@LillyHerself@Mastodon.socialThe film Blade Runner: poetic, beautiful and full of philosophy, with a fabulous cast and effects, has been a touchstone since it came out in 1982.
With misgivings I watched the profit-seeking 2017 attempt to milk the reverence in which the first film is held. It had its moments, but IMO it is largely a mediocre film.
Can we not leave perfection alone? Now, there's going to be a friggin TV series 😑
@timbray@cosocial.ca1/2 I was in the garden at night, thought the flowers looked sort of ghostly and dreamy, tried to take a picture with my phone and it came out black. So I tried the Android “Night Vision” thing…
Which was OK. But then I wondered if the first apparently-all-black version had actually captured anything.
So…
#photography
@hikingdude@mastodon.socialWe did a nice hike today. At the first summit we re-evaluated the trail ahead, possibly difficult terrain and our own condition.
Result: we CANCELLED and went the same way back which we came.
On the way down we met 2 women who coincidentally hiked the same route. We explained why we cancelled and agreed to possibly meet later at the inn where we parked.
They came a good hour after us to the inn - and they also cancelled, regarding our evaluation.
Nevertheless a good …
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialJust finished "Beasts Made of Night" by Tochi Onyebuchi...
Indirect CW for fantasy police state violence.
So I very much enjoyed Onyebuchi's "Riot Baby," and when I grabbed this at the library, I was certain it would be excellent. But having finished it, I'm not sure I like it that much overall?
The first maybe third is excellent, including the world-building, which is fascinating. I feel like Onyebuchi must have played "Shadow of the Colossus" at some point. Onyebuchi certainly does know how to make me care for his characters.
Some spoilers from here on out...
.
.
.
I felt like it stumbles towards the middle, with Bo's reactions neither making sense in the immediate context, nor in retrospect by the end when we've learned more. Things are a bit floaty in the middle with an unclear picture of what exactly is going on politics-wise and what the motivations are. Here I think there were some nuances that didn't make it to the page, or perhaps I'm just a bit thick and not getting stuff I should be? More is of course revealed by the end, but I still wasn't satisfied with the explanations of things. For example, (spoilers) I don't feel I understand clearly what kind of power the army of aki was supposed to represent within the city? Perhaps necessary to wield the threat of offensive inisisia use? In that case, a single scene somewhere of Izu's faction deploying that tactic would have been helpful I think.
Then towards the end, for me things really started to jumble, with unclear motivations, revelations that didn't feel well-paced or -structured, and a finale where both the action & collapsing concerns felt stilted and disjointed. Particularly the mechanics/ethics of the most important death that set the finale in motion bothered me, and the unexplained mechanism by which that led to what came next? I can read a couple of possible interesting morals into the whole denouement, but didn't feel that any of them were sufficiently explored. Especially if we're supposed to see some personal failing in the protagonist's actions, I don't think it's made clear enough what that is, since I feel his reasons to reject each faction are pretty solid, and if we're meant to either pity or abjure his indecision, I don't think the message lands clearly enough.
There *is* a sequel, which honestly I wasn't sure of after the last page, and which I now very interested in. Beasts is Onyebuchi's debut, which maybe makes sense of me feeling that Riot Baby didn't have the same plotting issues. It also maybe means that Onyebuchi couldn't be sure a sequel would make it to publication in terms of setting up the ending.
Overall I really enjoyed at least 80% of this, but was expecting even better (especially politically) given Onyebuchi's other work, and I didn't feel like I found it.
#AmReading
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzCowboys All-Pro Gives Very Encouraging Update On Week 3 Injury https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys/cowboys-all-pro-gives-very-encouraging-update-on-week-3-injury/?adt_ei=[email]
@Techmeme@techhub.socialHelsinki-based DataCrunch, which aims to become Europe's first AI cloud hyperscaler, raised a €55M Series A, bringing its total funding to €76.5M (Tamara Djurickovic/Tech.eu)
https://tech.eu/2025/09/08/datacrunch-raises-eur5…
@outer@mas.toHUAC sucked. J. Edgar sucked. Half our elected government sucks.
"...movie that came under suspicion was “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The FBI complained that the 1946 blockbuster, which starred Jimmy Stewart as a broken man who learns the true value of his life, “deliberately maligned the upper classes” with its negative portrayal of Mr. Potter, the town’s richest man."
It DID malign Mr. Potter. He sucked.
Help Jane Fonda and the new Committee for the First Amendment!…
@cdarwin@c.imThe sanctions, which came into effect late on Saturday and three months after Israel and the US bombed Iran,
bar dealings related to Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missiles programme
and are also expected to have wider effects on the country’s troubled economy.
“The current [economic] situation was already very difficult, but it’s going to get worse,” said an Iranian engineer who asked to be identified only by his first name, Dariush.
“The impact of the renewed sancti…
@seav@en.osm.town#TuneTuesday (Sep 2)
I first heard of Francois Klark when a song of his was beautifully included in the climax of a Netflix film. I got curious and listened to some of his other songs and came across the 2019 song “This City” which is the sort of pop song that really appeals to me.
@cdarwin@c.imWidespread UN sanctions against Iran have come back into force for the first time in a decade,
after last-ditch nuclear talks with western powers failed to produce a breakthrough.
The sanctions, which came into effect late on Saturday and three months after Israel and the US bombed Iran,
bar dealings related to Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missiles program and are also expected to have wider effects on its troubled economy.
