The first season or two of Homeland was really great. I ditched it, probably prematurely as the show had a bunch of seasons, so it must have went off in a different direction.

Like Succession, I was just kind of like, "How long are they going to keep telling the same repetitive narrative?" But again, they probably adjusted course as the show went on for many seasons.

2 hours ago, HaloMilliVanilli said:

Finished S2 of Jack Ryan last night.  Good show, have heard S3 is great too.  Probably start that tonight.

Also, watched some of Brandon's work on OnlyFans.  Blarg was correct.

Appreciate the support

Wait, jack him off here. I think I might even start a new career. I can easily drop 4-5 loads a day. At $100-150 a pop you could afford Angels season tix in the Diamond Club.

Thread of the year

4 minutes ago, HanfordGuy said:

He helped write “Take My Breath Away” from Top Gun. It was a big song when I was growing up. Terri Nunn of Berlin wrote a post on Instagram alerting her followers of his passing. Didn’t know who he was until I read the post.

You follow Terri Nunn?

Makes sense with click bait media or "I got the story first!" types. Add in everyone on the internet is usually trolls or negative.

There is a no win for him to do interviews or speak to anyone.

2 minutes ago, cals said:

Much appreciated 

De nada 

8 hours ago, HanfordGuy said:

Friends mourn Tom Whitlock, Springfield writer of 'Danger Zone' and 'Take My Breath Away'
 

https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/2023/02/20/tom-whitlock-who-wrote-songs-for-top-gun-movie-dies-in-tennessee/69923305007/

Tom Whitlock, an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning songwriter from Springfield, died Friday in Tennessee following a battle with Alzheimer's disease, several friends confirmed.

Whitlock, who was born in 1954, was best known for writing the songs "Take My Breath Away" and "Danger Zone," which were both featured in the 1986 movie "Top Gun."
 

A Glendale High School graduate, Whitlock moved to California in 1983 with aspirations of hitting it big with his rock band. Instead, he found work as an assistant engineer in studios, participating in recording efforts for "Scarface" and "Beverly Hills Cop."

Whitlock teamed with Giorgio Moroder (who he met after fixing Moroder's car) for the "Top Gun" songs. "Danger Zone" was written to match the opening carrier-deck scene, but "Take My Breath Away" actually inspired the filmmakers to shoot an additional love scene to match the song, according to past News-Leader reporting.

"Take My Breath Away" won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 1986 for best original song.

Larry Lipscomb, Whitlock's friend and former Glendale classmate, said Whitlock was a quiet man with a big heart who leaves behind a large group of friends scattered across the country…

Ok, I have a legit question and am too inquisitive to let this go. How in the fuck are you mourning or coming across assistant movie music engineers?

I'm 99.3% sure no one here knows who this is.

11 minutes ago, cals said:

Great idea.  I’ll try to think about your ex’s, too.

I'll send you the Excel spreadsheet of which ones to avoid.

26 minutes ago, cals said:

Interesting.  How do you last 6-7 minutes stroking?  

I think about my ex and it adds on 5 minutes

I created an Onlyfans that makes $15-25k a month just stroking it for 6-7 minutes.

5 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

Did they?   I just remember we outbid the Cards, and Moreno gave that personal service contract afterwards.

Yeah, I think it was an extra year, maybe two, and obviously more money.

The personal services contract was a nice loophole. The Nationals did that with Ryan Zimmerman and then MLB banned it for circumventing the salary cap.

4 hours ago, gotbeer said:

Keep him the F away from Ohtani.  Mang will whisper things like money = respect, and to take the high bid.

I thought when he signed with us that the Marlins offered more?

10 hours ago, Don said:

Yeah, it's basically a direct re-creation of Drive to Survive, but with golf. Same format/structure and style. I'm sure the PGA saw what that series did for F1 in the US and was like "Can we be next please?" As GB said, people that are already fans of golf will probably enjoy it, yet the show is very clearly aimed at people that know nothing about golf. Like they spend a lot of time talking about how tournaments work, explaining scoring, etc... I remember a huge text graphic at one point explaining what a bogey is for instance.

I see what you mean, dude. I started this tonight and it's clearly aimed at casuals, but I see why it works and how it would would have worked for the F1 series.

A little too melodramatic (for the casuals), but I always enjoy just about any behind the scenes type stuff of things I'm into. I'll probably watch all of them and dig it.

I forgot JT came back from 7 down to win the PGA.

8 minutes ago, Tank said:

for those of us without a military background, what is MEPS? what all does it involve?

Military Entrance Processing Station

Think of it as the intake base or station where you enroll into the military. I thought I summed it up well above, as far as what it involves.

They mainly test and assess your aptitude and abilities to try and match you up with a job within the military that matches your skillset or aptitude level. They also test basic fitness levels and if you have any ailments or injuries that might prevent you from enlisting and doing a specific job. They also do vision and hearing tests.

Basically it's like a big full blown physical with an entrance exam to see if you would be a good fit for the military and also if you would be qualified for whatever job you want within the military.

It's pretty much the entrance protocol to joining the military. Make sure you are healthy, job placement, and swearing in to start.

Definitely take advantage of VA benefits like tuition. I looked forward to that and know my sister did that for free schooling/education.

Speaking of which, I wanted to go Navy because of the travel as my family members have cool stories of Japan, etc. 

I remember the Navy recruiter gave the canned speech to entice people. He was kind of bragging about there being "beer ports" at every dock and how dudes would drink. Mind you, I was 20 and not even drinking age at the time. My recruiter was pretty terrible.

7 hours ago, Jason said:

My daughter will likely be going through MEPS sometime this year. I've been trying to learn as much about the process and enlistment into the Air Force. 

This has stuck with me today and I'll throw out my experience. If it helps or is informative, great. If it doesn't, well I have some time to kill before bed.

It's pretty easy and straight forward.

I was in a weird place just out of high school and not sure of my life direction. I also knew I needed discipline and structure. I have all branches of the military in my family, but the reason I was born in San Diego was because my father was in the Navy and stationed there, so the Navy seemed like the first choice.

One thing to know and looking back is the recruiters job is to sell me, you, your daughter, everyone on that branch and to get them to enlist. But I called the recruiters office that I knew in Corona, told him what I wanted to do and accomplish. He took some basic info and the start of the intake process. I then went down and signed forms and did a pee drug test.

This was over 20 years ago, but I remember it as a two day process. I think I've mentioned it before because I actually watched one of our 2002 WS games in the motel with some random dude from Texas or Tennessee that was in town to enlist.

The recruiter drove me down to San Diego in the Old Town area. I think he was trying to fill me in on the process, but all I remember is how he told me how many speeding tickets he got on the 15 freeway. They put all of us up in the same motel there in Old Town. You kind of just hangout in your room and they tell you dinner is a X time and it's kind of basic chow hall type thing. Then it's back to the room and watching tv with someone else enlisting.

Breakfast is early and one of those big travel type of motor coaches comes to get everyone around 4:30am.

As soon as you get there it's game on. They don't treat you like shit, but they start right away with barking orders and you following rules as far as where to line up, where to go, etc. If you know what you're signing up for, it's mild and not a big deal. But they crack the whip and start right away.....this was also a good wake up call since it's like 5am.

Day 1 was pretty much all day and was pure aptitude (ASVAB) and physical testing........from audio testing to color blindness (one of the main issues why I never went through) to stripping you down to your underwear and having you in a room of people doing agility and basic physical stuff from standing on one leg to push ups.......just making sure you are physically fit to enlist. But the day is mainly testing and seeing where you are at to see potential jobs within the military. This was also all potential branch candidates bunched together....Navy, Air Force, etc.

Then you load on the bus back to the motel and same as above......eat, hang out, sleep, and back on the bus in the early am to go back to MEPS.

Day 2 is actual enlistment and job placement. You already know your ASVAB score from the day before and your recruiter is here with you to go over job opportunities, what's available, and they will go over any unique things.....for instance, there was a 10k signing bonus for those that signed up to be a chef on submarines. Day 2 was pretty much like being at the DMV all day. You put in for a job request then it's just waiting until they approve or deny you.....this is where I got notified that my colorblindness disqualified me from the jobs I wanted. My situation was a little different as I was literally the last person to leave for the day due to my disqualifications. I got a 92 on the ASVAB, so I was eligible for everything but nuclear, according to my recruiter. So it was a full day of applying for various NSA, DoD, being a doctor, firefighter, and I think the last job I applied for was a dentist.

Once you accept a job you meet with a commander there at MEPS. It feels like a job interview, but really he is there to ask questions and make sure you know what you're signing up for and the commitment involved. For me, again, my situation was different. I was pending that dentist job but they were closing up shop for the day, so they had me sit with him and we chatted....basic things like, "Why do you want to be in the military?" I told him I wanted to learn a specific trade that I could carry over into civilian life when my time was up. He could tell I had good motivations and was intelligent, but I was pending and didn't have a job yet. In my case, he told me to move forward, but that if I didn't get the final dental job that I would get discharged (there is a specific name for it, but it's basically like nothing ever happened and is on record). They didn't want me to leave without a job, but I also told them I wasn't going to take some bullshit job that wasn't up to my aptitude and that final commander understood and agreed.

After the final interview/conversation they take you into a room where you are sworn in. It was 2002, so it was just a video of George W. Bush thanking you for your entry into the United States military and kind of gave a little speech....all on some recorded VHS tape. You raise your hand, swear in, and then leave with your recruiter who takes you home. Then you get a call in a day or two from someone else telling you that a van is on the way to pick you up and take you to basic training.......for the Navy and my job it was going to be a base/station in Michigan.

That's basically it. If your daughter has basic intelligence and basic motor skills, she will be fine and have an option of jobs available to her. I know you can change jobs as the video I posted above the guy talks about going from the Navy to the Army Rangers. My sister was also a Marine that changed jobs within the Marines while enlisted.

Keep us posted if does join. I'm curious to see what, if anything, has changed in 20 years. 

1 minute ago, Tank said:

Tiger checked the middle box himself, too. 

Yeah, just a cool little side story.

Great to see/have him back.....and also a creative sign that worked.

Taylor hijacks and ruins another thread. It was fun while it lasted boys.

Rahm is on a terror.

Thought this was cool as shit.

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Hathcock is arguably the best sniper we ever had. Total badass 

He's dope, I watched that a while back or something similar. I was always into this dude and his story. There are some wild ones how he single handidly crushed Russian forces. Finland's finest and even had his face shot. I think he has over 500 kills.

1 hour ago, Jason said:

My daughter will likely be going through MEPS sometime this year. I've been trying to learn as much about the process and enlistment into the Air Force. 

I can share my experience if you'd like and know there are vets here that can, too. Taylor will probably go out of his way to select a gay like emoji, but that's his boring troll life. Guy never considered military duty, but will somehow have an opinion on it.....Lifetime 2.0

Been watching a ton of videos on this dude the past two years. Dude has 33 confirmed kills, but way more. He also was the one (or his Army Ranger team rather) that saved the real guy that the Mark Wahlberg movie was based off. He resonates with me because he's also colorblind but got through unlike me at  MEPS.

If you want some real behind the scenes stuff, watch this dudes videos if you are interested.

Feel free to post other military based stories, info, or knowledge.

8 hours ago, Redondo said:

The Usual Suspects

Really good show with some big twists

Very well acted and Kevin Spacey with all his warts did a terrific job in this movie

 

Fury

Realistic WWII movie and worth the watch

Really graphic and well done

Brad Pitt nailed his role

Good ones. 

Usual Suspects is an all-time great and that was also Spacey's breakout role.

Fury was good. It had Jon Bernthal who has slowly become one of my favorite actors. Dude nails his roles and I think I mentioned it here, but that role he played in Shot Caller was aces. His roles and the fact he's in a bunch of movies I like help. But he was recently on Rogan and kept it real and told a wild story where he knocked out a bully in Santa Monica and the dude was close to dead and he was going to look at prison and possibly life, but turned his life around and we see what has happened. He also has his own podcast that pops up on my YT feed called Real One's or something like that and he goes deep on people's past, history, and how they became successful or overcome hardships.....it's really good. I like this dude.

1 hour ago, Tank said:

Knowing how Tiger and JT trash talk each other so much out of fun, this fits in. But in the current climate of SJWs and a national lack of humor, it’s become an issue. Too bad. Even my wife thought it was funny. 

I almost want to be reverse "woke" and pissed that Tiger had to apologize and make a speech out of it.

The levels we are at as a society where people need to apologize for jokes with their friends is fucking ridiculous.