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Post by ian on Jan 6, 2012 22:42:36 GMT
But it's a very nice island, with lots to see and experience. Don't forget to check out the other two islands belonging to Malta: Camino (the Blue Lagoon Bay is beautiful) and Gozo. Gozo has some very impressive megalithic ruins and temples. I will be staying in a place called Ramla Bay. It's at the most northern part of the island, near Gozo and the Blue Lagoon you mentioned. I'll definitely check them out. Thanks for the tip
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Post by ShadowAngel on Jan 7, 2012 0:43:43 GMT
I will be staying in a place called Ramla Bay. It's at the most northern part of the island, near Gozo and the Blue Lagoon you mentioned. I'll definitely check them out. Thanks for the tip A good idea is also to check out "the Malta Experience" very early , it's in the St. Elmo Bastion in Valetta. It's basically a Cinema that shows a film about the history of Malta. It's an absolute must. Also if you're interested in it, the Casa Rocca Riccola (it's a Palace from the 16th Century) is worth a visit. It's in 74 Triq Repubblika, Valletta. Worth a visit are also the Upper Barrakka Gardens in Battery Street, Valletta. It's a nice garden with a neoclassical temple in it and a stunning view over the "three cities" and the big port. If you need some Restaurant tips: Definitely check out Palazzo Preca in 54 Strait Street, Valetta or go to Tal-Kaptan Pizzeria at the Pinto Wharf. They are really good. And check out the Gun Post. It's really an old Gun Post used until the end of World War 2 and now is Bar, filled with War memorablia and a great view over the sea. It's on Marsamxett Street, in Valetta. Another nice Bar is the Ramblers Rest in G.Borg-Olivier Street, near Tower Road in Sliema.
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Post by Transatlantic Foe on Jan 7, 2012 13:23:26 GMT
For science postgrad stuff, only do it if you genuinely really really want it. I did my chemistry PhD to delay going into the real world (I hated my sandwich year), because I knew I could do it and people would have to call me doctor. It really wasn't worth the strain it put on my mental and physical health, and I feel like the last 2 years of it were 2 years I missed of my life.
Now I work in IT (albeit for a software company which supplies the scientific sector) and would never go back to research!
I've recently discovered I have a latent creative side. Our work xmas party is fancy dress and the past two years I've made costumes which people have said were genuinely good - a Jaffa (Stargate) and Admiral Ackbar (Return of the Jedi). I still maintain that this "creativeness" can only be applied to nerdy things!
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Post by meu2 on Jan 7, 2012 18:33:40 GMT
For science postgrad stuff, only do it if you genuinely really really want it. I did my chemistry PhD to delay going into the real world (I hated my sandwich year), because I knew I could do it and people would have to call me doctor. It really wasn't worth the strain it put on my mental and physical health, and I feel like the last 2 years of it were 2 years I missed of my life. Couldn't agree more. You really shouldn't do a PhD unless you have a really strong interest in the field. I did a PhD in computer science that was related to gaming and even then the last two years were fairly hard. There were times I wouldn't have wished it on my worst enemy!
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Post by kungfukid on Jan 8, 2012 16:36:47 GMT
Struggling to think of anything interesting to say here that I've not already said at some point or other on the forum over the years, so maybe just a couple of updates! Still working as a full time University lecturer, liking it less and less by the day as I am more and more exposed to the internal politics and other things behind the scenes that you don't see when you are a student. Still like the reasonable standard of living it affords me though, and I have a generally very good level of flexibility in terms of prioritising and managing my own workload etc. so I'll likely still be in the job for a number of years to come barring anything unexpected. In spite of saying I had no interest in the current gaming scene years ago, I do now own a PS3, XBox 360 and Wii, though I only really use them for sports games such as Fifa, Pro Ev and F1. People talking a lot about wrestling. I don't have the same interest now in it as I did years ago, but I did go to see TNA live last year when they came to Scotland, and for a live show I can tell you that they put on a hugely more superior effort than anything WWF/E have ever done when coming over to the UK for tours. (I'm talking about recent years having seen WWE in 2006 and 2008). I did see WWF several times in the early 1990's which I LOVED at the time, especially so since the 1988 - 1993 era was the best in terms of wrestling (when they still tried to do it as a sport as opposed to a male soap opera). People I saw wrestle live back then - Hulk Hogan, Ted Dibiase, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Legion of Doom, Nasty Boys, Steiner Brothers, Yokozuna, Earthquake, Rick Martel, Owen Hart (my friend and I made a massive sign in support of him - it was directly after Wrestlemania 10 and we supported him over Bret!), Mike Rotunda (as IRS), Brutus Beefcake, both Kevin Nash and Scott Hall (as Diesel and Razor obviously), Randy Savage, Tito Santana, Bob Backlund, Bam Bam Bigelow, Lex Luger.... there were loads more, that's just off the top of my head! As I say, I don't really follow wrestling as much as I used to, I think it's been pretty rubbish really for the past 5 years or so, though I will watch it if it's on and I'm not doing anything else. A shame as I used to love it.
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Post by kungfukid on Jan 9, 2012 19:39:34 GMT
I watch and follow most other sports, including wrestling, if you count that. I've been to a few WWE shows at the O2 Arena and am off to see TNA at Wembley Arena in a couple of weeks. Wrestling is definitely a sport btw, I visit TNA Wrestling this month on jan 21 in Essen, Germany. I travel with 2 friends by train for some hours from Berlin to Essen. Can´t wait, because I see the stars in a meet&greet this day Bad news I read today that they cancelled the German leg of the tour due to poor ticket sales! Surprising given that wrestling has always been popular in Germany.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2012 22:07:12 GMT
Wrestling is definitely a sport btw, I visit TNA Wrestling this month on jan 21 in Essen, Germany. I travel with 2 friends by train for some hours from Berlin to Essen. Can´t wait, because I see the stars in a meet&greet this day Bad news I read today that they cancelled the German leg of the tour due to poor ticket sales! Surprising given that wrestling has always been popular in Germany. Yes, me and my friends are very angry about it. It´s a desaster to cancel the tour 2 weeks before it begins. Many people bought tickets to travel by train and reserved hotel rooms. Now the chances to cancel all that isn´t big. We paid enough for it. TNA´s fanbase in Germany will shrink massively now. TNA and Shooter Promotions (TNA´s partner in Germany) made many decisive mistakes with the publicity so it´s not a surprise that they cancelled the tour. Damn
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Post by Batman666 on Jan 9, 2012 22:11:58 GMT
I did see WWF several times in the early 1990's which I LOVED at the time, especially so since the 1988 - 1993 era was the best in terms of wrestling (when they still tried to do it as a sport as opposed to a male soap opera). Don't take it as a criticism, but that's pretty common that the wrestling period you grew up on was your favourite or that you consider it the best. Which brings the interesting fact that the kids you see in the crowd and watching at home will remember Cena & Orton the same way we remember our favourite wrestlers and periods, as the best. Isn't that a scary thought?
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Post by kungfukid on Jan 10, 2012 9:19:59 GMT
I did see WWF several times in the early 1990's which I LOVED at the time, especially so since the 1988 - 1993 era was the best in terms of wrestling (when they still tried to do it as a sport as opposed to a male soap opera). Don't take it as a criticism, but that's pretty common that the wrestling period you grew up on was your favourite or that you consider it the best. Which brings the interesting fact that the kids you see in the crowd and watching at home will remember Cena & Orton the same way we remember our favourite wrestlers and periods, as the best. Isn't that a scary thought? Yeah, I understand that, but it's not the case for me at all. Similarly to Shadowangel, over the years since I was about 8 I watched a lot of stuff from a lot of places and a lot of times. although I've not watched them in a while I've got loads of videos (and a DVD boxed set) of the old British 'World of Sport' wrestling, quite a bit from Japan etc. It's just that whilst many think that the attitude era was the best, personally I think it was that era that effectively killed wrestling as a 'sport' forever. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed / loved it at the time, but looking back it irrepairably damaged the industry from what it was before. It's kind of a double edged sword though, as I can understand those that say the industry was stagnating and may have died without being revolutionised, it's just that personally I don't believe that - the industry has always gone through peaks and troughs naturally, and I belive it would have peaked again with or without the attitude era at some point. As I say, the reason I prefer that era (late 80's - early 90's) is because of a combination of the massive, energetic crowds, the fact that there were PPV's that generated huge excitement but before they went into overkill with the number of them, the fact that although make believe it was still being treated as a 'sporting contest' (and not EVERY match was a grudge match), the way wrestlers were all built up to look accomplished with the use of jobbers, and in general the largely varied personalities making the whole place a lot more colourful. As I said, the attitude era on the other hand I loved at the time, but it damaged the industry as a whole. Although kids enjoy WWE today with Cena etc. I can't see them looking back on this era in the same way - I really can't, because if you look back at matches from the '70's, '80's and '90's, they were proper matches with logic applied. The matches now are all short, half of them make no sense, the outcomes in 99% of cases are entirely predictable, and they all follow the same pattern. Plus everybody has to always win with their finishing move which you can see coming. In short, the matches now are just crap. To look back on it with adult eyes, the kids in the future would see that. I would honestly say there have literally been about 10 decent matches in the past 5 or 6 years in WWE, and that's it. And about 5 or 6 of them have all been with the same person - Shawn Michaels.
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Post by ninjabearhug on Jan 10, 2012 10:05:55 GMT
I can read Japanese, don't know what any of the words I'm reading mean though ;D ;D ;D. Suppose I should learn to translate it now lol!
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Post by Batman666 on Jan 11, 2012 22:27:57 GMT
Yeah, I understand that, but it's not the case for me at all. Similarly to Shadowangel, over the years since I was about 8 I watched a lot of stuff from a lot of places and a lot of times. although I've not watched them in a while I've got loads of videos (and a DVD boxed set) of the old British 'World of Sport' wrestling, quite a bit from Japan etc. It's just that whilst many think that the attitude era was the best, personally I think it was that era that effectively killed wrestling as a 'sport' forever. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed / loved it at the time, but looking back it irrepairably damaged the industry from what it was before. It's kind of a double edged sword though, as I can understand those that say the industry was stagnating and may have died without being revolutionised, it's just that personally I don't believe that - the industry has always gone through peaks and troughs naturally, and I belive it would have peaked again with or without the attitude era at some point. As I say, the reason I prefer that era (late 80's - early 90's) is because of a combination of the massive, energetic crowds, the fact that there were PPV's that generated huge excitement but before they went into overkill with the number of them, the fact that although make believe it was still being treated as a 'sporting contest' (and not EVERY match was a grudge match), the way wrestlers were all built up to look accomplished with the use of jobbers, and in general the largely varied personalities making the whole place a lot more colourful. As I said, the attitude era on the other hand I loved at the time, but it damaged the industry as a whole. Although kids enjoy WWE today with Cena etc. I can't see them looking back on this era in the same way - I really can't, because if you look back at matches from the '70's, '80's and '90's, they were proper matches with logic applied. The matches now are all short, half of them make no sense, the outcomes in 99% of cases are entirely predictable, and they all follow the same pattern. Plus everybody has to always win with their finishing move which you can see coming. In short, the matches now are just crap. To look back on it with adult eyes, the kids in the future would see that. I would honestly say there have literally been about 10 decent matches in the past 5 or 6 years in WWE, and that's it. And about 5 or 6 of them have all been with the same person - Shawn Michaels. The attitude era is FAR from being the best. Especially wrestling wise and logic it's horrible as anything booked by Russo is. But comparing the Attitude era to the Sammartino, Hogan or Bret Hart era or what have you is like comparing apples to oranges and alot comes down to taste. Personally my favourite WWE 'era' is the 2000-05 one, beginning with the radicals joining the WWE and ending with either Eddies death or Cena/Batistas first world title at Wrestlemania 21. When it comes to pure wrestling ability and match quality I think those years are the best. But again, oranges to apples. And to connect it to the theory that what you grow up watching is your favourite, to an extent this is my favourite era just because of the WCW guys I grew up watching joined WWE. Radicals, Rey, Jericho earlier etc. I do honestly believe kids today will grow up liking this era the most. It's an educational process and this is the wrestling they grew up on and this IS wrestling or rather sports entertainment as far as they are concerned. Of course I'm speaking in a broad perspective and mainstream fans that won't watch much else than WWE. Even if they would watch old WWE matches they wouldn't think it was as good because it's not the wrestling they are used to and educated to like. Mainly because it's so different today as you pointed out. This might be a bad comparison, but it's like giving Wolfenstein 3D to a mainstream CoD teenage modern gamer who has never heard or played it before and he will probably not like it at all. The same way a kid that's grown up with short matches filled with highspots and non logic won't like long 20 year old matches with fewer highspots but more psychology.
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Post by Batman666 on Jan 11, 2012 22:41:28 GMT
And in my opinion what killed or damaged the industry was the death of WCW or the death of a real alternative that could challenge WWE. The aftermath we are watching today.
You might point out TNA as an alternative, as I know you like it, but to be honest it's not really an alternative that can compete and the basic line is that it's not much of a different product. It's basicly WWE attitude era with a bit better wrestling but with the same utter non-logic in storylines and psychology.
The alternative then is UFC and that's where alot of old wrestling fans both from "your" era and former WCW fans that prefered a bit more emphasis on wrestling, have gone.
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Post by ShadowAngel on Jan 12, 2012 0:16:48 GMT
Bad news I read today that they cancelled the German leg of the tour due to poor ticket sales! Surprising given that wrestling has always been popular in Germany. Wrestling fans in Germany can be put in 2 categories: WWE fans and Indyfans...who rather go to shows of wXw (Westside Xtreme Wrestling), a german wrestling federation that delivers great shows, with international stars (the 16 carat gold tournament they hold every year is awesome) and TNA just sucks. They are worse than WCW in the year 2000. And in my opinion what killed or damaged the industry was the death of WCW or the death of a real alternative that could challenge WWE. The aftermath we are watching today. Especially since WCW was completely different to WWE. In the 80's and early 90's WCW was more of a old-school wrestling federation, completely in kayfabe, with a 'it's real' feel (they botched it in 1993 with the Mick Foley Storyline, him getting a heavy concussion after being brutalized by Vader who powerbombed him on the concrete floor of the arena was extreme, unheard of until that time in wrestling, it was like Vader really wanted to kill Cacktus Jack (Foleys gimmick) sadly, WCW decided to turn it into comedy with the "Cactus lost in Cleveland" storyline) but even after that, WCW seemed a lot more real, a lot more wrestling and they kept that feel till the end. It was that moment in 1994, i was 9 years old, my parents let me and my brother watch wrestling but always told "it's fake" and even then the german commentators also said that "they don't hurt each other" but then came the WCW along and they went on a german tour. It was the WCW Battlestars tour in early 1994 (before Hulk Hogan joined them) and me and my parents and my brother went to the show in munich. The main event was Cactus Jack (Foley) versus Vader. For some reasons (i later read in a magazine and foleys biography that it was because of 2 Cold Scorpio) the ropes were really tight, so Foleys "Hangman spot" went wrong and he list a ear. It got ripped right of his head, blood squirting and Vader looked weird, the referee looked weird, i just went into tears, it was shocking. A month later the german WCW magazine reported about the incident and in graphic detail explained how the referee even picked up the ear brought it backstage, were it was packed on a pile of ice but the doctors couldn't attach it back on Foleys body. After that i asked my parents if wrestling really was fake, i mean, a guyd just lost his ear...it can't be fake. Since then i see Wrestling in a different way. The outcome of the matches are planned, but everything that goes on in the "squared circle" is more (indy) or less (wwe) real. After watching more and more Independent wrestling, were they really hit each other and after meeting wrestlers, talking to them seeing their scars and all...i hate the 'fake" thing. Thumbtack Jackis from Munich, i met him several times, he is one of the most famous hardcore/ultraviolence wrestlers in the world. He lost a shitload of blood, has scars all over his body and they are real. i can just say, it's amazing that wrestler don't die after a few years but can pull up 250-300 shows per year and still go on.
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Post by warriors33 on Jan 12, 2012 1:20:41 GMT
what about me, I was born in France (Dijon) the August 11 1981 ( 30 years old ) , I have two sisters (smaller than me, 23 and 12 years ), for studies at the end of college I wanted to do sports-study (I was really good at sports, my childhood dream was to make the Olympics games : , there were several jobs I'm interested in which archeology (search find vestiges of the past, dinosaur bones, .... etc) and astrology (the planetary system, stars, etc ...) in the end I found myself making a BEP accounting and later the baccalaureate. following the failure of my baccalaureate (this is when I started smoking grass) for the anecdote, I arrived the day of the oral to the baccalaureate, I did not even know what class I was, I took a 4 / 20, 6 coefficient, which is in fact that I missed ... ) After that I wanted re-pass the baccalaureate, so while waiting for the back of the classes, I started working for some cash and the final I did not re-pass it and that's how to start working life, I stay in the final two years in this factory. at the end of the work I was 21, my uncle who lived in Bordeaux (that is 800 km from home), invited me to come to Bordeaux to work, (he was a bus driver, he wanted make me work in his company), overnight while I leave my childhood friends, my family, to come to Bordeaux, from that day, I'm never returned to my house (it will do more 9 years), I saw my mother and my two sisters who came 15 days with one of my other uncles who lived 50 km from Bordeaux (it came three years after me). Now it will be almost 6 years I live with my girlfriend), we move early September 2011, we leave Bordeaux (a large city in France) to live near the sea at Soulac - sur - Mer at 100 km Bordeaux, the disorientation is complete, here there are the woods and the sea nearby, the peace and quiet . I discovered video games very young, my first console was the Game Boy (besides my sister sent it to me and 20 years later it still works), friends of mine had the nintendo and the super Nintendo, but the one I fell in love it's the Sega Master System, my cousin had and what we could play for hours in it. to 25 years, when I walked into a store, I saw a Sega Master System Used, and without hesitation I bought it and since I can not stop. at the beginning was to replay the games which I played an early and finally I became collectors (only SMS game) that, you know all of my life, finally ...... almost
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Post by Batman666 on Jan 15, 2012 0:13:38 GMT
Cool story warriors33, seems like video games and the Master System is the "core" in your life when everything else has changed alot with the moving and your job It was the WCW Battlestars tour in early 1994 (before Hulk Hogan joined them) and me and my parents and my brother went to the show in munich. The main event was Cactus Jack (Foley) versus Vader. Wow, you went to that show? Talk about being part of wrestling history even though it scared you at that moment I'm surprised your parents let you watch wrestling again after that show.
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