Imagine if all the cool actors were EPL managers ... Newman, Redford, Hoffman, McQueen

I'm skeptical of players named after the <Llama family>...>

(paraphrasing) "England and the US are two nations separated by a common language".

<TheExtremelyHumorousAnteater>

LOREnZO LLAMA aahahahahahahaahahaha I remember that actor.

Fun facts: he had two much lesser known relatives who were also actors. Eddy Alpaca and Vinny Vicuna.

Excellent point.

footy = football = soccer

gaffer = manager = coach

Old Trafford = nickname for the Queen

<Paul Newman my Gaffer>

He would come in handy in arguments with the officials and the players, having a wealth of old movie lines to draw from.

<Newman to the head official, just before being sent up the stands like Jose Merinho>: "I'M SHOOTING POOL, FATS. WHEN I MISS, YOU CAN SHOOT"

He could also taunt opposing goalkeepers with his "YOUR WIFE'S A DYKE" routine ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7t...

And (same film) if he brought the Hansen brothers with him, we could crowd the midfield with bone-crunching <Nobby Stiles> types.

<Lee> I am sorry to hear that- Geoffrey Palmer was one of the best that is for sure.

Did you ever see him in "Butterflies"?

Another of the many fine comedies he starred in:

<Promotional My Didgeredoo>

Well I finally saw <Blighty v Orse> and an easy win for our lads I must say. Not much opposition there, and gaffer <Paul Newman> justified in leaving much of the A-squad off the pitch.

At least that's what I hope happened, because the squad out there would not be fit vs Belgium or France.

That said only an old crab would complain about such youngsters on the go.

<Won Nutsaka's> older brother <Saka Crap> was solid.

<Sancho Panza> looked dangerous, and proved so.

<Harry "I have no business playing in an international because I will never, ever be more than a yeoman" Winks> delivered a great cross for a goal.

<Tyrone Shoelaces> one of the best out there today and unlucky not to score. He could be a key player against the big boys down the line.

<Toby McGuire> now seems fully recovered from the worst two weeks anyone ever had in EPL history. He must be relieved. I know I am.

Very good to see <Jack in the Beanstalk> playing for the right squad! Him being a traitor to Ireland is a small price to pay for us to have him on board amirite.

<Calvin and Hobbes> looked likely to score throughout and so he did! Another bright spot.

Your footy assessment was completely on point.

With the arrival of <Jack Greasydish> and the sustained good form of <Mason Dismount>, it's hard to see how Southgate keeps finding space for the likes of <Harry Hoodwinks>. Not that he had a bad game, but a number of fringe midfielders are knocking at the door and he's not terribly exciting. Also not forgetting that Gareth keeps going back to old favourite Jordan Henderson time and again (yawn).

Can we rule out James Maddison? Only one (somewhat forgotten) England cap so far, but His Leicester form has seen at least a mild resurgence lately.

For me, a big question remains. Against stiffer opposition, how does <SouthPark> balance a surfeit of forward thinking midfielders (Sterling, Rashford etc.) with adequate protection for his back four? This may be why Henderson and Winks still have a role, but I would be on the lookout for better alternatives.

Yes, sweeping up the left, I too thought that <Saka Crapa> was promising. Not someone who was on my radar, but he’s quick and alert – I could see him becoming the next Ashley Cole if he continues in that vein.

*******

Hah! The first Xmas Special <Royle Family> was a treat to re-watch. So many golden moments that I could barely remember:

The derisory laughter when it was suggested that playing ‘parlour games’ might substitute for watching telly … the outrage when Barbara hinted that there’d be no turkey next year … Jim’s no-help-offered comment on the huge pile of dirty dishes: “Well they won’t wash themselves Barbara”.

Yeah, an outstanding episode. I might be forced to keep watching.

<The Fall> is monstrously good- <Pamela Sue Anderson> shows she's every bit as good as <Nicole Kidman>- and more.

Even better than her tour de force in the TV show <Hannibal>. She had to leave <The Generation X Files> to really show what she could do. The concept of her character straitjacketed her in that role. As it did <David Anchovy>. <Anchovy> showed his considerable range portraying a douchebag in the filthy comedy <Californication> and an insufferable Yuppie in <Kalifornia>. The only down side is that according to his contract, he is only allowed to star in things named "California."

<Nicole Kidman> has effortlessly spanned the transition to GILF in Kiwi <Jane Campion's> reprise of her bloated, yet engrossing "Lakes on Something or Other."

I cannot remember the title even though I saw all of season 1 and season 2 and not that long ago either. "Lake Woebegone?" Something like that...

I do remember the Campion piece you speak of. Effectively, it was Top of The Lake series 2, but it had a secondary title, ‘: China Girl’ I think. Campion landed her daughter <Alice Englert> a decent role in it. Nice to know that nepotism is alive and well, even in Australasia.

Top of The Lake series 1 was far superior to series 2. It contained a nice cameo from <Holly The Head Hunter>, was more suspenseful, and better directed.

But to be frank, I will watch anything with <Elisabeth Gathers No Moss> in it. Since the early days of <The Handmaid’s Tale>, I have witnessed no finer actress.

<Twenty Benson>

Here is the complete <Royle Family Album>:

Season 1: 1-Bills Bills Bills
2-Making Ends Meet
3-Sunday Afternoon
4-Dad\\\'s Birthday
5-Another Woman
6-Wedding Day

Season 2: 1-Pregnancy
2-Sunday Lunch
3-Nana\\\'s Coming To Stay
4-Nana comes To Stay
5-Barbara\\\'a Finally Had Enough
6-Antony\\\'s Birthday
**1999 Christmas Special - Christmas with the Royle Family (in Specials folder)

Season 3: 1-Baby
2-Babysitting
3-Decorating
4-Elsie\\\'s Funeral
5-Antony moves to London
6-The Christening
**2000 Christmas special - The Royle Family at Christmas (in specials folder)

2006 special - The Queen of Sheba

2008 Christmas special - The New Sofa

<Moss Def>

I assume you are aware of British racing legend <Sterling Moss'> breakout series "Mad Men". She was much the best in that fine cast as well. She set a standard for herself that would be hard to top, yet top it she did when she nosed <Jodi Schecter> at the line in the 1978 British Grand Prix at <Silverstone>.

<Lee> Super!

[Event "Launceston CC v Green Ponds CC corr match"]
[Site "Tasmania, Australia"]
[Date "1848.??.??"]
[EventDate "1848"]
[Round "2"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Green Ponds Chess Club"]
[Black "Launceston Chess Club"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "69"]

Hey, impressive knowledge. I now feel like an inadequate student of <Elisabeth Moss>. It shouldn't be allowed. I claimed her first! (as we used to say in the schoolyard)

In any fair and just world, you would now have been selected for a virtual 'free' tour of Manchester's <Moss Side>, not far from the glorious <Old Trafford>. But as I am paid by the Tourism Board of <Newcastle>, your tour must instead start at the <Strawberry Pub> and <St.James' Park> Footy Stadium ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR5...

Contained therein (ref. 179), is <Gillam>'s latest offering, hot off the presses - a many-paged tome about the <1935 Warsaw Olympiad>.

As you probably know, this was a gig at which <Petrovs and the Latvians>, an exciting new punk band from British Columbia, had the crowd on their feet.

<Post Dragon>

That was one of the strangest tours ever= It was well chosen though I saw dozens of other <Newcastle> tours on that youtube page. Yours was the best though. It featured many city vistas with no people. Zero people, and it was in 2013. This is an example of what scientists call the <Brown Bottle Discontinuum>?

That's where certain areas in Newcastle are utterly deserted at certain times because all the punters go to the Dog and Ferret at those precise times.

It was great to see the <Newcastle footy palace> full of punters though.

<MPD> Thanks for the heads up on the latest <Terry Gilliam> film.

By coincidence I am currently waiting for a <Terry Gilliam> pamphlet on <Merano 1926>, in the possibly vain hope that he has supplied accurate round dates. The round dates I have look bogus to me and as usual for cg.com unsourced. I found three round dates from the <Werner Shachzeitung> and predictably, they do not match those found on cg.com. But I want accurate dates for all the rounds.

I have a fair number of <AJ. Gorilla> tournament books in fact. I find they are hit or miss, but overall I would say worth getting.

I would not buy one on the Warsaw Olympiad at this point though. I am knee deep in ancient Balt chess history at the moment.

I am in fact indebted to <Tony P> for his personal efforts to find rare <Mikhail Tal> books for me several years ago, but I find his prices have become wildly inflated.

At least they are in relation to the current pricing over at <Dr. Fiala's> Czech site, which is where I recently found several rare Latvian chess biographies and related material- available nowhere else that I could see.

I can't believe how little guts our lads showed against <Belgium>.

I smelled this result ahead of time, as you may confirm by looking at my post about <Blighty v Belgium> last week. Somewhere up above on this thread.

No guts = no tournament trophies.

I'd previously given up submitting games since they took so long to be uploaded.

I got the impression Chessgames wasn't really interested in the old games, so I stopped bothering.

Yeah … there were a few oddly quiet places – I noticed that too. I think some of it was filmed at 6.00am before anyone turned up. I’ve not witnessed that level of emptiness on my visits.

Oh heck, the football … I know. Dreadful. Yet back in the studio they were making all kinds of excuses and suggesting it could have been very different. Not from my perspective. <Belgium> looked very controlled with their stars back. I mean they are very fortunate that they have so many genius footballers, but they were playing as a team, in a well coordinated manner and we didn’t look that threatening. I don’t think Sterling and Rashford could have turned the tide.