cloud_loud's recent activity

  3. Comment on I hacked ChatGPT and Google's AI – and it only took twenty minutes in ~tech

    cloud_loud
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    FWIW I’ve gotten ChatGPT to answer questions and got it to use a thread I made on here as a source.

    FWIW I’ve gotten ChatGPT to answer questions and got it to use a thread I made on here as a source.

  6. Comment on Hot take: movies suck because there is no rental market in ~movies

    cloud_loud
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    Yes. Matt Damon talked about this a few years ago, how studios now want to take less risks since they don’t have that backstop. Although at home watching now constitutes movies being watched as a...

    Yes. Matt Damon talked about this a few years ago, how studios now want to take less risks since they don’t have that backstop. Although at home watching now constitutes movies being watched as a second screen, with people looking at their phones and only occasionally looking up at whatever’s playing at the TV.

    The one thing I will push back is this:

    Rental is $24.99. Frankly I cannot imagine a world in which the number of people who would pay for that rental exceeds the number of people who opted to pirate but would have paid if the price was at least half that.

    If someone’s gonna pirate they’re gonna pirate. Lowering the price isn’t going to dissuade them from pirating. But someone that has a family would pay that amount to rent that film since in some areas it’s basically the cost of one movie ticket.

    16 votes

  8. Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies

    cloud_loud
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    Crime 101 This had the potential to be a great pulp crime film but it gets bogged down by a bunch of useless bullshit. Feels like S Craig Zahler should have been given the script for a rewrite to...

    Crime 101

    This had the potential to be a great pulp crime film but it gets bogged down by a bunch of useless bullshit. Feels like S Craig Zahler should have been given the script for a rewrite to fix it.

    It starts off really interesting but then it becomes a slog. Hemsworth is just not that good of an actor and he struggles so much with an American accent. Ruffalo, Berry, and Keoghan are all great in their roles. Monica Barbaro is useless and should have been cut out of the film with aspects of her character being merged with Berry’s. And there should have been less focus on Hemsworth, who is clearly shaped by movies like Thief and Drive but isn’t nearly as interesting as those characters.

    (2.5/5)

    Wuthering Heights

    I was mixed not Saltburn. I’d go back and forth between disliking and liking it. Fennell is clearly a strong visual director. And that’s evident here, it feels old Hollywood with the sets and how dramatic the shots and weather seem to be.

    The script, like in Saltburn, is weak. I wish she would get a writer to fix her stuff. I threw around the guy who wrote both The Menu and Bugonia, since he also focuses on themes of class which Fennnell is clearly interested in. Robbie is great, Elordi is a little disappointing. It’s still an entertaining and technically well crafted movie. And it’s very trashy which seems to be Fennell’s sensibilities. Having a polished film but told in a low brow way.

    (3.5/5)

    Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die

    Verbinsky’s first feature film since 2017’s A Cure For Wellness. He had back to back bombs with The Lone Ranger and Wellness. Which is why it took him so long to get another project.

    Disappointing to say the least. There’s an ironic, self-aware, Reddit, EEAAO, type humor to this. It’s also structured through vignettes which gets kind of tiresome. Don’t really think Verbisnky added anything to this. There’s only one scene that shows his signature technical bravado.

    It’s all a shallow and over-the-top commentary on technology. It’s smug, it doesn’t really say anything in a clever way. It’s frustrating. And it’s not that funny.

    Sam Rockwell is good, Juno Temple is giving an awards caliber performance, and Hayley Lu Richardson (who I’ve recently fallen in love with) is charismatic and engrossing. Though I think this film speaks to her poor choices (she turned down Midsommar for example).

    (2/5)

    4 votes

  10. Comment on Warner Bros. Discovery considers restarting talks with Paramount in ~tv

    cloud_loud
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    This is kind of bad parenting on his behalf. His son is throwing a temper tantrum and instead of telling him no or trying to calm him down, he’s just giving into his demands.

    This is kind of bad parenting on his behalf. His son is throwing a temper tantrum and instead of telling him no or trying to calm him down, he’s just giving into his demands.

    6 votes

  11. Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies

    cloud_loud
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    I think this is an unfair characterization of both Theodore and Spike Jonze. Jonze didn’t do anything wrong he didn’t cheat, he wasn’t abusive. In Lost in Translation he’s just shown to not be...

    I think this is an unfair characterization of both Theodore and Spike Jonze. Jonze didn’t do anything wrong he didn’t cheat, he wasn’t abusive. In Lost in Translation he’s just shown to not be very present, and in Her they both divorce because they drifted apart. Painting Jonze as a bad guy is doing a disservice to both how mature the real life people handled the divorce and the mature depictions we see in both films.

    What’s the worst thing Theodore does in Her? He goes on a date, gets drunk, and isn’t entirely interested in pursuing something seriously with Olivia Wilde. How is that a terrible action. Why must natural human interactions be painted in such a negative light.

    Film Bro as a concept isn’t really a thing anymore, but i find it and its counterpart in literature, LitBro, to be a non-sequitur and mostly popularized by people who have vendettas against MFA guys they’ve dated.

    The crux of the film is not “oh woe is me I have high standards” that’s never implied. It’s basically, being so isolated and alone that you seek comfort in the unreal. He’s also generally depressed because he’s still grieving the marriage.

    I think your reading of the film is the most uncharitable read one could possibly do.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on Taylor Swift’s obsession with self-mythologising makes for boring art in ~music

    cloud_loud
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    Don’t know much about it. But Healy low key my GOAT for going on The Adam Friedland Show and then ghosting her. Which affected her so much she decided to stop dating smart artsy guys and started...

    Don’t know much about it. But Healy low key my GOAT for going on The Adam Friedland Show and then ghosting her. Which affected her so much she decided to stop dating smart artsy guys and started dating a dumb jock.

    I am aware enough that he’s friends with Charli XCX, and that Sympathy is a Knife references Swift, he’s now dating Gabriette who has a strong association with XCX, and Swift wrote Actually Romantic as a diss on XCX where she says XCX high fived Healy when Healy ghosted Swift. I love that 30 something’s are acting like high schoolers.

    2 votes

  14. Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies

    cloud_loud
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    Her: Spike Jonze (apparently) had a habit of thanking friends even if all they did was read the script over. Notably the ex-wife’s name is Catherine. The movie is supposed to take place now which...

    Her: Spike Jonze (apparently) had a habit of thanking friends even if all they did was read the script over. Notably the ex-wife’s name is Catherine.

    The movie is supposed to take place now which is why you’re getting that uncanny valley feeling. If anything I think it’s quite impressive that Jonze was able to predict so much stuff as closely as he did, with the main thing he got wrong being that the world was a lot more serene and colorful compared to what we see actually have.

    I think it’s actually prescient. There’s been so many articles about how people have AI partners. I’ve seen TikTok videos of people talking to the AI voices as if it were their boyfriend. It’s not as good as we see in Her, but that’s because it’s dialogue written and performed by humans. And I think the main commentary is the increasing isolation we’re experiencing.

    Thelma and Louise: don’t have much to add to this BUT this was Brad Pitt’s first major role. Famously George Clooney auditioned for it. And someone I get told I look a lot like, Mark Ruffalo, also auditioned for it. Which makes me feel pretty good since the role is supposed to be a very attractive guy.

    5 votes

  15. Comment on Liberals who were formerly far-left (communist, anarchist, etc.), what led to you coming to liberalism? in ~society

    cloud_loud
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    I read about this but since forgotten. I know the original texts that Marx and Engels wrote became distorted through Leninism and then sort of just fell apart after that. The OG social democrats...

    I read about this but since forgotten. I know the original texts that Marx and Engels wrote became distorted through Leninism and then sort of just fell apart after that. The OG social democrats were the same, they said “we can bring socialism through electoralism.” But because social Democrat became an outdated term but was revived through Democratic Socialism because of Bernie Sanders (who is not a DSA member) people who otherwise would call themselves social democrats now call themselves Democratic Socialists.

    According the Engel’s The Principals of Communism the only way true communism can come to fruition is by multiple revolutions happening concurrently in the major powers (back then it was Germany and some other countries I can’t recall but notably was before the U.S. was a super power). Because communism can’t exist in one country because communism is antithetical to concepts like countries.

    Social Democracy then is counterintuitive to this revolutionary ideal. Because if you give people healthcare and whatnot they won’t want to revolt. That being said I don’t think the conditions for revolution have existed for decades.

    3 votes

  16. Comment on Liberals who were formerly far-left (communist, anarchist, etc.), what led to you coming to liberalism? in ~society

    cloud_loud
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    I mean in a way it is a form of nihilism. And you can go either way with it, and I decidedly went in a more selfish direction.

    I mean in a way it is a form of nihilism. And you can go either way with it, and I decidedly went in a more selfish direction.

    3 votes

  17. Comment on Liberals who were formerly far-left (communist, anarchist, etc.), what led to you coming to liberalism? in ~society

    cloud_loud
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    DemSoc’s are just SocDem’s with the words flipped and a penchant for posturing.

    DemSoc’s are just SocDem’s with the words flipped and a penchant for posturing.

    4 votes

  18. Comment on Liberals who were formerly far-left (communist, anarchist, etc.), what led to you coming to liberalism? in ~society

    cloud_loud
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    I was more of a LARPer initially, but once I actually “read theory” I was disconnected. A lot of it read like religious text. There used to be a subreddit with “left communists” that I frequented...

    What led to changing your mind?

    I was more of a LARPer initially, but once I actually “read theory” I was disconnected. A lot of it read like religious text. There used to be a subreddit with “left communists” that I frequented briefly and it taught me a lot about how off putting a lot of the online leftist crowd is.

    Just generally, I decided I didn’t actually believe in those things and didn’t want to associate myself with those people. I do think the more informed you are the more moderate you tend to be.

    How has this shift shaped your view of contemporary American politics?

    Not much. Though I just roll my eyes whenever the typical “both parties are the same” and “if we let a far right winger win a far leftist will eventually win” that gets trotted out like clockwork every four years.

    I’m still a progressive in the primary and a Democrat in the general type of guy.

    What was the impact to your social circle or community?

    I had built an online community during the pandemic and I decided just to abandon it. Nothing in my real life changed, though I’m less insufferable to be around now.

    What lessons do you think being a leftist taught you, or in what ways has it shaped you that you are appreciative of?

    I suppose as a whole that era kind of made me disinterested in politics all around. I used to be much more involved and even planned a career in it at some point. I’ve since regressed and basically solely care about movies (as is evident by my post history).

    So I suppose it refocused me into stuff that puts me in a less doomed mindset.

    9 votes

  19. Comment on ‘Avatar’s’ costly sequels are getting harder to justify. Will James Cameron make two more? in ~movies

    cloud_loud
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    Blade Runner bombed theatrically, but it took Warner Bros like 25 years to recoup the cost of that film and that included releasing subsequent versions of it (Directors Cut and Final Cut) in the...

    Blade Runner bombed theatrically, but it took Warner Bros like 25 years to recoup the cost of that film and that included releasing subsequent versions of it (Directors Cut and Final Cut) in the 90s and 00s. So theatrical runs were always important.

    The DVD/Blu-Ray market collapsed, the ancillary market isn’t as lucrative as it was even ten years ago. Cable is collapsing. And streaming doesn’t make as much money as both those things did. Which is why there’s even greater focus on theatrical profitability from studios.

    8 votes