Perryapsis's recent activity
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Comment on Movie fatigue in ~movies
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Comment on Midweek-ish Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkUpdated calendar view Does anyone want to talk about: The Sheep Detectives (2026): ★★☆ I was intrigued by positive reviews. The movie is okay, but I really noticed the made-for-streaming directive...Does anyone want to talk about:
The Sheep Detectives (2026): ★★☆
I was intrigued by positive reviews. The movie is okay, but I really noticed the made-for-streaming directive of explaining every little plot development out loud.
Toy Story 3 (2010): ★★☆
Catching up before Toy Story 5 comes out. This was okay, but I didn't particularly like the change in setting.
Wedding Crashers (2005): ★☆☆
Tried a comedy, but this didn't land.
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017): ★★★
I much preferred this to Civil War from last week. This one also has a large number of characters, but it's a completely different set of characters, and I'm able to keep these ones straight for whatever reason. It's interesting that it's the same "cinematic universe" with completely different characters and an unrelated plot. I suppose I have to keep going to see how they eventually tie together. The opening joke was funny.
Labyrinth (1986): ★☆☆
This was a blast from the past with most characters being practical effect puppets and occasionally really bad green screening. I knew that this was one of Jennifer Connelly's first movies, but I didn't realize just how young she was. She doesn't do a great job of delivering quite a few of her lines. The jokes mostly land, but the premise and story never really sucked me in.
Black Hawk Down (2002): ★★☆
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Comment on Lost in a sea of HVAC in ~life.home_improvement
Perryapsis Link ParentDifferent guy than who had been on this chain, but I just wanted to chime in on: I'm not sure where exactly you are in New England, but this still wouldn't be enough where I live (in the Midwest)....Different guy than who had been on this chain, but I just wanted to chime in on:
With heat pumps rated down to -32 now
I'm not sure where exactly you are in New England, but this still wouldn't be enough where I live (in the Midwest). We are all but guaranteed to get several nights every winter that get below -32.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis Link ParentAh, so both Spider Man and Black Panther were new additions for this movie. That makes me feel better about not knowing all the characters. It's also interesting to be watching it years later...Ah, so both Spider Man and Black Panther were new additions for this movie. That makes me feel better about not knowing all the characters. It's also interesting to be watching it years later knowing that Black Panther gets his own (two?) movies that came later.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis Link ParentAh, so I'm just the odd one out for being a decade late. That's an interesting point, the difference in experience of going in blind vs. following weeks or months of trailers and hype.Ah, so I'm just the odd one out for being a decade late. That's an interesting point, the difference in experience of going in blind vs. following weeks or months of trailers and hype.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis Link ParentYeah, my issue mostly isn't with the filmmaking (besides the strobe-light-speed cuts in some fights), and mostly that there were too many characters to keep track of. Was that really Spider Man's...Yeah, my issue mostly isn't with the filmmaking (besides the strobe-light-speed cuts in some fights), and mostly that there were too many characters to keep track of.
Was that really Spider Man's introduction (in the Marvel universe)? The way they did it, it felt like Ant Man where you were expected to recognize him from a previous movie.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis Link ParentSome of them, but not all of them. I asked for recommendations at the start of the year and put together a 1-2 movies per month plan to catch up in time. It had been going pretty well up until...Some of them, but not all of them. I asked for recommendations at the start of the year and put together a 1-2 movies per month plan to catch up in time. It had been going pretty well up until this point, and I hadn't felt like I was missing something important until now.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkUpdated calendar view Does anyone want to talk about: A Beautiful Mind (2001): ★★☆ Shrek (2001): ★★★ (rewatch) It was back in theaters for its 25th anniversary. It's a movie I watched a million...Does anyone want to talk about:
A Beautiful Mind (2001): ★★☆
Shrek (2001): ★★★ (rewatch)
It was back in theaters for its 25th anniversary. It's a movie I watched a million times as a kid, so I had to catch it on the big screen when I got the chance. This time I noticed how much profanity they managed to sneak into a family movie.
Top Gun (1986): ★★☆ (rewatch)
Top Gun Maverick (2022): ★★★ (rewatch)
Watching the original and the sequel on back-to-back days, it really highlights how they totally did just make the same movie with the same story beats twice, but did it better the second time.
Captain America - Civil War (2016): ★☆☆
This is the first dud I've encountered on my road to getting current on Marvel. It kinda represents what I want to avoid when the next major movie comes out late this year.
There are too many characters whose motivations intersect too many different ways, and I got confused about who was on whose side at times. There were characters who I hadn't seen at all even in the previous movies that I did watch, and although you can piece things together from context, the movie just assumes that you can immediately match each person's full name with their superhero name and their in-group nickname and their face and their costume at a distance. It didn't help that I took a month-long gap between my last Marvel movie and this one, so my memory was rusty anyway.
I also noticed the fight sequences in two bad ways. First, there are melee sequences that cut so fast that it's hard to follow along. They even change camera angles significantly back and forth between strobe-light-paced cuts. I mean, most action sequences in most movies have quick cuts, but I've never had trouble with them like I did in this movie. Second, there's a big fight about two-thirds of the way through movie that just dragged on forever. It's a long sequence that feels like it's going to be the climactic fight for the entire movie, but there are still 40 minutes left after it ends. So I lost my suspension of disbelief for a bit just waiting for things to get moving again. It's not good when your big spectacular set piece is boring by the end.
Next up is Guardians of the Galaxy 2. I liked the first one, so hopefully the second one is similar.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkUpdated calendar view Bigger list than usual. Part of that is me missing last week's thread, and part is because our family got together for late Easter and watched some movies together. So some...Bigger list than usual. Part of that is me missing last week's thread, and part is because our family got together for late Easter and watched some movies together. So some of them wouldn't be my normal picks, and my score is more about how much I enjoyed watching them more so than an objective rating of the movie. But with that being said, does anybody want to talk about:
Fight Club (1999): ★☆☆ (rewatch)
I enjoyed this less on a rewatch. Knowing the secrets changes the vibe of the whole movie and it just didn't sit right with me.
To Catch A Thief (1955): ★★☆
Jesus Revolution (2023): ★★☆
Field of Dreams (1989): ★★★ (rewatch)
Jack Jack Attack (short) (2005): ★★★ (rewatch)
We also watched the director's commentary for this. They talked about how this was rewritten so that all of Jack Jack's stunts were things real kids couldn't imitate by themselves.
Flow (2024): ★★★ (rewatch)
My parents talked less than usual during this movie; they were locked in. Surprisingly, their cat didn't react at all to any of the animal noises.
That Thing You Do (1996): ★★☆
The Silence of the Lambs (1990): ★★★ (rewatch)
Chicago (2002): ★☆☆
For a best picture winner, I was disappointed. It was more sleaze than style, which is doubly bad since it was made by Miramax. And then the plot was simple and had no real surprises.
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Comment on What's your dream job? in ~life
Perryapsis Link ParentYeah, that's what I'm getting at about separating the work from the job. There are a lot of things where the work is enjoyable, but the job sucks.Yeah, that's what I'm getting at about separating the work from the job. There are a lot of things where the work is enjoyable, but the job sucks.
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Comment on What's your dream job? in ~life
Perryapsis Link ParentCows get out and use them as scratching posts. Curious dogs will try to play with them. Birds try to nest in the top of them. Spiders build webs over them and inside them. Various kinds of animals...Cows get out and use them as scratching posts. Curious dogs will try to play with them. Birds try to nest in the top of them. Spiders build webs over them and inside them. Various kinds of animals will dig up and chew through the wires. Etc etc. We know that these things happen sometimes, and it's almost always better to let us know than to try to fix it yourself and make up a story later.
Vandalism isn't usually a problem. Rain totals from thunderstorms vary wildly over even a mile or two, so farmers appreciated having an accurate reading from their exact field. As for the elements, well... they're weather instruments. They're built to deal with the elements. But animals are always the wildcard.
And the last line is tongue-in-cheek because you would think so, right? :| While proofreading, I realized that I never actually said what my degree was in the comment, so that's a funny way to bring it up.
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Comment on What's your dream job? in ~life
Perryapsis LinkHow much are we allowed to "dream"? If I could take the job security of an engineering job to do the sorts of work I did while getting my degree, I wouldn't mind that. Bagging groceries,...How much are we allowed to "dream"? If I could take the job security of an engineering job to do the sorts of work I did while getting my degree, I wouldn't mind that. Bagging groceries, collecting shopping carts; calibrating rain gauges, repairing rain gauges that were hit by tractors, repairing rain gauges that were "hit by tractors", etc. But outside dreamland, I keep applying for things that use my degree.
(anyone hiring mechanical engineers?)
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Comment on What is watts, volts and amps? in ~science
Perryapsis (edited )LinkIn addition to the other analogies already given, it might help to think in terms of the apocryphal story of Isaac Newton discovering gravity by watching apples fall from a tree. Suppose he didn't...In addition to the other analogies already given, it might help to think in terms of the apocryphal story of Isaac Newton discovering gravity by watching apples fall from a tree. Suppose he didn't see apples falling in a gravitational field, but instead saw charges falling in an electric field:
Newton reasons that there must be some energy that gets released when an apple falls from a tree and, being Newton, starts thinking about machines that could harness that energy and how much of that energy he could use. What kind of trees will give him the most energy? He notes two things:
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Taller trees give you more energy per apple. Tall trees don't necessarily have bigger or more apples, but they release more energy per apple when they drop them because of their great height. And
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Trees that drop a lot of apples quickly give you more energy quickly. A tree that drops an apple once every two weeks isn't going to give you much energy even if it's very tall. Meanwhile you can get a lot of energy out of a short tree if it's ripe and dropping an apple every five minutes.
In electrical terms, we say that the trees with property 1 have high voltage, while the trees with property 2 have high current (amps). Taken together, a given tree's height and drop rate determine how quickly we can get energy out of it (watts).
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkLetterboxd lets you track your watch history in a diary, but doesn't show it to you in a calendar format, so I went and did it myself. Does anybody want to talk about: The Zone of Interest (2023):...Letterboxd lets you track your watch history in a diary, but doesn't show it to you in a calendar format, so I went and did it myself.
Does anybody want to talk about:
The Zone of Interest (2023): ★★☆
I really wish they hadn't burned the subtitles into the video and let me use the normal subtitle toggle instead. The ones burned into the video are too small and hard to read at times because they don't have an outline. They also really need to make the setting clear when the movie opens the way that it does. It also would have been nice to be able to try and follow the German on my own. It's been more than a decade since I took classes in school, but I could make out bits and pieces on my own.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986): ★★☆ (rewatch)
I'd seen this once before. After that, I read some people's opinions that the movie is really about Ferris' friend Cameron, and I tried to watch it from that perspective this time. I get where people are coming from, but Cameron's arc has a 30-minute TV episode's worth of material, not a two hour movie. You still need all the rest of it to make it a satisfying movie.
Taste of Cherry (1997): ★☆☆
Add one to the list of movies that make me feel stupid. I was confused at the end and felt nothing as the credits started rolling. Clearly I missed something since this movie is so well-regarded, but I can't really explain my frustration without going deep into spoilers.
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Comment on Which Linux distro do you use, and why? in ~tech
Perryapsis LinkI've been using Linux Mint for a couple years now. My computer overheated one day, and the hard drive was the last thing I had to get working again. That got me looking into ways to use the...I've been using Linux Mint for a couple years now. My computer overheated one day, and the hard drive was the last thing I had to get working again. That got me looking into ways to use the computer even if the hard drive completely died, and that led me to Linux on USB. I read a lot of opinions saying that Mint is the closest thing to a drop-in replacement for Windows, so I tried that and was satisfied. Eventually I decided to install it permanently and dual boot, but now I haven't booted into Windows in ages.
On that note, could someone please recommend a guide for distro-hopping-for-noobs? I was a moron and installed Mint onto a partition of a spinning-disk external hard drive, and I've noticed it getting slower as time goes on. I'd like to port my existing installation to an SSD and try out some other distros in the meantime, but I'm terrified that I'll brick my computer trying.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis Link ParentI think that helps me with noirs. I usually can't jive with jerk protagonists, but when the movie is straight up about "they get their comeuppance, so just go along for the ride," it actually does...It is impressive how a movie can basically start with the ending, and still be gripping all the way through.
I think that helps me with noirs. I usually can't jive with jerk protagonists, but when the movie is straight up about "they get their comeuppance, so just go along for the ride," it actually does help me go along with it.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkDoes anybody want to talk about: Double Indemnity (1944): ★★☆ Notorious (1946): ★★☆ The Kid (1921): ★★★ Avengers Age of Ultron (2015): ★☆☆ -
Comment on Half-baked idea for metered inline image allowances in ~tildes
Perryapsis Link ParentI started using Lensdump when people complained that imgur was compressing too much.I started using Lensdump when people complained that imgur was compressing too much.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis LinkDoes anybody want to talk about: M (1931): ★★★ I don't usually like movies with unsympathetic protagonists, but this one worked since Mr. M isn't really quite a protagonist. This movie does the...Does anybody want to talk about:
M (1931): ★★★
I don't usually like movies with unsympathetic protagonists, but this one worked since Mr. M isn't really quite a protagonist. This movie does the suspenseful chase really well without any smoke and mirrors or modern special effects. The ending was slightly abrupt, and we don't explicitly get the fate of one of the minor characters, but this was good overall.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): ★★☆
I am Groot.
The Passion of the Christ (2004): ★★★
I have lots of Christmas movies, but I realized that I don't really have any proper Easter movies. This was the closest thing, and I hadn't seen it before.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
Perryapsis Link ParentWitness for the Prosecution is on my list. Without spoiling anything, would you say it's another one that sticks reasonably close to actual court procedure?Witness for the Prosecution is on my list. Without spoiling anything, would you say it's another one that sticks reasonably close to actual court procedure?
Now listen here kiddo ...
Never mind, you're cool!
I'm a bit late to the thread, so many of my suggestions have already been said. At the risk of mentioning some that you have have seen before, I recommend:
List
A Separation (2011) (This is just outside your time range, but it's good enough that I want to include it)
The Kid (1921)
City Lights (1931)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Modern Times (1936)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Charade (1963)
Back to the Future (1985)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Ponyo (2008)