I wonder if the cybertruck isn't just a halo model. Something to grab attention, that few people will actually ever (be able to or choose to) buy.
A bit like how everyone thinks the gullwing doors on the Model X are really cool, but ultimately almost everyone ends up buying the model Y, which is a stylistically boring, dated, but practical crossover SUV.
I’ll go first. Mine is that I can’t stand the Deadpool movies. They are self aware and self referential to an obnoxious degree. It’s like being continually reminded that I am in a movie. I swear the success of that movie has directly lead to every blockbuster having to have a joke every 30 seconds
This is probably true of Citizen Kane. However, this isn't true of all the arty farty, black and white, older, or foreign stuff.
Some of those aren't just 'good for their time', highly rated because they were/are innovative/interesting, or because people want to be pretentious. They're still fucking good.
Eg. I watched Tokyo Story (1953) when I was in my early twenties. Tops critics lists. Seems like it's just another pretentious movie. Black and white, boring, pondorous, gave up on it. Watched it a few years later when I had a bit more life experience. Hit me like a truck. Openly wept in the movie theatre.
Sometimes if you push through, you will be rewarded.
It's been a while, and he references dozens of movies, so much so that you're watching his movies and think "wait, I've seen this before" and then you're distracted by the next scene you've seen before. But off the top of my head Vanishing Point, Foxy Brown, Lady Snowblood, Bruce Lee movies, and the Dirty Dozen.
But don't watch those. I probably enjoyed Vanishing Point the most, Bruce Lee in Game of Death is also fun, but often they have a few good scenes, the ones that Tarantino copied (sometimes poorly), but the rest of the movie can be a bit meh. Instead watch Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, In the Mood for Love, Infernal Affairs, Unforgiven, and (why not) Enter the Void. Not that those are my favourite movies, but they're movies that shouldn't bore you.
It's part of the blockbuster model, which does everything it can to reduce risk. Before the 70s, studios would go bust when an expensive movie flopped. Studios became very risk averse, especially for the expensive stuff. So they make a sequel to a movie that's done well, or a plot similar to that of a movie that's previously done well, based on an intellectual property that sold well in another medium(comic, book, tv-show, ...), in a genre that's previously done well with audiences, starring actors people previously liked, preferably very attractive actors so that audiences like looking at them, pushed by a saturation marketing campaign that gets as many people to watch it on the opening weekend as possible, so that if it sucks they can't tell their friends not to go and see it. It's like McDonalds. It's not the best meal you'll ever eat, but you know what you're getting, so you won't have wasted two hours or your life, or shit yourself after eating it.
Also, video killed the radio star. It's rare to be incredibly beautiful. It's rare to be incredibly talented. It's incredibly rare to be both. If you have to pick one, pick the incredibly beautiful actor, who looks good on posters and in promotional material. Acting isn't that hard. Even a pretty moron can be a passable actor.
Bit of a tangent, but I find it insane that the US spent over 2000 billion to fight the war in Afghanistan, but congress is unwilling to authorise giving the Ukrainians 60 billion. A relatively small amount, that means Ukrainians can keep fighting Russia, decreasing the likelihood of American troops ever having to get involved in a war in Europe.
Not American. BasicFit and similar chains allow you access to all their gyms across Europe. Obviously, the car will be a problem here. If you can afford it, something like the citroen berlingo will do. They're everywhere, relatively affordable, and not super noticeable. If that's not an option, there's the library or public transport, combined with the occasional hostel. Not ideal, but better than sleeping on the street and not being able to wash at all.
I don't have an omafiets, but a single gear bike. The only gear it does have is quite tough to start, but my God is it so much better than something with 8 gears or whatever. So much less effort once you get going. I never realised this, but apparently you lose a lot of power through the gearing.
Yesterday there was a controversial movie torrent that was getting 1000s of downloads and was on the “popular this week” page, and today it’s just gone. I went to the uploader’s account page and it’s not there either. Just like it never existed....
Their leader calls journalists vermin and they go on about the 'Lugenpresse', his followers shoot up synagogues, allied media spread Nazi/far right inspired anti-semitic canards like Cultural Marxism ('Kulturbolshewismus'), they go on about how the '''left wing intellectual elite''' are trying to undermine western values and cause a decline of morals and degeneracy ('Entartung'), they're afraid of difference, they hold the weak in contempt, they abhor nuance so use a limited newspeak vocabulary to limit critical reasoning, they're obsessed with plots, and on social media many of his followers spread the Q-anon conspiracy which is a reworking of the antisemtic blood libel canard.
Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, is a duck.
Here's a Sartre quote that's also increasingly relevant (again):
“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
Description of image: Meme image. I can’t believe he didn’t cry during Titanic! Do men even have feelings? The man is crying at Picard crying in the mud.
Bit of a curve ball, but I'm a huge fan of a simple casio.
When you're in a city or a deprived poorer area, it's far safer to look at your watch than take out your phone.
It's also more professional in a work context, especially in customer facing roles. If you look at your phone to check the time, people are more likely to think you're checking your notifications and not fully engaged in what you're doing.
U.S. president Biden ... however stated that it was "not a major breach", and that he also believed that the Chinese leadership wasn't even aware of the balloon. ... On September 17, 2023, in an interview with CBS news, General Mark Milley, the retiring 20th US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated “I would say it was a spy balloon that we know with high degree of certainty got no intelligence, and didn't transmit any intelligence back to China." Technical experts had also found that the balloon's sensors had never been activated while it was travelling over the Continental United States. The general also touched on a leading theory that the reason that it was flying over the United States, was probably because it was blown off-track, where the balloon had been heading towards Hawaii however winds at 60,000 feet simply came into the equation. Miley said, "those winds are very high.. the particular motor on that aircraft can't go against those winds at that altitude." c
TLDR: Unbeknownst to China's leadership, one of their balloons blew off-track (hardly a rare occurence). It didn't collect or transmit any intelligence.
But if you watched the media coverage of that incident, you'd likely come to a different conclusion. For example:
Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it
Oh hey, I heard Star Trek got mentioned on the news! Let's just go check and- (startrek.website)
context:...
The American mind cannot comprehend this (i.imgur.com)
One way to live long and prosper (startrek.website)
Me too (mander.xyz)
It feels inevitable at this point (sih-st-charts.stocktwits-cdn.com)
What is your unpopular flim opinion
I’ll go first. Mine is that I can’t stand the Deadpool movies. They are self aware and self referential to an obnoxious degree. It’s like being continually reminded that I am in a movie. I swear the success of that movie has directly lead to every blockbuster having to have a joke every 30 seconds
Motivational (startrek.website)
This episode contains: sex, fear (startrek.website)
Biden says Netanyahu must change, Israel losing global support (www.reuters.com)
Teal'c, his eyes uncovered (startrek.website)
What are your "poor person" money life hacks?
Let’s get a list going. Like with a Target debit card you can get $40 cash back and it takes 1 to 2 days to be withdraw from your checking.
When a Torrent disappears from 1337x, how do you find out what happened?
Yesterday there was a controversial movie torrent that was getting 1000s of downloads and was on the “popular this week” page, and today it’s just gone. I went to the uploader’s account page and it’s not there either. Just like it never existed....
Piracy even when I can get it legally
This is my small rant against the ‘features’ that big streaming services provided vis a vis the convenience of pirating the same thing....
Risa arguing over Stovetop while I'm here just munching on crispy onions. (lemmy.world)
NOBODY WARRNED ME 😭😭😭 (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
Description of image: Meme image. I can’t believe he didn’t cry during Titanic! Do men even have feelings? The man is crying at Picard crying in the mud.
What kind of wearable device do you want? Assuming it will work and feel like you imagine it would
It’s getting cold and so I’m fumbling with my phone and other devices....
Are you prepared for the future? (lemmy.world)
Stronger then Super Saiyan Goku (lemmy.ca)
Anti-China Rhetoric Is Off the Charts in Western Media (thediplomat.com)