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What Are You Watching..?


Robsk II

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Bluestone 42 started on BBC4 this week. It's a comedy about a bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan, very funny and fairly accurate according to a mate in the army. Treme series 3 starts on SKY Atlantic this week, made by The Wire team and based in New Orleans, great actors (many from The Wire) great music and some great characters.

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A latest series of 'Toughest place to be a ...' made a welcome appearance on BBC2 last night with the tale of a London cabbie trying to drive a old taxi on the chaotic streets of Mumbai in India. In its third series now I think, and you can easily see why this series keeps getting recommissioned because this is exceptionally good television. The best programmes are surely those that convey not just mere entertainment, but those that also manage to provide some real insight into the realty of the Human condition at the same time - this series does that in spades.

 

What a eye-opener of a programme, if you ever feel the need to have a moan about money or the stress and aggravation involved in living in 21st century Britain - and we all do at times - then just watch this first and I assure you you'll soon gain a new perspective on life. The truth is that compared to the grinding struggle for survival that most of Humanity still has to endure every day, we here are incredibly fortunate to be living in such a wealthy, safe, and stable country.

 

Easily the best thing on TV this week - if I had my way watching this series would be made compulsory.

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A latest series of 'Toughest place to be a ...' made a welcome appearance on BBC2 last night with the tale of a London cabbie trying to drive a old taxi on the chaotic streets of Mumbai in India. In its third series now I think, and you can easily see why this series keeps getting recommissioned because this is exceptionally good television. The best programmes are surely those that convey not just mere entertainment, but those that also manage to provide some real insight into the realty of the Human condition at the same time - this series does that in spades.

 

What a eye-opener of a programme, if you ever feel the need to have a moan about money or the stress and aggravation involved in living in 21st century Britain - and we all do at times - then just watch this first and I assure you you'll soon gain a new perspective on life. The truth is that compared to the grinding struggle for survival that most of Humanity still has to endure every day, we here are incredibly fortunate to be living in such a wealthy, safe, and stable country.

 

Easily the best thing on TV this week - if I had my way watching this series would be made compulsory.

 

I know exactly what you mean. Ages ago I took a mate from a village to Lahore to watch England in a Test Match. He simply could not comprehend the sights he saw - the totally alien battle for survival every day for so many poor people.

 

Youngest just came back from a week in India. Similar wtf moment in life for him.

 

Wish the series was on over here.

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Ages ago I took a mate from a village to Lahore to watch England in a Test Match. He simply could not comprehend the sights he saw - the totally alien battle for survival every day for so many poor people.

 

that about sums up england cricket team for me.

 

Also, why the fvvck you watching once upon a time? Ur not the fat bird in my office are you?

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that about sums up england cricket team for me.

 

Also, why the fvvck you watching once upon a time? Ur not the fat bird in my office are you?

 

Duh no.

 

You must be Dead if you haven't seen the evil Queen/Mayor in her black leather outfit and thought hmmm????......

 

Or of course just Jennifer Morrison......

 

And then there was Red Riding Hood's legs............

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I know exactly what you mean. Ages ago I took a mate from a village to Lahore to watch England in a Test Match. He simply could not comprehend the sights he saw - the totally alien battle for survival every day for so many poor people.

 

Youngest just came back from a week in India. Similar wtf moment in life for him.

 

Wish the series was on over here.

 

It was appalling mate.

 

They sent this London cabby over to Mumbai and paired him up with a local taxi driver to learn the ropes as it were. This poor bloke was earning about £25 a (17 hour) day from his cab - half of which had to go towards paying off the loan he had taken out to buy the taxi, and on the petrol needed to run it.

 

From what was left he had to support himself, his wife, his old mum, and their two children ... oh and his (now deceased) brother's wife and all her kids too. Believe it or not there were plenty of other drivers worse off than he was!

Edited by CHAPEL END CHARLIE
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It was appalling mate.

 

They sent this London cabby over to Mumbai and paired him up with a local taxi driver to learn the ropes as it were. This poor bloke was earning about £25 a (17 hour) day from his cab - half of which had to go towards paying off the loan he had taken out to buy the taxi, and on the petrol needed to run it.

 

From what was left he had to support himself, his wife, his old mum, and their two children ... oh and his (now deceased) brother's wife and all her kids too. Believe it or not there were plenty of other drivers worse off than he was!

 

Although, in fairness for many a $2/300 monthly income is beyond their dreams.

 

I had my wtf moment in life when I was taken to a soup kitchen for Heroin addicts in Karachi. I think it's the only time in my life where I have seen something that truly broke my heart and shook my belief system to the core, so can understand how it must have come across on the telly and for someone used to running tourists business people & p1ssheads around London at all hours

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Yeah I love that 'toughest place to be a', just to confirm, was this weeks guy actually Micky Flanagan's brother? My favourite one of these was the bin man who went somewhere in SE Asia (possibly Manila cant remember exactly), the local guy did a proper job taking away the rubbish, sweeping up after himself and leaving the place clean. The London bin man was just full of 'oh no gov, we don't take them away. I'd just leave that etc etc". This pretty much sums up my experience of bin men in the uk. After the do the pick up from my street, It looks a right mess. When the pick up the bins and throw them about (London so no wheely bins), they drop rubbish everywhere and just leave it.

 

Also watched the first episode of the following last night. It looks pretty good.

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A 'heads up' now for all lovers of truly great television, especially the younger forum members among us who may not have seen it before. Take note that 'I Claudius' makes a very welcome return to our screens tomorrow night (BBC4 10PM).

 

Now watching all 12 episodes will demand a considerable investment of your time, the scale of the story and the numerous characters may even tax the attention span of those used to shorter, less complex dramas. But don't let that put you off and if I tell you that Claudius will repay with interest the effort then I do so without any sense of hyperbole. Everything about this epic series is just sublime, from its stellar cast (lead my a young Derek Jacobi of course) to Jack Pulman's oh-so-skillful adaption of Robert Graves's novels I Claudius and Claudius the God - which are themselves excellent reads by the way.

 

BBC television has a history that stretches back in one form or another to just before the Second World War. In all that time I suppose good old 'auntie' must have produced a better realized drama series than I Claudius ... I just can't quite remember what that would right now.

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Until Game of Thrones returns, the only show I'm watching regularly is the Walking Dead, as most of my posts on here would indicate.

 

After a rip-roaring start to the season in terms of action and excitement, the last few episodes have been much more considered efforts, leaving the viewer with the impression that the chess pieces are being moved around for the grand finale. This week, the show mainly depicts Woodbury, the rival settlement ruled by the Governor, a character who gets closer to his comic roots the more we see of him. I'm not sure if SuperMikey will agree, but I think the show has handled the Governor a lot better than the comics. The Governor was pretty much dialled to 11 in the comics from the outset; the first thing he tried to do was feed our heroes to his pet zombies. The gradual reveal has worked a lot better, although I really enjoyed the "all in black" fan service last night.

 

Not many episodes left. Finale should be epic.

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is walking dead good then pap? I've only seen couple of episodes here & there but i was put off by dull characters, bad actings and witless soap opera. I remember one episode where is was all bout crying bout some dumb kid getting shot by a fat retard. There was hardly any zombies at all!

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is walking dead good then pap? I've only seen couple of episodes here & there but i was put off by dull characters, bad actings and witless soap opera. I remember one episode where is was all bout crying bout some dumb kid getting shot by a fat retard. There was hardly any zombies at all!

 

It's very good, although I can see how you'd get that impression from jumping into one episode. There's a school of thought that says you gotta have quiet for loud to be effective. The show is glacial at times, particularly in the first season and I fell out with the show at precisely the point you jumped in. However, picked it up again and block-watched it just in time for the start of S3. I think it's probably better watched that way.

 

On the performances; yep there is some whiny stuff, and a lot of fans took a particular dislike to Lori, Rick's wife - who nags for yonks. That said, annoying characters aren't necessarily around forever.

 

Thing about the Walking Dead is despite the title, the zombies are probably the least dangerous thing in it. Other people are the real danger, which is probs why the show spends so much time focusing on them.

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Until Game of Thrones returns, the only show I'm watching regularly is the Walking Dead, as most of my posts on here would indicate.

 

After a rip-roaring start to the season in terms of action and excitement, the last few episodes have been much more considered efforts, leaving the viewer with the impression that the chess pieces are being moved around for the grand finale. This week, the show mainly depicts Woodbury, the rival settlement ruled by the Governor, a character who gets closer to his comic roots the more we see of him. I'm not sure if SuperMikey will agree, but I think the show has handled the Governor a lot better than the comics. The Governor was pretty much dialled to 11 in the comics from the outset; the first thing he tried to do was feed our heroes to his pet zombies. The gradual reveal has worked a lot better, although I really enjoyed the "all in black" fan service last night.

 

Not many episodes left. Finale should be epic.

 

I think the same about The Governor, lots of fans of the show have complained about him all of a sudden going nuts and sadistic but you can see it's been there all along. The character in the comics was very much a comic book character, whereas they've definitely tried to make Mr Blake a lot more "real" in the show.

 

I've really enjoyed the last couple of episodes as well, some very good scenes and important moments building up to what's going to be a pretty intense finale I feel. I've heard whispers about what's going to happen on Sunday and I know that David Morrissey has signed on for at least part of Season 4, so i'm not sure it will unfold how everyone thinks it will. Should be a corker!

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OMG. Shock HORROR!

 

After ALL these years, how did I NOT see that coming? I mean, it was SO obvious.

 

Yup, finally discovered this evening that Little Red Riding Hood is actually a Werewolf.

 

I mean that came ONLY one week after Captain Hook climbed the Beanstalk to steal the Magic Compass from Nicole Kidman or a Giant or something.

 

Once Upon a Time....

 

Just wtf were the scriptwriters smoking to come up with this stuff?

 

OK so it doesn't have ANY bewbs, but it is truly seriously fooked up TV

 

Luv it!

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I think the same about The Governor, lots of fans of the show have complained about him all of a sudden going nuts and sadistic but you can see it's been there all along. The character in the comics was very much a comic book character, whereas they've definitely tried to make Mr Blake a lot more "real" in the show.

 

I've really enjoyed the last couple of episodes as well, some very good scenes and important moments building up to what's going to be a pretty intense finale I feel. I've heard whispers about what's going to happen on Sunday and I know that David Morrissey has signed on for at least part of Season 4, so i'm not sure it will unfold how everyone thinks it will. Should be a corker!

 

The Walking Dead finale is in the memory banks. I enjoyed it, but some didn't. I have a feeling that's because it didn't end typically, but then little in the Walking Dead does. Good bunch of characters going into next season.

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OMG. Shock HORROR!

 

After ALL these years, how did I NOT see that coming? I mean, it was SO obvious.

 

Yup, finally discovered this evening that Little Red Riding Hood is actually a Werewolf.

 

I mean that came ONLY one week after Captain Hook climbed the Beanstalk to steal the Magic Compass from Nicole Kidman or a Giant or something.

 

Once Upon a Time....

 

Just wtf were the scriptwriters smoking to come up with this stuff?

 

OK so it doesn't have ANY bewbs, but it is truly seriously fooked up TV

 

Luv it!

 

 

Phil, you say this every week about Once Upon A Time.

 

"Hey wow! Far out! Writers must really be on some serious stuff".

 

All they're doing is using established characters in a contemporary setting. Sci-fi and fantasy is littered with this sort of caper; most of Neil Gaiman's stuff pulls in characters from all over myth and literature. Shrek used classic fairy tale characters with modern sensibilities.

 

To your question then, what have they been smoking? I'd suggest cigarettes. The show's concept could be written on the back of a fag box :)

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Phil, you say this every week about Once Upon A Time.

 

"Hey wow! Far out! Writers must really be on some serious stuff".

 

All they're doing is using established characters in a contemporary setting. Sci-fi and fantasy is littered with this sort of caper; most of Neil Gaiman's stuff pulls in characters from all over myth and literature. Shrek used classic fairy tale characters with modern sensibilities.

 

To your question then, what have they been smoking? I'd suggest cigarettes. The show's concept could be written on the back of a fag box :)

 

;)

 

Fair point, probably the TV Execs that put it on the screen had been smoking.

 

Look I agree about the Contemporary, from Buffy to Grimm etc.

 

With this show I think it is more the "absurd" way that characters get muddled up in the stories - and I mean absurd as in didn't see how you could do that, because tbh, it DOES make entertaining if vacuous TV.

 

S1 where Prince Charming snuffs it fighting a Dragon & is replaced by a look-a-like farm-boy who is being forced to marry King Midas' b1tch daughter when he loves Snow White. I may be getting old but I don't remember the stories QUITE that way round. :rolleyes:

 

This week's episode - Red Riding Hood was actually BORN a Werewolf???... Was fine with her in hot pants working in a Diner owned by Granny (contemporary)

 

But add that to Captain Hook (who had his hand cut off by Rumplestiltskin NOT a crocodile last week) who climbed the Beanstalk with Jennifer Morrison (who is NOT called Jack)......

 

It's seriously fooked up TV and that's why we both enjoy it!

 

(But tbh I'm still waiting for the Evil Queen to turn out to have been a crazy Lesbian Dominatrix b1tch instead of a loving caring Mum - I mean COME ON the Evil Queen (the one with the Mirror on the wall) in reality just wants to be a good Mum and for her son to love her??? :?)

 

At the end of the day it's pretty shallow and fun, BUT deep down (almost in a GoT way) it is an old fashioned TV show - around the randomness of the Characters it's telling a good story.

 

The ONLY thing they have to be careful of is not let it have an end, and not just bow down to ratings or otherwise and keep going ad infinitum.

Edited by dubai_phil
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Phil, you say this every week about Once Upon A Time.

 

"Hey wow! Far out! Writers must really be on some serious stuff".

 

All they're doing is using established characters in a contemporary setting. Sci-fi and fantasy is littered with this sort of caper; most of Neil Gaiman's stuff pulls in characters from all over myth and literature. Shrek used classic fairy tale characters with modern sensibilities.

 

To your question then, what have they been smoking? I'd suggest cigarettes. The show's concept could be written on the back of a fag box :)

 

I was going to write this, but you've saved me the bother.

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Ploughed through House of Cards last weekend with the gf.

 

Absolutely brilliant show. If this is Netflix's first foray into making things themselves, they have set the bar pretty darn high.

 

wow, I literally just opened up the forum to ask if anyone has seen House Of Cards as I'd heard good things. I'll take your post as a sign that I should watch it.

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;)

 

Fair point, probably the TV Execs that put it on the screen had been smoking.

 

Look I agree about the Contemporary, from Buffy to Grimm etc.

 

With this show I think it is more the "absurd" way that characters get muddled up in the stories - and I mean absurd as in didn't see how you could do that, because tbh, it DOES make entertaining if vacuous TV.

 

S1 where Prince Charming snuffs it fighting a Dragon & is replaced by a look-a-like farm-boy who is being forced to marry King Midas' b1tch daughter when he loves Snow White. I may be getting old but I don't remember the stories QUITE that way round. :rolleyes:

 

This week's episode - Red Riding Hood was actually BORN a Werewolf???... Was fine with her in hot pants working in a Diner owned by Granny (contemporary)

 

But add that to Captain Hook (who had his hand cut off by Rumplestiltskin NOT a crocodile last week) who climbed the Beanstalk with Jennifer Morrison (who is NOT called Jack)......

 

It's seriously fooked up TV and that's why we both enjoy it!

 

(But tbh I'm still waiting for the Evil Queen to turn out to have been a crazy Lesbian Dominatrix b1tch instead of a loving caring Mum - I mean COME ON the Evil Queen (the one with the Mirror on the wall) in reality just wants to be a good Mum and for her son to love her??? :?)

 

At the end of the day it's pretty shallow and fun, BUT deep down (almost in a GoT way) it is an old fashioned TV show - around the randomness of the Characters it's telling a good story.

 

The ONLY thing they have to be careful of is not let it have an end, and not just bow down to ratings or otherwise and keep going ad infinitum.

 

 

Nearly all of TV pulls the "Masters of the Universe" trick for live action budgetary purposes to some extent or another. I refer of course, to the practice of plopping all of your protagonists in present-day Earth so you don't have to spend cash recreating Eternia or something. Even the recent Battlestar Galactica series, an effects heavy show relative to most stuff on TV, chose to depict the twelve colonies as being "just like us". Creator Ron D. Moore pulled the whole "it links you with the characters and themes" excuse, and he kinda gets a pass, but another huge reason is budget.

 

But again, I wouldn't class it as seriously f**ked up TV. You want that? You watch Archer. Once Upon a Time subtly subverts established themes to great effect. Things are more memorable when they don't go the way you expect, which is why the plot diversions in the Walking Dead TV show from the comic book source material is welcomed, not criticised for being unfaithful to the source material. I've seen a bit of this show, and they pay as much respect to fairy tale conventions as they deviate from them. It is a nice, safe show with good visual effects aimed at a family audience. Nowt wrong with that, we need more of it - but it ain't Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas : The Next Generation :)

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I watched the original House of Cards for the first time last year. Really enjoyed it. The Netflix version is very good. Don't know if it's anymore than that, but as one review I read pointed out, it's definitely good enough to have you spinning onto the next episode, which is already there.

 

TV is in its dying stages right now. Internet is the thing that's killing it. I remember statements made in the early days of streaming internet video. People said that broadcast would remain dominant because of the cost of bandwidth; that everyone subscribing to a feed was extra bandwidth to pay for, that networks would never cope, and that because broadcast went out to so many people simultaneously, the "free" nature of the broadcast would always win out for commercial reasons. Yet hundreds of millions of people stream video over the net every day. Netflix is an entire business predicated on the fact that it is possible to watch stuff online.

 

Furthermore, we're already seeing the nascent stages of community funded content. They've recently funded a Veronica Mars movie from a Kickstarter project. Ok, contemporary setting, so the budget is only a few mil - but that's still something that would have never happened under the broadcast metaphor.

 

The only stuff I watch as broadcast are sports events. There's literally no point in watching anything else. I'm normally well appraised of the news, and anything else I can just watch on DVR. In my case at least, that pretty much means that apart from sports events, advertisers have none of my attention. Even the missus and the kids start watching X-Factor, another "must see live" programme, 20 minutes after the broadcast time to skip the adverts.

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Lovers of old black & white British movies might like to know that the hopelessly classic 'Hell Drivers' is back on our screens tomorrow morning. (BBC2 6.30AM)

 

Watch out my felow film fans for a pre 'Zulu' Stanley Baker, a pre 'Doctor Who' William Hartnell, a pre 'Bond' Sean Connery, a pre 'Carry On' Sid James, and a pre 'Prisoner' Patrick McGoohan ... oh and lets throw in a post 'Ladykillers' Herbert Lom for good measure! If you pay close attention you might even spot a young Gordon Jackson (The Professionals), Alfie Bass, David McCallum (The Man from Uncle) Jill Ireland (who would later marry Charles Bronson) and Peggy Cummins (Night of the Demon) too.

 

With the possible exception of 'The Battle of Britain' I can think of few British films that can boast a comparable cast list.

 

Even if you're not into star gazing this is a bloody good little 'B' movie and you can rest assured that the mundane occupation of lorry driving has seldom been made to appear more dangerous, or exciting*

 

* Although I must admit that Henri-Georges Clouzot's masterpiece 'The Wages of Fear' will forever remain the finest truck driving film ever made IMO.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm watching 'Vikings' at the moment, it is by far the best thing on telly. The only problem is that I am now up to date and hate to have to wait a week to watch the next one. Who's idea was that? Why not just play it every night or every couple of nights?

 

The intern is pretty decent as well. Some of those kids are so dumb, plus the stitch ups are pretty Lols.

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Nah interns is like a fun sized version of the apprentice. They do stitch ups though so it it mildly Lols. Last one I saw was these people who wanted to be slaves for this posh hotel that made in Chelsea people stay at. The girl had to take these dogs for a walk for one of the guests. What she didn't know was that one of the dogs was trained to run away. As soon as she let it off the lead, it legged it. Her face was pretty funny as it was her first day and she thought she had already killed someone's dog.

 

Vikings has a little bit of sex as it is made by HBO but not much as it is also history channels. There is violence though and a but if slave rape. You'll like it.

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Not read any if this thread so apologies if already covered in depth elsewhere

 

Just some current and old favs:

 

Vikings - awesome haircuts

 

Always Sunny in Philadelphia - imagine Tokyo as Mac and Bearsy as Charlie

 

Breaking Bad - for those who want to see where Bearsy got yo from yo.

 

House of Lies - Anyone who works with consultants can relate, lots of tits.

 

Parks and Rec - Jean Ralphio is my hero

 

Walking Dead - fairly annoying but I only watch it for the good deaths.

 

Game of Thrones - dwarves banging

 

Justified - decent

 

Homeland - got both series and both lead characters annoy the hell out of me I have to keep fast forwarding past their bits which mean I only watch 20mins out of 50. The woman is mental and the only cool dude is a bloke in 2nd series who kills bad guys.

 

Downloaded community and thought it was pants now iTunes keeps trying to get me to download the other episodes but I refuse.

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Ok I did some indepth research (went 3 pages back) and could not see any comment on Its always sunny in Philadelphia.

 

It is up to season 8 I believe now, has Danny de Vito in it and if you visit the muppet show its right up your street.

 

Hookers, Peados, mafia, crack addiction, rats and ****ing classic comedy, very un-American

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Always Sunny in Philadelphia - imagine Tokyo as Mac and Bearsy as Charlie

 

:lol: good work! Spudders is Frank!

 

We're mostly samepage with tv it seems! I might check out vikings now it is getting props from someone other than tokyos!

 

If you ain't already make sure you is checking out BANSHEEEE for sex+violence and NATHAN FOR YOU for ultimate lols!

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Apparently there might be a spin of of Breaking Bad starring the lawyer, read it in the Mail over the weekend so probably not true.

 

That rumour was going around on Twitter a few weeks ago - Saul is one of the best characters in the show but i'm not sure if a spin-off would be a great idea. Bob Odenkirk is brilliant though.

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w7hR0.jpg

:lol: good work! Spudders is Frank!

 

We're mostly samepage with tv it seems! I might check out vikings now it is getting props from someone other than tokyos!

 

If you ain't already make sure you is checking out BANSHEEEE for sex+violence and NATHAN FOR YOU for ultimate lols!

 

Ok coolio never heard of those but will scope it up later.

 

Only thing about vikings is it makes us seem like pussies but I can rationalise this by the fact they are picking on the northerners at present and haven't made it past york.

 

I am rethinking my sunny reference and mayble you and tokes are actually more like the Mcpoyles ? do you drink milk and shower together and do this to your sister ?

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hahahah maybe toyko is Mac I forgot he falls in love with a super hot tranny and gets fat, also check out **** towel that he invents as I am also proud to say I own the towel for obvioulsy having a massive dong rather than tiny asian one which would sort of apply to Tokes/mac.

 

**** Towel - "The towel actually shows two different dicks on it: it can be turned one way to show a "big monster cock", and then flipped around the other way to show a "baby ****."

 

fat-mac.png

1x4_Mac_Carmen_penis.png

 

Next up would be bearsy with kitten mittens

Kitten-Mittens_610.jpg

Edited by Convict Colony
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They don't give you a new knob when you arrive at Narita airport convict!

 

Did anyone watch Derek? My mate (trany bothering RP saint) said it was really good but I can't actually bring myself to watch it as any bits of it I have seen look pants. It's just sits there, clogging up space on my TiVo.

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