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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 9th, 2023

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  • Yeah, I figured that’s almost assuredly the case on a forum like Lemmy (or Reddit prior to the Exodus) but I don’t know whether it can be extrapolated to the public at large. I’m practically a Luddite compared to many folks around here, but I’m possibly the most advanced computer user among my peers simply because I know a couple Win key shortcuts and I’ve used powershell before (with no comprehension of what I was doing, to be clear).

    It seems like most folks are willing to put up with bad UX, whether due to ignorance or apathy.




  • Sorry man, I’m not knowledgeable enough about computers to provide a summary, but I’ll mention this fun tidbit: apparently, the shipped version of task manager contained thus guy’s home phone number in the code by accident. He commented it out, but left the phone number in there, which means he can find instances of the source code being hosted online by reverse searching his home phone. Which is still a number he maintains, and he asks people not to call. Which is a bold thing to leave in the video imo


  • Ah I see, I misunderstood how you were applying the terms. My bad. I suppose I don’t typically talk about consoles or games independently of the experience that they offer, so whether it’s a new product with a vintage inspiration, or something vintage all the way through, I’d think of both products as retro, because, to me, they are both offering an experience reminiscent of an earlier era. I understand that’s an incredibly subjective experience though, and your take is probably more factually correct.


  • Okay, I’ll bite.

    My brother and I routinely dig out our old N64 when we go home for the holidays and enjoy an afternoon of retro gaming. In your opinion, I am using this incorrectly, because I’m actually vintage gaming, since I am using original hardware and software to do it (if I understand your assertion correctly).

    But, our specific purpose in using that original hardware is to, as you say, “[relate] to the past, past times, or the way things were”. We engage in this ritual as an homage to when we were kids and getting a new game for Christmas was one of the highlights of the first quarter of the year. So, I argue our use case meets your definition of retro as well vintage, and that you’ve invented a false binary where none actually exists.



  • The post is not literal. Marie Antoinette’s gender has nothing to do with her position in pop culture as the poster child of the casual detachment from reality that wealth brings (i.e. “Let them eat cake”). Given that this situation is over the expiration of food benefits, THAT is why Trump is being compared to Antoinette (and also why the comparison point is her, and not King Louis, for example).

    To mollify you, yes, I’m sure that a minor element of the “joke” here is that Trump is wearing a dress, but hewing in on that over the clear historical allegory is comically missing the point.

    If a man cut off the penis of his lover and threw it from the window of a moving taxi, and I posted the “they’re the same picture” meme of his mugshot and a photo of Lorena Bobbitt (look her up if this reference is making no sense to you), would that be transphobic for equating a male and female? I don’t think so, because the point of the comparison is their actions, not their undercarriages, same as it is in the OP’s meme.


  • That’s fair. For me, those first Bond movies are like a travelogue. Not only to a different place, but also a different time. So, I forgive the parts of From Russia with Love (for example) that drag, because I can still luxuriate in seeing Venice at that time. With Thunderball, the big “destination” is the Bahamas if I remember correctly. Coming so soon after Dr. No’s Jamaica set stuff, and the focus on filming the sea floor more than the scenery, just leaves me underwhelmed ultimately.

    I’d be curious where you rack and stack it later.



  • Hoo boy, I generally enjoy early Bond, but I feel like you’re being too kind to Thunderball. As I understand it, the underwater photography was pretty astonishing at the time, and it certainly feels like the movie was structured around the idea of SCUBA being the new hotness. Unfortunately, now that those concepts are relatively quotidian, you’re left with a slow, clunky movie whose big action sequences are (by nature of being filmed underwater) slow and clunky.

    Whenever I get the urge to go back and watch the early Bonds, Thunderball is always one I skip.



  • Now, I like Constantine just fine, or at least I remember liking it, though I acknowledge that that could be a case of the last sequence of that movie being so awesome it forgives a lot of the sins of the first hour and change. I’m a sucker for interesting character actors doing interesting work, and the Swinton/Stormare combo at the end is so choice.

    With that being said, what do you do with a Constantine movie now, especially if you want to cast Keanu again? Like, the safe thing to do would be a reboot I would think. The 2005 movie isn’t exactly a totem of pop culture, even if it’s rep has improved since release, and it’s not like it was a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material.

    I can just see a studio exec sweating in their office trying to decide between the “legasequel to an IP which still has a few dregs of pop culture recognition” or the “franchise reboot which promises to ‘get the adaptation right this time’” buttons.






  • The director’s previous film, Leon: The Professional, features a 12 year old Natalie Portman falling in with an adult hitman who seems to be developmentally stunted in some ways. Over the course of the movie, Portman’s character “falls in love” with Leon. To the movie’s credit, this is clearly not reciprocated, but it still features a scene where Portman puts on lingerie (over her clothes) and does an impression of Marilyn Monroe’s famously horny “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” routine.

    Put that right next to The Fifth Element, which features a savvy adult male who becomes the guardian of a woman who is physically an adult but mentally a child, and you’ve got a kind of gross pattern. Still though, I’d argue all of this, on its own, is easily defensible as artistic expression.

    Where things get suspect is when you factor in the director’s personal life during the making of these films, as he started “dating” a 15 year old (who he met 3 years prior) before writing Leon. He was 32 at the time. They married after she became pregnant at 16.

    Also, that “child-like” performance Mila Jovovich gives in The Fifth Element? Well it’s important to note that the director wound up getting divorced from his child bride because of the affair he was having with Jovovich. At least she was 18 at the time, but, still, when placed into context, yuck.