feigneddork's recent activity

  1. Comment on People looking to be first time homeowners soon, what's your plan? in ~life

    feigneddork
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    I'm in the process of buying my own house, actually! I'm in the UK and I'm near the tail-end of things: Started signing the contracts, paid all my deposit off, now waiting for other side to sign...

    I'm in the process of buying my own house, actually! I'm in the UK and I'm near the tail-end of things:

    Started signing the contracts, paid all my deposit off, now waiting for other side to sign contracts, agree completion date and celebrate having my own house!

    It has been very stressful so far, as I've paid the deposit but it doesn't guarantee that the deal won't fall through.

    One thing I'm realising though that there is never a good time. House prices have started climbing down recently here in the UK, but that's because interest rates have been climbing up. So it's a matter of picking your poison: do you want high monthly interest rates with the chance of a cheaper house, or do you want a more expensive house but "reasonable" interest rates on your mortgage?

    Also, I've saved for nearly a decade now, so I feel like I should be able to afford it. I do worry if the deal falls through, I do wonder what happens to my deposit. I should get it back, but who knows. I try not to think about it though.

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Reddit is going to enforce rate-limiting the API's free tier as well as charging for higher rates in ~tech

  8. Comment on What is a highly regarded/critically acclaimed movie that you do not like/understand the appeal? in ~movies

  9. Comment on What is a highly regarded/critically acclaimed movie that you do not like/understand the appeal? in ~movies

    feigneddork
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    Not so sure when their coolness factor expired, but I remember watching these like a decade ago and even then they didn't appeal to me.

    It was cool when it was released, but now not so much. Nowadays, people may talk about Die Hard, but their sentiments take the sequels into account. At the time, Bruce Willis was a popular comedic actor and that was the beginning of his career as an action star.

    Similar to Die Hard, it was cool back then but didn't age well. It was also the beginning of Will Smith's movie stardom and he was very popular at the time.

    Not so sure when their coolness factor expired, but I remember watching these like a decade ago and even then they didn't appeal to me.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on What is a highly regarded/critically acclaimed movie that you do not like/understand the appeal? in ~movies

  11. Comment on What is a highly regarded/critically acclaimed movie that you do not like/understand the appeal? in ~movies

    feigneddork
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    Bad Boys 2 - Crappy Michael Bay action that has no purpose in terms of plot. That, and weird animal sex scenes that appears in like half of his films... wtf dude?? Die Hard - it's OK, but I just...
    • Bad Boys 2 - Crappy Michael Bay action that has no purpose in terms of plot. That, and weird animal sex scenes that appears in like half of his films... wtf dude??
    • Die Hard - it's OK, but I just do not get the obsession over this film like it's the second coming of christ and/or the definitive movie. It's an OK movie, nothing more, nothing less.
    • Hot Fuzz - it's just a whole bunch of yellow brick jokes that goes on for waaaay too long. That, and being a brown British man, I can't say I'm the biggest fan of the UK police, so seeing them glamorised a bit is a bit yuck. Of course, it also is a love letter to Michael Bay, which... urgh. Finally, the whole NWA joke for some reason irks me - the whole film is filled with white folks - it feels a bit like the NWA band name is being co-opted for a dumb joke, when NWA (at least to me) stood for something, even if I don't like all their music.
    • Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - it just feels a bit like a crappy re-run of QT's movies
    • The Hateful Eight - I was bored to tears watching this film. It's just a bunch of repungnant folks together causing chaos the only way QT knows how.
    • The Dark Knight Rises - I felt like this sequel was far too long and not quite as tightly directed. Lots of things didn't make logical or thematical sense, and of course Batman always talking with a growl was very silly.
    • Toy Story 3 - Maybe I'm a miserable sod, but I didn't feel any emotional connection. I remember there was a lava bit in the film, and to me it was so over the top and ridiculous that I started laughing throughout. It's just toys, for christ sakes. And the ending where Andy is giving away his toys and getting all emotional... I just thought to myself "dude, you're 18. Who is still attached to their childhood toys at 18??"

    OK so I can go on all day, but yeah - feel free to rip into me over my takes :)

    5 votes

  12. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    feigneddork
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    Just completed Red Dead Redemption on Xbox Series X. Forgot how much I loved that game. Before that (and this was last week, but I haven't done these in a while), I completed my second playthrough...

    Just completed Red Dead Redemption on Xbox Series X. Forgot how much I loved that game.

    Before that (and this was last week, but I haven't done these in a while), I completed my second playthrough of Resident Evil 4. Another great game!

    6 votes

  13. Comment on Bluesky is Jack Dorsey’s attempt at a Twitter redo and it’s already growing fast in ~tech

    feigneddork
    Link Parent
    I thought that was by design - i.e. Mastodon does its absolute best to hide retweet/like counts until you click on the post itself. I'm pretty sure this was done to stop the issue of ratio'ing...

    I thought that was by design - i.e. Mastodon does its absolute best to hide retweet/like counts until you click on the post itself. I'm pretty sure this was done to stop the issue of ratio'ing folks and whatnot, and trying to enable a more civil conversation around things.

    A lot of Twitter/social media gamification is super hard when coming to Mastodon, but then once you get used to it, it feels weird coming back to Twitter and seeing people go nuts over random numbers under tweets. Reminds me when caring about karma was all the rage on Reddit to the point where folks who had massive amounts of karma would act like dicks because they had so much karma they could "afford" to burn some of the karma. In reality, it was a loser who was obsessed with numbers being played by algorithms to interact with the machine more than he would've done.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Bye bye blue checkmarks: Twitter removes legacy verifications in ~tech

    feigneddork
    Link Parent
    Elon Musk decried the old verification system as a "lord and peasants system". In the process of making this new "verification" system, he's created an actual "lord and peasants" system where the...

    Elon Musk decried the old verification system as a "lord and peasants system". In the process of making this new "verification" system, he's created an actual "lord and peasants" system where the peasants have to pay for verification while the rich folk get it handed to them on a plate.

    Elon says he paid for their account, but I'm sure he got his engineers to flick a switch somewhere in the database to allow them to have it.

    13 votes

  15. Comment on Reddit API Changes in ~tech

    feigneddork
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    I get why Reddit is doing it (money and trying to force users to use their app), but I want to know who on earth thought it was a good idea. I would’ve thought the sensible idea was to improve...

    I get why Reddit is doing it (money and trying to force users to use their app), but I want to know who on earth thought it was a good idea.

    I would’ve thought the sensible idea was to improve their new UI on both web and mobile to address complaints, but apparently that’s too bold of an idea…

    3 votes

  16. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    feigneddork
    Link Parent
    Yes! Same here! I was an absolute die-hard DRM-free person, but this device man... I mean, how can I not support Valve after the Steam Deck! I absolutely love it - no mincing words! It's funny - I...

    For a long time I prioritized GOG over Steam, but Valve’s Linux support won me back over. At this point I’ve re-bought most of my GOG library on Steam simply for convenience’s sake.

    Yes! Same here! I was an absolute die-hard DRM-free person, but this device man... I mean, how can I not support Valve after the Steam Deck!

    Anyway, enjoy your wonderful new device and all the delight it brings!

    I absolutely love it - no mincing words! It's funny - I bought a PSP to play some GTA games on that platform. Then the Steam Deck comes along and replaces my PSP, Xbox Series X, and my Nintendo Switch (as a handheld device, although I've heard it can emulate it, and ngl I am rather tempted to emulate the Switch). It's just such a magnificent beast!

    2 votes

  17. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    feigneddork
    Link
    So last week I got my Steam Deck. I didn't really know what to think when I put a preorder down, but I was willing to give it a shot on the grounds that: I have a Mac as a "PC gaming machine" The...

    So last week I got my Steam Deck. I didn't really know what to think when I put a preorder down, but I was willing to give it a shot on the grounds that:

    • I have a Mac as a "PC gaming machine"
    • The Steam Deck was fundamentally a PC dressed up like a handheld.

    Oh. My. God. I friggin' love this thing! Easily the best tech equipment I've got in a while! The openness to faff around, mod stuff, add new things, and tweak existing things is just unparallelled. So far I've:

    • Got GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas working on SD with the definitive-edition-project.com mods.
    • Got Bejewelled 3 and Sim City 4 up and running with decent controller setup to emulate mouse and keyboard
    • Got GTA IV and V up and running at 60FPS with no modification
    • Got Saints Row 3 & 4 up and running at 60FPS with virtually no modification (SR4 needed to be set to run with Proton as the Linux version ironically crashes on boot while the Windows binary works with Proton out of the box!!)
    • Got EmuDeck up and running and now I have PS2, PSP, Xbox, Mega Drive, Nintendo, SNES, and I think some others setup. I've tried the PS2 emulation and I could only dream of Metal Gear Solid 2/3 at 60FPS with no hitches!!
    • Got Xbox Gamepass Cloud Gaming setup on my machine! I can now play Flight Simulator on the can!

    It is such a beast, I love it! Honestly, right now I'm just playing all the games because I can! The only thing I had difficulty was playing GOG titles, and honestly that's fair enough - I think that will require a lot more tinkering than what I'd like, but at least the option is there in case I feel bored!

    I would say that as someone who grew up PC gaming, loves Linux, and is a tinkerer at heart, the Steam Deck feels like it was built for me specifically. I know some prefer the "plug it in and play" approach, and honestly that is fine and great too - for me, the Steam Deck is the dream device I never knew I wanted until it arrived in my hands.

    8 votes

  18. Comment on Rockstar Games issue message regarding recent leak in ~games

    feigneddork
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    So for those who aren't aware, Rockstar Games suffered a pretty massive leak on the weekend when someone uploaded videos of a pre-alpha version of their game. Of course, Take Two lawyers are in...

    So for those who aren't aware, Rockstar Games suffered a pretty massive leak on the weekend when someone uploaded videos of a pre-alpha version of their game.

    Of course, Take Two lawyers are in the process of taking down those videos across YouTube and Twitter.

    Lots of people who work/have knowledge of the videogame industry have said this is a serious blow for Rockstar Games developers (the stress of having pre-alpha work out there, the fact that rapid changes happen in a month etc). Meanwhile, some fans of Rockstar Games have expressed a bit of glee (mostly towards Take Two) over the fact that they are nervous/upset about this leak.

    Some developers have expressed sympathy and support for the situation - Neil Druckmann is one of those people.

    4 votes