LeMarchand

Possibly the most relevant thread. During my weekly shop, I noticed that Tesco "cheapo" cashews had gone up 33% (75p to £1) and the 32 pack of Cushelle loo roll that was £8.50 during Lockdown #1 had gone up from £15.50 to £16.50 since the week before, amongst others that currently escape me.

Ep 3 of "The Night Agent": The president's daughter looks like she's going to be the Kim Bauer of the piece - pretty and getting into all sorts of trouble due to making dumb decisions. Is anyone else finding the constant use of both of boss lady Diane's names making them think that of the actress with the same name?

It's on the "to watch" pile, but Mme LeMarchand isn't keen. The book has been on the "to read" pile for some time, too!

Started The Night Agent on Netflix. An FBI guy who mans a phone that never rings gets a phone call that thrusts him into a conspiracy deep in the heart of the intelligence services. Two episodes in, and it's pretty good. Reminds be a bit of early "24" (Wayne Palmer joins the cast soon) without the CTU stuff. Took me ages to realise that the main lady is Tripitaka 2 with hair.

Murder Mystery 2 (Netflix) After the events of the first film, the Nick and Audrey have become less than successful PIs. When The Maharajah invites them to his wedding they're soon drawn into another murder mystery. This was tolerably fun when I was watching it (though the final "surprise" made absolutely no sense) but I really struggled to remember what I'd watched today. Speaking of forgetting things, I was playing "Heavy Rain" just before watching and the load screens feature close-ups of the CG cast faces. The face I had on screen just before watching was of Sam Douglas/Scott Shelby, who was in the film as Josh Hartnett's agent. Also in the film was Tim Seyfi from Turkish show "The Gift".

Forgot to say that OF:RdG was Amazon Prime and D&D:HAT was the cinema, as was John Wick: Chapter 4 (no extra title). Think this is the first of these I've watched theatrically. It was entertaining but the fight scenes, as in the others, all went on far too long. Admittedly the later ones (The Arc de Triomphe, The Dragon's Breath and The Steps were impressive). Not sure what the point of the opening two scenes were, or "Mr. Nobody" though Shamier Anderson's acting has improved since his Wynonna Earp days. Talking about acting: Scott Adkins' cameo was great. Has to be said that Akira was right, though: JW turns up somewhere, asks for help and chances are whoever he asks will wind up dead, along with dozens of henchmen on both sides.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves Fun romp that kept us entertained, but isn't going to go down as a classic. Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre Another one with a subtitle and High Grant. Kinda OK, but it felt like Guy Ritchie wanted to make a Bond film but then cast Jason Statham, who can be great in certain parts but is in no way suave enough for the kind of caper this seemed to be aiming for.

Schmigadoon is back, though it's now set in Schmicago. Finished Extraordinary; the first ep was definitely the best, but there's still lots to enjoy (mainly the bits with Ji**lord). Finally. started in on Foundation. Not exactly an easy watch, but pretty darn good so far. Wish that the main actress didn't look so young, though. We assumed she was a kid when introduced and it looked so wrong when she had a clinch with someone. Also does anyone know another show/film/book/comic/game that sees a space elevator used in the same way?

I know the population is supposed to be dropping but even I think farming children is inhumane.

I'm Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch) (Rakuten, but available to rent most places) Alma, a museum historian, is pressured into being part of a trial where she will live with a robotic man designed to adapt to her and become her perfect man. She hates this idea and cannot see how such a relationship could work... Had a free rental to use up, and this was on Mme LeMarchand's watchlist. Nothing to do with the Dan Stevens, I'm sure! The only other German things I've watched of late has been the start of DARK and 1899, neither of which are particularly cheerful, and this is possibly the dourest romcom that you'll ever see. That said, it does have funny bits as well as a few thought-provoking ideas. Possibly worth a watch when it's free somewhere but be warned: It ends on one of those "make up your own ending" notes.

Got "Quantum Break" for £6 on Steam on Tuesday and "Horizon: Forbidden West" (PS4) for £15 at our local Smyths on the way home yesterday. Realised Lance Reddick is in both as I left the store.

It doesn't look like the movie will be free of innuendo, though.

I have to admit that I wasn't particularly interested in the movie until that trailer, which makes it look more subversive than I was expecting. Can't believe that they didn't go for this one for the music, though.

Bet you didn't use to play "Guess the Constellation" on an Antikythera mechanism.

So it's crashing to earth?

Yep, Happy Birthday!

Perhaps the most appropriate place for this. Noticed that Amazon's "free delivery" minimum price for non-book goods has gone up 25% to £25.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney+ or rental most other services) This was always going to be a tough one for Marvel, given the death of Chadwick Boseman. OTH, they do seem to have been given a fairly free pass due to this. Unfortunately it has turned out as a fairly missable Marvel film. YMMV, but I spent the film finding all sorts of faults, possibly the biggest being that this was more a Sub-Mariner film than a Black Panther one. If I was to list all my problems with the movie this would be a very long post (and would probably get me cancelled) but the other that I have to point out is the mid-credits scene that apparently reduced others to tears just made me wonder why the heck no-one had thought to reveal this years ago.

I have found that every tablet is an "iPad" in a teacher's head and, yes, they are unable to cope with differentiating between the various Operating Systems. If only MS had got their act together enough to have ensured their continued dominance in EDU.

I have to admit that I sometimes wonder how people on here can afford such expensive cars and this, that, and the other or how cost-cutting measures include not buying stuff that I have never bought. I guess some aren't in EDU or are a on lot more than me! That said, if you are struggling to feed yourself, something is wrong - not necessarily with how you are managing your money, but with the fact that someone in a reasonably skilled job is in your position. Have you been to Citizen's Advice? They might be able to point you at ways you can claim towards outgoings. You may also need to consider foodbanks. Without wishing to pry, how much do you have to spend on food? Happy for you to PM me if you'd prefer. Asking as someone I do the odd job for recently fell on lean times and couldn't understand why social services were questioning his weekly food bill of more than I was spending on 3 adults. In his case, he couldn't imagine not shopping at Waitrose or buying cheaper brands; things soon changed. Not thinking that's where you're at, but it may just be that you're buying the "wrong" stuff. Whilst you probably wouldn't get direct financial help from any requests posted here, I reckon you'd get some good advice on all sorts of things.

Looks like the BBC ghosts are getting "sucked off" soon: https://www.spoilertv.com/2023/03/ghosts-bbc-series-to-end-after-5th.html

Thanks; looks promising.

Cheers, I'll take a look. I think she's got a SH3, but should be do-able. Don't really want to play around too much with another "firm's" work device, but was surprised that Task Scheduler was accessible (a rejected plan) so who knows how open it is? Hopefully not too open as we're talking BIG amounts of money being flung around!

Pass on the auth sitch. Yep, slow on both wired and wireless, with speed tests in single figures. A speed test run on her "home" machine gets the expected speeds. The wired connection is through a USB dock (no Ethernet on laptop) and, to rule that out, I left the USB A adapter I use for imaging but that didn't help. It did seem unlikely that 60-odd users (on Tuesday) would have iffy docks! Yes, you would think that a firm with that widespread a problem would have got it sorted by now. Apparently they are pushing through some sort of update today. I wait with unbated breath.

There are a few discussions, but I've tried all the "fixes" discussed (apart from "modem mode"). It's one of those annoying searches that throw up a reasonable amount of chatter, but not really any solutions. I do wonder if some of the problem is that, while most of the workforce are wfh, IT apparently have to be on site* (so probably aren't experiencing the problem). *Sounds familiar