redhorsejacket

@redhorsejacket@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Basic courtesy⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  cart retrievers are paid to do a job. I allow them to do it.

  You intentionally make that job more difficult under some presumption that you’re ACTUALLY doing them a favor?

  Cool.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are people around you still excited about MCU movies?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  A charming, yet baffling, lack of guile comes to mind.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What movies have you watched this week?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I watched Speed for the first time last night. I can’t explain why it has taken me so long to see it, considering how much I love action schlock. Hell, I’ve seen Speed 2 multiple times.

  It was great, though it had to win me over. Once Keanu boards the bus, I thought it found its stride, or maybe I finally settled into the movie’s vibe. The most surprising thing about my experience (to the extent that it was nearly the only thing I wrote about in my letterboxd diary) was how compelling I found Keanu. I suspect that I’m biased by his post-John Wick resurgence and Internet darling status, but I really thought he was, in his own way, implying a huge amount about his character’s interior life through his line readings and body language. As I understand it, that was not the consensus at the time.

  It very much convinced me that I should get my butt into gear when it comes to looking at other 90s action movies. I feel like the whole decade is just packed with other, similar blind spots. At the very least, I’m advancing Point Break to the top of my watchlist.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are there still good movies review personal blogs? Which ones do you read? Looking for some content that would be more review and discussion oriented than industry news⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t know if any specific blogs that still operate in that sort of space, but I will say I’ve had luck with finding folks on letterboxd who put care and thought into their reviews. Admittedly, you still have to sort through a lot of "this was good! I liked it!"to find those reviewers, but it’s not impossible. My starting spot was looking up the hosts of some of the movie podcasts I listen to (shout out to Blank Check and Eye of the Duck) and then seeing who they interact with on the platform, checking those folks out, and so on.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Michael Mann: Heat (1995) | Bank Robbery Scene⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  It is my constant hope that my local Alamo will bring this back someday and I’ll be able to watch (and more importantly hear) this in an actual theater. As you pointed out, the sound engineering in this is almost more important than the visuals for conveying the intensity here, and I have to imagine that it is simply concussive with the aid of professional sound equipment.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨imagine⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  What kind of monster steals 30 kids’ lunches?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Films by Steven Spielberg⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I guess I was hoping you would have an argument to make about Spielberg’s filmography, since "he hasn’t done anything good since Temple of Doom is a nutty statement to me. I don’t see how you could hold that opinion, and I was asking for you to explain what it was about his post-1984 output that rubbed you the wrong way, in the hopes of possibly unlocking another angle by which to evaluate these movies.

  However, based upon your statement that you’re unsure of how to explain your opinion, I’m thinking I was barking up the wrong tree for that sort of discussion. If you don’t engage with film criticism in that way, we’ll just be talking past one another, I fear.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Films by Steven Spielberg⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Hot take. Would you like to expand on that?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨HoMM3 is still fun!⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  4 was something of a departure from the formula, wasn’t it?

  HoMM2 was my game from the series. For whatever reason, I never really progressed past that one, even though I had heard 3 was the consensus favorite.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anon thinks Aragorn could have done more⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Idle thought, not fully staffed: kinda turns the whole “you cannot use the tools of the Enemy, as they are evil in and of themselves and will bring even the most noble low” vibe of the books on its head.

  Or, at least, I seem to recall passages to the effect of fear being one of Sauron’s chief weapons. Could probably find a lit crit essay on this subject if I went digging.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does the US really have no instruments in case a newly elected president immediatelly and openly exposes he's a nazi?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Correct.

  I think they’re implying you’re making a distinction without difference. OP states the Anti-Federalists opposed the adoption of the Constitution, which was largely modelled after the constitutional monarcy of England. You clarified that they didn’t object based on the system’s model, but rather on the basis of all centralized government being bad. Their response is basically saying, yeah man, the Anti-Federalists were against centralized government , that’s what I said.

  I am inferring that OP believes that they had the right of it in the first go, no centralized government is preferable to any centralized government, specifically because of how centralized governance encourages the consolidation of political power into parties.

  I’m not nearly well versed in this time period to dissect that argument in detail, but I believe your rebuttal that their plan had been tried under the Articles of Confederation and found wanting, hence the whole debate about the Constitution to begin with, is a fairly succinct counterargument to the position I am sketching out on their behalf (read as: the strawman I have set up).

  All of which is to say, I’ve expended entirely too much mental bandwidth on this interaction and need to go touch some grass for a bit.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Looking for 4K bluray recommendations⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I would also suggest finding boutique retailer you vibe with. The Criterion Collection is oft cited, but it’s not the only game in town. I was looking at what was out there last year and these were a few of the retailers that stood out to me.

  Kino Lorber: Similar to Criterion in its seniority (started in 77) and art house focus. However, it seems as though their collection has become fairly diverse over time. I saw a 4k of Ben Affleck’s Reindeer Games listed next to a Blu-ray of an Italian film I’d never heard of from the 70s, so who knows what you might find.

  Arrow Video: UK based company, seems to operate in the same sort of genre space as Shout Factory in the US, with an emphasis on premium box art and pack in bonuses like posters and other bits and bobs. Runs a 2 for $60 UHD Bundle promo pretty consistently on their website. Seems like it’s 2 for £40 on the UK version of the site.

  Indicator Films (I swear this used to be its own label, but it seems to have been purchased by an entity called Powerhouse Films Ltd.). Another UK based label, seems to have themes for its offerings. Currently, they categorize their catalog in to Film Noir, Hammer Films, Ray Harryhausem, Mexico, Ozploitation, and Jean Rollin. So, covering a lot of bases there lol.

  Severin Films, Vinegar Syndrome, American Genre Film Archive, and many others, specialize in the sort of schlock that gave rise to the Video Nasties, a reference I make having never lived in the UK, nor been alive during the time period that term was originated, so forgive me if I’m off the mark on its usage lol. To greater or lesser degrees these focus on the typical genre trifecta of action-horror-sci fi, with some light toe dipping into erotica, which is something to be aware of if you do your Blu-ray shopping at work, like I tend to do lol. Some boutiques are on a strict “check from home” regimen lol.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Looking for 4K bluray recommendations⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I check blu-ray.com with some degree of frequency. I’m not sure how reputable they are as a review website, but they appear to fairly objective with their assessments of A/V presentation, citing metrics that sound legit to my otherwise clueless ass. I will say that, subjectively, I tend to agree with their assessments, so I think they’re onto something.

  Their “deals” section is pretty hit or miss, but they’ll occasionally do news post if a particularly good sale is going on somewhere. Similarly, I keep tabs on Criterion to catch any discounts they throw down.

  With that being said, the majority of my acquisitions have been from local book resellers, the occasional yard sale, and impromptu bargain bin dives while passing through a retailer. For example, my 4K steel book of Magnificent Seven was marked down to like $12 in a big tub of random DVDs and Blu-rays. I had to look up this particular release in the store (on blu-ray.com) just to be sure I wasn’t getting scammed with an inferior cash grab transfer. I also picked up a similarly priced 4k steel book of The Lair of the White Wyrm, which was a total impulse buy on the basis of it being $12 and looking nutty as hell.

  So, it’s a lot of luck, and I only own a dozen or so 4k discs, despite having started obtaining them several years ago, well before owning the requisite playback equipment.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Looking for 4K bluray recommendations⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Congrats! I’m in a similar position, recently acquiring a 4k player myself. I’ve been assembling discs as I’ve come across deals. Movies which I think really benefit from the 4k treatment include:

  • Lawrence of Arabia. Ideally, the first time anyone sees this movie would be on an IMAX screen. My first viewing was with 720p DVD rip watched on a cracked tablet screen, and it was STILL visually impressive. Watch it on a scale commensurate with the story itself, and it’s quite possible some sequences will take your breath away.

  • The Magnificent Seven. Similar vein as Lawrence (sweeping widescreen shots of desert locales), but a little grimier. The whole image has this really lovely texture and vivaciousness to it. I particularly enjoy the latest releases new color grade, which lends further vitality to the picture, emphasizing the panoply of color in many scenes through increased saturation and dynamic range. It does not tread into cartoony, Technicolor excess though, instead feeling “just right” to my eyes. Like how I remembered the film looking, rather than how it actually appeared on my old DVD release of the movie. –> Addendum to the above, the Criterion release of Seven Samurai is also worth picking up. It a perfect example of how good an “old” black and white movie can look.

  • Blade Runner. It’s a movie driven by vibe and aesthetic as much as plot, if not more, and the clarity of an HDR 4k picture enhances those features. Those aerial shots of LA, where you can see every little detail of the miniatures, down to each individual window of the Tyrell megastructure, are, again, breathtaking.

  • Alita: Battle Angel. A 21st century update of the cyberpunk aesthetic, but looked at through the maximalist lens of anime/manga, as opposed to the brooding noir tone of the Blade Runner. I don’t know when the next time we’re going to get Jim Cameron levels of production value in a cyberpunk setting any time in the near future, so I appreciate being able to pick out all the little details in the background of the frame, as well as the heightened impact of the crystal clear action sequences (thinking of the rollerball death match race sequence in particular).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sony will be releasing "KRAVEN THE HUNTER" on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on March 4.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Now, clearly this was never going to be a release which had oodles of effort put into its bonus features, but is it pretty standard that new releases on home video no longer have commentary tracks? That was the best part of the DVD boom.

  I can understand all the creatives involved wanting to get as far away from this radioactive bomb as possible, though.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨John Woo, Chow Yun-Fat Films Among Hong Kong Classics in Shout! Deal⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Very exciting stuff. I was looking for physical copies of some of Woo’s early films last year and, as you say, the landscape is a mess. I wound up just sticking with my old torrent copies, since those were a known quantity. Here’s hoping Shout is able to put together some decent releases.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Call of Duty's massive development budgets revealed: $700 million for Black Ops Cold War⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Cause it doesn’t matter if they are still profitable. If you aren’t MORE profitable than your last outing, then you aren’t growing, and if your business isn’t growing, it’s dying.

  However, I wonder if the premise is flawed here. In 1999, you could probably get a somewhat accurate idea of a game’s profitablity by comparing dev cost vs units sold. However, with live service being the AAA fascination du jour, and Call of Duty in particular having a whole game mode siloed off into the free to play space, I question if “units sold” is indicative of financial success anymore.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨PEGI gives Balatro an 18+ rating for gambling imagery⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Offline play? It’s SOLITAIRE. Offline play should be the ONLY play, by default.

  Feeling like I took crazy pills this morning…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Torrent of Hate for Health Insurance Industry Follows C.E.O.’s Killing⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  In retrospect, yes, this was exactly what I was picturing 😂

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Torrent of Hate for Health Insurance Industry Follows C.E.O.’s Killing⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Cynical speculation says that the writing assignment went something like, “shit, the sentiment on this is trending in the wrong direction cause of memes. Okay, get our meme editor in here, we gotta reach these kids…and page the fortune 500 consultant we hired away from the Journal, they’ll want to approve whatever we publish…”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨NYPD confirms suspect had a British accent⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Well some smart arse put up a sign that said “1 robber occupancy max” and now they’re all queued up outside the urine depository. Haven’t moved in days .

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Valve has created a Steam Bluesky account⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Whether it’s and advantage or not depends on your perspective. If you want the fediverse to supplant Big Tech, then no, having a culture which is not welcoming of outsiders is not an advantantage.

  However, if you happen to be a part of Lemmy’s “in-group”, you probably don’t want a bunch of “normies” flooding in and cluttering up your feed with what you consider to be low effort shitposts, or starting drama in the comments. In that sense, maintaining a barrier to entry is an advantage because, in this mindset, if they can’t be bothered to wrap their head around a slightly more complex signup than usual, than they weren’t going to be good members of this community.

  Perhaps some will disagree with my interpretation of the two popes (I meant poles, but I’m keeping the typo) of users here. To be clear, I’m not ascribing a value judgment to either position. I think both have valid points, and, frankly, I’m not sure where I come down on it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Musk and Ramaswamy float ending remote work for federal employees and ‘large-scale firings’⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes. However, federal trade unions are muzzled in the sense that it is against the law for a federal employee to engage in a strike. It’s been on the books since the 50s, but the balance of power really shifted when Reagan enforced it against 10,000 striking air traffic controllers. Some were incarcerated, and nearly all were blackballed from ever working a government job ever again (though that was eventually rescinded in the 90s). There’s no doubt now that even a “liberal” president would follow suit in the event another illegal strike occurred.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Watching passport bros get bodied by SEA women is a complete mood. Get rekt manlet.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m speculating, but I believe that’s a portmanteau of “gut” and “cunt”…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨USA President term limits⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  By all means, I’d expect him to try, however, this is a constitutional amendment. The Supreme Court can’t take back an amendment the way they can strike down laws (I.e. by ruling it unconstitutional for whatever reason), because it IS constitutional by definition.

  Thankfully, the Constitution is also very specific about what it takes to amend it further. 2/3 of both chambers of Congress, or 2/3 of state legislatures must vote to just propose an amendment, and then, to pass the amendment, they need 3/4 of the vote. Because the process is enumerated, there’s no legal ambiguity they can use to shape their ruling the way they want. To remove term limits, you must amend the Constitution. To amend the Constitution, you must meet these (intentionally) high thresholds. If A -> then B.

  So, unless Trump is able to woo half of the sitting Democrats, as well as 100% of the Republicans, we’re safe from the system being used to guillotine itself (instead, the system will spend the next 4 years hitting itself in the face with a bat). Now, if Trump wants to seize power outside of the system, that’s a different ball game, and the relative friendliness of judges and Congress is a moot point.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨She must be unhinged⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Many (but not all) private schools in the US are religious. From elementary school through college I attended Catholic affiliated schools. This sort of display would not be allowed at most public schools, and the ones that would allow it would be sued.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Eat lead⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Not that it really matters, but trying to learn about (Christian) God by reading the Old Testament is like trying to perform maintenance on your 2024 vehicle using a manual from the 2000 version of that car… Like, yeah, that was relevant once, and there’s some overlap, but the situation has evolved since then. It’s called the Old Testament because it is based on something outdated (again, from a generically Christian perspective). The Old Covenant (which is what the Old Testament is testifying to) was between God and the Jews, and was based around compliance with the law. That’s why the OT is so full of rules and punishments.

  Then, Jesus arrives on the scene and changed the game. His birth, betrayal, and death, represent a new contract between God and humanity (not just the Jews) wherein mankind is saved by God’s grace alone. In fact, God has done a 180 on the whole obedience to the law thing. Turns out, God loves sinners, and prostitutes, and tax collectors, and prodigal sons, and all sorts of ne’er-do-wells that the God of the Old Testament would have reviled. From the death of Jesus forward (and maybe retroactively too, I don’t know dogma all that well), the only thing necessary for your salvation is God’s grace, and that is given to all, as long as you accept God into your heart or something like that. Basically, God is Darth Vader, and he has altered the deal, pray he does not alter it further.

  Of course, as with anything A) religious and B) 2000+ years old, there’s a lot of disagreement on like every aspect of the above. But, I think I’ve got the gist of it correct from a generic, if Catholicism influenced, perspective. It’s been a long time since I had to sit through a theology lecture.

  With all that being said though, I imagine that the reason the OT has stuck around in Christianity is that it’s characterization of God as vindictive and capricious and obsessed with toeing the line is a very useful tool for keeping the plebs compliant. They get to have their cake and eat it too, as it were. “God loves you unconditionally sweetie, remember that, but also if you have sex before marriage you are DAMNED to HELL for ETERNITY!”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Rap Video rule⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Say what you will of the aesthetic being virtually insane, but personally, I think it’s supa dupa fly.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Tough Shit⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You are literally getting offended on someone’s behalf at this very moment.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You're not you when you're dooming.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Continue to be thankful. I made some boneheaded choices in college which resulted in my throwing away a full ride, and I left school with like 80k in debt. Thankfully, I am much more fiscally responsible than I was academically responsible, and I managed to pay that off over the course of like 7 years (aided in no small part by the forbearance periods Biden forced through during COVID). Which is good, because more boneheaded choices were made which resulted in a significant change to my financial situation. If I were still making payments at this juncture, I would be in a position where I’d be moving back into mom’s basement just to make ends meet.

  Not that there is anything inherently shameful in that (it’s fucking hard out here, and if that’s a resource that you have available, it should not be turned away simply because of pride), but it does cause me to wake every morning pleased I didn’t listen to any “financial gurus” out there who talk about shit like “good debt”.