LukeZaz's recent activity
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Comment on What's your favorite action scene? in ~talk
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Comment on What's your favorite action scene? in ~talk
LukeZaz Link ParentRight?! I swear I could take an entire genre titled "Spectacle Racer" and live off of it. I'm dying to find anything like it, but unless there's another one I've slept on like I did with...Right?! I swear I could take an entire genre titled "Spectacle Racer" and live off of it. I'm dying to find anything like it, but unless there's another one I've slept on like I did with MotorStorm it seems the few we got in the early 10s is pretty much it. So far, at least.
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Comment on What's your favorite action scene? in ~talk
LukeZaz Link ParentThis is a good one, and reminds me of another scene from Children of Men. Which is also one continuous shot. Huh. Between these two scenes, Oldboy, and Mira, I'm starting to notice a trend!This is a good one, and reminds me of another scene from Children of Men. Which is also one continuous shot. Huh.
Between these two scenes, Oldboy, and Mira, I'm starting to notice a trend!
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Comment on What's your favorite action scene? in ~talk
LukeZaz Link ParentDamn if I don't have a new favorite fight scene! I usually don't care much for fight scenes since a lot of them feature people doing absurd feats, surviving everything thrown at them flawlessly,...Damn if I don't have a new favorite fight scene!
I usually don't care much for fight scenes since a lot of them feature people doing absurd feats, surviving everything thrown at them flawlessly, taking down 30 people despite having every disadvantage or other nonsense. It kinda ends up feeling like I'm watching Legolas run up falling debris again, especially since the odds of the metaphorical Charles Atlas actually losing is effectively nil for most of the scenes, so why should I feel tension?
Here though? The protagonist succeeds largely because he's in a cramped hallway that limits his opponents' options. He hits first because everyone else is untrained. And because the movie knows that getting hit by a hammer fucking hurts, that one hit is enough to stop them or outright knock them down regardless of where it landed.
And even with all that, the protagonist nearly dies because he made a clear mistake of fighting his way into having people on both sides of him at once.
I don't have to worry about "why don't more people attack at once," because it's a cramped hallway — they can't. They'd get in each others' way. And yet, they try anyway, and they do. At least one guy gets thrown down by his own ally. Several of them straight-up miss, not because the protagonist is Superman, but because they misjudged distances, were exhausted, or just in pain. Hell, even the martial artist makes a completely ineffective attack at one point because he's struggling to juggle two fronts and just got hit in the back.
Suffice to say I love this one because it makes sense. Nobody pulls off absurd feats, nobody is incompetent in baffling or unbelievable ways. Everyone is human. And so when the lead does win, sees an elevator open to a bunch of confused goons and meets it with a shit-eating grin, it's earned. I can get invested in that!
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of November 9 in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentFrom Philly Bike On Your Left's statement: [...] Regarding the date, I'm not sure if you're talking about Tildes comments specifically, but the article quotes did mention that. As for the protest...So my question, is what did the establishments they are protesting do
From Philly Bike On Your Left's statement:
There are business owners in our community who have raised funds for the Israeli military, hosted Israeli soldiers, were praised by Benjamin Netanyahu, or expressed support for Israel.
[...]
Let us be clear: The reason we are calling for a boycott of these businesses is because of their support for Israel.
Regarding the date, I'm not sure if you're talking about Tildes comments specifically, but the article quotes did mention that. As for the protest group, quoting again from their statement:
One of the criticisms we have received about our ride is the timing of it. We plan rides around people's schedules. Palestinians need our support now. Any suggestions about the timing of our ride are simply false.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of November 9 in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentIf it's disingenuous, remember that you don't have to post it. And I don't just mean the article – although I would absolutely recommend finding an actual good source if you can – because you can...That's actually disingenuous [...]
If it's disingenuous, remember that you don't have to post it. And I don't just mean the article – although I would absolutely recommend finding an actual good source if you can – because you can replace portions as needed to remove harmful rhetoric if you feel it's necessary. As an example:
The plan, according to their statement, was to boycott [pro-Zionist] businesses in Rittenhouse Square they say express support for Israeli military action in Palestine[.]
The brackets here make it clear that edits were made, and the twisted words are still removed. Anyone who wants to see the original article has the link available. If you're worried this is somehow disingenuous on your part, you can also clarify what you edited & why in
<sub>formatting below the quote.This is important because as it stands your comment is giving the article a lot more visibility than your own clarifications get. The article is preserved in huge quotes that take up a lot of screen real-estate, and those quotes come first. Anything the article says thus gets both more space dedicated to itself and a head-start in the minds of readers. When you're dealing with a duplicitous article, it's counterproductive to let either of those things happen.
Incidentally, you can also do this editing with titles, which I would also advise in a case like this. Do not let a liar dictate the frame of discussion.
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Comment on Historic voter turnout powered US Democrats’ blue wave in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentI feel like a lot of people got the impression that this was my take in the past. And I don't blame them because I think my framing and attitude could've been a lot better. The same can probably...A lot of people on social media, including Tildes, make arguments implying that voting is pointless, for various reasons.
I feel like a lot of people got the impression that this was my take in the past. And I don't blame them because I think my framing and attitude could've been a lot better. The same can probably be said for a chunk of whoever you're thinking of.
My actual take is this: Voting is good, but it's important to remember that we're voting in a bad system; electoral college, Citizen's United, first-past-the-post, etc. It's not really "rigged" in the conspiratorial "aliens did it" sense, but it is a wildly unfair system that many politicians and billionaires have deliberately abused. So we're voting in a system that is not actually super democratic or interested in representing us.
That does not mean a vote doesn't matter. You should vote anyway, if you can. But what it does mean is that voting is not the most impactful or important thing you can do. Put it this way: If going to a protest, canvassing, organizing a union, mutual aid, etc, is something you're considering but you're in a situation where you have to pick between that and voting, pick that other thing instead.
Obviously, you should do both if you're able. It's just that folks in the states have a bad habit of thinking that voting by itself will get them well-represented, and it wont. If we want change, we gotta do the other stuff.
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Comment on What's your favorite action scene? in ~talk
LukeZaz LinkI'll save my biggest favorites in games for last, because I first thought of this when rewatching some scenes from a couple old Nicolas Cage movies that, while not terribly fantastic movies, still...- Exemplary
I'll save my biggest favorites in games for last, because I first thought of this when rewatching some scenes from a couple old Nicolas Cage movies that, while not terribly fantastic movies, still had at least a couple moments that made me go "woah."
The first of these was a scene from Next, which for me was a moment of gold in an otherwise bad movie: The chain reaction scene. Long story short, while one character escapes pursuers by running down a hill next to a cabin, another character drives a truck off that same hill in just the right way to piece-by-piece bring down almost everything on the cabin property save for the building itself. I am a sucker for the escalation in this.
The next one's admittedly more grim, and comes from the movie Knowing. A better movie in my opinion, but also a grim one, given it's a disaster movie that's very willing to have things go very wrong. Nevertheless, the airplane crash and the subway derailment clearly had bigger budgets behind them than Next ever did by a country mile, and boy does it show. Sad as the overall movie can be, the spectacle here is intense.
I'd also like to give a shout-out to the movie Mira. It's a 2022 Russian film that revolves around a huge meteor shower, and when that shower hits the movie does one extra-long shot following a select few characters as they escape a city, all while it gets slowly obliterated around them. It goes for eight minutes, and really helped sell the seriousness, spectacle and drama all at once for me. I thought I wouldn't be able to link anything here, but surprisingly I was able to find a video showing the whole thing uncut. It's only in Russian, but the dialogue wasn't the point anyway. (For those wondering, the cat in this scene later turns out to be just fine.)
Moving to games though, I've gotta mention at least two, because one of them is among my all-time favorites and was one which I loved so much it took until Undertale for something to compare.
The first of them is MotorStorm: Apocalypse, which I only learned about in about 2024 after I saw a video going over the history of its developer. I'd have heard about it earlier, but it had the misfortune of being game about racing through natural disasters that ended up releasing the day before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquakes and subsequent tsunami & nuclear meltdowns happened, so Sony rather understandably didn't want to advertise it much anymore.
MotorStorm itself was a series with more than a couple big titles under its belt, and had always been about dangerous racing of some flavor or another, with previous entries dealing with everything from desert cliffs to jungles to beaches to volcanoes. But Apocalypse was the one that got my attention because it was that one that decided the next game would take place during absurdly-powerful earthquakes while in the middle of the very city those earthquakes were in the process of destroying. (This time with said city explicitly stated to have been long-evacuated by anyone with sense, mind you.)
I could name all sorts of things I love about this game, as it's clear that Evolution Studios knew how to make a good racing game. But I'm here to talk about the spectacle I love so much, and I think the best way is to just show some. So here's a selection of my favorite tracks, with timestamps for the best parts: [1], [2], [3]. Alternatively/additionally, you can watch the same video that sold me on it.
Last but not least, there's Split/Second. This one's the favorite of mine. I played it on release back in 2010 and may as well have spent the next year with my jaw slack.
It's a very similar game to Apocalypse above, being a racing game where the tracks are all deliberately going through the most absurdly dangerous route possible in any given scenario. It has two primary differences: The first is that the explosions are deliberately triggered by racers as an attack, thereby integrating them more with the gameplay, and the second is that the story is "It's a TV show," and everything that breaks only does so because it was canonically designed to. If you're thinking "this sounds like an excuse plot to justify stuff exploding," then yes. Yes it is!
I can compare the two games all day, of course, but this comment is already long enough. Suffice to say I love them both, with each having its own strengths. With Split/Second, I prefer the graphics and sound design; it's going for cinematic, summer blockbuster aesthetics, and they pull it off. I'll start with offering a couple of trailers for the game, throw in a video of one of my favorite tracks, and end with another track on the special gamemode where everything blows up as much as possible right in front of you.
I've been dying to get another game like one of these for years, but sadly, both these games got cut down by circumstance before the likely sequels could happen. Split/Second's developer Black Rock got axed by Disney (yes, Disney published that game) as part of a budget cut, and MotorStorm's release being so close to multiple real-life major disasters completely ruined its future in Sony's eyes. Some of Split/Second's team went on to work on Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed as part of Sumo Digital, which does explain why that game has a few surprisingly explosive gems in its track list, but a proper successor has unfortunately never happened to my knowledge.
I'm still hoping that another game will come along to fill the niche – honorary mention Just Cause 3, here, despite not being a racing game – but in the meantime, I'm still very happy these games happened at all. I mean, shit, I've been writing this comment since I posted the thread, which was apparently two hours ago (?!), so I'd like to think that says something, haha.
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What's your favorite action scene?
Could be a movie, could be a game, and for whatever reason: Cool explosions, fights, disasters, CGI, you name it. Hell, maybe it managed to tie the action in question into the story or setting...
Could be a movie, could be a game, and for whatever reason: Cool explosions, fights, disasters, CGI, you name it. Hell, maybe it managed to tie the action in question into the story or setting unusually well. That counts too. Links to view the scenes are obviously appreciated, but if you can't find one, don't sweat it!
I got inspired to ask this one in part because I've been rewatching some of my favorites from movies recently, and in part because I'm a huge fan of games that focus on having as many giant explosions as they can muster. So I figured a good way to find some more stuff like this might be to post about it! And it gives me an excuse to share my own favorites, which I have trouble not talking about, truth be told. (I'll save that for a top-level comment, though)
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of November 2 in ~society
LukeZaz LinkCBS News: National Weather Service ordered to resume twice-daily weather balloon launches From the article: [...]CBS News: National Weather Service ordered to resume twice-daily weather balloon launches
From the article:
As reported previously by CBS News, the pullback of weather balloon data in mid-March 2025 directly impacted forecasting in Michigan. At least 13 of nearly 100 balloon sites were cut or reduced when the White House's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, took aim at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that year.
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Two of the balloon launch sites, one in northern Michigan and another in Wisconsin, had data gaps that might have helped with preparations for a devastating ice storm in March 2025 in Northern Michigan. The NWS says this network of weather balloons provides information about what is happening in the upper atmosphere, with research that dates back to the 1930s.
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Comment on US Democrats win enough seats nationwide to (potentially) end Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentThat's just it though. They always do that, so why would anyone listen? I don't think a "grain of truth" will matter a whole lot when it comes to chronic liars, either for the liars themselves or...That's just it though. They always do that, so why would anyone listen? I don't think a "grain of truth" will matter a whole lot when it comes to chronic liars, either for the liars themselves or for those they lie to. Looking for a big overlap on the Venn diagram of "smart enough to ignore Republicans' fraud claims up to now" and "willing to believe the claim this time" is a big ask.
And again, as I said in my other response, the fact that they always do this is just another reason not to wait, since it means waiting won't help.
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Comment on US Democrats win enough seats nationwide to (potentially) end Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentThat got me curious, and I found this Gallup poll. [...]I was using the parties as shorthand. I suspect that democrats overwhelmingly don’t like the electoral college and republicans overwhelmingly like it, but I haven’t looked for actual data on that.
That got me curious, and I found this Gallup poll.
Americans favor amending the Constitution to elect presidents based on the popular vote (58%) rather than keeping the current system where the winner is determined by Electoral College votes (39%). The level of support for a popular-vote system has been consistent in most Gallup surveys since the question was first asked in 2000. The main exception was an even division in a poll taken after the 2016 election, in which Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and Donald Trump the electoral vote.
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Since 2000, Democrats have been consistently more likely than Republicans, and independents, to favor amending the Constitution to base the presidential election winner on the popular vote. Democrats’ support, currently at 82%, has been higher since 2016 than before.
After the 2016 election, 17% of Republicans were in favor of having the president be chosen by popular vote, while 81% wanted to keep the Electoral College system. Since then, Republican support has edged back up to 32%, but it remains below where it was before 2016. Sixty-six percent of Republicans currently favor keeping the Electoral College system.
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Comment on US Democrats win enough seats nationwide to (potentially) end Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentAh, my bad. I misinterpreted "I don't think the argument makes sense" as applying to NaraVara's comment, not the different-states argument. I agree with you. Except here, anyway. Terrible take....Ah, my bad. I misinterpreted "I don't think the argument makes sense" as applying to NaraVara's comment, not the different-states argument. I agree with you.
Sorry, not thinking the best
Except here, anyway. Terrible take. All of your comments here indicate otherwise!
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Comment on US Democrats win enough seats nationwide to (potentially) end Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentIn that case we probably won't agree. I do find it interesting to hear your reasoning for it, though, and I understand. Personally, I think it's safe to say we can never know if we've truly picked...In that case we probably won't agree. I do find it interesting to hear your reasoning for it, though, and I understand.
Personally, I think it's safe to say we can never know if we've truly picked the most ethical decision, and we'll always have to weigh the value of fairness to outcome and decide if one is worth more than the other on a situational basis.1 With this one specifically, I decided it was a good idea well before it was actually on the table, and so I feel strongly that some unfair play is not sufficient reason to back out. I imagine your scale looks different, so I understand why your conclusion would also differ.
1. Which I suppose rather counters my previous comment somewhat. I recognized then that I was proposing a false dichotomy, but felt it was simply a matter of practicality since "both" was an unrealistic option. On further reflection, I'd forgotten that "fair play" and "better world" are fluid things, not discrete options.
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Comment on US Democrats win enough seats nationwide to (potentially) end Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentIf by that you mean people suggesting others' votes are determined by ads/TV segments, I understand and also find it dubious to suggest that's the case. But I still felt NaraVara made a pretty...I don't think the argument makes sense, but it is one I see whenever this conversation comes up when people want a reason to oppose a popular vote.
If by that you mean people suggesting others' votes are determined by ads/TV segments, I understand and also find it dubious to suggest that's the case. But I still felt NaraVara made a pretty salient point regarding geography's modern irrelevance more broadly, because while I'm not sure I buy that advertising is the significant reason, I do think it's fair to say that location matters a lot less than it used to.
Even besides TVs, we've got the internet now, and that's a huge factor. Information travels from place to place at absurd speeds, and so even if the "big cities would be all that matters" argument ever did hold any weight, it certainly doesn't now.
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Comment on US Democrats win enough seats nationwide to (potentially) end Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentIn that case, I think the most important question is this: Which matters more, a better world, or fair play? Because the way you seem to be looking at it appears to be valuing the latter a lot...In that case, I think the most important question is this: Which matters more, a better world, or fair play?
Because the way you seem to be looking at it appears to be valuing the latter a lot without consideration for the former. Let's say you'd be completely right about Democratic politicians doing this solely for selfish reasons (which many certainly would be). In that case... so what?
If we wait for both parties to agree, we'll be waiting until the sun dies. They won't, and it just means electoral reform never happens. Even if the Republican Party had never picked Trump or flirted with fascism, that agreement would still never occur as a matter of the very same selfish power.
By contrast, the selfish-but-doable path may be cynical, but it fixes things long-term. That's crucial. I'd take that any day, regardless of unfair timing for either party. CPR that saves someone's life is worth a few broken ribs.
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Comment on US Democrats win enough seats nationwide to (potentially) end Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentThat's exactly it, yeah. That's one of the reasons bringing up the low number of battleground states is bad rhetoric. It frames the issue around states, when people are a much better thing to...That's exactly it, yeah. That's one of the reasons bringing up the low number of battleground states is bad rhetoric. It frames the issue around states, when people are a much better thing to focus on. I just bring up "different states" first since that's the most common counter, though I do think a few well-placed quotation marks would've helped make my post clearer in retrospect.
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Comment on US Democrats win enough seats nationwide to (potentially) end Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in ~society
LukeZaz (edited )Link ParentI agree with you generally, but I do want to say this is the one bit of bad rhetoric in your post, and you're leading with it. Eliminating the EC just changes which states "matter the most," not...The pitch is pretty easy: we don't want the same ~6-8 battleground states controlling who becomes the president. In 2024 over 80% of spending and campaign events were in the same handful of states.
I agree with you generally, but I do want to say this is the one bit of bad rhetoric in your post, and you're leading with it. Eliminating the EC just changes which states "matter the most," not whether you can theoretically win elections with few states; the rest of your points are much better, and I'd recommend focusing on those in the future!
Edit to add scare quotes; people are what actually matters, not states.
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Comment on US Democrats win enough seats nationwide to (potentially) end Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentThis clarification is important, because that didn't come through in your previous comments. The way you'd been talking about it ended up implying that abolishing the EC was a bad idea outright,...I’m opposing getting rid of it now, in this way, because to push for it would be a terrible idea politically.
This clarification is important, because that didn't come through in your previous comments. The way you'd been talking about it ended up implying that abolishing the EC was a bad idea outright, regardless of method or party backing.
In the interest of further clarification, are you opposed to the Democratic Party abolishing the Electoral College generally, or just at this specific moment as a matter of optics?
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Comment on US Democrats win enough seats nationwide to (potentially) end Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in ~society
LukeZaz Link ParentWould it? I think it's safe to say there's a lot of people in the country who feel very disenfranchised and distrustful of existing mechanisms of government. People who'd probably find electoral...Would it? I think it's safe to say there's a lot of people in the country who feel very disenfranchised and distrustful of existing mechanisms of government. People who'd probably find electoral reform a palatable and convincing concept. Sure, Republicans can spin how it's cheating or whatever, but a) they'll always do that, so it's not particuarly relevant to now, and b) they've been claiming that with the last few elections and it hasn't exactly worked out for them.
That means the only big barrier for a large portion of the electorate would be a matter of partisan loyalties/trust. That's an eternal barrier that won't go away just by waiting a while — by contrast, waiting a while could throw away a very rare nationwide advantage. I don't think it's worth it to pass it up.
It's a good question, so no worries!
I'm not going to pretend I have any high-minded reasoning for my picks. I linked disasters and explosions, and I like them for simple reasons: I see a building fall over, I go "holy shit," and I get goosebumps and an adrenaline rush. The more intricate and unique the disaster, the more it happens.
As for fight scenes, my reply to the Oldboy scene covers that pretty well.