Off Topic The Review Thread

Another flight completed, and this time totally uninspired by the ‘new releases’ I re watched a film I haven’t seen for years - The French Connection. Absolutely brilliant, and apart from the fashions hasn’t dated at all. Direct line from this film to all the ‘gritty’ cop dramas we have on film and TV, except this, being at least partially true and superbly acted, is better than most.

Then discovered they had season one of the Sopranos, a box set I have been saving for retirement. Instant addiction, watched 4 episodes and would have been happy for the flight to have continued as long as it took to see the rest. Truly great.

 

OMFG.......new series of ‘Gomorrah’ starts on Wednesday

One of the best series on TV is back........can’t wait (even though I won’t watch till series end and binge what the lot in 1 or 2 days)

NB.....just seen it might of started last Wednesday but my sky plus tapes it the week after

 

didnt see the first series
whats it about

 

The Naples Mafia.......if you haven’t watched it I recommend you do

 

does anyone remember the name of a bbc police show set in italy
for some reason i think the cops name was vespa or something similar

 

Airline review. Delta Airlines. Bog standard US airline, nothing special.

But.....I am currently sat in Detroit after my plane home made an unplanned landing here in order to remove a man who had an extreme psychotic attack - took four people to restrain him and tie his hands and feet with cable ties, then basically sit on him (big, young bloke) and even then he screamed paranoiac gibberish for two hours (the investment in noise cancelling headphones really paid off). Even got to see a sky Marshall reveal himself. Really sad and quite scary. The cabin crew were outstanding. Calm, decisive and reassuring, which I’m sure led to zero panic amongst passengers. I was chatting to a couple of them, to thank them, both with decades of experience, and neither had seen anything like it before. It really was extreme. Top marks to them. Four cops dragged the poor bloke off the plane.

Unfortunately this little escapade led to the crew, when factoring how much of the flight remained and delay on the ground, were timed out for the flight, which meant cancellation until tomorrow. No chance of rearranging to another flight today at that hour (10.00 pm) and the usual crap deadly slow queues and lack of info on the ground, so I bailed, booked into an overpriced airport hotel at my company’s expense, and rescheduled on the phone. Result, 24 hour delay in getting home. But it could have been much worse and I got to see a bunch of people you usually regard as often miserable sods doing a brilliant job.

So Delta cabin crew in an emergency - completely brilliant. Delta customer service in the aftermath - crap.

 

Stan, I assume you still avoid BA when possible ? From what I’ve heard the service is even worse than what it was when I was there.

 

That’s right mate, but to be honest, for work at least, BA is rarely an option thrown up by my work travel booking system, I don’t think they fly to anywhere much out of Birmingham. My company is big enough, with enough people who fly a lot, to negotiate deals with airlines and at the moment it seems that we have a preference for the Sky Team carriers - KLM, Delta, Virgin and sadly Air France. Before that it was Star Alliance - Lufthansa, United, Air Canada, Swissair, Austrian etc. I now judge airlines on how they react when things go wrong and Lufthansa (where things go wrong a lot, especially with strikes) is the best, very proactive.

I have flown far too much for far too long, it has probably permanently ****ed my body clock, taken years off my life and I need to plant a forest to offset the carbon. But I’m still addicted to travel, have been since my dad drove the family to the Austrian Alps for a holiday when I was about 11.

 

The psychotic event on the plane was clearly a big thing, several check in staff gathered round when I was getting my boarding passes for the trip back. The passes had been issued, but I thought it appropriate to commend the cabin crew who had dealt with the emergency so well, plus some scorn for passengers who were solely concerned about their connections. The passes were grabbed back and reissued with an upgrade, plus $50 worth of food/drinks vouchers for pre flight refreshments. Was also quizzed about it by the cabin crew on flight to Paris.

It pays to give credit where it’s due.

Was a little over refreshed by the time we boarded, but 4 more episodes of the Sopranos before coma set in. Stunningly good.

 

Very good point mate. I will always make sure that when I get really good service from an individual or company, I relay it make to the manager or customer service dept and often tweet as well.
Quite often I’m met with surprise, not at the good service, but the fact someone has taken the time out to compliment instead of complain.
We are often too quick to complain and don’t bother to give good feedback.

 

I don’t think the Delta people are used to getting compliments.

I have now received an email from Delta apologising for the inconvenience, stressing that they had to divert for passenger safety, and giving me a discount on an future flight. I am going to respond with more praise, actually tried to do this via their website while I was laid over in Detroit but was put off by the incredible amount of information about myself that the e-form demanded before I could write nice things. Which is perhaps why they don’t get good feedback as often as they might deserve it.

 

For various reasons I am lately in Tower Hill / Wapping a lot and am working my way around restaurants as I am away from home.

Bodeans Smokehouse Restaurant near Tower Bridge.

Small portions. Expensive. Poor service. Very average food (would be ok at half the price). If you have the misfortune of being seated downstairs, and they won’t or cannot move you upstairs, take a towel as it’s like a sauna.

2/10 - I wouldn’t return or recommend at all.

 

Haven’t seen any of the TV series, but did buy the book for my flights last week and am about two thirds of the way through.

It’s a fun premise with some amusing ideas and scenes, but I am rather disappointed with the execution. Seems like two blokes with a very specific sense of humour trying to make each other laugh. Whoever wrote the bits featuring the 4 kids, one of whom is the antichrist, really needed to sharpen his act up.

This is the fourth Neil Gaiman book I’ve read, and American Gods is so much better than all the others (a fantasy novel with a truly interesting idea about belief behind it) I’m beginning to wonder if he got a ringer in for it. On the basis of Good Omens (which I will finish) I won’t be bothering with Terry Pratchett’s immense output, though I am certain it includes loads of arresting ideas.

 

I read American Gods, and the one he did about Norse mythology (can't remember the title right now....). Really enjoyed American Gods, and the TV adaptation is very good too.

It's been years, at least 25, since I read any Pratchett stuff, and don't really remember them too well, but seem to recall they were laced with what I'd probably label as nerdish/geekish humour, which is ok as an occasional reader, but could get boring if you were to read a lot of them.

On the subject of TV adaptations, here's the trailer for Philip Pullmans "His Dark Materials" that is coming out soon....

Really looking forward to this, if they stay true to the books then there will be some interesting questions raised about religion, God and science.....

 

Again, haven’t read the books, was always under the impression that they are for ‘young adults’. Heartily endorse the sentiments behind them, but always thought he would be preaching to the converted (irony intended) in my case, and I would simply agree the **** out of it. Wasn’t the film they made a bit of a cluster?

 

Yeah, the film is poor. I read the books with my son when he was younger. I'm re-reading them, and finding them quite good. They may be for younger readers, but that doesn't stop them from posing some thought provoking questions - it's far more advanced than Harry Potter!!

I like the theory of the multiverse, challenging religious dogma and some of the other ideas he raises. The cast for the new show looks excellent, and they'll not be restricted by cramming the three books in 90 minutes each (although the first film was so **** they never made the other two)

 

Just started watching ‘What’s my name: Muhammad Ali’ and after 20 mins I’m already hooked.
Some great interviews with the man himself and others who knew him interspersed with footage from his early fights and training.
A must for boxing fans and will make you realise how he really was the greatest

 

This is a great thread, the best one on here.

Nice one Strolls.

 

Totally agree.

 

For a future review I will be attending Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park sometime over the weekend of 5-7 July, in St Nicholas’ Park Warwick. Really looking forward to this, what should be great food and booze, loads of pop up pubs and eateries, and lots of live music (all seemingly from the 90s and 2000s which must be Tom’s favoured era, bands like Scouting for Girls and Razorlight. Narrow escape though, Texas are playing at one of the other venues, Ninesy’s favourite all time band).

£32 a head, so it had be better be good. That’s just to get in. Bit weather dependent. Though if it’s wet I can wear my wax cotton drovers coat and leather broad brimmed hat, known in my house as the ‘van Helsing outfit’ and guaranteed to make sure that the family stay at least 100 yards away from me. Might wear it even if it’s sunny.