TheJorro's recent activity

  1. Comment on Steam Spring Sale suggestions in ~games

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    Just in case, here's a comprehensive list of all games that require kernel-level anti-cheat. It's... bigger than I think a lot of people realize. This isn't even including kernel-level DRM which...

    Just in case, here's a comprehensive list of all games that require kernel-level anti-cheat. It's... bigger than I think a lot of people realize. This isn't even including kernel-level DRM which exists too.

    Every game with kernel–level anti–cheat software

    3 votes
  2. Comment on Steam Spring Sale suggestions in ~games

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    I've been frequenting GamersGate (a Swedish shop that started in 2004) and IndieGala in recent years. They have deals like GMG but don't charge sales tax (in Canada, at least), which is quite nice...

    I've been frequenting GamersGate (a Swedish shop that started in 2004) and IndieGala in recent years. They have deals like GMG but don't charge sales tax (in Canada, at least), which is quite nice since our tax is 13%.

    11 votes
  3. Comment on ‘Dune: Part Two’: How sci-fi space worm epic reared head to $81.5m opening after strike release delay in ~movies

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    I've read Dune a handful of times, and watched all the adapations (except for this latest movie) multiple times. You're not wrong. Dune is very frontloaded with exposition and "tell, don't show"...

    I've read Dune a handful of times, and watched all the adapations (except for this latest movie) multiple times.

    You're not wrong. Dune is very frontloaded with exposition and "tell, don't show" style writing. It's a lot of setup before the actual plot starts, and a lot of it feels fast-forwarded through in the book especially. It's not the most enjoyable read and probably a major part of why it was considered cursed to adapt for the longest time.

    I enjoyed the first movie a lot for similar reasons that I enjoy 2001: A Space Odyssey's more "quiet and boring" moments after I read the book and realized there were lore-building and subtle indications put into those moments.

    I haven't seen Part 2 yet but, based on the reception its getting, it seems like Villeneuve has done a good job of actually getting the quality parts of Dune's story hooks out effectively.

    8 votes
  4. Comment on Denis Villeneuve hates dialogue in film in ~movies

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    Right, I guess I meant those larger Hollywood blockbuster affairs. I'm admittedly not much of a film industry person to know off-hand. Prisoners still strikes me as "indie" in comparison even...

    Enemy maybe belongs there, though it stars Jake Gyllenhaal. But Prisoners is definitely Hollywood affair, with multiple movie stars in the cast and a budget of 46 million. It's Denis's breakout Hollywood film.

    Right, I guess I meant those larger Hollywood blockbuster affairs. I'm admittedly not much of a film industry person to know off-hand. Prisoners still strikes me as "indie" in comparison even though you're right, it's about as Hollywood as anything else.

    I haven't seen Sicario: Day of the Soldado, but it is important to note that many people have those same critiques for Sicario as Taylor Sheridan wrote both. Critiques I think are unfounded and mostly come from non-Mexicans. Although I think Sheridan's best work (Sicario and Hell or High Water) are a result of directors elevating his scripts.

    Unfounded for the first movie. But for the second... I honestly can't think of another movie where I thought to myself "Ah shit this is going to get real bad" within five minutes. It really felt like FOX News terror porn.

    I'd recommend watching it only because it's a great comparison for how a director like Villeneuve approaches a script versus a more workman director. I've seen Villeneuve talk about how he really pulled the women out from between the lines in Dune and recognized their significance more in his adaptation. I can't help but feel he did something similar with that first Sicario script because the story and themes he ended up delivering are not at all present in Sicario Day of the Soldado.

    10 votes
  5. Comment on Denis Villeneuve hates dialogue in film in ~movies

    TheJorro
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    He saying he doesn't like amount of dialogue in current movies, or how much it's used instead of other elements, not that he doesn't like a story or script. I don't think anyone can charge...
    • Exemplary

    He saying he doesn't like amount of dialogue in current movies, or how much it's used instead of other elements, not that he doesn't like a story or script. I don't think anyone can charge Villeneuve movies with not having much story, or not much story worth paying attention to. His work are more story-laden affairs than a lot of his blockbuster contemporaries. He has a history of elevating the scripts exactly the way you describe a "good" director doing, especially with a project like Sicario which, for my money, very few directors could have elevated on top of that script more than Villeneuve. In almost anyone else's hands, Sicario would have been more like... well, Sicario 2: jingoistic, kinda racist, and more focused on the spectacle of violence and xenophobia.

    Snyder, Edwards, and Trevorrow aren't remotely in the same level of quality as Villeneuve when it comes to handling a story. Sure, all of them like the visuals and the lens more than most others but to suggest that Villeneuve joins them in sacrificing the story for it has to ignore the genuinely good and interesting stories in his work. It's not like he wants to throw away the script and just wing it visually. This is the guy who directed the one 20-years-later sequel that actually feels like a proper followup, and now has multiple successful adaptations of written stories. He has repeatedly shown an ability to understand what makes the original work tick and adapt it into a movie, not just into a script. And that involves a lot more visuals for him than someone, say, adapting a Marvel comic for the MCU. To that end: Arrival does feature language and communication centrally as that was part of the original short story, and his additions to Dune involve adding more dialogue and writing as well—Rebecca Ferguson wasn't doing improv for all those new elements of Lady Jessica.

    And let's take a step back from the Hollwood ones. The man also has Incendies and Polytechnique on his resume, along with Prisoners and Enemy. None of these movies can really be accused of being style over substance affairs. They're low budget, personal, heart-wrenching stories with plenty of dialogue. Especially Polytechnique, which handled sensitive subject matter so artfully that it should be (and probably has been) studied when it comes to making a work based on a heinous crime or tragedy.

    I don't understand where the idea of "Villeneuve hates story" is coming from just because he said something about not liking dialogue in movies. This is someone who puts in a ton of story into his work. All he's saying is that there are other ways to tell a story and movies have a very powerful way: visual. I don't think it serves anyone to take hyperbole and flatten it out into an absolute when the reasons behind statements like that depend on context and nuance. His actual complaint here is rooted in how much exposition and dialogue is in every major movie, especially blockbusters, when they could choose to tell those same things visually.

    54 votes
  6. Comment on Walmart buying TV-brand Vizio for its ad-fueling customer data in ~finance

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    I don't think this is the best route. There are more compromises to monitors as a TV than vice versa. The display technology in TVs is much further along than monitors, especially in these days of...

    I don't think this is the best route. There are more compromises to monitors as a TV than vice versa. The display technology in TVs is much further along than monitors, especially in these days of OLED and MicroLED screens. Monitors still don't really go past HDR 400 specs since they're meant for up-close viewing, and they're often made of last generation's screen tech.

    I've been keeping an eye on the monitor scene and one that matches many of the display technology features my years old Sony TV are only finally coming out this year, after what seems like a breakthrough in OLED and MicroLED manufacturing. And yet they still won't be able to match the HDR capabilities.

    The monitor may not be as quickly outdated as the smart TV due to the lack of software but the display technology will be outdated more quickly.

    1 vote
  7. Comment on Walmart buying TV-brand Vizio for its ad-fueling customer data in ~finance

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    It's not that people don't find it to be the obvious thing to do, it's that the basic assumption would of course be that there are non-smart TVs out there since that's the case for everything...

    It's not that people don't find it to be the obvious thing to do, it's that the basic assumption would of course be that there are non-smart TVs out there since that's the case for everything else. Is there any other household appliance where it is impossible to get a "dumb" version of it anymore?

    3 votes
  8. Comment on Walmart buying TV-brand Vizio for its ad-fueling customer data in ~finance

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    Ah I didn't even think about that. My experience with them is at my office, where we've hooked up some video games to one in a game room. But we're using TV audio there, there's no real sound...

    Ah I didn't even think about that. My experience with them is at my office, where we've hooked up some video games to one in a game room. But we're using TV audio there, there's no real sound system. The lack of eARC really limits their use for home theatre and entertainment then.

    1 vote
  9. Comment on Walmart buying TV-brand Vizio for its ad-fueling customer data in ~finance

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    One rude discovery I had about commercial TVs: they may not have all the latest display features of the consumer models. This only really applies if you're interested in high quality console...

    One rude discovery I had about commercial TVs: they may not have all the latest display features of the consumer models.

    This only really applies if you're interested in high quality console gaming but, as an example, the Sony commercial models cannot do VRR and HDR and 120Hz at the same time, but the equivalent consumer models can. At least, as of a few years ago. But this may still hold true with the latest and greatest display technology in the future.

    7 votes
  10. Comment on Walmart buying TV-brand Vizio for its ad-fueling customer data in ~finance

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    Unfortunately I don't think they really exist anymore. All the best tech is going into Smart TVs. The best you can do is buy a good TV and never set up the network functions.

    Unfortunately I don't think they really exist anymore. All the best tech is going into Smart TVs. The best you can do is buy a good TV and never set up the network functions.

    4 votes
  11. Comment on 'Dune 2' first reactions from the premiere: “Jaw-dropping masterpiece” in ~movies

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    I don't think the actual movie creators are involved in trailers usually, are they? Especially with Warner Bros. as the studio, it seems like trailers are always done by an unaffiliated other...

    I don't think the actual movie creators are involved in trailers usually, are they? Especially with Warner Bros. as the studio, it seems like trailers are always done by an unaffiliated other studio that specializes in cutting trailers. That's why the first Suicide Squad movie was infamous—they apparently got the trailer house who cut the popular first trailer to edit the whole movie and it really felt like it.

  12. Comment on 'Dune 2' first reactions from the premiere: “Jaw-dropping masterpiece” in ~movies

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    I have to imagine trying to make a trailer for a Villeneuve movie is a nightmare project for a trailer house. I just re-watched the Arrival trailer and it makes the movie seem like some kind of...

    I have to imagine trying to make a trailer for a Villeneuve movie is a nightmare project for a trailer house. I just re-watched the Arrival trailer and it makes the movie seem like some kind of horror alien survival action movie when it's not at all that.

    8 votes
  13. Comment on 'Dune 2' first reactions from the premiere: “Jaw-dropping masterpiece” in ~movies

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    I think the fact that he was writing the Dune Messiah adaptation while filming and post-producing this movie is a good sign. The changes Villeneuve has made to the story already are all very good,...

    I think the fact that he was writing the Dune Messiah adaptation while filming and post-producing this movie is a good sign. The changes Villeneuve has made to the story already are all very good, and you can feel he is a true fan of the themes and messages behind the story. I anticipate he would be able to create a more graceful transition between Dune and Dune Messiah.

    6 votes
  14. Comment on Air Canada successfully sued after its AI chatbot gave BC passenger incorrect information: airline claimed it wasn't liable for what its own AI told customers in ~tech

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    Right? Reading through it, I couldn't figure out if I was much more ignorant of practicing law than I thought I was, or if they hired the first person off the tarmac they saw to do their legal...

    Right? Reading through it, I couldn't figure out if I was much more ignorant of practicing law than I thought I was, or if they hired the first person off the tarmac they saw to do their legal defense.

    So much of this just strikes me as the end result of non-stop gladhanding towards executive whims, and their actual legal team knew that had nothing usable at all because no due diligence was done in the first place. Heads should roll over something this extremely poorly done but considering how AC has been run, they'll probably shrug and then do it again.

    5 votes
  15. Comment on Air Canada successfully sued after its AI chatbot gave BC passenger incorrect information: airline claimed it wasn't liable for what its own AI told customers in ~tech

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    It might be better to read the decision directly if the article's reporting on it isn't as helpful as you'd like.

    It might be better to read the decision directly if the article's reporting on it isn't as helpful as you'd like.

    11 votes
  16. Comment on Toronto Maple Leafs' Morgan Rielly to appeal five-game suspension to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in ~sports.hockey

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    Right, there's so many ways to have responded without cross-checking someone in the head. Headshots have been a no-go in the NHL for a while now, there's no excuse for that. Ever since Sydney...

    Right, there's so many ways to have responded without cross-checking someone in the head. Headshots have been a no-go in the NHL for a while now, there's no excuse for that. Ever since Sydney Crosby had his career hampered by the concussions, the NHL has been steadily cracking down on these more and more and more.

    People are flattening the situation out into only being a "call and response" sort of scenario when the reality is that there were so many better and more acceptable ways for an older grown-ass man to hit a much younger grown-ass man than the way he ended up choosing to, and his choice does deserve the consequences.

    3 votes
  17. Comment on What Israeli soldiers’ videos reveal: Cheering destruction and mocking Gazans in ~news

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    Sorry, I misread "Times" as "Tildes", my mistake. Indeed, the NYT does have a history of platforming some highly questionable people, but I'm used to seeing that from their editorials.

    Sorry, I misread "Times" as "Tildes", my mistake.

    Indeed, the NYT does have a history of platforming some highly questionable people, but I'm used to seeing that from their editorials.

  18. Comment on What Israeli soldiers’ videos reveal: Cheering destruction and mocking Gazans in ~news

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    If we ban all articles that have a quote from a person saying something that someone could take issue with, we wouldn't have any articles posted. Just press releases.

    If we ban all articles that have a quote from a person saying something that someone could take issue with, we wouldn't have any articles posted. Just press releases.

    2 votes
  19. Comment on Spotify has signed a new multiyear agreement with Joe Rogan, the host of one of the most popular and polarizing podcasts in the US in ~tech

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    Just because there's always an audience does not mean there should be a platform. Some things shouldn't have the ability to amass a following. Deplatforming works. It's been proven to work, time...

    Just because there's always an audience does not mean there should be a platform. Some things shouldn't have the ability to amass a following.

    Deplatforming works. It's been proven to work, time and time again. If Joe Rogan gives platforms to people like Alex Jones to keep spreading the horrendous lies that he just recently got convicted of, then yes there should be a questions about if such a platform deserves to exist anymore. It's irresponsible to not consider it at that point.

    22 votes
  20. Comment on Time loop stories aren't all 'Groundhog Day' rip-offs. Time loop stories aren't all 'Groundhog Day' rip-offs. Time loop stories aren't all... in ~movies

    TheJorro
    Link Parent
    It actually performed better in theatres than 2/3 of the movies listed above.

    It actually performed better in theatres than 2/3 of the movies listed above.

    8 votes