balooga's recent activity
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Comment on Today I shipped twenty apps and a screensaver in ~tech
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Comment on Have you played with bubbles recently? in ~talk
balooga Link ParentNot a cat owner either, how does that work exactly? The cat jumps for the bubbles?Not a cat owner either, how does that work exactly? The cat jumps for the bubbles?
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Comment on “60s lounge” and Laufey in ~music
balooga Link ParentNice playlist! I love curating themed lists like this. I added it to my library and I'll undoubtedly be giving it many listens. I'm poking around your other playlists too and especially love how...Nice playlist! I love curating themed lists like this. I added it to my library and I'll undoubtedly be giving it many listens. I'm poking around your other playlists too and especially love how you've got an "Acceptable Christmas" one — that's a contentious category that let me to make my own "Listenable Christmas" list a few years ago. Of course my spouse flatly disagrees with most of my calls so that one was DOA in my household, haha.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of April 13 in ~society
balooga Link ParentThe Holy See has the power of 1.4 billion adherents to do whatever good it wants in the world. The United States federal government had better take its side.The Holy See has the power of 1.4 billion adherents to do whatever good it wants in the world. The United States federal government had better take its side.
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Comment on As Deep As The Grave | Official trailer (AI Val Kilmer movie) in ~movies
balooga LinkI want to see the uncompressed trailer at full resolution. This looks like smeared, blocky garbage. Conspiracy theory me says they prefer it to be viewed this way because the MPEG artifacts mask...I want to see the uncompressed trailer at full resolution. This looks like smeared, blocky garbage. Conspiracy theory me says they prefer it to be viewed this way because the MPEG artifacts mask the low fidelity of the AI renders.
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Comment on “60s lounge” and Laufey in ~music
balooga Link Parent"New wave" is going to lead to a lot of '80s synthpop. I mean, there are worse destinations, but that's not exactly what OP is going for."New wave" is going to lead to a lot of '80s synthpop.
I mean, there are worse destinations, but that's not exactly what OP is going for.
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Comment on “60s lounge” and Laufey in ~music
balooga LinkOthers have dropped some good terms but here are a few more that have been overlooked: space-age pop, bachelor-pad music, and cocktail music might steer things in the right direction. Here's a...Others have dropped some good terms but here are a few more that have been overlooked: space-age pop, bachelor-pad music, and cocktail music might steer things in the right direction. Here's a niche fan site with a bunch of detail about those.
There's definitely a strong bossa nova vibe in that Laufey song but I'm also hearing some overlap with exotica, a weird (and frequently racist) subgenre originating in the '50s, marked by orchestration that included things like bongos, vibraphone, theremin, and Hammond organ, a mishmash of sci-fi futurism and appropriated Latin, Arabic, and Polynesian motifs. More examples.
Also some have been saying that it's a distinctly American sound but I think it shares a throughline with Italian Jazz from the '60s and '70s. Consider composers like Stelvio Cipriani and Piero Piccioni. We're circling the Eurospy film soundtrack subgenre, which is pretty great(!!) and of course borrows heavily from the O.G. Eurospy — James Bond — which is where I link to Shirley Bassey, Nancy Sinatra, and Matt Monro. If this music is your cup of tea, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that SomaFM is still online and broadcasting the same great themed radio stations that I enjoyed 20 years ago, including (but definitely not limited to) Secret Agent.
If you're interested in more recent styles influenced by this sound, you might enjoy some trip hop / downtempo from musicians like Hooverphonic, Bitter:Sweet, Portishead, Moodorama, and Airlock.
Oh, I was looking into other, newer artists that are drawing from this sound and just discovered Lana Del Rey released a new official Bond theme for the upcoming video game 007 First Light, literally as I was putting this comment together. It's a good song, not really a fit for this theme but I thought the timing of the announcement was relevant.
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Comment on Inside Doug Liman’s $70 million AI-made movie starring Casey Affleck and Gal Gadot in ~movies
balooga Link ParentThis feels in many ways like the 2026 version of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.This feels in many ways like the 2026 version of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
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Comment on Income tax will be dead within five years as AI jobs crisis grows, says Monzo founder in ~tech
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Comment on Hungary’s new leader reveals Viktor Orbán diverted Hungarian taxpayer funds toward bankrolling CPAC in ~society
balooga LinkAssuming it was an actual crime, is this something Orbán could be prosecuted for? Bolsonaro‘s in prison. I am 100% in favor of locking up fascist criminal ex-presidents. I know who I’d like to see...Assuming it was an actual crime, is this something Orbán could be prosecuted for? Bolsonaro‘s in prison. I am 100% in favor of locking up fascist criminal ex-presidents. I know who I’d like to see next on that list too.
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Comment on Inside Doug Liman’s $70 million AI-made movie starring Casey Affleck and Gal Gadot in ~movies
balooga LinkSounds like they’re doing something similar to an I2I (image2image) or v2v (video2video) workflow plus inpainting. If I’m understanding right, they’re shooting the raw footage then pre-processing...“AI is part of our process, but the process starts with human intent and human direction,” Scholl said. “Whether that’s modeling or reference searches. And then we get something back. The big difference is that you go on ChatGPT and ask for a generation of an image, you just put a text prompt in and you accept what you get. In this case, what goes in the prompt is already an image that’s previously generated by us. It’s much more specific.”
Sounds like they’re doing something similar to an I2I (image2image) or v2v (video2video) workflow plus inpainting. If I’m understanding right, they’re shooting the raw footage then pre-processing it with “traditional” VFX, but probably at a deliberately crude level of detail. Then that is being fed into a diffusion model with the live-action parts they want to keep (the actors’ performances) masked out so everything else is replaced. The model will match the composition of the VFX background and retain awareness of the masked portion within the scene so it blends naturally. They can steer it in certain directions with text prompts too. My guess is they’ve got a beefy GPU cluster generating hundreds or thousands of these per shot and they’re manually picking the best results.
They probably iterate on the specific text prompts they use, and maybe on the rough BG renders too, to guide the model toward the director’s vision but it’s an inexact science. I imagine they also feed completed shots within the same scene back into it to preserve continuity across multiple shots.
I’m curious what issues they hit with chroma key (green/blue screens). I’m guessing there were colored reflections or shadows casting a tint that inpainting was trying to match, but I figured that was a solved problem decades ago. Maybe it’s because of the cheaper lights they’re using? It does make me wonder if that complicates the VFX rough pass, forcing them to rotoscope instead. But I think there might be new methods of auto-rotoscoping which are less precise but the inpainting pass will correct anyway so they can be sloppy about it.
Another thing I want to know is what kind of resolution they’re able to generate at, and what compromises they have to make to get there. In my experience today’s models are decent for displaying on a cellphone or computer screen. But if you're targeting 4K and higher movie theater resolutions, the limitations are going to show. Of course I’m not familiar with the proprietary models being marketed to studios; they’re probably custom-trained for that. But I’d very much like to know more about that corpus and what its blind spots are.
From the link @BlindCarpenter posted:
The film’s producer, Ryan Kavanagh, is attempting to calm the inevitable industry firestorm, stressing that the film will not replace real actors with AI-generated performers. “We will not have any AI-generated actors that do not exist,” he told Variety, emphasizing that AI is being used as a tool to make filmmaking more efficient while protecting jobs.
I suspect he’s leaning on a technicality of how “actor” is defined in union rules. I’d be shocked if there were no AI-generated background characters (extras) in the film.
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Comment on Project Hail Mary - Discussion thread in ~movies
balooga LinkBumping this topic because I finally saw the movie last night and wanted to talk about it. I think it was an especially great adaptation! I was nervous about how they were going to compress the...Bumping this topic because I finally saw the movie last night and wanted to talk about it. I think it was an especially great adaptation! I was nervous about how they were going to compress the story for time but I think they made the right tradeoffs. As much as I loved the experimentation and science of the novel, it was the right call to thin that part out for the movie. I wish they had spent a bit more time showing how Grace and Rocky learned to communicate — that was already hard to swallow in the book and felt really glossed-over on screen. That’s a nitpick. I love that the ending was preserved I really expected a Hollywood rewrite there.
The cinematography was beautiful, though there were some parts that I felt overdid the shaky cam or that artistic blurry-field-of-colors effect. I mean, it was all gorgeous. There was one shot, a macro close-up of Grace recording a video journal, awash in harsh red light and darkness, viewed as though a low-resolution screen… the whole frame was just elongated pixels where you could barely make out the talking face. Visually I loved it but it pulled me out of the moment when I started to question why the lighting was like that. I don’t think there was a story reason for it, it was just because it looked cool. Which is fine. There are many moments like that, however. It’s a very stylish film and the music suits it very well.
I thought Ryan Gosling did a terrific job as Grace, and Rocky was practically perfect too. I was impressed with the way microgravity looked in the movie… I realized I don’t know how they do that in movies these days. Old movies like Apollo 13 constructed sets in the cabin of a vomit comet aircraft and recorded takes during ~30s periods of freefall in nosedives. Is that technique still used or is it all VFX now? It looked good either way.
I still don’t understand the geometry of Rocky’s ship. It looked like a bunch of rods with empty space between them? I couldn’t really tell how it had an “inside” or an “outside”. This is one area where I think the movie’s style worked against it; sometimes I wished the camera would just linger on the details so I could make sense of what I was looking at. I feel like my overall takeaway (of that ship in particular) is mostly impressionistic.
All in all I think I’d give the movie 8.5 or 9 out of 10. I enjoyed it a lot and my criticisms are mostly superficial. I felt like it was one of the most intelligent, well-made films in recent memory. Kudos to Lord and Miller, and of course Andy Weir, and the whole cast and crew for a really solid production.
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Comment on No-stack web development in ~tech
balooga LinkSeems like this is an argument against full-featured webapps. Static HTML documents with CSS and JS are great. You can create really beautiful, fast, dynamic sites with modern native JS APIs and...Seems like this is an argument against full-featured webapps.
Static HTML documents with CSS and JS are great. You can create really beautiful, fast, dynamic sites with modern native JS APIs and CSS techniques. I'm not pooh-poohing that choice at all! But if your project calls for a complex, stateful SPA with a mature design system and robust data handling, I'd argue that the basics aren't going to get you there. That's what React is for. It's not for pages or sites, it's for applications. Not every project is going to have those requirements — most really won't — but for those that do we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss it. Unless you've got a worthy successor in mind that solves the same problems as React, I don't think you should label it "legacy" or say that there's never a use for it.
I think I'm nitpicking when I really largely agree with the post, I just took issue with the wholesale rejection of React being labeled "my only absolute advice" so quickly after pointing out that stacks are fine when they suit the project.
On an unrelated note, I love the retro W3C-style badges in the site footer!
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Comment on The Jackbox Party Essentials available on Netflix in ~games
balooga Link ParentI went looking for these in the Netflix app on my PS5... turns out Netflix Games aren't supported on consoles for some reason. Tried on my iPad with no luck there, either. As far as I can tell,...I went looking for these in the Netflix app on my PS5... turns out Netflix Games aren't supported on consoles for some reason. Tried on my iPad with no luck there, either. As far as I can tell, it'll only work in a smart TV app, or on a computer running Chrome or Edge.
Well as a Firefox guy who is absolutely never gonna use smart TV apps for any reason, that kinda sucks.
I get the browser compatibility thing — I don't like it, but I get it — but I'm honestly perplexed why Netflix has locked out console users. That should be the premier way to play something like Jackbox. Maybe I'll still give it a try in Chrome, I can hook up my laptop to the TV, but honestly what a hassle. The PlayStation is right there, permanently hooked up. I use it to watch Netflix all the time. I'm actually really curious now what the numbers look like... Netflix knows what percentage of its userbase are using smart TV apps vs. consoles. Am I in that tiny of a minority? I guess if the TV comes with the app preinstalled, for most people that's the path of least resistance. But also, it's terrible?
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Comment on The Jackbox Party Essentials available on Netflix in ~games
balooga LinkThat's actually really cool! I love the Jackbox games but I've never owned them myself. Got Netflix though — I'll have to try this!That's actually really cool! I love the Jackbox games but I've never owned them myself. Got Netflix though — I'll have to try this!
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Comment on What might be going on with this indie game "fansite"? in ~games
balooga Link ParentI've been poking around for info about this and that About page is definitely not being truthful. The whole site is AI slop. From what I can tell so far, it's fairly trivial to extract a .pck file...I've been poking around for info about this and that About page is definitely not being truthful. The whole site is AI slop. From what I can tell so far, it's fairly trivial to extract a
.pckfile from a Godot game and redistribute it as WASM.Like OP said there are no ads on this site but there are definitely network requests hitting
ep1.adtrafficquality.google,ep2.adtrafficquality.google,pagead2.googlesyndication.com, andgoogleads.g.doubleclick.net. Looks like maybe the ads are loading in iframes? I'm not sure what the latest trends in ad fraud are but I'd guess the operator is trying to get the revenue while trying to keep the ads hidden from view.I searched around and found a bunch of sketchy "play free online" sites hosting this particular game. And many others. I saw Godot games but also Unity and even Scratch. There's a pretty active ecosystem of junk sites serving up pirated web games for ad impressions. Looks like they're all passing around this same WASM build of Idols of Ash and I'm not sure of its provenance. Still investigating that to see if I can figure out when it was made and maybe by whom.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
balooga (edited )Link🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗🌔🌕🌖🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗🌒🌕🌕🌗🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌔🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑...🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗🌔🌕🌖🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗🌒🌕🌕🌗🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌔🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌕🌕🌘🌑🌑🌕🌕🌘🌒🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑🌕🌕🌘🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑 🌔🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘🌔🌕🌘🌓🌕🌖🌑🌑🌑🌔🌕🌕🌖🌗🌑🌑🌑🌔🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖🌑🌑🌔🌕🌖🌘🌑 🌔🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗🌕🌕🌗🌓🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘 🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌓🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑🌓🌕🌕🌘🌑🌑🌑 🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌓🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘🌑🌔🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌓🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌒🌕🌕🌘🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑🌔🌕🌖 🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑🌕🌕🌗🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖🌓🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖 🌑🌑🌔🌕🌘🌑🌑🌔🌕🌘🌒🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘🌔🌕🌕🌖🌘🌑🌑🌑🌔🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖🌑🌓🌕🌕🌕🌘🌑Inspired by @Juan over here I just vibe-coded this PNG to emoonji-art converter this afternoon. Truly we are living in the future.
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Comment on The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act in ~movies
balooga LinkI've never watched the show. Looks a bit... um, not my style. My 12yo kiddo has been asking about it though, and I'm not sure how age-appropriate it is. Would you (anyone reading) recommend it for...I've never watched the show. Looks a bit... um, not my style. My 12yo kiddo has been asking about it though, and I'm not sure how age-appropriate it is. Would you (anyone reading) recommend it for tweens? It it as horror-oriented, or existential dread inducing, as I imagine it to be based on the art style?
Sorry for the off-topic! Feel free to label as you see fit.
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Comment on Prototyping with LLMs in ~tech
balooga Link ParentIt's an interesting counterpoint to Genesis 11, where people carefully architect and plan the construction of a tower, only for God to hit them all with aphasia, thus forcing the project to be...It's an interesting counterpoint to Genesis 11, where people carefully architect and plan the construction of a tower, only for God to hit them all with aphasia, thus forcing the project to be abandoned.
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Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news
balooga Link ParentI low-key love that the marketing picture shows the controller above a crumpled burger wrapper, nasty grease stains and all. It's highly atypical for fast food ads to portray any part of their...I low-key love that the marketing picture shows the controller above a crumpled burger wrapper, nasty grease stains and all. It's highly atypical for fast food ads to portray any part of their products so realistically. So, uh, kudos for that.
Congrats! It's no small feat!