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[Album]

   
   

Album	Artist	Year	Genre	Link
1979	Deru	2014	Ambient	https://musicstore.deru.la/album/1979

Ambient album from all the way back in 2014. Distills a feeling of faded nostalgia down in to a series of ambient drones, with heavily use of super analog vinyl and tape distortion and artifacts. Feels a bit like browsing your old family polaroids.

Oh, is it just QI?

Never seen it, but the early 2000s (I think?) The Time Machine?

The 'old timey' diagrams make me instantly go to Look Around You, even though the graphic in the last image doesn't quite fit with the style of the show.

My brain: Why does he hate coves?

[Edit:]

I've no idea what the lyrics to this are, so I can only assume the band was just a big fan of Tom Hardy's performance in The Dark Knight Rises.

Edit: Nevermind, the mad lads re-recorded the whole album in English. I've never followed Opeth closely, but this is seriously my jam.

["Be sure to drink your Ovaltine"]

"Be sure to drink your Ovaltine"

"Ovaltine? A Crummy commercial? Sonuva b*tch."

I've had it on the backburned for a while, but hearing about Cixin Liu's pro-re-edjucation-camp, anti-democracy/pro-authoritarian views don't exactly fill me with excitement. A bit like how learning about Orson Scott Card's favourite use of money really killed my desire to ever pick up Ender's Game. I'll join Snarky on recommending Ken Liu's Paper Menagerie though.

the game is really great, but I'm a bit lost on how

Spoiler

to find out about the code of the metal door under ground. Is there some clue on that or is it bruteforceable?

[close]

Spoiler

Four digits could fit a year

[close]

Spoiler

Something in the cabin had a manufacturing year on it

[close]

Spoiler

The washboard reads 5988

[close]

In this nadir of the Trump experience I felt like revisiting the first page of comments from four years ago to see how they held up...

On the positive side: I predict that Trump will expose most of the corruption in the American and worldwide political system through his sheer just stumbling around in a dark room and not knowing how to maintain the status quo of a coffee table over here or a lamp over there...

This has quite clearly held up, though less in terms of the world stage and more in terms of literally every Republican politician bar Romney.

Having become President and commander of the armed forces, Trump's ego swells to even more grandiose proportions. He is hooked on the high of adulation, and responds to any criticism or attack with uncontrolled fury. Having alienated much of the political establishment (particularly the foreign policy establishment), his administration is short on expertise and full of extremists, sycophants and charlatans. His undisciplined, impulsive and downright foolish words and actions, as well as the missteps of the other unqualified administration members, cause numerous international and economic crises, to which his instinct is to respond with aggression and escalation. Hopefully his easy manipulability (just flatter him) and more rational actors in other countries manage to stop these crises from sparking wider war.

The US abandons many of its treaties, including the Iran treaty (so Iran resumes its nuclear weapons program), NAFTA (causing a loss in trade with Mexico that weakens the economy), the Paris climate change treaty (setting back any effective action to stop the ongoing global environmental disaster), and more. "Obamacare" is only partially abolished, but millions of Americans do lose their health care. Deep tax cuts lead to giant deficits, and to cuts in government programs and staffing. Anti-trade policies and attempts to "get tough" in trade negotiations with China and other countries lead to retributory policies that may escalate into a trade war. Together with the uncertainty caused by Trump's erratic behavior, this causes the economy to plunge into another recession.

On immigration, Trump's signature policies (the wall, deportation) are watered down or only carried out to a symbolic extent; most of his supporters don't notice, but some hardliners decry him as a traitor. In matters of social justice (police violence etc.), a Trump administration is unsympathetic and tin-eared, and this leads to increased social unrest. Killings both of cops and of black activists, by disturbed individuals who have been radicalized online, increase.

Coming into office as a sexual predator with a long list of scandals, a track record of fraud and illegality, not having isolated himself from his business interests, and with ties to organized crime, international fugitives and foreign oligarchs and dictators, Trump's administration quickly shows itself to be the most corrupt and scandal-ridden in memory, with Trump blatantly using the government to enrich himself. These scandals get considerable play in the media, but the GOP Congress is too craven and partisan to take any action to censure or rein him in, at least at first.

Already loathed and feared by half the country, Trump's shtick wears thin very quickly even for many who voted for him. His approval ratings fall to somewhere around the George W. Bush low point of 25%. Resentful and vindictive, he lashes out at his enemies and tries to use the powers of his office to get even with them. This leads to illegalities and abuses that dwarf Watergate.

... So, all around a fun few years ahead.

Administration of sycophants. Abandoning of the Paris treaty and attacks on healthcare, deep tax cuts (for the wealthy), anti-trade policies against China that just hurt the USA, no real wall, massive social unrest centering around social justice - damn. I feel like Snarky actually managed to predict the George Floyd protests and riots. No GOP action against the blatant illegalities whatsoever, of course. Though the 'at first' has clearly died in a ditch unless we're counting "admitting the other guy won by a large margin". Illegalities dwarfing Watergate probably didn't even take until the 1 year mark, but it's certainly accelerated to lightspeed.

"Trump's shtick wears thin very quickly even for many who voted for him. His approval ratings fall to somewhere around the George W. Bush low point of 25%."

Is the part it falls apart though. They just drank the Kool-Aid even harder. Heck, his approval rating is 42% as now. It actually rose since December from what I can see. The crazy train has no breaks, it's only getting stopped by everyone crashing into the side of a mountain and dying in the firey wreckage of 'actually attempting to stage an armed revolt'.

Lord all mighty, you think 2020 is finally over and then 2021 kicks your door in and smiles menacingly at you while brandishing an axe...

[Sin City]

I think Sin City is a perfect adaptation of the graphic novel. It's done frame-by-frame in a way I wouldn't have thought possible. But if you thought the graphic novel was crap, then you won't like this either. The story takes second seat to style and execution, and there's plenty to be offended by. But I loved it.

Definitely some of the compositing or CGI can look a little off by modern standards... but the thing that really took me out is how comical the 'character is hit by a car' scene is. Or should I say 'character is repeatedly hit by like 10 goddamn cars as he's flung from car to car like a pinball' scene. There's only so much you can push the physics of something, even in a less grounded setting, and that by far broke it for me. Even with a cartoon I think if you set it up as obeying some slightly exaggerated version of physics, that precludes you from having a character fall 200 feet onto concrete and not die (I think one of the Kung Fu Panda film has some variant on this). For me, that one scene went from 'stylised reality of a graphic novel' to 'Looney Toons Wile E Coyote cartoon'.

Also, clearly 12 Angry Men (1957) is the bestest film.

Lots of people in dated suits and a gauze filter over every shot, that definitely does seem like Casino.

Mononoke needs acknowledging for being the nightmare fuel that it is, horrifying worm boars, vengeful nature gods, and a somewhat doom filled story. Feels more akin to something like Neverending Story with its mix of surreal nightmares and general doom.

Struggling to come up with a show I can be bothered to screenshot if anyone wants to have a go picking the next one.

The Core?

That looks like Frank Grillo on the right... Looks like people watching a fight (poster in the background of second image supports this focus too).

So by my incredible powers of deduction of rigorous Googling... Kingdom?

"illegal animals deportation camp"

I don't want to even try and unwrap that nugget.

If it was the very big bundle, that really doesn't narrow it down that much.