Michael*

You're right, I'm aware that nobody used the word "hormones". That was what I believed was being implied from the tone of the discussion and the referencing of irreversible life changing decisions, but I should have asked for clarification. However if my initial reaction was indeed wide of the mark, and the discussion we're having is literally only about a little boy who professes to feel more like a girl, then I still don't see a problem with letting them do what makes them happy. As I said, if the whole thing turns out to be a phase, the kid can just go back to being a boy.

I didn't say anything pertaining to the Theron case at all, as that wasn't really the question I was asked. But regarding the main point, there seems to be a widespread belief on here, and I'm not sure why, that the decision is an irreversible one, when nothing could be further from the truth. If the whole thing turns out to be a phase, the kid can just go back to being a boy. I don't see what the problem is. Much of this discussion has already devolved into assumptions of "they're giving hormones to kids" and statements like "leave his penis unchopped", which completely ignore the reality of the situation. Nobody gives hormones to kids, and even puberty blockers aren't typically prescribed until much later. By which time, I think it's safe to say whether the adolescent knows if they are transgender or not.

I think I'm right in thinking that the scientific community verges on unanimousness in its assessment of climate change, and that it's equally unanimous in admitting to only having a rudimentary understanding of how genetics, hormones and environment factor into brain development. They know biology is a big part of it though, and biology doesn't always cleanly divide people into two sexes.

+1 A few of the posts in here, man, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

The time has surely come for the SFA to start thinking outside the box, so they might do well to consider 'going foreign' now. Big Sam, Neil Warnock or Pontius Pardew incoming.

Thread cleaned. I'm making it known now so that there can be no excuses later, take it easy throwing around words like 'ugly' in the model topics.

That's fine, I went ahead and merged the accounts. If you run into issues with your log-in details in the future, please try to let us know what's going on before creating a second profile.

I'm no authority on the law but I can confirm that it's not allowed on the forum. I'm afraid, to be safe and avoid any issues we might encounter, it'll have to be removed.

Thanks Shep. Random semi-related aside, and this may have been brought up before, but a neat (and possibly coincidental) thing I noticed while re-watching one of the Thor Ragnarok trailers just now. Thor not aiming for Thanos's head in IW may have stemmed from Mjolnir being destroyed when he tried decapitating Hela with it. Or maybe he just didn't want to lose another sweet weapon.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the recent reviews, it's not been an auspicious opening weekend, with the movie taking twelve million dollars against a budget of fifty. For comparison's sake, Hellboy '04 took $23m on its opening weekend, while Golden Army made $34.5m.

I'm certain he'll be great as the lead, although it's a little weird, what with the whole project basically coming about because Phoenix said he wanted to do a low-budget character study of a comic book villain, that he apparently wasn't the studio's first choice to star in it. If the reports are to be believed, we almost ended up with Leonardo DiCaprio instead. I had that down as another fascinating role for Phoenix (particularly starring opposite Rooney Mara), but although I couldn't fault the acting, the end product felt weirdly low key, maybe even a bit anti-climactic. Shame really.

Good luck finding a George Orwell quote to help you defend those actions, Joey!

There are a lot of unanswered questions about the Finn arc, but honestly, I think how good it is will only really be known in retrospect. After Force Awakens, I was hoping to see Phasma become his biggest rival over the course of the next two movies as I like the idea of the rebel Stormtrooper pitted against his old boss, a wildcard looking for revenge. There's no reason why that can't still happen, and if they throw in a few more interactions between Finn and Poe, I'll put the whole thing down as a win. In general too, I think the way Episode 9 wraps things up can potentially help TLJ settle into a place in the mythos. As the middle part of a trilogy, it really needs the context of a conclusion.

Ah, I heard about that. The story about her symptoms apparently not being taken seriously by doctors was very sad, not least because I'm given to understanding that early interventions can alter the progression of the disease quite significantly. Incidentally, I had no idea that she was 46, I would have guessed late thirties at the most.

Honestly, aside from people justifiably pointing to the space casino stuff (which was a bit laborious) or the Super Leia scene (which was just a bit naff), the vast majority of complaints against Last Jedi basically amount to either 'it's not the Star Wars of old' or 'it's not how I would have done it'. I actually think if you compare the arc of Force Awakens and Last Jedi with that of New Hope and Empire, they're very similar. The sequel moves away from what's gone before and ends with the heroes in dire straits, and is also perhaps the least fun to watch in isolation. Indeed, when Empire first came out, a lot of fans weren't sure what to make of it and many hated it. It was too dark, didn't wrap things up, Luke is mutilated and Han is written off. We're literally seeing the same reactions now as the current generation's ROTJ is about to come out.