The Chat Thread II: Chat Harder

masofdas wrote:

Wait so your still under contract, surely you just quit or sacked.

When you sign (back) on, there's a handful of criteria they check to see if you're eligible- eg if you aren't a banker you get zero if you have too much in savings you get a reduced rate of JSA or none at all, if you're eligible for disability you'd get that instead, if you've got an unexpired sanction you get nothing etc- and one of them is the circumstance in which you became unemployed.

If you're made redundant or a fixed-term contract has come to a close, then that's the company's action and you remain eligible. If you've quit or been fired, it's your action and you become ineligible.

The thing with the fixed-term contract situation is that it's your action until the day after the contract would have ended- at that point there's no way of proving either way that you would or wouldn't have been in employment and it becomes the company's action again.

Seems rather complicated when I got made redundant I just walked straight to the local job-centre whom gave me a phone number to sign on to go through stuff with and started claiming about 2 weeks after that.

masofdas wrote:

Seems rather complicated when I got made redundant I just walked straight to the local job-centre whom gave me a phone number to sign on to go through stuff with and started claiming about 2 weeks after that.

Yeah, a lot of the complexity is hidden- you go to sign on, they may a load of decisions behind the scenes and then they either pay you or don't. In your case they would have found out you were made redundant, making it the company's action, and paid out.

That, and the rules have changed a lot in the last few years as the Tories use the system to bully the poor, but that's something we don't discuss any more.

What if quit / terminated contract would you still not able to sign on any time soon as it's your choice.

masofdas wrote:

What if quit / terminated contract would you still not able to sign on any time soon as it's your choice.

No, because that was my action. I have to wait for either the date the contract would have expired or come in and out of another job.

So what you going to do then, just hope another job comes up asap.

masofdas wrote:

So what you going to do then, just hope another job comes up asap.

Pretty much!

I know it's not exciting but the supermarkets are pretty fair in who they'll take. Also, I'd you're worried they'll turn you down on account of having a degree, you could always forget to mention it...
anyway, I'll stop offering useless advice and just say: good luck mate. We're all hoping you'll get something good.

Drunkalilly wrote:

We're all hoping you'll get something good.

Seconded. Totally unfair JSA regs, there. 

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I've sort of went full circle with the Angry Video Game Nerd: I thought it was brilliant when I first found out about it (2007-ish), then packed it in as he focused less on the character and more on his shite-sounding home movies (plus I had an argument on the ScrewAttack Forums with him after he threatened to put the boot into Mischief Makers in one of his episodes, the daft prick). It's only recently that I've watched his stuff again, and I'm quite enjoying it. The Ikari Warriors episode is one of his best ever.

Fair play to James Rolfe indeed.

Thanks to this side-chat, I've started to catch up on the episodes I've missed over the last four or so years (only watched bits of them), and I'm really enjoying a lot of the episodes I've been watching.

The one on R.O.B. the robot was great, even the scripted parts, and I chuckled a lot during the Street Fighter 2010 one (here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU21wBNSVWU&feature=kp). That has probably been my favourite one in recent times, it reminds me a lot of his earlier videos.

Not sure where to put this so I'll bung it in here.

Bit Socket TV Pilot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIp1lCnh2i4


I really enjoyed that & it really is time we had a gaming show back on the telly and this could be the one.

So I had the "Have you met" Pulled on me last night which was unusual being on the the receiving end of that but still good until the girl left me

I watched the bitsocket boys too. Top stuff, really hoping that they get picked up.

They seem to have the right connections to make it happen, I think one of them even works for STV Glasgow. (new Scottish tv channel)

I can no longer keep Tony Abbott's classic line in my signature with how the current government is acting. I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually legitimately miss Howard.   

The_Jaster wrote:

Not sure where to put this so I'll bung it in here.

Bit Socket TV Pilot:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIp1lCnh2i4


I really enjoyed that & it really is time we had a gaming show back on the telly and this could be the one.

I'd kind of like to see something other than a magazine show get on the air- I'm not going to complain if something like this got on Proper Telly, but I think I'd rather see The Culture Show profile Shigeru Miyamoto or something (if it's done properly and not as a novelty), or the bloke who does Football Manager to be on Sky Sports, or Molyneux to appear on Jonathan Ross. Even a stab at a panel game would be a step up.

Yeah, I like the sound of that. I am frequently astounded by the depth and accuracy of football manager so to see some of that knowledge reach the surface of football in reality would be great.

Just a side note to this, while I was in Greece I watched a few matches with Greek commentary. I can honestly say I learned more about teams and tactics from them than any English coverage and I can't speak Greek.

beemoh wrote:

The_Jaster wrote:

Not sure where to put this so I'll bung it in here.

Bit Socket TV Pilot:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIp1lCnh2i4


I really enjoyed that & it really is time we had a gaming show back on the telly and this could be the one.

I'd kind of like to see something other than a magazine show get on the air- I'm not going to complain if something like this got on Proper Telly, but I think I'd rather see The Culture Show profile Shigeru Miyamoto or something (if it's done properly and not as a novelty), or the bloke who does Football Manager to be on Sky Sports, or Molyneux to appear on Jonathan Ross. Even a stab at a panel game would be a step up.

It's all baby steps isn't it? Despite a lot of celebrities being avid gamers it still seems like the TV networks see nothing worthy in games other than a few countdown shows here and there.

The_Jaster wrote:

It's all baby steps isn't it? Despite a lot of celebrities being avid gamers it still seems like the TV networks see nothing worthy in games other than a few countdown shows here and there.

That's the thing, though- it's easy to call it 'baby steps', but if your offspring was trying to travel on its elbows then you'd have to start more actively pushing them to use their feet instead.

Magazine shows on a topic are actually quite unusual- save for Top Gear, which has been progressively shedding its magazineness in favour of just being three old blokes falling over, I actually can't think of any on UK TV. There are plenty of generalist magazine shows, perhaps with a certain focus (eg BBC Breakfast for news, or Loose Women for a demographic) or a gimmick (all kinds of cooking shows at the weekend) but none you'd accuse of being about 'a topic'.

Shows that are about something tend to take different formats, such as a very narrow documentary or something narrative-driven like a dramatization, or even a reality or game show. (Buy example, Channel 4 did a reasonably successful three-part documentary about Dare To Be Digital, which was filmed fly-on-the-wall style)

If anything, a face from games popping up on another show in some capacity is a much more realistic baby step, because they don't have to hang six thirty minute episodes off it, and they don't have to treat it as something special, in its own little box.

Maybe they should bring back some sort of review show which shows what's in cinemas, home video, music and games. So this week they could talk about Transformers, Her, Lana Del Rey and Guacamelee.

Also how slow at Sonic.

beemoh wrote:

The_Jaster wrote:

It's all baby steps isn't it? Despite a lot of celebrities being avid gamers it still seems like the TV networks see nothing worthy in games other than a few countdown shows here and there.

That's the thing, though- it's easy to call it 'baby steps', but if your offspring was trying to travel on its elbows then you'd have to start more actively pushing them to use their feet instead.

Magazine shows on a topic are actually quite unusual- save for Top Gear, which has been progressively shedding its magazineness in favour of just being three old blokes falling over, I actually can't think of any on UK TV. There are plenty of generalist magazine shows, perhaps with a certain focus (eg BBC Breakfast for news, or Loose Women for a demographic) or a gimmick (all kinds of cooking shows at the weekend) but none you'd accuse of being about 'a topic'.

Shows that are about something tend to take different formats, such as a very narrow documentary or something narrative-driven like a dramatization, or even a reality or game show. (Buy example, Channel 4 did a reasonably successful three-part documentary about Dare To Be Digital, which was filmed fly-on-the-wall style)

If anything, a face from games popping up on another show in some capacity is a much more realistic baby step, because they don't have to hang six thirty minute episodes off it, and they don't have to treat it as something special, in its own little box.

I am all for them trying something different too, I was just thinking it might be harder to get picked up so we could have the standard gaming show as a start (as there hasn't been a successful one in quite a while) then if its a success all the other things you can mention might fall into place.

Currently spitting blood after having a tooth pulled.

But in better news, I've managed to find myself a job! It's a bit more interesting than the old one, is normal hours, is an hour nearer home and pays more.   

Good job (snigger) that man! What's it involve?

Are you selling yourself on street corners? Is that why you've had teeth out, you dirty bugger?

Balladeer wrote:

Good job (snigger) that man!  What's it involve?

Stuff with mobile apps.