Bartimaeus
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Posts posted by Bartimaeus
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2 hours ago, majestic said:
Is it my bias and/or political leaning that makes right-wing/conservative satire always seem so incredibly cringeworthy, or is it just really just cringeworthy?
There's a lot of factors that go into humor, and that can definitely be part of it. But I would say framing also matters a lot, and one of the ways in which framing strongly affects humor is precisely who is telling you the "funny" and in what context. I have a friend that likes to occasionally link me clips from the demon/televangelist known as Kenneth Copeland...
...and in the context of knowing that my friend also thinks he might be a demon, the clips are usually pretty funny. But if I saw the same clips linked by one of his cult members (i.e. charitably, probably a moron...though potentially someone much more insidious than that), it would be a whole different story: you might well be able to apply a similar train of thought to some of the things said/linked to here, though probably for different kinds of reasons in different situations. I also think Alex Jones can be the funniest guy on Earth...sometimes, but I'm certain that I don't find him funny in the same ways that his true believers can, and I would no doubt be an alien in their midst.
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I played through this game once years back and loved it, now I came back to replay it and also to tackle all the achievements. One of the achievements is to play through the whole game without saving even once (howlongtobeat.com says it's an 8-10 hour-ish game, not including the extended alternative/true ending content that's a little tricky to get). I got like 80% of the way through the game and then died during a short (5 second or so) cutscene. I'd pressed a button that revealed a passageway, which the game panned over to show me, but the game didn't actually pause during said pan, and a zombie hyucked acid barf all over me and I died right as it came back to me.
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Suzume...Hyoutan Suzume (1959).
It's a really great movie...well, maybe it's a great movie, I don't understand Japanese too well and nobody ever bothered to translate it, but yeah, it's probably a great movie. I got the impression that the narrative was some really high brow, deep thought, complex feelings kind of stuff, but it thankfully wasn't too heavy on the piano, so it was nice to see Makoto Shinkai finally branch out a little from his usual fare. I was a little miffed that @Sarex wouldn't recommend something like this to me, but it is rare that we agree on something, so I suppose he probably was just exercising an understandable level of caution. Luckily, there was no need for that here: when you've got such cutting edge art and animation like the above, I don't think you really need anything else anyways,
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The Lair of the White Worm (1988).
A very entertaining albeit rather clumsy and confused film. This was a very curious case of the villain being much more interesting and likeable than any of the main characters...initially, and then the Peter Capaldi (yes, Doctor Who) and Hugh Grant characters pull themselves together for some seriously wacky and outrageous hijinks that has the effect of making you like them as well, so in the end, you're okay with pretty much anything that might happen - whether the villain or heroes win, either way is perfectly good. Altered States is a much more well made film than this silly load of nonsense, but on the other hand, I actually liked this one exponentially more (and would rate Altered States as easily my least favorite of the Ken Russell films I've seen). This one didn't fry my brain like The Boy Friend though, so that one's still my favorite of the lot.
SpoilerShout out to Kevin for getting picked up by the very pretty and elegant villain on the side of the road, getting brought back to her manor, and then thinking nothing of the fact that she immediately starts lounging around in some kind of...cult-y succubus outfit before she drowns him in her bathtub when someone rings the doorbell. You truly made the best choices in life, Kevin.
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55 minutes ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:
The Baker (2022)
The Retirement Plan (2023)
Pretty much old guy kills a lot of people when his estranged (grand)kids are put in danger. At the end of the day they're the same kind of movie, decent popcorn or background stuff but not really memorable.
I looked both of them up, and I am not convinced either of them are real movies. Are you sure you actually watched them? I think their promotional materials may have been AI-generated.
Smashing Time (1967).
So exactly what was in the water in the UK during the 1960s, anyway? It's a vaguely Alice in Wonderland-ish tale about two young ladies moving to London to try to become famous and their hijinks together...and then their rivalry against one another when they start to go different directions. It's supposed to be a comedy, but there's such a strange flow to all of it that it doesn't always land as would seem to be intended, but then it comes back around to being funny anyways because of how weird it is. I can understand why it wasn't received well in its day, but I enjoyed it...though I admit a certain bias, because Rita Tushingham as the primary lead is rather delightful, which certainly helps carry the film for me. I like that when I look up UK actresses, they so often have continued to act well into their old age: she has had a career spanning from 1961 to as recent as 2024. Whereas with actresses in Hollywood...the poor dears seem to be pushed out of the industry and forgotten so quickly.
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On 4/15/2024 at 12:03 PM, Amentep said:
Opting out of not one, but two, Alfred Hitch**** films, a John Ford film, a Coen Brothers film, a Terry Gilliam film, every adaption of a certain Dumas story, and if you're not that particular about the article "The", then also a Miloš Forman film.
Hey, when you have to take a stand, that's just the way it's gotta be. Probably the only one I'm particularly interested out of those is the Terry Gilliam one anyways.
Speaking of the Coen Brothers...Burn After Reading (2008).
I'd been linked the ending scene in isolation before, and I figured since that was great and it's a Coen Brothers film, the rest is probably worth watching. But...I kind of feel like I could've gone without seeing the rest of the film. It's a funny enough movie, I suppose, but every major character with the exception of Brad Pitt's puppy dog impression being so utterly revolting the whole way through the film kind of dampered my enjoyment. Funny in of itself just doesn't get very far with me, which is why I hardly ever watch anything primarily labelled as a "comedy". Well, it's no Fargo, that's for sure.
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15 minutes ago, Keyrock said:
Is there a movie simply called The Man? Let's just distill all those The Man <Something Something> movies into one neat and tidy package.
The very final title in the list was just "The Man", though I have two notes about it: one, I listed it last but I actually came across it much earlier into making the list but wisely reserved it for the final entry; two, I actually saw two different movies with that title.
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Took my mountain bike out on some hiking trails for a bit. Cursed my state when the cold whipping wind made me asthmatic and my vision started going red because I couldn't breathe after like just half an hour. I'm not allergic to anything (I've done one of those allergy test panels and nothing triggered), but exercising in the cold does tend to do me in. A small but athletic lady at the local bike shop that I was at recently was telling me how I should really get a steel mountain bike because sure, the bike is a lot heavier, but you can crash all you want and the bike will be fine, and if she can ride everywhere and carry her steel bike across streams and into her apartment without no issue, there's no way "somebody like you" couldn't handle a steel bike as well. Lady, while I may look young and in shape, I'm fairly confident that my moderately cripppled body would crumple and tear like tissue paper if I crashed all the time like you apparently do. I was both very envious of her and also felt like a million years old.
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I didn't watch but came across a movie called "The Man Without a Body". The title made me curious as to how many movies there are that start with "The Man".
SpoilerThe Man Who Finally DiedThe Man Without a BodyThe Man Who Loves to Hurt HimselfThe Man Who Killed Hitler and Then BigfootThe Man Who Wasn't ThereThe Man from MajorcaThe Man They Could Not HangThe Man Who Quit SmokingThe Man Who Loved HaugesundThe Man Who Could Not LaughThe Man With the Glass EyeThe Man They Called PirateThe Man Who Played With FireThe Man Who Is Talked AboutThe Man on the WallThe Man on the RampThe Man Who Thought LifeThe Man Without a FutureThe Man With the Missing FingerThe Man of TomorrowThe Man Who Wanted to Be GuiltyThe Man from Swan FarmThe Man Who Would Live ForeverThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.The Man from EarthThe Man from NowhereThe Man Who Fell to EarthThe Man With the Golden GunThe Man Who Shot Liberty ValanceThe Man Who Knew InfinityThe Man Who Would Be KingThe Man Who Killed Don QuixoteThe Man Who Knew Too LittleThe Man With the Iron FistsThe Man from TorontoThe Man in the MachineThe Man Who Planted TreesThe Man and His DreamThe Man Without a PastThe Man in the Iron MaskThe Man Who Saved the GameThe Man Who Knew Too MuchThe Man With Two BrainsThe Man from Snowy RiverThe Man in the White SuitThe Man Who Invented ChristmasThe Man Behind a LegendThe Man Who LaughsThe Man Who SleepsThe Man on the TrainThe Man Who Brought Down the White HouseThe Man Nobody KnewThe Man from LaramieThe Man in the MoonThe Man With the Iron HeartThe Man With the Golden ArmThe Man Who Painted Totoro's ForestThe Man from EarthThe Man from AcapulcoThe Man from the FutureThe Man With the X-Ray EyesThe Man Who Never WasThe Man from Hong KongThe Man Who Skied Down EverestThe Man BetweenThe Man With One Red ShoeThe Man Who Stole the SunThe Man from Planet XThe Man Without a FaceThe Man Who Came to DinnerThe Man Who Sold His SkinThe Man from LondonThe Man Who CriedThe Man Who Haunted HimselfThe Man Standing NextThe Man Who Could Cheat DeathThe Man Who CopiedThe Man in the Silver SaddleThe Man With the AnswersThe Man You Loved to HateThe Man Called FlintstoneThe Man Who Had His Hair Cut ShortThe Man Who Cheated HimselfThe Man Who Left His Will on FilmThe Man Who Stole BanksyThe Man I KilledThe Man of the YearThe Man in GreyThe Man Who LiesThe Man With a Thousand FacesThe Man in the Gray Flannel SuitThe Man Who Saved the WorldThe Man Who Souled the WorldThe Man Without a MapThe Man Who WaitedThe Man from ColoradoThe Man Who Sued GodThe Man Who Sells the RiverThe Man With Two HeadsThe Man With No ShadowThe Man Who Cheated LifeThe Man Who Surprised Everyone
The Man...the list keeps going for sometime, I got to like a hundred and thought that was enoughI've decided that I won't ever be watching any movies that start with "The Man". To my delight, I looked through my list of watched movies and I haven't already accidentally seen one.
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I had this page open from a few hours ago before I left for a while, and then when I came back, we were back to normal. So which version did you guys prefer?
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but all of my passion for gaming died over a decade ago
i am just a withered husk of my former self
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I suppose it at least means he doesn't have the opportunity to ruin anything else in the meantime, a la James Cameron and the Avatar series.
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Frieren, episode 2.
This show is so glacially slow, I have way too much time to ponder how dense Frieren is. Admittedly, 3 and half minutes of the 26 minutes runtime is used up by music that I immediately skip, but that just takes it down to 22 minutes, which is probably 11 minutes too many.
...You know, that gives me an idea.
Frieren, episode 3, double speed.
That's sort of better - closer to but still not quite a normal pace, anyways. Fern called Frieren "helplessly dense", which seems appropriate. Eh, this still isn't really working for me, though.
Frieren, episode 4, triple speed.
You know, these first four episodes have basically felt like the second coming of...uh, what was it called? Girls' Last Tour, I had to go look it up. There are things that I like about it, but it feels more like an "in theory" rather than an "in practice" kind of thing. Too slow of a pace combined with too much artificial writing/characters, I suppose. All the moments that are clearly supposed to be cute just seem...annoyingly manipulative in that very nu-anime fashion to me, so I'm just getting kind of grumpy instead.
Frieren, episode 5, light speed.
Yeah, okay, I think we're done here, this isn't working. It's not awful, it's not offensive, but I am just not getting anything out of this. But just in case...
Frieren, episode 25, LUDICROUS SPEED
Wait, who the hell are all these people? Oh, forget about it, the show still feels exactly the same anyways.
20 hours ago, Gorth said:A fight towards the end was two panels in the manga and Madhouse made it a 3 episode fight, seriously flexing in the animation and choreography department while doing so.
I'm the type of person that vastly prefers the short and sweet fight of Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader in A New Hope, no matter how simple and goofy it may be, over what feels like the hour long and much more technically impressive fight of Anakin vs. Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith, so that wasn't necessarily the best way to try to appeal to me. Though it didn't really end up having anything to do with my issues with this show, so...
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Frieren, episode 1:
This episode did not make me want to claw out my eyes, chew off my tongue, cut off my ears, burn my nose hairs, tear out my spinal cord, or excavate my brain from my skull. So, that's an improvement over the last one...that gosh-awful food one. Though it also didn't do that much for me either...interesting concept, but I'm kind of lukewarm on it so far. Both Frieren and Fern have annoying voices/mannerisms, so that's not helping. If I hadn't noticed this was made by my guys Madhouse, I don't think I would have checked this out at all.
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1 hour ago, Sarex said:
Damn... That's not a small difference. Although it could be that disney's effort was just not well done.
The Disney effort was a traditional (i.e. not AI-assisted) upscale with some additional filtering done to it to try to give the illusion of being digital, though they actually didn't go as far as they could have - for example, they didn't even jack up the bright/dark dynamics and completely wipe the darker sections of the image to a flat black, which is an all too common sin for upscales like this. Some people like the look of upscales such as this, they think it looks "cleaner", but they are (no offense to anybody here that does) complete tosspots that should not be allowed to give their opinions on anything film-related. Okay, that's probably a little harsh, but...actually, no, I think it's pretty well-deserved. The fan-made AI upscale, on the other hand, is a total lie that has all sorts of wrong/fabricated micro-details, but aesthetically speaking, it's certainly much softer and filmic while just being more pleasing to the eye in comparison.
Other shows I'd really like to see rendered with that upscaling method: Sailor Moon, Vampire Princess Miyu, Avatar: The Last Airbender, the 'lost' episode (16) of Neon Genesis...
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58 minutes ago, majestic said:
There's one other thing, the AI models are only going to get better. Still waiting for a model that takes modern, icky digital coloring and makes it look like actual painted cels from the heyday of animation. Where's my "make K-On! look good" AI?
Feel like that's not really going to be a thing, since the audience that fell in love with a show like K-On is obviously not going to want the animation that they already like to suddenly look look ye olde cels. So it's not something companies would be interested in trying to make/sell, and it's not something even fans would probably be very interested in making themselves. Though I'd be very curious to see what that would actually look like, especially given that there are obviously so many other art style differences as well - I'd imagine it'd be a rather bewildering hybrid. It's possible that the tools and training data could be made available for most anyone to use on anything someday, though...
In fact, I have already seen one fan-made AI upscale doing a similar thing as the above Dragon Ball images. Mickey's Christmas Carol (1992), compare the images at full size:
One of these is the official Disney blu-ray, one of these is a fan-made PAL DVD upscale. Unfortunately, the first column is the official Disney source. Yikes. I'd love to be able to apply this process to something like Steven Universe and see what results...
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On the subject of Akira Toriyama, most of the Dragon Ball series has never released in real/quality HD, mostly due to consistent and wilful incompetence by Funimation/Toei Animation (and also some other companies from different regions, like Selecta Vision). A French studio has been releasing the original Dragon Ball (not Z) show on blu-ray, and it looks a bit different from previous releases...
Here's the kicker: it is an AI upscale from a DVD source, a model trained specifically and only on cel animation. If I hadn't been told that, I would've assumed this is a real (albeit flawed and too processed but still pretty decent) HD transfer. Now that I know it's an AI upscale, I'm pretty certain companies making real HD transfers of these old animated shows/movies is going to become largely a thing of the past - why go through the trouble of finding and re-scanning all your original materials, which is time-consuming and expensive, when you can just...do this, which looks alright, costs pennies, and takes practically no time/oversight in comparison?
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On 4/3/2024 at 9:41 AM, Howrdwallt said:
Reminds me of the magic of cinema, you know? Speaking of which, caught a movie out now last weekend with friends.
Uh, why was this obvious spam not deleted?
Fun fact: if you Google the username "Howrdwallt" (with quote marks around it for an exact search), you can find a bunch of similarly generic comments around the internet, on threads both new and years old...but their posts all date to yesterday: #1, #2, #3, and so on. It's probably some kind of AI experiment, and I've seen somebody who was posting similar comments get banned on a different forum once moderators realized what was up...uh, admittedly, once I informed them: the point stands,
. We're entering a brave new world of spam, and our moderator team needs to be prepared for it, .
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The Milwaukee Bucks are supposed to be a super team with a "big 3" between Giannis, Dame, and Middleton (maybe even a "big 4" if you include Brook Lopez given how he'd played the past few years), but I think this is the worst superteam I've ever watched: it's like everyone besides Giannis forgot how to play. Maybe they all just got really old at the same time...if that's the case, this team is totally screwed going forward.
On 4/1/2024 at 11:54 AM, ShadySands said:This week marks the beginning of the championship in my fantasy basketball league. It's me vs the missus and I haven't beaten her all season and doubt this will be any different.
How's that, uh, going?
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I think the thing that really strikes me with The Boy Friend is that there's really no reason for a silly 1920s matinee show quasi-musical to seem deranged whatsoever, especially when the stated goal of the filmmaker was just to make it sweet and innocent, and yet I could feel a nuclear meltdown starting in my brain about a third of the way through as I tried to make sense of the choices that the director was making, and it didn't really ever stop. There was a distinct sensation of fire and smoldering in the top left part of my brain even after the film had finished. I'd definitely appreciate someone else's take on it to determine whether or not maybe I'm just cracked for reasons unrelated to the film - perhaps it was just all the characters staring with the full whites of their eyes straight into the camera for what felt like half the film that did me in.
I should probably watch The Devils sometime, it is rather infamous. Probably a little outside my wheelhouse, but that's exactly how I got into this mess in the first place.
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The Boy Friend (1971) by Ken Russell.
Ken Russell said he made this film...um, "[...] to prove to people I'm not totally deranged; I love the innocence and charm of musicals", but I came away from this becoming certain that he must be. I think it's one of the most fun films I've ever viewed, but I feel I lost my sanity watching it through. I don't know what I was expecting after having seen Altered States and Crimes of Passion, but I certainly wasn't prepared for whatever that was.
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2 hours ago, Amentep said:
One thing I've read regarding polling is that younger voters tend not to have landlines and don't answer unknown cold calls, which has been speculated to skewing any phone based poll in weird ways when trying to extrapolate data to the population.
I'd definitely be curious to see a demographic and voting breakdown for specifically the Republican primaries...might help understand why polling was so off. Still probably unhelpful for trying to fix forecasts of the general election, though.
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Unpacking is pure existential dread and terror, do not play if you're weak of heart.
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Polling continues to remain very troublesome (the phenomenon of which became very publicly noticed back in 2016 when Trump was first elected): in the Republican primary, there was widespread systematic error and results outside the margin of error (sometimes as much as 20-30%!) throughout the nation, even when looking at aggregate polling averages. Though unlike in 2016 (where Trump ran ahead of the projected results right up to but just barely inside the margin of error), the bias seems to be in favor of Trump rather than against him like it was back then (i.e. this time around, the polls were projecting that he would win primaries by much better margins than he actually did)...what, if anything, this might mean for the general election, is anyone's guess. It could very well mean absolutely nothing. Polling seems to always be very screwy one way or another when Trump is on the ballot, so this shouldn't really surprise anyone.
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Forum Comments and Issues Repository
in Obsidian General
Posted
People are saying that the forums' performance has been less than great as of late, with many second page loads randomly occurring when they hadn't in the past.
I'm saying that, I am the people.