UrLogicFails
@UrLogicFails@beehaw.org
- Comment on Why didn't the Discovery show-runners believe in the Federation? 5 weeks ago:
This raises a more philosophical argument as to what signifies the fall of a body like the Federation.
The Federation is a union of other bodies who through the spirit of cooperation decide to work together. If the majority of the bodies that make it up decide to pull out, does that constitute the fall of the Federation?
If one body leaves, of course it has not fallen; and if they all leave, it no longer exists at all. How many planets still need to be in a union for the Federation to successfully exist?
The fact that Vulcan/Ni’Var and Earth both pulled out and are two of the Charter members is certainly notable (though it doesn’t prove the fall of the Federation).
If it felt like the Federation had been weakened but was slowly rebuilding, I would agree with your idea that the blow to the Federation was meant to show its resilience; but the fact the Federation was not picking up steam at all (and felt much more in decline), to me indicates that the writers intended for us to interpret this as the Federation in its death throws until the Discovery showed up.
Perhaps this speaks to my own mindset as opposed to how the writers intended it, but it’s certainly how it came across to me.
As an aside, it could be interesting to explore what a Federation not primarily influenced by human/Vulcan influence could look like, as well as explore the idea of what constitutes the Federation (for example, could you have a Federation with no planetary members made entirely of individuals who have left their planet in the name of galactic brotherhood?). I am not sure the Federation is still in a place where such concepts could be explored, but it could certainly be interesting…
- Submitted 5 weeks ago to startrek@startrek.website | 10 comments
- Comment on Lower Decks Season 5 Official Trailer! 5 weeks ago:
I’m definitely excited to see Lower Decks hopefully going out on a high note, but I’m definitely sad to see it ending.
As someone who only recently got into Star Trek specifically because of Lower Decks, I am curious what show Paramount is hoping will act as a gateway show, so to speak, for new viewers.
- Comment on Darren Aronofsky in Talks to Direct ‘Plastic Man’ for DCU 2 months ago:
Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about this leak (assuming it’s remotely accurate).
I suppose you could make a horror/thriller-esque story about Plas if you leaned into the body horror aspect of it; but he seems like a much better fit for a comedy instead.
The two most recent runs in 20 years (Gail Simone and Kyle Baker) definitely have Plas established as a pretty unserious guy. There’s definitely a tinge of tragedy in his origin of being betrayed by his fellow goons, but he definitely bounces back.
Even runs where he isn’t the primary focus (the Injustice tie-ins or the Terrifics) have him as a pretty comedic character.
Having said all that, I am not terribly familiar with Aronofsky’s work; so I could definitely be missing something that makes him a good fit…
- Comment on Disney wants a wrongful death lawsuit thrown out because the plaintiff had Disney+ 3 months ago:
That stuck out to me as well. Disney probably made 50k USD in the time it took me to write this comment. This feels more like sending a message than trying to avoid a costly payout.
I’m sure they want to discourage lawsuits, but I’m worried they did this just to try to set a precedent on EULAs being the end-all-be-all.
I just hope they get enough bad publicity from this move to cost them more than the payout would have.
- Comment on Disney wants a wrongful death lawsuit thrown out because the plaintiff had Disney+ 3 months ago:
The fact that Disney is asserting that whether a EULA has been read is irrelevant and that a EULA signed five years prior for an unrelated use feels more than insidious.
I hope Disney’s claim gets thrown out because I worry about the precedent this could set for EULAs going forward.
- Submitted 3 months ago to technology@beehaw.org | 23 comments
- Comment on SAG-AFTRA Calls Strike Against Major Video Game Companies After Nearly 2 Years Of Contract Talks 3 months ago:
I’m definitely a little late to the party to comment on this thread, but it blows my mind that any organization would pick a flight with SAG-AFTRA at this point (or the WGA, though that’s not relevant to THIS issue).
SAG has already proven they will hold out pretty much indefinitely and the effects of the joint SAG/WGA strike are still being felt in Hollywood now.
Is the siren song of AI so alluring that companies are willing to die on this hill? At its peak hype, I could see executives salivating at the potential savings; but my understanding is there has been pretty substantial pushback to projects made with AI (or tech with AI in it). I can’t imagine that these large studios think their potential savings would outweigh the potential losses in sales; but I guess that’s why I’ll never be a Fortune 500 CEO…
I wish SAG-AFTRA nothing but the best in their endeavor for protections against AI.
- Comment on Microsoft is hiking the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and launching a new “Standard” tier 4 months ago:
I can’t say I’m surprised to see Gamepass get a price hike; it always seemed like it was in the loss leader stage to try to grow market share.
I wonder what the reasoning was to institute the hike now, though, since I’m not sure how strong their market share actually is on it.
My theory is that either:
- Microsoft is tired of footing the bill and expects results now
- Microsoft/ Xbox think they have enough market share, so it is time to stop cultivating and time to start harvesting
My understanding is they are still releasing new Series S models, which are basically just Gamepass machines; so I would expect they are not happy with their current market share (though corporations literally never are), which makes me think it’s the former option, not the latter.
All that being said, I wonder how much the price can increase before the value proposition of Gamepass is moot. Right now 20 USD a month doesn’t sound bad as long as you’re playing at least one new game a month, but I wonder how much more room there is in the price before the number of games you would need to play becomes unreasonable.
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of the Gamepass model since I like owning my games physically (it’s the main reason I prefer console to PC), so I don’t have much of a horse in this race; but I will be interested to see what becomes of Gamepass in the long term.
- Comment on Why Dave & Buster’s Is Transforming Its Arcades Into Casinos 5 months ago:
That’s a really good point about their business model potentially being unsustainable, but I still question if adding gambling is the answer.
Things that get me to go out (and I know that is anecdotal at best) are things like trivia nights, theme nights, stand up comedy, etc. I don’t think I would be very tempted to go out by the opportunity to be hustled in Angry Birds.
I agree that Dave & Buster’s needs to develop a more novel niche to not get erased by home entertainment, but I would be shocked if this was the best way to do it.
- Comment on Why Dave & Buster’s Is Transforming Its Arcades Into Casinos 5 months ago:
I remember when this news first leaked, people online were joking about getting into fights over a 200 dollar bet on a kid’s game if skeeball.
While I’m not sure how common that type of phenomenon would be, I have to agree with the author of this article that I would certainly think twice before bringing a child to a location where gambling is encouraged (especially in conjunction with drinking).
- Submitted 5 months ago to gaming@beehaw.org | 5 comments
- Comment on The inside story of Elon Musk’s mass firings of Tesla Supercharger staff 6 months ago:
At this point, I’ve lost count of the number of times Elon should have been let go. I recall him recently saying that dosing himself with cat tranquilizers was cool and a good business decision actually.
That’s not even getting into turning Twitter into a Nazi bar (and throwing out its extremely valuable branding) or pushing for the cybertruck that cuts its passengers, looks like a dumpster, and corrodes if you look at it funny.
The fact any board of directors considers this man employable at all is mind boggling to me.
- Comment on The inside story of Elon Musk’s mass firings of Tesla Supercharger staff 6 months ago:
Honestly, that’s my main hope as well; that all the charging team talent will disperse across the market and help other chargers spread as well. The article mentioned Tesla having 60% of the fast charger market, so hopefully we will see other companies fill the gap.
My concern is that if no companies pick up the ball Tesla just dropped (or more accurately angrily chucked over the fence), that this could set the EV charging network back significantly; which would definitely be a problem for mass adoption of EVs.
- Comment on The inside story of Elon Musk’s mass firings of Tesla Supercharger staff 6 months ago:
When this news dropped a little while ago. I saw a lot of speculation that basically Elon got mad that a woman said he was wrong and laid off possibly Tesla’s biggest asset in a tantrum.
Honestly, at this point, the most surprising part of this situation is how unsurprised I am at that being exactly what happened.
Hopefully, this will not set back a widespread EV charging network (Tesla or otherwise) too much; but it definitely sounds like damage has been done.
- Submitted 6 months ago to technology@beehaw.org | 32 comments
- Comment on Microsoft closes Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin and others 6 months ago:
Microsoft has certainly made games based off IP they owned without the original developers. But the only examples of that I can think of is Halo, which I don’t think was highly regarded.
Similarly (though not at Microsoft), when Shu Takumi took a break from the Ace Attorney franchise to do Ghost Trick, the quality of the franchise was widely regarded to have a dip as well (though now he has returned for the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, the quality is considered to have returned). Ghost Trick was considered to be a very high quality game as well.
While IP is valuable; as an outsider to the industry, the skilled game devs seemed infinitely more bankable. I was certain that Microsoft wanted Bethesda for its quality devs, but clearly I was wrong.
You don’t sack the team responsible for your best regarded game in years, if you’re concerned with making good games.
You’re probably right. Microsoft is probably not worried about the quality. People will still buy their favorite IP, even with a notable quality dip
- Comment on Microsoft closes Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin and others 6 months ago:
Honestly wild they would close Tango, of all developers, after they delivered maybe Xbox’s only coveted exclusive (though it has since gone multi-platform). Redfall and Starfield were both duds, and I’m not sure if Xbox has had any other exclusives at all (coveted or otherwise).
Having said that, it’s pretty bad that Xbox is closing these studios regardless of if they have put out a hit recently or not. As Arkane Lyon chief Dinga Bakaba points out:
You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are tough. We know you can, we seen it before.
Microsoft certainly has the money that they don’t need to be making these cuts. This is clearly the result of Line-Go-Up syndrome, and will only hurt them in the long run.
PlayStation is already eating Xbox’s lunch since Xbox has no console selling exclusives. How are they going to make any good exclusives after cutting so much of their staff? (Also as a side note, I find it wild how much Microsoft spent on Bethesda just to cut so many of those studios.)
Overall, a cruel and short-sighted move from Microsoft.
- Submitted 7 months ago to technology@beehaw.org | 10 comments
- Comment on Matthew Vaughn Quit ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ Over Fake Script Written for Halle Berry: ‘I’m Out of Here’ 1 year ago:
After reading the article, I’m not surprised First Class was my favorite of the X-Men franchise; it really seems like Matthew Vaughn understands what was needed. Putting DoFP right after instead of letting the younger cast stand on their own for a while always felt like a mistake to me, and I missed the lighter tone from First Class as well.
I also found it interesting he was thinking of Tom Hardy for a young Wolverine, since I’ve seen that thrown around as a fan-casting for a while.
- Comment on ‘Daredevil’ Hits Reset Button as Marvel Overhauls Its TV Business 1 year ago:
It’s a bit of a long read, but I thought it was interesting what a mess the Marvel production was.
Marvel Studios has always had a tough relationship with TV cough Inhumans cough. I think Agents of SHEILD being their only successful non-Netflix show before launching a plethora of shows on Disney+ (and even that one was a little rough around the edges).
Since launching Disney+, I have personally found the Marvel TV quality to consistently hit C+/B- quality, with occasional highlights (the first half of Wandavision, most of Loki); which surprised me since I felt the movies hit higher quality more consistently.
It makes sense the TV landscape has been hard with Marvel after reading this article, though. Committing to a whole season/ series with no pilot seems risky enough, but combine that with no show-runner and a fix-it-in-post attitude, and it’s a shock the shows came out as passable as they did.
It sounds like Disney is planning to change that, but I’m not sure how much I believe that to be honest. It’s also worth noting that I only think it’s happening because of the recent negotiation with the WGA.
- Comment on Hollywood strikes to cost US economy $5 billion-plus amid lost wages, film delays 1 year ago:
a movie where Iron Man enters a mini-golf tournament with Genghis Khan and the 1927 New York Yankees
Don’t give them any ideas LOL.
Overall, I think you’re completely correct. So far consumer LLMs cannot come close to anything a human writer can create, but I’m concerned that Hollywood would gladly take the hit on quality to save on writers. I hope the strikes succeed in preventing AI from entering the writing and acting space, but hopefully they don’t need to make concessions to prevent it.
As an aside, if everyone could create their own movies with AI, I wonder if studios would simply become IP holding companies (more than they already are). Anyone could make Lethal Weapon 5, but only the studio with the likeness rights (and training data) of Rob McElhenney would be able to have it look like the original actors are present.
- Comment on Hollywood strikes to cost US economy $5 billion-plus amid lost wages, film delays 1 year ago:
The amount the studios are losing from the strike could have paid for the WGA/ SAG requests easily, which makes the studios holding out feel even more ridiculous; but I think it’s not about the money for them.
I think they want to send the message that they hold the power, not the workers, to disincentivize/demoralize future strikers. On top of that, I think they are salivating at the thought of never paying a “creative” again; and AI writers rooms and owning the likeness rights of every extra they ever use would certainly make it easy for them.
The studios are dreaming of the day they can ask a computer to generate Iron Man 7, and it’ll spit out the script, generate CGI acting (including a rubbery PS3 looking RDJ), and it won’t ever need to touch human hands.
The studios want to frame the strike about money (and that is certainly a big issue), but this could very well be a strike for the future of Hollywood’s “soul”; which is why I think the studio heads are willing to take such a bath to keep it going
- Comment on **BLUE BEETLE Discussion Megapost** 2023-08-18 🪲🦸 1 year ago:
Overall, I thought it was a cute enough movie.
The CGI and costume looked rough to my eyes, but I gave it more slack afterwards when I found out this was originally slated to be an HBOmax release. The superhero aspects also felt a little played out and dragged a little, but nothing that was an active detriment to the movie
Where the movie really shines, though, is the family. They are the heart of the movie and have phenomenal chemistry. I’m glad they’re carrying over to the James Gunn universe, as it would have been a waste of elephantine proportion to lose this cast. As a quick aside, I wish we got a little more of the dad and a little less of a George Lopez, but their overall dynamic was still great.
My biggest issue with the movie, though: not enough Harvey Guillén! He’s great in What We Do in the Shadows and when I saw him on screen, I was anticipating him to steal the show in Blue Beetle. Unfortunately, he did not get nearly as much attention as I’d hoped; but I pray he’ll somehow return for the next one (though I doubt it).
- Comment on **TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM** Discussion Megapost 2023-08-02 🐢🥷 1 year ago:
I think it should be OK. The movie was rated PG, though it feels like it rides the line with PG-13 a little. I saw the movie almost a week ago so I don’t remember exactly what made me think that at the time, but I was a little surprised by some of the musical cues (though my understanding is some of them are in the trailers). When I said it was adult, I just meant that it didn’t talk down to the audience in a way that would annoy adults
I personally didn’t find any of it particularly objectionable, but I might not be the right person to ask. This website seems to think 11+, but this is the first time I’ve looked at the site so I’m not sure how accurate their rating system is.
- Comment on **TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM** Discussion Megapost 2023-08-02 🐢🥷 1 year ago:
I recently saw the new TMNT movie and I have to say I really liked it a lot. I didn’t grow up with the TMNT, so it’s hard for me to say how accurate it is to the originals, but I thought the animation was phenomenal and the story itself was very solid too.
I’ve seen a lot of people praising the animation, so I’m not going to include too much detail on why I liked it (to avoid retreading too much ground), but I really liked how grounded and relatable everyone’s motivations were. Wanting to fit in and be a part of a community is such a quintessential human experience; and lashing out from fear of rejection is extremely relatable as well.
The humor seems aimed pretty solidly at millennials (based on the references made throughout the movie), and I was surprised how adult this kids’ movie was.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed this movie; and after Barbenheimer last week, it’s been a good week for movies for me