winther's recent activity
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Comment on How has your industry changed in the past decade? in ~life
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Comment on How has your industry changed in the past decade? in ~life
winther Link ParentOh yes, cloud file sharing. I definitely do not miss the days of trying to manage a shared Samba drive across two continents over VPN with crappy rsync scripts. At one of my first jobs we used IRC...Oh yes, cloud file sharing. I definitely do not miss the days of trying to manage a shared Samba drive across two continents over VPN with crappy rsync scripts.
At one of my first jobs we used IRC for internal communication while everyone was still on email. Good simple times. Which is what made the company that created Slack pivot in the first place.
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Comment on What's worse than ads and AI? Ads in your AI, so Google is testing it. in ~tech
winther Link ParentSEO already ruined good search results and the same is going to happen with AI models. If there is a financial incentive to be part of the data training an AI model, someone will try to game it.SEO already ruined good search results and the same is going to happen with AI models. If there is a financial incentive to be part of the data training an AI model, someone will try to game it.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
winther LinkI have spent the last week focusing on some of the Oscar winners in Best International Film - previously known as Foreign Language. Usually a good source for great films, but I wasn't entirely...I have spent the last week focusing on some of the Oscar winners in Best International Film - previously known as Foreign Language. Usually a good source for great films, but I wasn't entirely lucky with my picks.
Startin with Ida from 2013 which is directed by Polish director Paweł Pawlikowski who made Cold War in 2018 which I did like, and this has many similarities. Black and white cinematography, love story of a sort set in post-war Poland. In this about a nun who tries to uncover something about her pasts with help from her aunt, who is living a very "non-nun" lifestyle. On the whole the film is rather dreary, with totally stone faced actors that are impossible to get a good grasp on. The script has the potential for something, but I didn't feel it got that across the screen very well.
Pelle the Conqueror from is the Danish winner from 1987 and it has "movie to watch in school" all over it. I am sure it has been shown in many Scandinavian classrooms, but my Danish teacher showed us Krzysztof Kieślowski, which it took me more than 25 years to really appreciate. It tells a story of a Swedish and his son who immigrate from Sweden to Denmark to work as a farmhand for a big landowner. It is a tad heavy on the Hollywood-ish violins in the score, but I was really impressed by Max von Sydow's performance and his portrayal of a struggling father that really tries to his best. I am closer to his age than Pelle's, so I could easier put myself in his shoes. The young Pelle is convincing as well, but some of the other actors were a bit hokey in their acting style. The movie balances well showing the brutal hardships of working as farmhands for big landowners, with the everyday joys of life and small elements of hope for a better future. But it crams too many sidestories and themes that just detracted from the more interesting focus on Pelle and Lasse.
The Spanish winner from 1999, All About My Mother made me think that this is how some people feels when they watch a Verhoeven film. I think the true meaning flew over me. The basic premise is about a single mother who loses her young son in a car accident and she travels from Madrid to Barcelona in search for the boys father. The movie is absolutely packed with one tragic coincidence after another told in a very predictable melodramatic way, which makes it hard to empathize with as everything is bluntly foreshadowed. If you hear about someone being run over by a car, it is tragic. If they get hit twice the same day, still tragic. Three times in the same day, it starts to get a little bit funny. This movie felt like that for me. And I have an inkling sensation that it is entirely intentional. There is a heightened reality to what happens here and while all the characters where colorfully and lovely portrayed, it didn't feel real. It is not a parody, it is not mocking its characters or anything as there is clearly a lot of love and compassion. It is just weird and I didn't really get much out of it.
Asghar Farhadi won for A Seperation in 2011 so I had high hopes for his winner from 2016, The Salesman. It lived up to my expectations, but I think I might have liked this a bit more if I saw this first as they are very similar in structure. Tells the story of a middleclass couple both working on a theater production, who has to move and find a new apartment quickly as their current building is about to collapse. They find one, but one day the woman gets assaulted by someone entering the apartment and they assume it is somehow related to the previous tenant. Things go south from there with tons of misunderstandings and unfortunate circumstances. Farhadi is a master in getting a high level of authenticity out of his actors. Everything feels and look very natural, making me believe in these people and their situation. It opens up for questions and themes about forgiveness, the price for revenge and its consequences for people around those involved, complicated by a lack of trust in the police and the ability to not overreact on assumptions alone.
Tsotsi from 2005 is a South African film where the basic premise sounds somewhat contrived and Oscar-baity, and in some ways it is, but I think it actually manages to pull it off. A young man living in the slums of Johannesburg aimlessly gets by using threats and violence. One day he steals a car, shoots the driver and runs off. In the backseat he finds a baby, which he confusingly takes home. Over a couple of days, by being forced to take care of this baby, he manages to critically self-reflect on his violent lifestyle and learn about empathy. It sounds incredibly eye-rolling when spelled out, and I did have that feeling parts of the way watching it. What I think makes it work is how it has the same authenticity as City of God, just with more compassion and that it doesn't fall into sentimentality trappings. One way to view it is to not see it as merely a story about a gangster learning about love he never himself got to experience, but it is really more of an honest portrayal about extreme poverty and what it does to peoples morality. Told without judgement or villainization of anyone.
I actually started trying to watch Fellini's 8½ from 1963 but after about 20 minutes I decided that that type of film wasn't something I could get into now. Instead I watched The Great Beauty from 2013 which is very inspired by Fellini and similar to 8½ and La Dolce Vita. I haven't watched many Italian films outside spaghetti westerns, but I did enjoy La Dolce Vita and this does have the same feeling where the style is the substance. But beneath that there isn't much real substance, which does fit with the movies theme overall. It is sort of the whole point, that beneath all the excess and gorgeous environments, it is rather empty. Which our charming main character discover along the way. Watching it was a mix of being both bored and wowed. There are several scenes with a very high WTF factor, some great use of music and especially the dance scenes are hypnotic and mesmerizing. Like in La Dolce Vita the depiction of Rome itself is lovely, but this dragged and left me uninterested where La Dolce Vita hooked me from start to finish. Not surprising in won an Oscar, as this really is a crowd-pleaser for filmmakers with its imitation of Fellini.
Any Oscar winner is a good starting point for films that are at least interesting, even though I didn't like all of them, and none of them come really close to the best pictures in that category like The Zone of Interest, A Seperation, Roma, Amour or Cinema Paradiso.
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Comment on Wicked, Dune, It, and deceiving the audience about two-parters in ~movies
winther Link ParentHey - I also saw that in Imperial in 70mm :) I think the 70mm version was slightly longer than the regular version, but yes - still only around 3 hours. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was also...Hey - I also saw that in Imperial in 70mm :) I think the 70mm version was slightly longer than the regular version, but yes - still only around 3 hours. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was also shown with an intermission, but you are right - it is not something that have been used in decades.
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Comment on Wicked, Dune, It, and deceiving the audience about two-parters in ~movies
winther LinkI am slightly annoyed, though probably for slightly different reasons. I think streaming tv series have influenced a trend where film directors also want to tell their stories in long epic...I am slightly annoyed, though probably for slightly different reasons. I think streaming tv series have influenced a trend where film directors also want to tell their stories in long epic lengths, instead of embracing the limitation of telling a story through the film medium as a singular piece of work. Decades ago we had long epic films at close to 4 hour running times, but they were still released as a single movie but with an intermission. Though I don't see that approach having a revival soon. I just wish they could either do a well made miniseries or a single finished movie instead of splitting it up. I can't recall any example where it was justified, other than adaptions of books like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter (where splitting the last book in two parts wasn't a good idea either). In my opinion, a good filmmaker and script writer knows how to prioritize and trim down a story to proper movie length, rather than trying to cram everything from the source material in a medium where it doesn't belong.
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Comment on Follow up on the username thread: What Tildes users do you recognize when browsing and, without being rude or inflammatory, what is your impression of them? in ~tildes
winther Link ParentThank you for the nice words :) I think I have seen a few others I would guess to be Danes as well, but not something I keep track of. @Halfdan was pretty active but apparently they are banned now.Honorably mention to @winther who's the only other Dane on tildes (I think?). Always love their comments in the weekly ~movies threads too, they have such deep knowledge of film.
Thank you for the nice words :) I think I have seen a few others I would guess to be Danes as well, but not something I keep track of. @Halfdan was pretty active but apparently they are banned now.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
winther Link ParentI listened to the books Quartershare when they were originally released as free audiobook podcasts. Very cozy with a gentle positive vibe. Almost soap opera, but really engaging despite not having...I listened to the books Quartershare when they were originally released as free audiobook podcasts. Very cozy with a gentle positive vibe. Almost soap opera, but really engaging despite not having a whole lot of drama.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
winther LinkI have started reading the short story collection Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami. I mostly read science fiction, so it is an interesting challenge to read something more "literary". It...I have started reading the short story collection Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami. I mostly read science fiction, so it is an interesting challenge to read something more "literary". It surprised me that the first story Drive My Car was the foundation for the movie of the same name, which we discussed for Movie of the week a while back here on Tildes. Really interesting to see where the basic of the story came from, with many things being very recognizable and yet so very different.
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Comment on OpenAI, Google and Anthropic are struggling to build more advanced AI in ~tech
winther (edited )Link ParentThe public hype has been treating the current AI models as something of a first step that will only improve over time. And at the same rate! When in fact, what we have now is more like the peak of...The public hype has been treating the current AI models as something of a first step that will only improve over time. And at the same rate! When in fact, what we have now is more like the peak of 20 years of research and development. Of course there will still be improvements to make, but not at the same rate. Like some of the fastests cars can go from 0-100 in 1.8s, but from 100-200 takes 2.5s on top of that and even longer to go to 300. But the hype have just been mindlessly extrapolating the jump from GPT 2 to GPT 3 and concluded it would continue at that level every year.
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Comment on Google is testing the ‘impact’ of removing EU news from search results in ~tech
winther LinkMaybe a long shot if it actually turns out to be something positive in the long run, but I would welcome this. I think news and journalism have been ruined in its chase for optimizing for traffic...Maybe a long shot if it actually turns out to be something positive in the long run, but I would welcome this. I think news and journalism have been ruined in its chase for optimizing for traffic from Google and social media. There entire existence has become dependant on another company. Hopefully this could force news organizations to look inward and focus on giving readers a good reason to visit their site and read their articles directly. Develop a direct trustworthy relationship with their readers, so they want to type in the URL themselves and from a click from somewhere else. But that is probably too much to hope for.
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Comment on Selfishness in AI in ~tech
winther Link ParentIt is not about UI, but about the AI chatbot not being able to really help as it just rephrases existing FAQs. The tools the internet made possible made it easier and more efficient to communicate...It is not about UI, but about the AI chatbot not being able to really help as it just rephrases existing FAQs. The tools the internet made possible made it easier and more efficient to communicate with a company and their support staff. AI bots are replacing the support staff. Not because it is better or easier, but simply because it is cheaper. But worse in every other aspects. Even the first search engines were an improvement over having none at all. It didn't replace something better. Which is a common theme for AI implementation. It is rarely doing a better job at anything, it just does it cheaper. No one wins expect companies with this.
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Comment on Selfishness in AI in ~tech
winther Link ParentI think the end consumers will be worse off. I have yet to experience a support chatbot that wasn't incredibly frustrating and a complete waste of time. I work in a company that has a support chat...I think the end consumers will be worse off. I have yet to experience a support chatbot that wasn't incredibly frustrating and a complete waste of time. I work in a company that has a support chat with human operators, and a good percentage of our customers start a case with "I WANT TO TALK TO A HUMAN".
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Comment on If you had to start a blog and post even though very few may read it, what would get you blogging weekly? in ~talk
winther (edited )LinkI am sure very few people read my blog, but a few do and that is enough for me. My motivation for having one comes from what I like to read myself, which is other peoples opinions on science...I am sure very few people read my blog, but a few do and that is enough for me. My motivation for having one comes from what I like to read myself, which is other peoples opinions on science fiction short stories. I often search for other reviews and stumble upon similar blogs as my own. Occasionally I even get in contact with the author of a story I have written about, which make everything worthwhile. While I did enjoy the technical aspects of setting up a static site generator, I don't think I would bother if absolute no one read it.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
winther LinkLike every other millennial geek I was highly into the Lord of the Rings movies. Saw them all at release date in theater, the extended edition with all the extra stuff several times. However it...Like every other millennial geek I was highly into the Lord of the Rings movies. Saw them all at release date in theater, the extended edition with all the extra stuff several times. However it must have been 10 years since last time I went through them and I think rewatching Fellowship yet again held me back. It is probably the first one I have seen the most as you always start there. But here is no good reason to always do that and I really enjoyed just jumping straight into The Two Towers. Just to sort of "feel the atmosphere" of Middle Earth again. Often seen as just the middle movie, I came to really like this time around. I had forgotten how bleak and full of despair it actually is. Fellowship is still mostly the beginning of an adventure, whereas here we get a proper sense of how the coming war affects regular people. We see families torn apart, villages burned to the ground and families filled with terror of what is to come.
I also opted for the theatrical cut, which I haven't seen since release in 2002. I didn't feel I was missing much really. The extended editions are after all not a director's cut, just simply "more".
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Comment on The Browser Company announces Arc Browser will no longer be their flagship product in ~tech
winther Link ParentLikely many factors to this, but looking at kagi.com/stats the majority of users uses Kagi for search, which comes with close to a fixed of around $0.015 (at least it was around that last time I...Likely many factors to this, but looking at kagi.com/stats the majority of users uses Kagi for search, which comes with close to a fixed of around $0.015 (at least it was around that last time I saw the topic on the Discord). While Kagi certainly have some LLM power users, most likely only uses it occasionally. It is comparing apples and oranges, but gpt-4o costs $0.00250 for 1000 tokens (not really sure how much that actually is). I would also guess that currently that price is set too low, since the LLM industry is heavily subsidized by investors, hiding the actual costs.
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Comment on Looking for DRM-free book recommendations in ~books
winther Link ParentNot super specific, but any random issue of Forever Magazine will likely give you at least 3 good short stories. If I had to recommend one specific it would be this as the stories by Julie...Not super specific, but any random issue of Forever Magazine will likely give you at least 3 good short stories. If I had to recommend one specific it would be this as the stories by Julie Novakova and Charlie Jane Anders are great.
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Comment on Looking for DRM-free book recommendations in ~books
winther LinkWeightlessbooks is a great DRM free source. With a heavy focus on science fiction and fantasy. Plenty of short story magazines such as Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Analog and Asimov's also sell DRM...Weightlessbooks is a great DRM free source. With a heavy focus on science fiction and fantasy. Plenty of short story magazines such as Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Analog and Asimov's also sell DRM free ebooks.
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Comment on Kagi Translate in ~tech
winther Link ParentIt makes no business sense for Kagi to lie about this. They have a stable income from subscribers, which will dissappear immediately if it was leaked they were lying. I seriously doubt any data...It makes no business sense for Kagi to lie about this. They have a stable income from subscribers, which will dissappear immediately if it was leaked they were lying. I seriously doubt any data they could collect would be worth so much money for that risk, both financially and legally, to be worth it.
That aside, Google and Bing are with 100% certainty tracking you, so I would rather pick one that doesn't have a financial incentive to track or sell data.
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Comment on Any recommendations for books, novellas and short story collections? in ~books
winther LinkSeconding Ted Chiang, and I will also highly recommend Greg Egan. Those two are in my opinion the best science fiction short story writers. Greg Egan has a The best of Greg Egan collection, which...Seconding Ted Chiang, and I will also highly recommend Greg Egan. Those two are in my opinion the best science fiction short story writers. Greg Egan has a The best of Greg Egan collection, which as the title implies great. For something a bit older, and with a generally cozy and positive vibe to most of his stories, I can recommend the stories by Clifford D. Simak.
And something completely different, as I also tend to read mostly science fiction stories, I have picked up a short story collection by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Not very far yet, but I like his simple yet very poetic language.
Been working in IT for around two decades now, and some things are the same. Like I still use vim and all the basic Unix tool skills I picked still applies. SQL is still SQL and so forth. Of course the whole containerization and Kubernetes is radically different than just ssh into a server and manually do stuff. Which is for the better.
On the less technical side, I feel there is definitely a time before and after GDPR. Before data was just data, and there wasn't much thought into whether anyone kept more data than they needed. Not just internally, but also customers expected we sort of always had their data and that it was easily accessible. Now we have to deal with a whole lot of compliance work, to justify what we keep in our logs, what we have in our database, for how long, who has access, logs of who accesses and for what purpose and so forth. This is a great thing to be forced to handle and good for consumers in the end, but it also comes with a whole lot of frustrations when people are interpreting laws very differently and lawyers without technical knowledge who has absurd demands almost forbidding to keep any sort of backups or system logs, while still demanding we process their data.