Nope
I was avoiding Nope for a few reasons. One of them was because people kept saying that it is very disturbing. It has a scene which I thought was to traumatize me. Now that I actually saw the film I can tell you that Jordan Peele, the director of Nope is not Lars Von Trier and therefor the scene is not actually that bad. To be quite frank, it seems like shooting that scene the way Lars Von Trier would have done it probably goes against the message of the movie.
The Vast Of Night
It's so weird to be watching The Vast Of Night almost right after No One Will Save You. One movie has no dialogue, while the other is just dialogue. To be honest, it might seem very strange to make a film so dialogue heavy, if we didn't have people like Quentin Tarantino who shows time and time again that movies with a lot of dialogue can work fantastically.
Bootstrapping Publicity
Whether you are reading this article from my personal website or anywhere else it doesn't matter much, since I was able to post it in such a way that allowed you to find it and read it. But what if I couldn't do that? Imagine a very simple situation: An editor of a magazine writes an article that the owner of that magazine doesn't like. So he doesn't publish it. Of course that's not the end of the world. The article could be published elsewhere. But what if nobody wants this to be published?
Forcing Cashless
This article will be strangely related to something I had experienced just recently. And quite frankly somewhat related to the Moria's Race project. I will talk about means, or in this particular case, a mean, that governments sometimes use to push people into doing what the governments like people to do.
I Have Finished Animating Moria's Race
Jewish tradition has a prayer ceremony every morning called "Shaharit". Basically you sit ( sometimes stand ) for about 2 hours, reading a bunch of text in Hebrew from a book. Once a big Rabbi was asked "Why, if god loves us, we should suffer through this immense boredom every morning?". His answers was "It's true that it tends to be boring. And it's long. And you feel like suffering the entire time. But what a good feeling you get right when it's over.".
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.
Kimi
In some way the movie actually is very similar in concept to Beau Is Afraid. The main character has anxieties about leaving home. And in both films the main character has to go outside on the journey. And in both films the worst type of things happen to them. But while Beau Is Afraid is more about bad situations just being unlucky. In this movie, it is as if the film was written by Richard Stallman and it's a compilation of fears somebody in the Free Software community might feel.
Subscription
Though unfortunately Subscriptions in software today are the norm, they are a malicious functionality. Any software that you already have installed should work whenever you want it to work. Having a timer implemented in it, so it will refuse to work, unless you pay every once in a while, is malicious.
Speed Racer
This had to be done finally! One of the biggest inspirations for Moria's Race, one of my favorite childhood movies, one of the best action films ever and perhaps one of the most colorful films: Speed Racer by the Wachowskis.
Beau Is Afraid
There is a sub-genre of Horror films categorized by surrealism. It could range between totally insane films like anything directed by David Lynch all the way to something like Mandy by Panos Cosmatos, where it is kind of surreal, but also doesn't actually ask from the audience too much in terms of figuring out what is going on. "Beau Is Afraid" is more toward the David Lynch category of surreal horror.
J.U.M.P Limited
Imagine a platformer where you can't jump as much as you'd like. You can jump, of course. What platformer doesn't let you jump? But this time you can jump only limited amount of times. Therefor - Jump Limited.
I Just Poored My Depression Into Emacs
You stand nearly motionless in a court. It doesn't matter if you did anything, or if you're there by mistake. The judge and the jury finds you guilty and the reality of the situation doesn't matter anymore. You will be executed. What would be your last few weeks? What would be your last day? What would it taste like to eat your last meal? What would it feel like to walk towards the execution room? What would feel like to stand there while the officers put a bag on your head? What would feel like to die?
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.
Coercion
Sometimes a program might give you impossible choices were it is impossible to say no to something terrible. This kind of Coercion is a malicious functionality.
Moria's Race
An adventure of a little girl ( Moria ) that is so obsessed with racing that she throws her caution out of a fast racing car's window.
Vendor Lock In
A Vendor Lock-In is when certain software is developed to be incompatible by design with other software that have similar functionality. It is used to establish a monopoly. And any such function is malicious.
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.
No Respect For Those Who Give Up
When I was about 16 years old I went into my friend's house and saw a guitar. Without even having any money I asked him "How much for the guitar?". And bought it immediately. I had to return him chunks of money for the next year or so. A bit later, an old lady living in the same building as my mom, who was once a musician, decided that I worth be given a small electronic piano. Obviously I was quite excited to learn to make music and so I decided to record a bunch of songs. Which ended up being my first album ( 2015 ) "No Respect For Those Who Give Up".