Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Oh hey, I'm back! Sorry for not doing a post-race report for Monaco. I straight-up forgot about the report. Was hardly a race, anyway.

But Canada, Oh, Canada...Now that was a race! All weekend, the rain (and even hail) had been causing chaos, and the rain delivered even more on Sunday. Around Lap 32, I realized that we still we had half a race to go! At one point early in the race, KMag had cut his way through the field to P4/P5 on Wets while everyone else was on Inters, but as the track dried, he wasn't able to keep it. Still ended up P11, 7 places up from where he started.

Unfortunately, not a great weekend for Ferrari, both starting just outside of the top 10, and then both cars retiring during the race. And I don't quite understand what Leclerc and the strategists were doing switching to Hards right as the rain was coming back to the track.

But otherwise, a great weekend for Mercedes and McLaren, though they had to work for it. But in the end, we return back to the Dutch and Austrian national anthems.

Next race:

Spanish Grand Prix
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Sunday, June 23

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

I'm currently researching the 4x Alpha Centauri, and I'm wondering what, in your mind, sets it apart from other 4x, or what makes it better.
Thanks for providing some rationale and not just dumping on other 4x

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

So last of the Cannes films this month with The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick from 2011. It won the highest price, Palme d'Or, at the Cannes Festival.

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Besides any thoughts on this movie, are you familiar with other Terrence Malick movies? Any comments on Cannes films in general?

The schedule for June is:

• 3rd: The Wicker Man (1973)
• 10th: Ravenous (1999)
• 17th: X (2022)
• 24th: The Exorcist (1973)

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Here's the IMDb page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17279496/

A journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

This is the second of an ongoing series of book discussions here on Tildes. We are discussing Piranesi.
Our next book will be Ursula le Guin the Dispossessed, around the 16th or 17th of May.

I don't have a particular format in mind for this discussion, but I will post some prompts and questions as comments to get things started. You're not obligated to respond to them or vote on them though. So feel free to make your own top-level comment for whatever you wish to discuss, questions you have of others, or even just to post a review of the book you have written yourself.

For latecomers, don't worry if you didn't read the book in time for this Discussion topic. You can always join in once you finish it. Tildes Activity sort, and "Collapse old comments" feature should keep the topic going for as long as people are still replying.
And for anyone uninterested in this topic please use the Ignore Topic feature on this so it doesn't keep popping up in your Activity sort, since it's likely to keep doing that while I set this discussion up, and once people start joining in.

Kind of a boring race, honestly. At least until the the last ~10 laps or so. Then Lando ate into that already small gap (for Max) of like 6-7sec and seriously challenged Max for P1! I think the gap the two was down to 0.7sec. I was wearing my RBR jacket; thought I might have to change into my McLaren jacket! One more lap and I think Lando would've had Max.

I definitely expect Lando at the top of the podium again at some point this season. And I'm looking forward to it.

Next race:

Monaco Grand Prix
Circuit de Monaco
Sunday, May 26

Lastly...LOTS of racing next weekend. Aside from Monaco, IndyCar's 108th running of the Indianpolis 500 is on Sunday, along with NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 only a couple hours later. There's also the Formula E Shanghai E-Prix and a MotoGP race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. I'm sure there're more, but these are some of the bigger races.

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Posting a bit early as I have less time tomorrow. We continue with Cannes films with the Chinese Luxury Car from 2006 where it was honored with the Un Certain Regard award.

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Any thoughts on this film is welcome.

The rest of the schedule for May is:

• 27th: The Tree of Life

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

I almost need a "thumb sideways" button but I can't give this game a thumbs up.

Why should you listen to me?

For background, I beta tested Homeworld for Relic back in '98-99. I've played every single PC Homeworld game. I've sunk hundreds of hours into playing vanilla Homeworld, Complex, and Every. Single. Star Trek mod that anyone has ever made for Homeworld and Homeworld: Remastered.

That's to say: I adore love Homeworld/Homeworld 2. Over 25 years of PC gaming, they may be my all-time favorite games period!

Of course, I bought the "Fleet Command" edition. In truth, I did it to encourage the developers to keep pumping out more Homeworld.

Alas, the only thing I want right now is a complete and amazing mod toolkit so that this game can quickly become the substitute and successor for the original.

A little history: Homeworld (and Remastered) thrived with its mod community. The original game was not designed for modding. Yet so many intrepid individuals out there struggled their way through cracking the binary format(s?) of the game. And, at least, as I understand it, some of the game behavior is scripted in Lua, a less common but publicly available programming language. Just go look at the Workshop for Homeworld: Remastered. The number of different total conversion mods out there is staggering. The love put into so many of those mods is utterly mind-blowing!

In a nutshell, HW:3 plays a lot like Homeworld (the original) but, if anything, dumbed-down
significantly from the original but with 2024 visuals--except for the cut-scenes that oddly look rendered using vintage 2000 technology. The game mechanics lack the depth of any of the HW sequels. The campaign is linear and, at times, glitchy (I'm looking at you, asteroid mission and you, the one cut-scene where some of the lines repeat causing me to wonder if I'm suffering auditory hallucinations or if their QA missed something like that).

The gameplay is not particularly innovative or deep. The default pace of combat itself tends to be faster than previous Homeworlds. Though, in single player, you can change the game speed. However, the default speed can be overwhelming compared to previous Homeworld games, which can make multiplayer frustrating.

For fans, while it should not be surprising It's not Homeworld: Complex (or EVO), I expected to see more of the depth, introduced by HW:C and HW:2, For instance, there are no subsystems on ships; you can't target engines or weapons. Ships either blow up or they don't. There's no defense field frigates and no cloak generators.

My hope is that the mods (Star Trek or The Expanse, anyone?) will make this game shine. But right now? Unless you're a true super-hardcore Homeworld fan, who needs their Homeworld story fix, you should hold off.

On the plus side: it doesn't crash as often as a NASCAR driver like Helldivers 2 or the original Homeworld, for that matter.

Ultimately, I'm disappointed that Homeworld 3 plays like a dumbed-down version of Homeworld 1. I suppose this shouldn't be surprising, what with game studios increasingly desperate to get that larger market share which means appealing to a broader audience. But that means that if you long for the depth of Homeworld 2 or Complex, you're waiting for mods.

The modding tools aren't out yet.

And, so, thumbs down.

We continue with Cannes films with The Zone of Interest which premiered at Cannes in 2023 where it won the Grand Prix award. It also won two Oscars for Best International Film and Best Sound.

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Besides any thoughts on this movie, do you think this adds anything new to the already long list of WW2/Holocaust movies?

The rest of the schedule for May is:

• 20th: Luxury Car
• 27th: The Tree of Life

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

I have been looking forward to this month, since I think it is the first time I haven't seen any of the movies before. The theme is Cannes and we start with Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth which premiered at Cannes in 2006 and received a 22 minute standing ovation.

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Besides any thoughts on this movie, are you familiar with other of the Guillermo del Toro's filmography?

The rest of the schedule for May is:

• 13th: The Zone of Interest
• 20th: Luxury Car
• 27th: The Tree of Life

Congrats to Lando Norris for finally breaking his record of most podiums without a win...by winning! Much deserved.

And because the F1 racing gods giveth and taketh away, I saw an unfortunate racing record for Kevin Magnussen: Most penalty points in a single weekend, with 6 points. He now has 10 out of 12 points before a race ban. And the earliest any of these points expire? March 2025. Yikes.

Though we'll see if he actually gets more points and/or a race ban.

Next race:

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari (Imola)
Sunday, May 19, 2024

Forget highbrow literature and critics for a moment. What's a book series that stayed engaging and enjoyable throughout?

Bonus points if you don't have to provide a disclaimer for those one or two books in the series that are "a bit of a slog but still really good!"

My top nominations are:

1. Red Rising: Never read anything quite like it. As an ADHD haver, reading something more than once is the bane of my existence. Not for this series. Endlessly re-readable and highly engaging throughout. Starts out as Roman hunger games in space, turns into peak Game of Thrones in space. God, it's so good.

2. Harry Potter: Not sure I need to explain this one. Plenty to hate about this series and the author, but they aren't popular for no reason. I find the world to be magical, whimsical, and the story to be very engaging. The later books are particularly good.

3. The Bobiverse: this is the most fun series on my list. The name and premise will turn most people away from this one and it's a real shame. I could not stop reading these and I'm dying for more. If this story went on forever and maintained its current quality, I don't think I'd ever get bored of hearing it on audiobook.

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Last in the line of prominent female leading roles is Fargo from 1996 directed by the Coen brothers and starring Frances McDormand.

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Besides any thoughts on this movie, what did you think of Frances McDormand's performance in this?

The schedule for May is:

• 6th: Pan's Labyrinth
• 13th: The Zone of Interest
• 20th: Luxury Car
• 27th: The Tree of Life

Because of a tight schedule for me, I will be posting discussion questions May 16 or 17. Please feel free to join us.

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Another strong female lead with Sigourney Weaver in Aliens from 1986.

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Besides any thoughts on this movie, what did you think of Sigourney Weaver s performance in this? How do you rank compared to the rest of movies in the Alien-franchise?

The rest of the schedule for April is:

• 29th: Fargo

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Alright, a 2nd spoiler disclaimer for those who accidentally clicked it anyway.

When it became apparent to me that the alien race had sent over two 10-dimensional supercomputers folded into the size of a proton trying to halt human scientific progression in an attempt to maintain its technological advancement while making the travel towards Earth, something doesn't sit right with me.

Why oh why, if you were a 10-dimensional supercomputer being nearly all-knowing yet having only the capacity to be at one point in time and space to deny or halt scientific progression, you wouldn't just write code to A) make copies of yourself to then B) hack all the systems and possible computers in the world to halt anything and everything and basically just plunge humanity back into the dark ages if not outright spreading a deadly virus that would eliminate us from the face of the earth if we are such a big threat to them.

And over the concept of lying and then not being able to coexist with that even though you have the technological head start? And why only communicate with a human to figure out about us if you have two quantum entangled super computers capable of overseeing everything and anything all the time anywhere to gather pure 'scientific' data about us as a species.

Safety cars made that more interesting than it might've been. I was hoping for some rain!

Feel bad for RB (VCARB). Yuki had a poor weekend of course, but Daniel was doing pretty good today, until Stroll rear-ended him before the restart of the first SC. Both DNF'd.

Sainz and Checo did alright, but I was expecting more from them both.

Norris did great (and was DOTD), but my personal DOTD was Alonso, especially after his crazy save.

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Those last 10 laps or so were pretty spicy. Sure, Herta kinda ended that Dixon and Newgarden fight, but I'm not sure that Newgarden would've passed Dixon for P1 even if that hadn't happen. Dixon is a beast.

Theo Pourchaire, the reigning F2 Champion, had a great IndyCar debut, finishing P11 from P22! He apparently hadn't sat in an IndyCar until this weekend for practice and such.

Next race:
Alabama Grand Prix
Barber Motorsports Park
Sunday, April 28

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Next up is Run Lola Run (original German title: Lola rennt) from 1999 starring Franka Potente and directed by Tom Tykwer. It won several awards at various film festivals.

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Besides any thoughts on this movie, what did you think of Franka Potente's performance in this?

The rest of the schedule for April is:

• 22nd: Aliens
• 29th: Fargo

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

It's 2:45a as I'm posting this. I'm too tired to comment on the race...

Next race is in Shanghai, China -- April 19-21, 2024. First time racing in Shanghai in 5yrs!

Next up is The Silence of the Lambs from 1991 starring Jodie Foster. The movie won five major academy awards for Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Picture.

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Besides any thoughts on this movie, what did you think of Jodie Foster's performance in this? Are you familiar with Thomas Harris' novel or the other movies about Hannibal Lector?

The rest of the schedule for April is:

• 15th: Run Lola Run
• 22nd: Aliens
• 29th: Fargo