Posts by Tom Beard
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Aren't athletes already generally judged on moral grounds?
Funny, I'd always had the strange idea they were judged according to sporting achievements.
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For example there are Hindu paintings showing a queen mating with a white stallion for a ritual and there are ancient Greek images on pottery that are pornographic.
Jpgs plz :-)
So no. I change my mind. Whilst I want some things blocked I do think we should be very careful to avoid creep.
My thoughts too. Child pornography that requires the abuse of actual children is obviously abhorrent, exploitative and illegal, and I don't think anyone here would support it. Literary, artistic, philosophical or scientific explorations of the mind and actions of paedophiles should be seen as not only acceptable but necessary, as art & science need to help us understand all aspects of the human condition, even the most objectionable. But there's a middle ground - say, drawings or animations of child sex abuse that appear intended to arouse desire in paedophiles - that requires careful attention: it doesn't require abuse for its production, but it could normalise or encourage abuse.
That's where I'd hope that very careful and liberal-minded "consideration is given to the extent, degree and manner in which the publication describes, depicts, or deals with" the various content mentioned in the act. Half of the news "describes" or "deals with" the most horrific acts of torture and abuse, and while it might not be a great loss if we heard much less of the likes of Weatherson and his acts, none would call for a world in which we can't discuss these things."Extent, degree and manner" can make all the difference between serious exploration of the extremes of the human mind and the sort of vileness that condones and perhaps even spurs on such acts. But it is also highly subjective, and the thought of the fundy wing of certain political parties getting hold of the censors fills me with dread.
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Having been shown people having their throat slashed by an inconsiderate flatmate
That's an ambiguous construction. Just how dodgy was that flatmate?
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I'm just not that enthusiastic about pornography or violence, even if it is consensual.
No-one's asking you to be. But if other people are enthusiastic about reading Justine or perusing Tiny Nibbles or watching Reservoir Dogs, they shouldn't have to rely on other people being enthusiastic about it before they're allowed to.
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Far be it from me to drag this from the street cred of The Wire & Deadwood, but one really shouldn't overlook Richard Curtis' contribution to the genre (gets fucking good from 2:55).
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Excuse the plug, but there's a new NZ blog all about hats, boots, scarves and coats. The author's looking for photos of people in their favourite coats, and it sounds like many of you will be just the sort of people she wants to hear from!
I have a few colourful jackets (and plenty of colourful shirts: they tend to be the real compliment-bait), but when it comes to outerwear I definitely tend to turn the saturation down. Too much black can get boring, but there's a reason why men's formalwear only comes in black*: it's sharp, sculptural and elegant.
Case in point: my black double-breasted overcoat by Emporio Viri, bought from the sadly departed Satori last year. It has epaulettes and steel buttons, and fits me so crisply I swear that I look taller in it. Wrap on a white silk scarf, pull up part of the collar and scowl meaningfully: then just wait for the Mr Darcy comparisons to roll in. And I'm told that's a good thing.
* except for white dinner jackets, of course.
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As it neared 6.00 am I began to wonder if the idiots were about to cut the final in favour of some idiot breakfast show like they did the Warwinka game...
I find myself compelled to share some tweets from @RealBillBailey:
"great tennis final , well done Federer, but at 14games all I was hoping they'd just settle it with a quiz or something"
"or an egg and spoon race round Centre Court, or flicking beermats, or how long you can balance a baguette on your chin..anything"
"or just guess the weight of Prince Michael of Kent.."
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In punishment for betraying our plot, you will never find another decent hairdresser or interior designer again!
Won't somebody pleeeeease think of the choreographers?
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the night life in Paris, New York, Amsterdam and London was powered by whale oil lighting.
Wow, you mean that Whale Oil was once actually useful for something?
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Given the suggestions that some costing has been done, I assume that Corrections has some more detailed descriptions of what has been proposed, but I can't seem to find any links to them. I'm going to hold off on any further comments until we know what we're arguing about.