Encryption Could Get Illegal To Protect Children
A number of countries are pushing at the moment laws that would undermine everybody's privacy by making it illegal to communicate with end to end encryption. They believe that this will stop criminals. And especially that it will save the children somehow. When an article about this was seen by Sheiny this is how she reacted to it.
Call Me By Your Name
Being a fan of mostly action cinema, and plot heavy thrillers makes it feel as if Call Me By Your Name has no plot what so ever. But it is a mistake. Luca Guadagnino is a kind of director that tends to film very subtle movies. But if you are paying attention and you are invested in the characters themselves, those movies tend to have very strong effects. This is why I love Call Me By Your Name so much. It is as if I went on a vacation to Italy myself and spent my time with the characters of this movie. As if I had become their friend. And as if I myself got invested in their day to day little struggles.
Manipulation
Some software employ Dark Patterns and Manipulation to gain something from users.
Steven Spielberg Promotes Sharing
When you make a film, you tent to seek inspiration and advice from those who make good films. Before September my main activities were my job and the articles I write. I did some programming on the side. Like the infamous FastLBRY LBRY client. But that was it.
Minority Report
I reviewed a lot of films on this website and in almost every review I mention the name of Steven Spielberg. It's not because every movie I review is made by Spielberg. But it seem like every director can be viewed on a scale of Spielbergness. And the higher you go on that scale the better. At the top there is Steven Spielberg himself.
Challengers
I was skeptical of Luca Guadagnino's films like Call Me By Your Name until I saw them. It felt like Luca is making high brow dramas that are designed solely as tear-squeezers that appeal to contemporary politics. But then I saw his movies. From Call Me By Your Name to instant horror classics like Bones And All he proved time and time again that he is truly great. His movies are insanely visceral emotional roller-coasters that are not afraid to be sincere, while every other movie these days cannot take anything seriously. But then came a trailer of Luca Guadagnino making a movie about Tennis.
CGI vs AI
I showed my movie Moria's Race in a gas station once. A woman came by, saw it and asked me "Is it AI?". I obviously cringed. Because it wasn't AI, it was CGI. And there is a difference. Well technically there was one AI tool that was used. The open-image-denoise denoiser that comes preinstalled with Blender. But it's not really AI. Or is it?
The Killer
I miss the times when you could see a David Fincher movie in the cinema. The last time he made a true cinema picture was almost 10 years ago in 2014. Since then he fully embraced the DRM filled streaming dis-service models. And his latest film The Killer is a straight to Netflix production. And it seems like he himself feels a bit off about it. Because if we take the character as a proxy for Fincher himself. This character is complex in how much he tries to justify himself being a terrible person.
Addons For SuperTuxKart
There is this game called SuperTuxKart that I didn't develop. But which is among the best Free Software games out there. And they have a way to make and publish addons. This is a list of addons that I made for SuperTuxKart.
I'm Not Even Human
A story about a child in a time when children are Not Even Human anymore.
Dumb Phones
"You know they are listening to us this very moment?" - said Jake to Tom on a party one night. "What are you talking about?" - Tom was obviously confused. So Jake had to continue - "You know the Facebook app and the Google app on your phone is constantly recording what we have to say to each other, forming an opinions on us. They claim it's for advertising. But they can use it for anything they want. You know?". Tom looked at Jake with a slight smile. He knew he had a very good comeback. After a short pause Tom said - "I use a dumb phone." - and went into the party. But Jake didn't stop feeling bad. Jake didn't use no phone at all.
Baby Driver
If you expect Baby Driver to be anything like Hot Fuzz. Don't! If you expect Baby Driver to be anything like Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. Don't! If you expect Baby Driver to be anything like Last Night In Soho. Don't! The director of Baby Driver, Edgar Wright set for himself a challenge to make every next movie he does in a different genre. Therefor you get absolutely different effects from his movies. Even though there are obvious Edgar Wright tropes in every one of his movies.
Crazy Stupid Love
I decided to give myself somewhat of a Ryan Gosling marathon, after re-watching Drive the other day. I gave myself a challenge though. I didn't want to watch the stuff I already like. I didn't want "Only God Forgives" ( which I will review soon ). I didn't want "Blade Runner 2049". I wanted something else. Something that I personally would not select normally. And therefor I put Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Digital Restrictions Management
Digital Restrictions Management or DRM is any software functionality that is designed to prevent you from using the files on your computer the way you want to use those files. This is obviously a malicious feature. And is defective by design.
Fraud
Sometimes a program might have a deceiving function that is indented for Fraud.
Spy Kids Armageddon
I did not expect Spy Kids Armageddon to be any good. It is written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. A guy who doesn't care about quality that much. His view on film-making was shaped by his first filming experience in 1992 when he made El Mariachi. A movie so cheap that it was weird to a lot of people that it was an action film. Rodriguez has this idea that he can cheat his way into making anything at all. Using as he says "creativity instead of money". So most of his movies tend to look like the Star Wars prequels. A lot of pretty noticeable green screen. Tons of CGI where most other people would use practical props. And strange camera work which is probably more dictated by the limitations of his methods, and not by actual directorial decisions.
The Creator
Gareth Edwards is a type of writer / director that I can relate to. I remember watching the Star Wars movie that he directed Rogue One back when it came out and feeling like I know what this guy is doing. Like I myself want to be that guy. Back in 2016 ( when Rogue One came out ) I still didn't quite give up the Wrong Hate project and what he showed was the stuff that I was aiming for.
Jail
A Jail is any operating system that has to be Jail-broken to install applications not approved by the developer.
Little Naomi
In 2020 I had a lot of spare time and not a lot of what to do. This is when I started the Moria's Race project. And this is when I wrote Little Naomi. An album that should be listened in whole in the right order, since each song is a scene in a tragic love story.
Chocolate
Asian cinema is different from American cinema. When in America filmmakers are often armed with enormous budgets, Asian cinema is trying to survive with what it has while still delivering the same, if not more, entertainment value. It's not that hard when dealing with dramas. There most of the time the story is about a few people in few locations, talking and crying with one another. Which is not expensive. But it's an entirely different challenge when you are trying to compete within the action-film market.