The big one is "That no-one would buy Magic: The Gathering."

I can't find it on google groups, but there was a post way back on rec.games.design (or r.g.d.board) from someone called Richard who said something along the lines of 'I have this card game that people seem to like and we're thinking of selling if we can raise the money. You both have a subset of cards from a very large deck – which you don't have all of and will have to buy in small pieces, like trading cards – and you don't know what the other has, so there are plenty of surprises. Oh, and if you lose, you have to give them some of your cards.'

I thought, "No-one's going to want to play that, never mind buy it. Where's the fun in being trumped by a super-whizzo card you've never even heard of? Where's the skill element? You can't be sure of getting any particular card – you can bet they're not going to let you pick which you get in the packs. And after splashing all that money, you have to give the cards away?? Nah."

Several billion card sales later…

… I'll confess I still can't see the appeal. There are lots of better card games out there. But I was wrong. And had I put up the some of the money he was looking for…

Oh, another belief is that "People will not pay large sums of money to have a crap website."

I'm quite glad I didn't actually tape this. I'd have been going 'oi, noooo'.

I mean, yes, Basic Instinct (#5). I loved it. I loved it so much that, when I next went to the US, I bought an ice pick.

But the next good one is at #15: Rocky Horror Picture Show. Then we're waiting for #32 Bound, #36 Trainspotting, #38 This Life (UK TV series), #43 Body Heat, #45 Last Tango In Paris, and #47 Secretary in the top 50. That's 8 out of 50.

Beyond that, apart from a couple I'll mention in a moment, there's only #51 Risky Business, #52 The Name Of The Rose (the TV version darkens the sex scene, so you can't see that Slater's willy is definitely flaccid, making it a curious example of censorship making a scene more erotic!), #65 The Avengers – Diana Rigg, yumm, #75 American Gigolo – Richard Gere yumm, and #91 The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover, curiously the only Greenaway.

So, why so low for..

#55 Don't Look Now – should have been top five for that 'realistic because it was for real' scene,

#76 The Tall Guy – should have been top ten, and not just because I think Emma Thompson is very yummy.

Fascinating to see #48 Debbie Does Dallas as the top 'porn' film, with Caligula and a Mary Millington the only others.

… but the fabulous remake of Cat People is nowhere?? Nastassja Kinski being fucked while tied to a bed? What more do you want?? Malcolm McDowell, John Heard and Annette O'Toole? Yep, all of them are in it too.

I did like the comment for # 92. Jism (2002): "Bollywood's not known for the explicit sexual content of its films, which is why the appearance of Jism on our screens is something of a surprise." Oh dear, oh dear 🙂

Let's see, ten years ago… (imagine a fancy flashback visual effect)

Shareholders in London Mardi Gras may decide to close the company which runs the capital’s annual Pride party and parade.

The decision will be made at a crunch meeting on 23 October, as the Pink Paper hits the streets.

Bosses have been told by the Royal Parks that they will not be able to hold the event at Hyde Park again next year after they failed to pay the quarter-million pound fee for renting the land this July.

And now shareholders have been told in a set of notes circulated by bosses before Thursday’s annual general meeting that “it is still unclear whether or not the company is legally solvent”.

The notes, which were leaked to the Pink Paper, give shareholders four options.

They can “inject new share capital”, but many have already accepted they have lost tens of thousands of pounds.

Alternatively they can put the company into liquidation themselves or get creditors to do it for them.

Lastly they could choose to “try to continue with the existing company” and hold the festival “in a different location”.

However, some shareholders have already accepted that the event will never make a profit unless it is at Hyde Park and the notes tell them that the Royal Parks will not let them return there. The firm still owes the venue £210,000.

The company has been running Pride since 1999 but has only made a profit once, in 2001, and it lost almost half a million pounds in 2002.

Jason Pollock, festival director, said he didn’t know what would happen at the meeting.

“My personal feeling is that it won’t close,” he added. “But it is a bit of a knock that [Hyde Park] won’t let us go there.

“Of course I want it to continue but I am just one of 29 shareholders.”

(Article in the now dead pinkpaper.com)

… and a well-paid employee of the company too, presumably.

It's incredible isn't it? The people who failed to save the Pride Trust when it owed a few tens of thousands of pounds on the grounds it was 'unprofessional' have managed to lose hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds. They've lost more than PT did in four out of their five years: 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003.

Of course, some of this is because they've paid themselves, either directly or indirectly eg through advertising, a pile of money, but you still wouldn't trust this bunch of 'professionals' to run a whelk stall, never mind a festival.

Now to see what happens.

Long! But the arguments for and against are particularly interesting

From The Londoner (Ken's freesheet) Oct 03

p2 story on a YouGov poll for the Telegraph lists several questions, including…

Should London continue to be the national capital, or should the capital be moved to a bi city such as Birmingham or Manchester?

Well, the North American Conference on Bisexuality, anyway.

Bisexual conference about to happen, Fritz Klein "appalling" shock:

Congresswoman to speak at X-rated confab

Bisexual conference happened, yesthattom appealling shock:

Congresswoman at XXX-rated sex meeting

I love the way it acquired two more Xs!

You get three copies of a magazine for donating any amount to WorldNetDaily. I'm extremely tempted to donate a cent.