stuart78

A dimension I dind't see mentioned in the article is the volume of production and changing dynamics in the VFX industry. Back in the 70s/80s/90/s there was dramatically less special effects-driven content being produced. The community of those films was so small that you could have minor celebrities in people like Stan Winston. As the demand for the resource has increased, the talent in the production team has not kept up. This seems to me to be a key factor in the decreasing average level of CGI quality. Also keep in mind that VFX is a generally bad business. While more is being spent on production, VFX shops are extremely margin-driven and when you combine tight margins with tough (global) competition you end up making tradeoffs.

But you'll have a very happy Christmas 2022!

I think that happens to just about all Dramatic shows. Same for Mad Men, Breaking Bad and other popular shows. Without the scarcity of yore, we have a constant buffet of alternatives, so who has time to rewatch (or catch up). In contrast, The Office, Friends and Seinfeld are apparently still bringing people back, perhaps because it is comforting to spend time with those characters and the viewer doesn’t need to make a big commitment.

I thought that when he interrupted for champagne showers, but after that he seems more present in the conversation and really listening.

I have to say that listening to Shatner's description made me more intrigued than the other stories I've heard from the recent visitors. His emotion, the voice, the particular idea he is trying to express of that change in perspective really captured the intensity of the experience in a way that made me want to know it as well.

Wow, that is the end of an era. In some ways it is sad to see a successful independent foundry get absorbed, but on the other hand, it sounds like he is ready for a break, and this sounds like a good outcome for those involved.

As a fan of Classical music and Apple Music (the service, if not the app), I am on board. I've trialed a number of the dedicated services, but could never justify the added cost. I feel like Spotify's focus is on being the app for young people, which is all well and good, but not of much interest to me. If Apple wants to build a coalition of different types of listeners, they are meeting me where I am.

Interested in seeing how the separate app plays out. I agree with the limitations of the current Music model, but wondering about support for my existing library (especially iTunes Match content). Feels especially odd on mobile to have one more player.

Like any other technique, leaving on a question can be a poor substitute for a more fitting ending, but when done properly it can reinforce a core theme within the work.

I am not a huge Inception fan, but I do think the cut at the end is an important part of the movie and a good example of effective ambiguity. It might scratch an itch to show the top falling of hold longer (to confirm he is in a dream), but what value comes from that resolution? Ending the film before the answer allows us to think about what we've seen earlier to try and answer it for ourselves. Even though the movie is over, the audience is left with a part to play as they leave the theater.

Love it, i'd be hitting that w two or three times a day.

I remember when I got access to the Apple LaserWriter II at my dad’s work for the first time. Until then all I had access to had been dot matrix printers at school. As fun as folding springs from the side tabs was, this new printer opened so many doors for me. Illustrator (of the Aldus variety) drawings came out perfectly. School papers looked good. I couldn’t get over what I could now do.

I still have a deep fondness for laser printers and I’ve never owned anything else. As the article notes, they ‘just work’, and the results allow near-perfect reproduction really quickly.

There is no need for a partnership beyond the one that allows Facebook to be hosted in the App Store. I think the point is being ready on day one to take advantage of whatever Apple delivers in this space. Facebook switched from web-first to mobile-first/native relatively slowly when the first mobile App Stores, and I think the point is they don't want to be second movers in the future.

Would “Small Pharma” have gotten us our COVID vaccines faster?

I get the complaints, but so much of these actions feel like they don’t start with an understanding of the benefits large can bring.

I’ve been using Apple Maps since getting my first CapPlay compatible car. I switched because the Google Maps app was (and remains) awful to use. GM forces you to view a very small view of where you are going next. Multiple click to access trip view and custom map scale. In contrast, Apple Maps makes it easy to toggle between multiple views with one click and the UI is less cluttered.

Personally, I like to use the map to occasionally update my mental map, not for turn by turn spoon-feeding. Apple’s app makes this much more convenient.

Additionally, bookmarking in Google Maps remains primitive and hard to manage. Apple introduced collections over the last few years which are great.

What I miss the most about Google Maps is the photos, which are generally better than Yelp (and don’t open a new app).

Apple has work to do outside of US, but their maps make steady progress year after year, and if the US indicate where rest of the world is headed, things will get better.

Sometimes when I hear projection for jobs being automated away I look at my own colleagues and friend and feel skeptical. And then I read something like this…

sounds like you helped him sharpen his skills.

If they decree to tree me, I’ll be their tree with glee.

Fully support this for myself, though I don't think I need my composed remains to be returned to the family. Not sure why, but that feels more grim than ashes on the mantle (though I don't feel a need for that either).

The issue is who gets to define 'hate' or any other limited category of speech. You might feel that Canada's limits are benevolent, but the existence of such laws codifies the avenue of their corruption. The risk is that such limits grow more and more restrictive until disagreement is unacceptable.

Personally, I'll continue to defend the US model. Speech should have no legal limits, but that doesn't meant it doesn't have civic consequences. Those who disagree are free to do so publicly, repeatedly and loudly.

I work for such a firm (10k employees) and we try hard to be competitive with startups on salary - we have to in order to keep hiring. It is definitely not the same pace as a startup (I joined via acquisition), but good big projects at scale and an open-ness to work from just about anywhere. It is a trade off for sure, but RSUs in a mature market are a more sure bet than many startups.

I’ve been thinking of looking for this for quite some time, thanks for sharing. I miss Instagram all the time, but the experience got worse every year. Too many ads, too much wandering from the photo-first product I fell in love with, too much Facebook.

I think that the narrative of last twenty years has been a re-blending of genre in a way that is not fully appreciated. While you can certainly find plenty of music that fits the mold established in the 60s, 80s or 90s around you also find much more at the top of the charts that challenges those categories. Right now the top 10 Billboard chart includes Lil Nas X and The Weeknd, neither of whom fits comfortably in the genre they are assigned to by the RIAA.

And if you look at what is happening on Bandcamp or Soundcloud or YouTube or wherever else young people are trying new things you see a tremendous heterogeneity of inspiration and not a lot of concern for where the sound fits in.

The parallel trend of course is the power migration from labels and producers to artists, and these are intrinsically related. The artist wants to experiment and find their own path, the label is always trying to replicate success (to radically oversimplify on both counts). Labels have a role to play in supporting artists, but the power dynamic is different when the artist brings the audience they've been building independently for years.

The direct connection between artist and audience shows how much more open to new ideas we can all be. It is the same receptivity that powered the integration Dylan describes taking place in the 1950s, and I think its great.

Nice to see that there are still nice internet commenters out in the world still. Makes me miss the east coast.

Is Mads Mikkelsen in every single Danish film?

Apple Maps bookmarking is vastly superior to Google Maps (subtle ui, better list support). Apple Maps on CarPlay is pleasant, Google Maps is garish. Apple Maps biggest down for me is reliance on Yelp for business reviews.

I love the new look, but having the audio jack on the side is kind of insane. I realize that it is not deep enough for the full length of the connector, but the idea of having a cord dangling off the side 24/7 for those or us who use external speakers is unwelcome. But I’m waiting for a 27 or 30” model anyway...

Bandcamp offers a subscription service [0] for just this purpose. I've thought about it for one or two, and $5/mo or whatever doesn't sound much, but it pretty quickly adds up across music, newsletters, patreons, etc... i need an aggregator for paying all of my content aggregators.

[0] https://bandcamp.com/subscriptions

I read the Beezus as a Kid, but only had glimpses of memories of the books until I bought the collection on Audible a few years ago to listen to with the family on a long drive. We kept listening long after the trip. The books are true family entertainment, and it is remarkable to look at the timeline between them. One every few or so for decades, and yet they flow smoothly together, never quite bound by time or place.

Wonderful that she could live such a long and impactful life.

I’ve been thinking about my kid’s first computer and something in this ballpark is interesting. More hackable than iPad, not quite the complexity of a laptop. Not sure this one is quite right’ especially compared to the Pi400, but nice to have the tablet form factor.

Think of those as proof of concept. Imaginative types will come up with all sorts of interesting use cases. It is a pixel display on fabric, do whatever you want with it... pulse it to music, send notifications, just animate living textures...

Even with all of these, the cost of implementing the standard (time for engineering, design, etc.) will likely very quickly dwarf what you are paying for the standard itself. I agree that open would be better, but the fees themselves really do feel nominal compared to overall implementation cost.

"Camera Type: Built-in camera" does not give me a lot of confidence about that webcam ;)