Sky if it's any consolation to you, I went to senior school with a guy called Richard Balls but he was 6 1/2 foot tall so he managed to take the mickey taking in his stride :DL

:06:
Sometimes I hate this english language. But today it was 39°C outside again and when I jumped into the nearby Dortmund-Ems-channel I wanted to get out immediately before I got cooked, that warm the water was, so what do I expect on a day like this... :dead:

Just think of how much unexpected joy you brought to those of us toiling away with our noses firmly pressed to the grindstone!

I'm totally giving you major karma bonus points for it. :D

And it's not only non-native speakers who sometimes fall into the same trap: we have a sporting goods & "outdoor life" store here called "Dick's" (I think it may be a franchise).

A few years ago I was trying to replace some worn out hiking boots I had, they're my preferred footwear when the winter weather here gets really bad. And I was telling my best friend and then coworker about all the places I'd been to looking for a new pair, and still hadn't found anything I liked, blah blah whine blah.

I stopped to take a breath mid-whine and she asked, "Have you tried Dick's?"

There was a long silence during which I thought to myself: what on earth does that have to do with hiking boots? And then she realized what she'd said and we laughed and laughed and laughed.

The question still pops up* occasionally in our conversations, as an all-purpose response to any sort of prolonged complaining about not being happy with something or other.


*<snicker>

My highlight performance so far was when some years ago I explained the temporary absence of Avon Lady back then with that she probably was "breeding something" - a linear translation from a German phrase that means to brood about some idea or thought. :D

I had a friend way back and her last name was Bell. She got married and took her husband's last name: Holder. When she got pregnant and found out that it was gonna be a son she REALLY wanted name her son Richard.

Moral of the story: think things through. :D
Back on subject...

I just finished watching the movie, and I can't say I liked it.

First problem: it suffers from a really bad case of plot over character believability. You know when a plot device requires a character to do something stupid (like the gang splitting up and going off in different directions in a horror) or not do something obvious (like ask a really obvious question)? Well this movie was full of such moments from start to finish - and I mean literally start to finish.

Second problem: the start of the movie presents a mystery... which is never explained! It's just completely ignored for the rest of the film, like it never happened in the first place.

*SPOILER START*
I refer to the vision of a dark-haired woman, first in the base, then outside the space buggy. This vision causes the driver to crash the space buggy which ultimately breaks the cycle. The robot says to the corporation that "the circumstances of the crash are very strange" or something to that effect. So, who was this girl? Why did Sam have a vision of her? Why did none of the other Sams have visions of her? Not only is this mystery not answered, it's not even mentioned for the rest of the film! :damn:
*SPOILER END*

Third problem: the pace is unbearably slow. It's like they had 15 minutes of material and stretched it out for 90 minutes. The whole story could actually be told, without much summarising, in 15 seconds flat.

Baaaad film. :nope:

Hey at least a German head of state has never stood in front of a few thousand Americans and declare himself to be an ice cream sandwich! :DL

I was always under the impression that "Berliner" was more like a jelly donut.

Please tell me this is true, as I have a sound byte permanently burned into my brain of JFK's voice saying "I am a jelly donut" and it cracks me up every time I play it back.

And yes I am easily amused.

Eh, ice cream or jelly donut, it was something sticky and sweet. :DL

that is my major complaint about many of the movies coming out of Hollywood. Except that these days there are few 90 minute movies, they stretch it out to 2 or 2 1/2 hours of stuff that really only needed 30 minutes.... or less.

Keep your nose to the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel and both feet planted firmly on the ground.

Now let's see you get any work done in that position.

I think a faster pace would have been noticeably out of place given the movies main premise.Besides it's tough to have a fast pace in a movie with only one character.

The post airplane crash part of Tom Hanks movie Castaway was like that too. It'd be impossible to generate the pace of a move like "Die Hard" in that type of lonely static setting.

I could see John McClaine being chased around by a pack of hungry island rats. :yep:

A "Berliner" (sometimes also named "Pfannkuchen", especially in Berlin) is something like a donut, yes, just without a hole in the middle, but instead some marmelade. Omlettes in style of a pancake we also call Pfannkuchen.

*SPOILER ALERT*
An example:
You wake up, and see yourself standing there, along with the robot. Do you
a) ask the person, who looks like you, who they are
b) ask the robot what is going on
c) get up, ignore the clone, waste some time wandering around the ship, maybe working on your model or tending your plants, not talking to the robot or the clone, not asking any questions or developing the plot or characters in any way at all.