, I'm sitting here eating some vanilla yogurt - I love everything vanilla - and just realized I have no idea what exactly vanilla is.

Is it a plant? Is it from a tree? Is "vanilla bean" actually a legume??

I haven't been this confused since I tried to figure out the difference between red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers.
About all I know is its from a bean. Of course, the scent is almost as good as the taste...ummmmm vanilla scented candles....

I heard somewheres that products from beans have a strange affect on people. Cocaine, coffee are highly addictive substances and are produced from beans. Maybe a biologist or chemist on the board here can explain why beans do that. Could it be because they are protein and humans are mainly made up of amino acids and water?
06-17-2008 , 02:51 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominic
I haven't been this confused since I tried to figure out the difference between red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers.
Are you color blind?
06-17-2008 , 03:02 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominic

Is it a plant? Is it from a tree? Is "vanilla bean" actually a legume??
Comes from a vanilla orchid. The fruit is a seed pod which people call a bean.

All I know is that you shouldn't buy a great big bottle of vanilla extract in Mexico or Guatamala and bring it home to your friends as a gift. It may not be vanilla extract at all and may have harmful ingredients.
06-17-2008 , 03:04 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by diddyeinstein
Are you color blind?

06-17-2008 , 03:04 PM
about the bell peppers...

are the different colors naturally occurring? Are they man-made? Are they separate varieties of the same species of pepper or are they the same EXACT pepper at different stages of growth??

And why are green bell peppers always the least expensive ones?
06-17-2008 , 03:05 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by katyseagull
Comes from a vanilla orchid. The fruit is a seed pod which people call a bean.

All I know is that you shouldn't buy a great big bottle of vanilla extract in Mexico or Guatamala and bring it home to your friends as a gift. It may not be vanilla extract at all and may have harmful ingredients.
it comes from a flower??

cool.
06-17-2008 , 03:09 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominic
okay, I'm sitting here eating some vanilla yogurt - I love everything vanilla - and just realized I have no idea what exactly vanilla is.

Is it a plant? Is it from a tree? Is "vanilla bean" actually a legume??

I haven't been this confused since I tried to figure out the difference between red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers.
I love vanilla, but I hate bell peppers!!!

WIkipedia:
Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids in the genus Vanilla native to Mexico. Vanilla grows as a vine, climbing up an existing tree (also called a tutor), pole, or other support.

The distinctively flavored compounds are found in the fruit, which results from the pollination of the flower. One flower produces one fruit. Vanilla planifolia flowers are hermaphroditic: they carry both male (anther) and female (stigma) organs.

(Just think, the whole Male Vs. Female thing would be SOLVED!!!)



06-17-2008 , 03:21 PM
The last time I filled up my car, it cost me £1.12 a litre, ($8.30 / gallon, I think) which is cheap for the UK. 500 miles in my petrol car (with a small engine) costs me about $100.

The tanker drivers for Shell were on strike due to a pay dispute for four days until this morning. There have also been quite a few smaller sympathy strikes among drivers of other petrol companies. Some of the hardest hit areas started to run out of fuel and some petrol station owners have taken advantage, with prices hitting £1.99 a litre ($14.80 / gallon). The petrol station owners have tried to justify this as a way of stopping them from running out of petrol as people have been buying more fuel than usual. They could at least be honest and admit that they saw an opportunity to make some easy money. If they just wanted to stop people buying more than they needed, all they had to do was put a limit on how much people could buy at once, say 20 litres.

There is another 4 day strike planned for next week if the dispute isn't resolved before then. I expect prices will shoot up even more then as a lot more places will run out as they won't get a chance to catch up fully from the last strike before the next one.

Even without the silly prices caused by the strikes, fuel prices have risen dramatically over the last couple of years due to the rise in oil prices and the increase in fuel duty. Most budgets of the past few years have seen an extra 2 pence / litre added on to fuel duty. I was paying less than £0.90 / litre this time last year and ten years ago, petrol was "only" £0.60 / litre.

The London Congestion charge covers most of central London and stretches out quite a long way to the West as well. It costs £8 (~$16) a day and is uses cameras with number plate recongition to see who has driven in to the zone. If you pay by midnight on the day you travel in to London, it stays at £8. If you pay the next day, it costs £10. Then it goes up to £60, after 14 days it goes up to £120 and after 28 days it goes up to £180. When you add in the cost of parking (I don't ever park in London but those prices actually sound fairly cheap to me, Katy!), it becomes prohibitively expensive to travel in to London by car for most people. It has been effective at reducing the amount of cars in London as London has fairly good public transport.

One problem with London's transport though, is that whenever there is an event in London that will involve a lot of people travelling to a particular area, they shut all of the nearby underground stations as a safety precaution. This can cause all sorts of problems as people have no alternative mode of transport due to the cost of going by car. A few weeks ago, I ran in a race in London that started at St James' Park. Both the Northern line and the Circle line were closed that day and then they decided to close Embankment, Charing Cross, Temple and Westminster stations. This made it very difficult to get to the start of the race and all it did was move the problem to all of the nighbouring stations. To make it even worse, it poured down with rain and we all got thoroughly soaked and rather cold long before the race had even begun.

There are plans to introduce simillar congestion charges and toll schemes to other towns and cities across Britain. I don't have a problem with the charges, as long as there is a viable alternative. Many towns and cities have very poor public transport which is not good value for money and isn't reliable enough for people who need to be able to get in to work on time. Without a decent alternative to using the car, these schemes just become yet another stealth tax for us all to pay.

It seems as though a lot of these schemes are aimed more at revenue collection than actually trying to reduce congestion or our impact on the environment.
06-17-2008 , 03:26 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominic
about the bell peppers...

are the different colors naturally occurring? Are they man-made? Are they separate varieties of the same species of pepper or are they the same EXACT pepper at different stages of growth??

And why are green bell peppers always the least expensive ones?
From wikipedia:
Quote:
The color can be green, red, yellow, orange and, more rarely, white, purple, blue, and brown, depending on when they are harvested and the specific cultivar. Green peppers are unripe bell peppers, while the others are all ripe, with the color variation based on cultivar selection. Because they are unripe, green peppers are less sweet and slightly more bitter than yellow, orange, purple or red peppers.
and

Quote:
The term "bell pepper" is one of the many names for some fruits of the Capsicum annuum species of plants.
So it appears they are all the same species of plant, and that the color variation is dependent upon geographical region and the methodology used to grow it. I would imagine there are more green bell peppers, since apparently they are unripe and would later grow into the different color variations. This would also explain why they are cheaper.

Last edited by diddy!; 06-17-2008 at 03:30 PM. Reason: If you ever see a purple bell pepper mail it to me.
06-17-2008 , 03:29 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominic
about the bell peppers...

are the different colors naturally occurring? Are they man-made? Are they separate varieties of the same species of pepper or are they the same EXACT pepper at different stages of growth??

And why are green bell peppers always the least expensive ones?
I'm not sure how much species variation there is between bell peppers but I was told that a red pepper actually starts out as a green pepper. It just stays on the vine longer til it turns from green to red and that's why you pay a higher price for red peppers than green ones.

I'm guessing here but they probably harvest a lot of green ones early and keep a smaller number back to ripen for red peppers. I don't find the taste between red and green to be greatly different but for aesthetic purposes sometimes red colored peppers look more pleasing/colorful in certain dishes.
06-17-2008 , 03:58 PM
Reds and yellows are usually considered a little sweeter, because they are ripe. But the truth is that supermarket veggies are picked pretty early. "The way we eat now" can mess up sugar content two ways: 1) picking too early can result in the fruit/veggie not having time to develop its sugars; 2) storage can give the sugar time to just change into starch.

So greens are just going to taste like greens, and from the supermarket, the taste difference between all the colors is likely to be less. But reds and yellows will taste different if you get them fresh from the farm or your own plants. When you do that, it should be easier to taste their difference from the green ones too.

      
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