blivet's recent activity
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Comment on Of course viewers are giving up on Netflix shows in ~tv
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Comment on The end of reading is here in ~books
blivet (edited )LinkThis seems like a good place to recommend an excellent science fiction novel called Mockingbird, by Walter Tevis, who also wrote The Hustler, The Color of Money, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and The...This seems like a good place to recommend an excellent science fiction novel called Mockingbird, by Walter Tevis, who also wrote The Hustler, The Color of Money, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and The Queen’s Gambit.
It takes place in a future where reading is forgotten. A college professor who teaches Ancient Cinema stumbles on an archive of silent films and realizes that the occasional frames depicting shapes on a background are pictures of words and proceeds to learn how to read. When he teaches someone else to read, it turns out that reading isn’t just forgotten, it’s illegal.
Of course, the book is really about the culture of anti-intellectualism that was building up steam in America in the late 1970s when the book was written. Also, robots!
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Comment on Give me your culture clash stories in ~travel
blivet Link ParentThanks for this explanation. I suppose the waiter was thinking that vegetarian meant 蔬菜.Thanks for this explanation. I suppose the waiter was thinking that vegetarian meant 蔬菜.
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Comment on Give me your culture clash stories in ~travel
blivet Link ParentA friend once told me about eating in a Chinese restaurant where he had asked the waiter if the egg rolls were vegetarian, and been told that they were. He noticed something that seemed like meat...A friend once told me about eating in a Chinese restaurant where he had asked the waiter if the egg rolls were vegetarian, and been told that they were. He noticed something that seemed like meat in one, and asked the waiter what it was. The waiter replied, “It’s pork,“ as if my friend were some kind of imbecile. All I can think is that the waiter thought that “vegetarian” meant that the dish contained vegetables.
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Comment on I need more hilariously awful pick up lines to make my wife roll her eyes at me in ~talk
blivet (edited )LinkIf I told you that you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me?If I told you that you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me?
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Comment on Reddit will require you to be logged in to use old.reddit.com in ~tech
blivet Link ParentYeah, it’s deteriorated to a surprising degree. I’m too cynical to think that it’s because the users who created the most worthwhile content and the mods who weren’t solely in it for the power...Yeah, it’s deteriorated to a surprising degree. I’m too cynical to think that it’s because the users who created the most worthwhile content and the mods who weren’t solely in it for the power trip all left, but what other explanation is there?
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Comment on The hardest working font in Manhattan in ~design
blivet LinkI was so happy to read this article. I’ve been in love with this typeface for a long time without knowing anything about it. Another place it (or something very similar) turns up is Japanese...I was so happy to read this article. I’ve been in love with this typeface for a long time without knowing anything about it.
Another place it (or something very similar) turns up is Japanese websites when they need to render the Latin alphabet. That’s where I first became consciously aware of it. It seemed so wonderfully functional and no-nonsense.
Yeah, I have a feeling that sooner or later Netflix will end up with the reputation as “the streaming service with all the unfinished series”. Back when I was a subscriber I remember being constantly frustrated at finding out that some story I was interested in had no ending.
Amazon Prime canceled a show I liked called Upload, but gave the producers a budget for four episodes to wrap up the story. That’s a decent compromise, and Netflix really ought to do the same.