Classical Music & Opera Forums

bricon wrote:Many computer users are unaware that regular cleaning of the inside of their computer’s monitor can improve the monitor’s performance and help reduce eye strain.

Run the monitor cleaning programme (linked below) at least once a month.

Monitor Cleaning Application

R.I.P. PAUL NEWMAN

A classy actor and an even classier human being. We shall not see his like again (nor, for that matter, his wonderful wife Joanne, a lover of opera and ballet).

Sad, sad day.



And speaking of movies (well, indirectly), I was curious as to what your favorite cliches, if that's the correct word, is in movies (or pet peeves). To wit:

1. Woman in bed alone at night and hears noises downstairs. Why would she call the police from the phone next to her bed??? Nah! Instead, just grab a nightgown and go downstairs in the dark and enter the kitchen (it's usually the kitchen where an intruder is) and then get murdered? attacked???

2. Woman walking home alone at night in heels. Why take a well-lit street with people on it. Much better to take a dark deserted street. Even better, a shortcut through a dark deserted park is even better.

3. Woman (why is it always women) is going to her car in a parking lot. Why for heaven's sake take your keys out of your bag ahead of time. Nah! Better to have to dig through your purse and then when you hear someone frantically try to find them thereby dropping the purse, etc.

4. Man (or woman) goes home to find door ajar. Don't go to a neighbor or call the police on your cell phone. Just charge right in.

5. Go to an apartment or house for appointment and find door ajar. Just go right in and if there is a body, just pick up the knife, gun, whatever, and get blood all over yourself and fingerprints all over the weapon so someone can find you looking guilty as hell. Which of course you are. Guilty of being incredibly stupid.

6. The one that drives me nuts more than the others is the fact that screenwriters never heard of deadbolt locks. They still use those useless chains on doors that anyone, including myself, can break through.

7. (For women, again), don't even think about closing the curtains or blinds when getting undressed. Just leave the lights on and windows bare for the voyeur (sp?) across the street to watch you.

When I see these things in movies, I tend to start laughing and not take them seriously. Actually any movie that uses these cliches (a lot) shouldn't be taken seriously. Supernatural movies, if well done, I can accept and put credibility on hold but the above drive me nuts.

I'm curious to know what other stupid tricks in movies get you laughing.

Stupid thread I know but the death of Paul Newman, my idol of so many years, has rattled me more so than usual. His eyes were bluer than Frank Sinatra's eyes, I think.

Paul Newman was a class act indeed. RIP

As for the movie cliches, my favourite is the woman in the parking lot. I always get sucked in with the quickening of the foot steps and am completely hooked by the time of the shuffling for keys.

You mean you aren't wondering why these women are so stupid? Don't these people ever go to the movies???

Wow! This forum is lively. I think most people would prefer to post off topic discussions on the other forums.

I just bought an mp3 player and wonder how long it will take me to get it started before I go back to Sony for help. I finally had to scratch that itch which was going on for a couple of years. Went to Apple to buy an Ipod but it is always impossible to get assistance so I marched over to Sony and bought an mp3 player with lots of assistance and an offer of help to assist me in getting started. Apple lost a potential customer. Is store is so busy all the time, they should hire more personnel.

Lulusheen:
Don't forget the women (always women!!) with the spike high heels that are running away from trouble and inevitably trip and fall.
And how about that door that you just know is never going to open.
And how about the car that never starts?
I adore these cliches.

nyoka:

I lived in NY and so you do and I always wonder at how these detectives, et al. always find parking spaces wherever they go. Jeez. Even on my sister's street, we have trouble. In DC, fuggedaboutit.

lulusheen:
Hint: Sometimes it is cheaper to pay for the parking ticket than to put your car in a parking lot in NY.
(This has been a Cliftwood special). NACFTS

Re: clichés

There are a number of these lists floating around - including one which lists a favourite of mine, "every police investigation requires visiting a strip club".

* Regardless of weather, you can always find a cab.
* Everyone - except victims' families - can afford to live in +$3000/month apartments with nice views regardless of their income.
* Anyone who wears a double-breasted suit is a villain.
* All computers can be hacked into in under 5 minutes by a teenage kid.
* All answering machines contain incriminating phone calls.
* Hardened criminals will confess if a cop kicks a chair over.
* All physical evidence - fingerprints, DNA, bullets - can be processed rapidly and flawlessly. Fingerprints, in particular, are always clear.
* When a man and a woman eat takeaway Chinese food together, regardless of circumstances, it's always foreplay.

stephenrg:

And of course whenever a character threatens another person or says "I'll kill you," that person dies/is murdered.

Suspect: I want a lawyer.

Cop: Why? Are you hiding something?

FINALAMENTE
Bye Bye , OJ , you worm!
At least for 1 year, anyway. (I am a hardened cynic)

Mogs: Makes one believe in karmic retribution, doesn't it?

You said it, baby!!!
This is a very good day.

Finalmente - the A
(M would have been proud)

I went to vote last week and was steamed when I went into the booth. It seems I wasn't voting for the candidate but for the electoral delegate who, hopefully, will vote for the candidate of my choice.

When are they going to get rid of that antiquated electoral college? It serves no purpose but is very dangerous (witness 2000). It may have worked 200 years ago but not today. I vote directly for my senator, congressman, governor but cannot vote directly for my presidential candidate.

I came out positively infuriated.

I'm confused. How could you get to vote for a President BEFORE the presidential election?
I never heard of going into a booth even to vote for an electoral official.
Is that a Washington or Virginia thing?
What am I missing here?

You get to vote ahead of time if you are going to be an election official, working from 5 a.m. until after closing (around 7-8 p.m.) and will have no time to vote yourself.

For this great patriotic duty, I get paid $100 (less taxes) but they were desperate to have officials since they expect a very big turnout and need officials to keep things running smoothly. Soooooo, that's how I got to vote early. it will be one helluva day. Still, I beat the crowds.

That sure is a surprise to me that someone cannot pull the lever for his/her candidate of choice.
I never heard of it before.