Perryapsis's recent activity
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Comment on What private companies are you happy doing business with? in ~talk
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Comment on Toy Story's villain is a lie in ~movies
Perryapsis Link[meta] I have only seen the first two Toy Story movies, but would like to see the third and fourth eventually. Is this video just about the first movie, or does it have spoilers for the others?[meta]
I have only seen the first two Toy Story movies, but would like to see the third and fourth eventually. Is this video just about the first movie, or does it have spoilers for the others?
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Comment on The "why does this movie exist" scene in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkThe Great Dictator (1940) comes to mind. The entire movie is good, but the reason it exists is to give Charlie Chaplin an open mic for five minutes at the end.The Great Dictator (1940) comes to mind. The entire movie is good, but the reason it exists is to give Charlie Chaplin an open mic for five minutes at the end.
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Comment on Movies: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~movies
Perryapsis Link Parent*facepalm* I agree that you expect to see a selection bias toward higher ratings because each person will have a tendency to pick movies they're likely to enjoy. My concern is that 65% of my...There is an export your data feature
*facepalm*
I agree that you expect to see a selection bias toward higher ratings because each person will have a tendency to pick movies they're likely to enjoy. My concern is that 65% of my ratings fall into only 20% of the range. It may was well be a thumbs up or thumbs down system if I can't tell the difference between 1, 2, and 3, or between 4 and 5.
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Comment on Movies: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkSorry for the necrobump, but I wanted to wait until the year was actually over. I'm not usually articulate enough or enough of a film buff to make meaningful points about any of them, but I do...Sorry for the necrobump, but I wanted to wait until the year was actually over. I'm not usually articulate enough or enough of a film buff to make meaningful points about any of them, but I do enjoy talking about them in the weekly threads when others are smart enough to kick off the conversation.
First, my list comes out to 136 total viewings in 2025, including repeats. I started using Letterboxd in late 2024, which has made it much easier to look back at the year. Unfortunately Letterboxd doesn't seem to have an easy way to export your diary, so I still had to copy the list by hand into a spreadsheet for the purpose of this post. :P Diary tags helped me dig up stats like: 60 of these viewings were in the theater, 26 viewings were movies I had seen before, only 5 were DVDs, 2 (Wicked and Zootopia) just happened to be on TV before their sequels came out, so I kinda paid attention in between the commercials, and I tagged 6 as "I am too dumb to understand this movie."
In the list, a few movies are given 0 stars. That just means that I didn't enter a Letterboxd rating for some unknown reason despite logging the film.
Big list
# Movie Date Stars 1 Wicked (2024) 1/6 3 2 No Country for Old Men (2007) 1/9 0 3 The Avengers (2012) 1/10 4 4 Interstellar (2014) 1/15 5 5 Joker (2019) 1/16 1 6 The King’s Speech (2010) 1/17 4 7 Minority Report (2002) 1/19 3.5 8 Parasite (2019) 1/20 4.5 9 Heat (1995) 1/21 3.5 10 Nosferatu (2024) 1/23 2 11 The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) 1/23 4 12 The Philadelphia Story (1940) 1/24 4.5 13 Spirited Away (2001) 1/25 5 14 There Will Be Blood (2007) 1/27 1.5 15 Once Upon A Time in the West (1968) 1/28 3.5 16 Roman Holiday (1953) 1/28 4 17 Dunkirk (2017) 1/29 4.5 18 Wall-E (2008) 2/2 4 19 Forrest Gump (1994) 2/2 3.5 20 Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) 2/3 4 21 Companion (2025) 2/4 3 22 Little Women (2019) 2/4 3 23 Django Unchained (2012) 2/6 4 24 Scarface (1932) 2/7 3 25 The Great Dictator (1940) 2/10 4 26 The Social Network (2010) 2/12 4.5 27 The Princess Bride (1987) 2/15 4 28 The Substance (2024) 2/19 0.5 29 The Trial (1962) 2/21 3 30 Twelve Angry Men (TV) (1954) 2/24 4 31 All About Eve (1950) 2/25 4.5 32 Just Mercy (2019) 2/26 4 33 Last Breath (2025) 3/1 4 34 Good Will Hunting (1997) 3/5 4 35 Anora (2024) 3/6 1.5 36 Top Gun Maverick (2022) 3/9 5 37 My Neighbor Totoro (1988) 3/12 4 38 Paprika (2006) 3/13 2.5 39 Top Gun (1986) 3/16 4 40 Black Bag (2025) 3/18 3.5 41 The Godfather (1972) 3/23 3 42 Grease (1978) 3/31 0 43 The Chosen Last Supper 1 (2025) 4/2 4.5 44 The Chosen Last Supper 2 (2025) 4/5 4.5 45 A Working Man (2025) 4/7 3.5 46 Warfare (2025) 4/10 4.5 47 The Chosen Last Supper 3 (2025) 4/11 4.5 48 Beetlejuice (1988) 4/14 3.5 49 Dune Part 2 (2024) 4/19 3.5 50 Titanic (1997) 4/21 0 51 Pride and Prejudice (2005) 4/24 0 52 Star Wars Episode 3 (2005) 4/26 4 53 Interstellar (2014) 4/27 5 54 Career Opportunities (1991) 4/28 2 55 The Breakfast Club (1985) 4/29 2.5 56 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) 5/5 4 57 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) 5/7 3 58 Thunderbolts (2025) 5/9 3.5 59 The Wizard of Oz (1939) 5/11 0 60 Mission Impossible 2 (2000) 5/12 3 61 Mission Impossible 3 (2006) 5/13 4 62 Mission Impossible 4 Ghost Protocol (2011) 5/14 3.5 63 Mission Impossible 5 Rogue Nation (2015) 5/15 4 64 Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) 5/17 4 65 Mad Max Fury Road (2015) 5/18 3.5 66 Mission Impossible 6 Fallout (2018) 5/20 4 67 Mission Impossible 7 Dead Reckoning (2023) 5/21 3.5 68 Lilo and Stitch Remake (2025) 5/22 3 69 Mission Impossible 8 Final Reckoning (2025) 5/23 4 70 Ballerina (2025) 6/4 3.5 71 The Apartment (1960) 6/12 4.5 72 The Phoenician Scheme (2025) 6/14 2 73 Lady Bird (2017) 6/19 1.5 74 The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) 6/22 4 75 Modern Times (1936) 6/23 4.5 76 Clueless (1995) 6/29 3 77 This Is Spinal Tap (1984) 7/7 2 78 The Wild Robot (2024) 7/30 4.5 79 Formula One (2025) 8/1 4 80 Sunset Boulevard (1950) 8/3 4 81 Marty (1955) 8/5 3.5 82 Grave of the Fireflies (1988) 8/10 5 83 All That Breathes (2022) 8/12 3 84 The Naked Gun (2025) 8/13 3 85 Interstellar (2014) 8/16 5 86 Caddyshack (1980) 8/24 2.5 87 Ponyo (2008) 8/25 4 88 Ne Zha 2 (2025) 8/27 3 89 Jaws (1975) 8/29 3.5 90 Clue (1985) 9/3 3 91 The Breakfast Club (1985) 9/7 3.5 92 Toy Story (1995) 9/12 4 93 The Sound of Music (1965) 9/15 4.5 94 The Long Walk (2025) 9/19 2.5 95 Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) 9/21 2.5 96 It Happened One Night (1934) 9/22 3.5 97 Charade (1963) 9/25 4 98 Spider Man (2002) 9/26 3.5 99 Spider Man 2 (2004) 9/27 3.5 100 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) 9/28 3 101 Spider Man 3 (2007) 10/2 3.5 102 Juno (2007) 10/9 3 103 One Battle After Another (2025) 10/10 1.5 104 Cleopatra (1963) 10/15 2 105 Zootopia (2016) 10/16 3.5 106 Blazing Saddles (1974) 10/17 3 107 Spirited Away (2001) 10/19 4.5 108 City Lights (1931) 10/27 4 109 Back to the Future (1985) 10/30 4.5 110 The Lady Eve (1941) 11/2 3.5 111 Singin in the Rain (1952) 11/11 2.5 112 Sabrina (1954) 11/11 4.5 113 Flow (2024) 11/12 4 114 Twelve Angry Men (1957) 11/14 5 115 The Sound of Music (1965) 11/14 4.5 116 The Boy and the Heron (2023) 11/16 1 117 Wicked (2024) 11/19 3 118 Brief Encounter (1945) 11/21 4 119 Zootopia (2016) 11/23 3.5 120 Rental Family (2025) 11/26 3.5 121 The Circle (2017) 12/4 1.5 122 Zootopia 2 (2025) 12/7 3 123 The Asphalt Jungle (1950) 12/9 3 124 The Verdict (1982) 12/10 4 125 Ocean’s Eleven (2001) 12/12 4 126 Last Holiday (2006) 12/12 2.5 127 Kill Bill The Whole Bloody Affair (2006) 12/17 3.5 128 The Holdovers (2023) 12/20 3 129 The Housemaid (2025) 12/22 2.5 130 Hamnet (2025) 12/24 2 131 A Christmas Story (1983) 12/25 3 132 Brave (2012) 12/28 3 133 Dead Poets Society (1989) 12/28 3.5 134 A Separation (2011) 12/29 4 135 Grand Hotel (1932) 12/30 3 136 The Apartment (1960) 12/31 4.5 I saw 19 new releases in 2025, with a few notables in these categories:
Unpopular movies that I didn't think were that bad
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Last Breath
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A Working Man
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Mission Impossible 8 - Final Reckoning
Well-received movies that didn't land for me
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The Phoenician Scheme
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The Naked Gun
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One Battle After Another
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Hamnet
My highest-rated 2025 release was Warfare. Maybe that says something about me, but I also just liked the fly-on-the-wall-as-action-happens style. Standouts of old-but-new-to-me movies include Interstellar, Grave of the Fireflies, The Apartment, Parasite, Spirited Away, The Social Network, and Top Gun Maverick.
On the other side of the coin, a list of notable movies that didn't live up to their reputations (at least in my experience) include There Will Be Blood, The Substance, Lady Bird, The Boy and the Heron, and Anora (to be fair, I didn't see it until after it won Best Picture, so maybe I had unfair expectations).
The oldest movie I saw was City Lights (1931) by Charlie Chaplin. I also watched two more pre-code movies, Scarface and Grand Hotel (both 1932). I watched an additional 23 movies from the Hays code era.
One thing I'll try to do more this year is to use the whole scale. Almost two-thirds of my ratings this year were between three and four stars, so I'll try a bit harder to distinguish between 2 and 3-star movies, and maybe be a bit less stingy with 5-star ratings.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis Link ParentAnother couple things came to mind later. I wonder to what extent they are interesting and to what extent I just don't watch enough foreign films to be used to them. It was interesting to hear...Another couple things came to mind later. I wonder to what extent they are interesting and to what extent I just don't watch enough foreign films to be used to them.
It was interesting to hear them talk about money in the Iranian currency. The values IR 300,000 and IR 40,000,000 come up throughout the film, but I had absolutely no idea how much money that is. I think it actually helped me stay immersed instead of getting hung up on the amount too much.
It was also interesting that nobody ever had a lawyer at any point during the divorce or legal proceedings throughout the entire movie. I wonder if that's actually typical in Iran, or if it was a creative decision by the writers to give the characters more chances to interact.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis Link ParentAfter checking - yikes, I can't find the Region A blu-ray of The Salesman for under $70. I might have to wait for the price to drop (or a miracle find at a store). I avoid streaming services on...After checking - yikes, I can't find the Region A blu-ray of The Salesman for under $70. I might have to wait for the price to drop (or a miracle find at a store). I avoid streaming services on principle, but sometimes that means I miss a movie like this (even finding A Separation was tough).
It looks like Farhadi's About Elly and The Past are available at more reasonable prices. Would you recommend either of those?
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis (edited )Link ParentYeah, it's one of those "cooler heads should prevail, but you can totally understand why everyone is having trouble keeping their cool" situations. I had a realization during the first scene. At...Yeah, it's one of those "cooler heads should prevail, but you can totally understand why everyone is having trouble keeping their cool" situations.
I had a realization during the first scene. At first, it seems like they're breaking the rule of "show, don't tell," but then I realized that they're showing us the main characters' personalities based on their body language, tone of voice, etc. So while it tells you an infodump to explain the premise, your focus should really be on how the two of them are acting.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkDoes anybody want to talk about: A Christmas Story (1983): ★⯪☆ Brave (2012): ★★☆ Dead Poets Society (1989): ★★☆ A Separation (2011): ★★☆ Grand Hotel (1932): ★☆☆ -
Comment on The tools bookmakers use to block data-savvy gamblers, and how to get round them in ~life
Perryapsis Link ParentI'm curious how much of this difference can be attributed to the relatively recent legalization of gambling in America compared to Britain.A report by Britain’s Gambling Commission found that 4.3% of accounts active in the past year have “stake factors”—the proportion of the maximum bet offered to a new customer—below 100%. American books give a longer leash: only 0.64% of accounts in Massachusetts are limited, for instance.
I'm curious how much of this difference can be attributed to the relatively recent legalization of gambling in America compared to Britain.
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Comment on Can I defeat telematics in a GM car? in ~transport
Perryapsis Link ParentIs there a way for a hobbyist to try this out on their own car?[...] connect a device to the vehicle to extract all of the stored telemetry.
Is there a way for a hobbyist to try this out on their own car?
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis Link ParentSo I'm not just an idiot? Spoilers below. Ending spoilers I understand that the final play is supposed to reconcile Shakespeare and his wife, but I don't understand how. I never read Hamlet in...So I'm not just an idiot? Spoilers below.
Ending spoilers
I understand that the final play is supposed to reconcile Shakespeare and his wife, but I don't understand how. I never read Hamlet in school and am sometimes slow to parse Shakespearean writing, so maybe I just didn't understand what some of the lines meant. But the ending goes play -> Agnes' reaction -> play -> Agnes' reaction over and over, and half the time I didn't understand what specific thing from the previous line prompted her reaction. Since this is supposed to be the big emotional crescendo of the movie, it fell completely flat for me.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis (edited )LinkDoes anybody want to talk about: The Holdovers (2023): ★★☆ A good Christmas movie. It's unfortunate that it contains a shot of a student hiding a dirty magazine inside their textbook. I would...Does anybody want to talk about:
The Holdovers (2023): ★★☆
A good Christmas movie. It's unfortunate that it contains a shot of a student hiding a dirty magazine inside their textbook. I would recommend this to my folks, but that one shot is a dealbreaker. The dialogue is witty at times and there are only a few characters (especially in the second half) so that even an idiot like me could follow along. I didn't watch many Christmas movies this year, but I'm glad I found this one.
The Housemaid (2025): ★☆☆
I tried this on a lark, but I left disappointed. It was okay through the middle, but it was too predictable and I didn't like the ending. I also ended up not liking any of the characters. I hesitate to criticize Sydney Sweeney's acting because of how politicized that topic has become, but I really noticed the difference in the opening scene where she's just talking with Amanda Seyfried. It also broke my suspension of disbelief sometimes by how they dressed Sweeney and then showed her running down the stairs or bending over and the like. It reminded me that this is a story being told by people trying to keep your attention at all times and took me out of it for a bit.
I want to watch Hamnet tonight. If I can't, I probably can't see it until January. Hopefully my local theater won't drown it out with Avatar showings by that point.Edit:
Hamnet (2025): ★☆☆
This movie made me feel stupid, and now I feel stupider because I can't articulate why.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis Link ParentDo you think The Housemaid would be worth watching for someone who hasn't read the book? There was a red-band trailer for it when I saw Kill Bill, but I couldn't figure out why it was a red-band...Do you think The Housemaid would be worth watching for someone who hasn't read the book? There was a red-band trailer for it when I saw Kill Bill, but I couldn't figure out why it was a red-band (e.g. there wasn't any particularly strong language) and I remember wondering more about that than the actual trailer.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis (edited )LinkDoes anybody want to talk about: The Verdict (1982): ★★☆ Ocean's Eleven (2001): ★★★ Last Holiday (2006): ★★☆ Kill Bill - The Whole Bloody Affair (2006 ?): ★★☆ -
Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech
Perryapsis Link ParentIs there a way for Joe Schmoe to check this, like a product data sheet? I certainly don't trust myself to pop the case off my TV and check the components without breaking something expensive.It also isn't very expensive for them to include a cellular modem
Is there a way for Joe Schmoe to check this, like a product data sheet? I certainly don't trust myself to pop the case off my TV and check the components without breaking something expensive.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkMy local theater isn't showing Kill Bill - The Whole Bloody Affair, but a theater from the same chain an hour away is. It would basically take up an entire afternoon to see it between driving,...My local theater isn't showing Kill Bill - The Whole Bloody Affair, but a theater from the same chain an hour away is. It would basically take up an entire afternoon to see it between driving, sitting through all the trailers, and then actually watching the movie. I've already seen the two parts separately and enjoyed both. Could someone here please try and convince me to go see it?
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkDoes anybody want to talk about: Rental Family (2025): ★★☆ This was good. I didn't see any trailers or marketing for this, but the premise seemed interesting, so I gave it a go. It's predictable...Does anybody want to talk about:
Rental Family (2025): ★★☆
This was good. I didn't see any trailers or marketing for this, but the premise seemed interesting, so I gave it a go. It's predictable (even for an idiot like me), but it executes its concept well. A lot of the online discussions talk about how it's another movie of "Brendan Fraser being himself" in a positive sense. I haven't seen any of his other movies, but now I'm interested after seeing him in this.
I'm a bit proud that I basically immediately called a twist that, if Letterboxd reviews are anything to go by, the average viewer didn't notice until it was explicitly revealed. Yay media literacy!
If I have one criticism of the movie, it's that the flip-flopping between English and Japanese was confusing. Maybe my American is showing, but is it common in Japan (or multilingual situations in general) for speakers to switch languages back and forth multiple times mid-conversation, even mid-thought or mid-sentence? I kept trying to figure out the pattern/rules of when they use each language, but I never did figure it out. I feel like I was looking for and expecting hidden meaning because of this, but the writers evidently didn't intend to put any. Maybe I would benefit from a rewatch.
The Circle (2017): ★☆☆
I don't even remember how I initially found out about this movie, but I was intrigued by its awful reviews despite several big-name actors and interesting premise. Kinda like when I watched Cleopatra (1963), I was curious to see how it was messed up more than I actually was about the movie.
After watching it, I lack the expertise to criticize the technical issues of the film, but it never really makes any emotional impact. The movie gently scratches the surface of many different topics, but fails to meaningfully discuss any of them. There's no narrative through-line, so the scenes feel like disconnected vignettes. The ending (if you can call it that) feels unearned. It's like a scatterbrained rambletuber was asked to write two hours' worth of material about social media and then they tried to turn it into a movie.
The blu-ray was interesting in that it says "Canada only," but Amazon sent it to me in the United States anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. The disc has absolutely no special features whatsoever, but it does automatically play three (skippable) trailers before loading the main menu. One was an army movie with Kate Mara and a dog, another was some other random army movie, and the last one was some slice of life movie about a group of teenage girls. Since I don't remember anything about them after watching all three trailers, they must have all been very successful movies /s. Normally trailers on discs annoy me, but this was mildly interesting as a time capsule.
Can anyone recommend any other infamous trainwreck movies that are nevertheless interesting to watch as case studies about what not to do?
Zootopia 2 (2025): ★★☆
This was about what I expected. If you enjoyed the first movie, then you'll probably enjoy this one. Like the original, it's heavy-handed with its theme at times to get the point across to kids. Parents can still enjoy most of the humor and character drama. The plot is weaker than the original, I was able to just go along for the ride and not worry about it too much.
There are so many callbacks or cameos to characters from the original that don't have any role in the sequel that it was distracting by the end. There are also several references to other movies, which doubtlessly means that there were many more that went over my head, but it was nice to see them when I did recognize them.
One very small point, but has an ending spoiler
I don't like how the ending is clearly a sequel hook/bait, and it bugs me even more that the movie even hangs a lampshade on that fact.The Asphalt Jungle (1950): ★★☆
A noir heist film. It's also an early role for Marilyn Monroe, although the only has a scene and a half. This is definitely an old movie in style; it takes its time to show you the crooks planning the heist, assembling the team, actually doing it, making their getaway, and then bamboozling from the cops afterward. I feel like a modern movie would focus on carzy stunts during the heist and turn the escape into an action sequence. This movie patiently builds the tension establishing the characters (although would it have killed them to put them all together at least once? There are so many that it took me some effort to keep them straight at first) and maintains its relative calm during the hesit itself. That actually works pretty well and establishes the characters as professional criminals who have been there before.
I was surprised by how much they humanized the villains. I thought they couldn't portray the bad guys in a good light because of the Hays Code, but multiple guys here are shown with their wives and families and given at least some redeeming qualities. The ends of their character arcs are sometimes abrupt and unsatisfying because they don't tend to involve those elements after being introduced earlier in the movie.
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Comment on Paramount launches a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkWhile I share others' concerns about Paramount winning, I hope that the fact that they are still pursuing a bid helps put more pressure on Netflix to keep its promises about continuing theatrical...While I share others' concerns about Paramount winning, I hope that the fact that they are still pursuing a bid helps put more pressure on Netflix to keep its promises about continuing theatrical releases.
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Comment on 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup groups are set in ~sports.football
Perryapsis LinkHere is a table of the groups. When playoffs are required to determine a spot, I've included all possible teams and shortened their names with ISO 3166 codes whenever possible. Group Team 1 Team 2...Here is a table of the groups. When playoffs are required to determine a spot, I've included all possible teams and shortened their names with ISO 3166 codes whenever possible.
Group Team 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 4 A Mexico South Africa South Korea CZ/DK/IE/MK B Canada BA/IT/N. Ire./Wales Qatar Switzerland C Brazil Morocco Haiti Scotland D United States Paraguay Australia RO/SK/TR/XK E Germany Curaco Ivory Coast Ecuador F Netherlands Japan AL/PL/SE/UA Tunisia G Belgium Egypt Iran New Zealand H Spain Cabo Verde Saudi Arabia Urugay I France Senegal BO/IQ/SR Norway J Argentina Algeria Austria Jordan K Portugal CD/JM/NC Uzbekistan Colombia L England Croatia Ghana Panama
How does this work when employees quit, retire, or get fired? Are they required to sell their stock beforehand?