lou's recent activity
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Comment on Started watching Adolescence in ~tv
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Comment on Started watching Adolescence in ~tv
lou Link ParentBut there are cuts in real life! We cut all the time. When our attention changes focus between objects, we do not experience fluid and elegant visuals connecting them. You blink and you are there....There aren't any cuts or edits in real life.
But there are cuts in real life! We cut all the time. When our attention changes focus between objects, we do not experience fluid and elegant visuals connecting them. You blink and you are there. The gentle motion of most sequence shots does not reproduce how we experience objects around us.
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Comment on Started watching Adolescence in ~tv
lou Link ParentYes, there are many cool alternatives to the shot/reverse-shot formula other than sequence shots. One alternative is to simply cut much much less, and to make your cuts count. I edited my comment...Yes, there are many cool alternatives to the shot/reverse-shot formula other than sequence shots. One alternative is to simply cut much much less, and to make your cuts count.
I edited my comment above, you may wanna read my edit.
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Comment on Started watching Adolescence in ~tv
lou (edited )LinkI'm a film major and often found "camera people" annoying because they viewed camera work like a competitive sport. I don't like sequence shots, directors do that to show off. Because the camera...I'm a film major and often found "camera people" annoying because they viewed camera work like a competitive sport. I don't like sequence shots, directors do that to show off. Because the camera must move to achieve its "resting" position, a sequence shot means that a lot of the time the framing is not the most optimal or the most dramatic. In Adolescence, you'll spend a lot of time looking at the back of people's heads. It's like the camera is always looking to arrive at a composition, but you have to watch the ugly bits in between. That said, I watched parts of this show with my wife. I like the concept and the acting, so I will probably watch it in full. But not for the sequence shots! lol
To me, sequence shots are immersion-breaking because they force me to sense the director and the camera person moving around. It feels too intentional.
If its any consolation, I don't care for sequence shots even when Orson Welles does it.
EDIT: there is one reason for using sequence shots that I think might make sense, which is to allow the actors to always be in a continuous progression. They're not recording bits, they are doing the entire scene which makes it easier to sustain the emotion required by the script. That said, a similar result could be achieved by simply shooting master takes of each character and then editing it together. Sequence shots take a lot of work and repetition, which might make it harder for the performers rather than easier. The shots can be ruined by a number of factors that are outside the performer's control. And after a number of repetitions, some actors get numb and impatient, and the acting suffers from it. So yeah... sequence shots might be good for acting, but might be bad too.
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Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv
lou LinkI would just like to say that, in the last two episodes, The Pitt crossed from "very good television" to "must-see TV". There's people talking about an Emmy for Noah Wyle. If you enjoy medical...I would just like to say that, in the last two episodes, The Pitt crossed from "very good television" to "must-see TV". There's people talking about an Emmy for Noah Wyle. If you enjoy medical dramas, this is an absolute no-brainer. Just watch it.
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Comment on What is the optimal way to convert an RPG book to a text format? in ~tech
lou (edited )Link ParentYes. Like Mage: the Ascension, Stars Without Number, Dungeons and Dragons 5h Edition, etc.Yes. Like Mage: the Ascension, Stars Without Number, Dungeons and Dragons 5h Edition, etc.
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What is the optimal way to convert an RPG book to a text format?
An RPG book is a book containing the rules and setting for a tabletop RPG game. Like Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, Worlds Without Number, Star Trek Adventures, etc. The fact that they are...
An RPG book is a book containing the rules and setting for a tabletop RPG game. Like Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, Worlds Without Number, Star Trek Adventures, etc.
The fact that they are rarely in text format always puts me off reading RPG books. I don't want to diminish the importance of art, but importing printed RPG books is prohibitively expensive, and reading huge PDFs on a laptop is not a good experience for me.
I also find it unpleasant to navigate the complicated design of these books. They're distracting.
I have a 6.8" Kindle Paperwhite but reading RPG PDFs on it is awful. RPG books have lots of art and complicated layouts. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to make an RPG into text. I was seriously considering just copying the text and converting it to markdown myself (it doesn't need to be markdown, just something that I can convert into a format my Kindle understands) when I remembered chatGPT.
Copying the text and asking GPT to make it into markdown worked okay, but it missed the tables. Sending an image of a page worked pretty well, so I think AI is the way here. But I am not a GPT subscriber and I bet I'll hit a limit at some point. Also, instead of sending pages individually, I would prefer to send the PDF and get the result in text. Even if there were limitations (like only 10 pages in one go), it would be an improvement.
In any case, using chatGPT will be much better than doing it by hand. But is there an AI or other kind of PDF service that is better suited for that task, so I can reduce the amount of manual input?
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Comment on Don't trust Firefox to backup your session in ~tech
lou (edited )LinkI gotta be honest with you, I was not aware that people relied on built-in browser sessions like that.I gotta be honest with you, I was not aware that people relied on built-in browser sessions like that.
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Comment on ‘Legend of Zelda’ film sets March 2027 theatrical release from Sony Pictures in ~movies
lou (edited )Link ParentIt's a trilogy. They don't need to cram an entire Zelda adventure into 2h30min. They can make just part of an adventure. Or they can make a new story using several elements of Zelda.It's a trilogy. They don't need to cram an entire Zelda adventure into 2h30min. They can make just part of an adventure. Or they can make a new story using several elements of Zelda.
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Comment on ‘Legend of Zelda’ film sets March 2027 theatrical release from Sony Pictures in ~movies
lou Link ParentI may be skeptical of videogame adaptations but I would probably wait for a movie to exist before I decide if it works or not.I may be skeptical of videogame adaptations but I would probably wait for a movie to exist before I decide if it works or not.
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Comment on Inside Brazil's Belo Horizonte’s food scene (Anthony Bourdain) in ~food
lou (edited )Link ParentIt's also about what feels more "Brazilian", foreign, and "authentic" to English-speaking audiences. Belo Horizonte has a strong "sertanejo" (country music) fan base that is very Brazilian-White...It's also about what feels more "Brazilian", foreign, and "authentic" to English-speaking audiences. Belo Horizonte has a strong "sertanejo" (country music) fan base that is very Brazilian-White and is completely absent from that episode. They make and eat food too!
Belo Horizonte is the birthplace of Sepultura and there's no mention of it. There's definitive a narrative going on to make Brazil look more "like Brazil".
I'm Black myself but the idea that comida mineira is really African is bonkers. I am from Salvador (the most African Brazilian capital) and some of our foods really are literally African, but not all of them. Like much of Brazilian culture, comida mineira is a mix of influences including African cultures but to ignore the contributions from Portugal and other European cultures is insane.
They also talk about a tension between fine dining and regional food that is only relevant to half a dozen chefs trained in France. The reality of BH is that everyone likes regional food, both rich and poor. And there are several highly regarded restaurants serving traditional comida mineira. They don't show that. Brazilian culture in general places great value on our regional foods. There is no divide. That conflict is either irrelevant or inexistent.
In retrospect maybe I don't like that episode as much as I thought when I created this post. They had a story to tell and looked for the elements that would tell that story for them. The things it shows are cool, though. Just understand they're very much packaged to tell the overall narrative of the show.
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Comment on Introductions | March 2025 in ~talk
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Comment on Introductions | March 2025 in ~talk
lou (edited )Link ParentPavê is awesome that is for sure. I have to say abará. It is the kind of food you should only eat in Salvador - Bahia. Afro Brazilian cuisine. You have to eat it to understand. Explaining is...Pavê is awesome that is for sure.
I have to say abará. It is the kind of food you should only eat in Salvador - Bahia. Afro Brazilian cuisine.
You have to eat it to understand. Explaining is useless. Anyway, here's a description:
Abará is a steamed cake made from ground black-eyed peas, wrapped in a banana leaf, and cooked in palm oil. It is a traditional dish in African cuisine and Bahian cuisine. It is also part of Candomblé rituals. It is made from the same dough as acarajé; the only difference is that abará is steamed and includes seasonings and dendê oil in the dough, while acarajé is fried. (translated from Wikipedia)
Also, if I am allowed, I would say Brazilian/Italian/Portuguese pizza. Not crazy pizza young people make a fuss about, but rather traditional pizzerias that follow older traditions that are not necessarily 100% pure Italian. The last pizza I ate in São Paulo was like that. It was a place that opened in the 1950s, but I unfortunately cannot remember the same. They had a tomato/fish sauce that you ate with wonderful bread... I could eat that all day. I would be fat in São Paulo.
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Comment on Inside Brazil's Belo Horizonte’s food scene (Anthony Bourdain) in ~food
lou Link ParentThey should make a website where I paste a YouTube link and it gives me the links that are unlocked for different regions.They should make a website where I paste a YouTube link and it gives me the links that are unlocked for different regions.
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Comment on Stremio is an impressive program in ~tech
lou (edited )Link ParentIt is a single application. I don't know how the program works internally, but it has all the shows already with the metadata and it knows which files to pull for each episode. There's a page for...It is a single application. I don't know how the program works internally, but it has all the shows already with the metadata and it knows which files to pull for each episode. There's a page for each show, with show description, cover images, episode list with thumbnails etc. Up until now that was all automatic and I only had to search for the shows. No other setup is required. In practice, it works similarly to a paid streaming service. Note: I use the addon Torrentio. I don't know which functions are native to Stremio and which are provided by Torrentio.
I think Torrentio manages all the things related to torrent trackers.
I can see the appeal of "media piracy, but you don't have to worry about the details", but the details have always seemed rather important.
I don't need to know any details to use Stremio. I know how to use torrents but that knowledge was not required.
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Comment on Stremio is an impressive program in ~tech
lou (edited )Link ParentIt has a cache which I assume makes things faster for videos you played at least once. I haven't done this but it is possible to add your local files to Stremio. I think that is just for...It has a cache which I assume makes things faster for videos you played at least once.
I haven't done this but it is possible to add your local files to Stremio. I think that is just for convenience, so you can access all your media in the same program.
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Comment on Stremio is an impressive program in ~tech
lou Link ParentIt is not an all-in-one suite because it is dedicated to streaming. I haven't explored its addons, but I bet there are addons for all the things that can be streamed.It is not an all-in-one suite because it is dedicated to streaming. I haven't explored its addons, but I bet there are addons for all the things that can be streamed.
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Comment on Stremio is an impressive program in ~tech
lou (edited )Link ParentPopcorn Time still exists! Yes I think my setup is basically the same thing. But Stremio can have other sources other than torrents. Maybe Stremio is a better program with the addons, the UI, and...Popcorn Time still exists!
Yes I think my setup is basically the same thing. But Stremio can have other sources other than torrents. Maybe Stremio is a better program with the addons, the UI, and the support for multiple devices. But I wouldn't know.
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Comment on Stremio is an impressive program in ~tech
lou Link ParentI see. Me and my wife only use subtitles in English, so I think it would be better on the subtitle front!I see. Me and my wife only use subtitles in English, so I think it would be better on the subtitle front!
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Stremio is an impressive program
This post will talk about piracy. I won't provide any links or direct instructions. That said, if a mod or admin thinks there is something inappropriate about talking about that stuff, feel free...
This post will talk about piracy. I won't provide any links or direct instructions. That said, if a mod or admin thinks there is something inappropriate about talking about that stuff, feel free to mention this in the comments and I will remove any inappropriate details as soon as I can.
Like many Latin Americans, I am a long-term pirate. I have pirated stuff with floppy disks, with CD-ROMs, through IRC, FTP, Kazaa, Napster, Soulseek, websites, and torrent. I have also purchased several illegal media from street vendors. The whole idea of traditional piracy is to get the files I want for me to own, which is why I made a Plex server for myself.
Stremio is a challenge to all of this. It is much easier to setup than Plex and basically requires no maintenance. It is a program that allows me to stream video content from a variety of sources, legal or illegal. It took less than 30 minutes to set it up on my computer, and I know that it exists for both of my TVs. I am using it with the Torrentio addon.
Stremio changed my viewing habits much in the same way paid streaming services did. I am more spontaneous in my choices. I have watched Doctor Who from 2005, ER, Tiny Toons Adventures, Animaniacs, The Twighlight Zone (original), The Magicians, Blackadder, and Falling Skies (alien TV show with Noah Wyle!). Playback sometimes takes a little while to start, but went it does it rarely stutters, even on old or less popular shows. A paid debrid service should improve on that. I am now considering removing most of our extremely expensive paid streaming services and replacing them with Stremio. Money is tight and, when added up, they make quite a dent on our budget!
One bad thing about Stremio is that it is basically a leech. It does not seed the torrents. I am considering getting Real Debrid as it seemingly reduces the strain on torrents via caching.
Right now, my only concern with changing everything to Stremio is that my wife will probably dislike choosing between multiple sources for an episode, and some episodes come with bad subtitles. That would require minimal effort to solve, but might still be too much for her.
Anyway, I am very impressed by Stremio. It is so good, in fact, that I am half-jokingly worried about the police knocking on my door.
Just kidding, that doesn't happen around here.
42 votes
I would be more worried about dropping it and ruining the whole camera! lol
A drone could pose a challenge for audio, but I assume they used a particularly silent drone. And if they're buzzing is at a frequency far from the human voice, I suppose it is not too hard to remove it in post.