nocut12's recent activity
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Comment on "No CGI" is really just invisible CGI in ~movies
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Comment on Tiny undervalued hardware companions in ~tech
nocut12 LinkThey're super convenient, and I use stuff like them for a few devices, but some of the USB-C things they're suggesting are explicitly disallowed by the spec — any adapter with a USB-C receptacle...They're super convenient, and I use stuff like them for a few devices, but some of the USB-C things they're suggesting are explicitly disallowed by the spec — any adapter with a USB-C receptacle isn't compliant (page 32 of this PDF). Realistically, they should be fine on A-to-C cables, and there's a decent chance you wouldn't be able to use them on a C-to-C cable anyway because random aliexpress manufactures forget the pulldown resistors all the time...
Not that the non-compliant adapters don't have their uses, you should just know what you're getting into a little I guess.
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Comment on Disney Movie Club closing after twenty-three years in ~movies
nocut12 Link ParentI don't think movies on discs are going to go away completely or anything — physical collections are always going to be important to people who are seriously into movies. There's the permanence...I don't think movies on discs are going to go away completely or anything — physical collections are always going to be important to people who are seriously into movies. There's the permanence aspect you mentioned, but I think another big element is social signalling; a shelf full of blu-rays is a lot more useful for telling people about yourself than your netflix queue.
I'm pretty convinced UHD Blu-ray is going to be the last ever format for home video though. As the market dwindles to enthusiasts only, all the work to put together a new standard just doesn't seem worth it. It's a bit of a bummer that we'll probably never be able to play 4K 3D or 3D HFR movies at home, but it could be a lot worse.
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Comment on How to build an origami computer in ~comp
nocut12 LinkSuper cool to see this and the article makes this really approachable. I guess it's not super surprising, similar stuff like this paper has been bouncing around for a while, and like they mention...Super cool to see this and the article makes this really approachable. I guess it's not super surprising, similar stuff like this paper has been bouncing around for a while, and like they mention in the article, it just sort of seems like it would be.
If anyone is interested in origami math stuff, this book is great.
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Comment on Recommend me a digital clock? in ~tech
nocut12 LinkSony still makes a good old regular clock radio that checks all the boxes, kind of a cool design tooSony still makes a good old regular clock radio that checks all the boxes, kind of a cool design too
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Comment on Paul Thomas Anderson and Warner Bros set Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Regina Hall in film to shoot this year in ~movies
nocut12 LinkThere was a story a while ago about a casting call from him for a teenage martial artist. I wonder if this is that same project — could gel with the mention of it being more commercialThere was a story a while ago about a casting call from him for a teenage martial artist. I wonder if this is that same project — could gel with the mention of it being more commercial
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Comment on Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi finally say they will use Tesla’s EV charging plug in the US in ~transport
nocut12 Link ParentIt is a little annoying that people give them credit for "standardizing connectors" when CCS already was standard on every EV except Teslas (and older Nissans I guess, but they at least moved...It is a little annoying that people give them credit for "standardizing connectors" when CCS already was standard on every EV except Teslas (and older Nissans I guess, but they at least moved over)
Kinda does seem like a nicer connector though, so it's not like I'm upset about it or anything.
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Comment on Stephen Fry reads Nick Cave's stirring letter about ChatGPT and human creativity in ~arts
nocut12 Link ParentThat's a good point. I think my phrasing there wasn't great, and you're certainly right that commercial art muddies the waters. I think you hit on something that drives at what I was thinking. Art...That's a good point. I think my phrasing there wasn't great, and you're certainly right that commercial art muddies the waters.
I think you hit on something that drives at what I was thinking. Art has changed drastically over time, but it's always been made by people. Art gets made and viewed within some kind of cultural context, and in order to exist within that, you have to be a person. A better way to phrase it might have been "art is inherently human, and humans are inherently social." Even referring to it as a "cultural phenomenon" (which I think is totally correct) is pretty explicitly tying art to personhood. To me, removing the artist from the equation just kind of puts this stuff in a different category, regardless of the artist's motivations or intent.
Commercial stuff definitely makes this messier. A boring stock photo on a corporate website absolutely technically counts as art, but I feel like slotting in an AI generated image in its place feels a lot more reasonable — it doesn't feel so different to me there. Maybe I'm kind of baking in some idea of "cultural value" here. That's admittedly arbitrary, but I'm not sure it feels so wrong...
In your earlier comment, you bring up the idea that AI programs will probably make poignant and inspiring things — I think you're right, but I don't think it makes those things art. I don't think we can describe art only in the context of the viewer's experience, we also have to consider the artist and the art's place in culture. I just don't think the latter is even relevant for AI art unless we start considering these programs to be people, which is very hard for me to take seriously right now.
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Comment on Stephen Fry reads Nick Cave's stirring letter about ChatGPT and human creativity in ~arts
nocut12 Link ParentOften when I read a great book or watch a great movie (or engage with any kind of art really), I find myself reading about the writer or director or whoever. I'll often seek out more of their work...Often when I read a great book or watch a great movie (or engage with any kind of art really), I find myself reading about the writer or director or whoever. I'll often seek out more of their work specifically rather than seeking out any old thing that might be in the same genre or make me feel a similar way — maybe my real interest is in the artist and their ideas. That relationship between the artist and the audience is pretty important, I think.
I'd argue that art is inherently pretty social and that — because there's no artist in a traditional sense — an AI generated story or song or whatever just doesn't really serve the same cultural purpose.
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Comment on Marketing company claims that it actually is listening to your phone and smart speakers to target ads in ~tech
nocut12 Link ParentI have doubts that it would even be worth it. Assuming this company would just be using existing services for this (I doubt they're building this themselves — its a little hard to tell, but job...I have doubts that it would even be worth it. Assuming this company would just be using existing services for this (I doubt they're building this themselves — its a little hard to tell, but job listings don't make it look like a huge team), it would get pretty expensive pretty fast. If you want to see some ballpark numbers, you could try playing around with the pricing calculator for the AWS offering for transcription. And of course there'd be plenty of other infrastructure costs to take into account. If all you're doing is targeted advertising, I really think you could build profiles of similar quality from data that's much cheaper to get.
If you're a government trying to spy on someone, sure, recording them from their phone or smart TV would probably be worthwhile. If you're an ad company, I think you'd make more money if you used data that's cheaper to deal with. I think it's pretty likely this is either an over-eager pitch for something that doesn't exist beyond a POC or a straight up snake-oil lie.
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Comment on Building a home media server on a budget in ~tech
nocut12 Link ParentI completely agree with this advice. It doesn't sound like there's much need for hardware transcoding if the only thing they might watch off of the LAN is a few cartoons for a kid — they could...I completely agree with this advice. It doesn't sound like there's much need for hardware transcoding if the only thing they might watch off of the LAN is a few cartoons for a kid — they could just get lower bitrate versions or transcode them ahead of time.
Just getting the biggest external hard drive that fits in the budget and plugging it into basically any computer that you don't mind leaving on all the time is a pretty good approach. An old laptop would work great too — probably relatively power efficient and you get to use the battery like a bootleg UPS. If it's got an Intel CPU there's a decent chance you'd get H.264 hardware encode anyway, even though that probably doesn't really matter too much.
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Comment on A coder considers the waning days of the craft in ~tech
nocut12 LinkI guess the thing that bothers me about LLMs is less a fear of losing my job because of them and more a fear that computers are going to get away from what I like about them. A big part of what...- Exemplary
I guess the thing that bothers me about LLMs is less a fear of losing my job because of them and more a fear that computers are going to get away from what I like about them.
A big part of what drew me to computer science is the idea of finding some kind of deep understanding in these systems — the idea that we can break something complex down until we understand every little step. The core idea of machine learning is in pretty direct opposition to that — the premise is that you don't need to understand the model that gets built! Recent LLMs are arguably the most complex things anyone has ever built, and they're built on a foundation that rejects the idea that we should understand what we make. I'm worried this is indicative of a change in the ethos of this field, and I think the old one is a big part of what I like about it.
I think there's an honest possibility that this stuff becomes the "main thing" we do with computers in the future (the same way "using the Internet" is more or less the main thing we do with computers today). If most software people care about becomes AI-based, that's where the field will be for a long time. If that happens, I think we're going to be de-emphasizing the things I think are beautiful about programming and it's going to get a lot harder for me to stay enthusiastic about it.
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Comment on How to use the YouTube website? in ~tech
nocut12 Link ParentI also have YouTube premium, but I'm still not really happy with it. Loads and loads of videos still have sponsorship sections, so it isn't really ad-free at all. I'm not gonna begrudge anyone for...I also have YouTube premium, but I'm still not really happy with it. Loads and loads of videos still have sponsorship sections, so it isn't really ad-free at all.
I'm not gonna begrudge anyone for taking sponsorship deals, but it definitely goes to show that YouTube isn't appropriately paying people making videos. If they aren't doing that, what am I really paying for? I guess it's supposed to be the infrastructure, but I truly doubt it costs anywhere remotely in the ballpark of $14 per user per month to run the service. It just doesn't feel like an appropriate price for what they provide.
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Comment on Can someone recommend me a great bluetooth keyboard for my home office? in ~tech
nocut12 Link ParentI have a K5 and have issues with the Bluetooth specifically. Everything else about it is great, but I've found it to be much more reliable wired. I have serious issues with bluetooth connectivity...I have a K5 and have issues with the Bluetooth specifically. Everything else about it is great, but I've found it to be much more reliable wired.
I have serious issues with bluetooth connectivity in general on Linux — it's difficult to reconnect after waking from sleep, and I often have issues with missing and repeated key presses. On my Windows work laptop it's a lot better, but it does sometimes miss key presses when my headset (also bluetooth) is connected. I used to use a Logitech keyboard over bluetooth and never had these issues — pretty sure it's specific to this keyboard.
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Comment on ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ intermission imposed by handful of theaters spurs intervention from Paramount in ~movies
nocut12 (edited )Link ParentHonestly, I think it's completely reasonable for a filmmaker to be upset when something isn't exhibited the intended way. The movie wasn't made with an intermission, so it's a little disrespectful...Honestly, I think it's completely reasonable for a filmmaker to be upset when something isn't exhibited the intended way. The movie wasn't made with an intermission, so it's a little disrespectful for the theater to insert one. Movies with intermissions carefully consider where they go and how they effect the pacing, and having someone else just sort of put one in somewhere doesn't really feel appropriate.
As for the core complaint, 3.5 hours is certainly long, but there are other movies that long with no intermission — Godfather II and Jeanne Dielman come to mind. I've seen both of those in the theater without an intermission, and honestly it wasn't a big deal to me. In the case of Jeanne Dielman especially, an intermission would seriously change the way the movie feels. Not being able to pause the movie or take a break is a really big part of the theatrical experience, and being in that frame of mind definitely effects how you see a movie (or at least it definitely does for me). You go to the theater because it's an event, not because it's convenient. If you're not willing to do that, don't go to theater — you will miss out on something watching at home, but that's a choice you get to make: do you want to commit to giving yourself over to the movie, or do you want to prioritize comfort and convenience? Changing a film for exhibition like this robs viewers of that choice and, in some small way, disrespects the filmmaker as an artist.
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Comment on Even the French are giving up on arthouse films. Is this the end of a cinematic era? in ~movies
nocut12 LinkThe French have been giving up on arthouse films since like the 90s, half the time communicating that idea through their arthouse films (Irma Vep and Holy Motors come to mind as very pessimistic...The French have been giving up on arthouse films since like the 90s, half the time communicating that idea through their arthouse films (Irma Vep and Holy Motors come to mind as very pessimistic French meta-movies)
I think this is a little apocalyptic — there are absolutely fantastic young French filmmakers doing great work. Last year, I loved Rodeo and Athena, and — despite already being a huge deal — it feels like Julia Ducournau is just getting started. At least artistically, there's still a very very strong industry over there, especially if you're including the more established people who are still doing great work (Denis, Assayas, etc)
I broadly agree with the Schrader quote at the beginning of the article — the problem isn't with filmmakers. Now that most people mostly watch movies at home, and more movies are available than ever, I think a lot of people only ever seek comfort and never really take risks with what they watch.
I think going to rep theaters is a great way to avoid that trap. Knowing I can't pause or rewind helps me actually pay attention to the movie. Needing to go somewhere helps me care enough about something to give it a fair chance. And I know the person who picks what plays is even more movie obsessed than I am — of course their choices will be more interesting than what you'd get from a streaming service recommendation algorithm or a studio release calendar.
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Comment on A24 expands strategy from arthouse gems to more commercial films in ~movies
nocut12 Link ParentIt's pretty crazy to me that A24 built this huge brand back when they were mostly just a distributor — a lot of the initial fans probably didn't really have a great handle on what the company did....It's pretty crazy to me that A24 built this huge brand back when they were mostly just a distributor — a lot of the initial fans probably didn't really have a great handle on what the company did.
I agree that it might be tough to keep the goodwill going for their current audience with a more mass-market shift. It kind of already seems like Neon is taking their place as the "cool kid movie company"
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Comment on What are you favourite grim, dark, atmospheric films? in ~movies
nocut12 LinkThere was a real spate of mainland Chinese movies a few years ago that really nailed that kind of slow, grim, neo-noir type thing. Diao Yinan's movie Night Train is great, if punishingly bleak...There was a real spate of mainland Chinese movies a few years ago that really nailed that kind of slow, grim, neo-noir type thing.
Diao Yinan's movie Night Train is great, if punishingly bleak (both visually and storyline-wise). Black Coal, Thin Ice (from the same director) is another good one with more of a detective angle. A Touch of Sin might not be as close of a match visually, but I think it fits well tonally.
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Comment on Database containing nearly 200,000 pirated books being used to train AI - authors were not informed in ~tech
nocut12 (edited )Link ParentI think it's kind of the same reason private trackers exist. You need some kind of external incentive to keep niche stuff available on peer to peer networks (because there often simply aren't...I think it's kind of the same reason private trackers exist. You need some kind of external incentive to keep niche stuff available on peer to peer networks (because there often simply aren't enough interested people). For private trackers, that incentive is through the internal reputation systems and wanting to keep access. For this thing, it's the money.
I guess there's value in making things more widely available than they are on private trackers, but doing it this way made it a lot more vulnerable to getting taken down. If the way to get this dataset today is to ask around in a specialized community, well... it doesn't sound that different from getting on private trackers.
I guess I think it's not too surprising that this would flame out quickly, and there's a reason why the status quo with private torrent trackers is the way it is.
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Comment on Raspberry Pi Foundation announces details of impending release of the Raspberry Pi 5 in ~tech
nocut12 Link ParentYeah, at this price point you start getting into the low end of "real computers," and if you aren't using the GPIO pins it probably makes sense to go in that direction. Especially when you...Yeah, at this price point you start getting into the low end of "real computers," and if you aren't using the GPIO pins it probably makes sense to go in that direction. Especially when you consider how well an old laptop can work for the lightweight home server kind of use case (less e-waste, usually fast enough, usually fairly power efficient, easy to tuck away in some subtle spot, and the battery is practically a built-in UPS)
I think it's sort of the same on the lower end of things too — for little DIY projects I've had great luck with ESP32 boards. They're dirt cheap, have wifi and bluetooth, and are easy to program on. I also kind of prefer ending up with something that's more of an appliance rather than something I need to SSH into and run updates and backup and stuff.
Like you said, I'm sure there's cool things to build with this, and great to have as an option, but I think there's better choices out there now for a lot of projects.
Something I've noticed recently is that in a lot of shots where I think CG "looks bad," I'm really reacting to the camerawork. I think we've all built up a pretty solid subconscious sense of what kinds of camera movements and positions are physically possible for a real camera, and shots that violate those feel a lot less real.
Not that a whooshing CG "camera" is always bad, but I think you tend to notice...