Got a regular Joseph Campbell over here.

Traditional plot structures are used because they speak to something inside of people. Subverting that just to be different doesn’t make a movie better.

The theatrical cut of Dark City assumes the audience is an idiot and spoils the movie’s plot twist with an unnecessary opening narration.

I saw it in IMAX, and I honestly don’t think it would have mattered to me if I’d seen it in a regular theater. It still feels like an event that would be missing something if I’d seen it at home first, but it was lacking any real visual spectacle. It’s a well-made film, but there were no blockbuster holy shit eyecandy moments.

That’s one of two major gripes I have with the movie.

My second gripe is entirely to do with a pretty egregious diversion from the source material, specifically with Athena. Zendaya is great, but Athena is supposed to wear a helmet. That’s her whole look. Having a helmetless Athena is like if they’d given the cyclops two eyes.

So your lack of knowledge about the source material won’t work against you, and seeing it on a small screen should be fine if that’s what you’re into.

Eventually turn to shit means it could still be good for like a decade.

He can also type comments on internet forums, can’t you??

Nostalgia makes us lie to ourselves.

Have you ever noticed that almost all of the retro games worth playing happen to be the ones you played back in the day? But the games you didn’t play don’t hold up? What a crazy coincidence.

Game design is better today than it has ever been, and it keeps improving. All those old mechanics still exist. You just don’t have to slog through hours of bullshit to get to them anymore. Unless that’s what you want, in which case that is also available.

If you want a manual, play Tunic. If you want punishing difficulty, play Hollow Knight. If you want to delve into new games with unknown mechanics that you figure out as you go, play UFO 50. There are so many options, and you never need to see a microtransaction unless you want to.

There are so many games like that out there. More than there have ever been. If you can’t find them, you’re not looking.

UFO 50

Follow up: a bunch of these employees just got fired the other day because their second game didn’t sell well enough.

It’s not about them making money directly; it’s about whether the studio continues to exist at its current size, which it no longer will.

Can you summarize it? I’m interested, but watching a five hour YouTube series is something I will never do at any point in my life.

The founders of the company won’t get a cent, but the coders and the people who labored to create the game are still there and would benefit from it.

So if you want to be anti-capitalist, pirate it, but if you want to support the people who labored to create it, buy it.

Parallel thinking I’m sure, but my kids have an entire book that takes this idea and just runs with it. I think it’s called “Sandcastle”. After the Sandcastle is completed, a bunch of foreign kings and queens show up and start bitching about how they’re getting sand in their clothes.

Honestly when I read that description of AI it just makes me think: we’ve done it. We’ve recreated baseline human intelligence.

I mean do you think every person you interact with is truly understanding and processing everything they hear, or do you think that some of them just react as if on instinct, responding with something that often makes sense but mostly just feels like it makes sense? If you’ve been in the corporate world long enough, it’s hard not to believe it’s the latter. I think it’s just unintuitive how far you can get that way.

. . . Now kiss.

A far simpler version that my kids enjoy:

“What does the janitor say when he jumps out of the closet?”

So then a person could make his living by interviewing for jobs he’s not qualified for and could never get? I guess that probably wouldn’t happen.

I didn’t used to hate the long interview process until I applied for a job that had me fill out like a hundred questions for background information. It was like, “Have you ever been convicted of embezzlement for an amount greater than $500?” No. “Have you ever been convicted of embezzlement for an amount less than $500?” No… “Have you ever been convicted of embezzlement for exactly $500?”

Did you know that if they can guess your crime with enough specificity, legally you have to admit to it? At least that’s what I assume, based on the questionnaire. Like, “Have you ever been convicted of violating the endangered species act while crossing state lines in a class C vehicle on a Sunday?” And I’m like, “No, but you’re so close!”

Anyway, I got the offer, but then they rescinded it when I asked for more money.

My wife used to wake up tired some mornings and not know why, until I pointed out that the difference was whether her cat was nibbling on her shirt all night.

I don’t live in a climate that supports that. My cat can come and go as she pleases. My other cat won’t come in at night because it’s not his territory.

Still blaming the glass cliff scapegoat?

You could have left that take on reddit. You didn’t have to bring it with you.