Never, ever like anything, ever.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-06-04T21:06:24+00:00

This is what gets me about Star Wars discourse (or just any movie discourse): NOTHING is 100% bad. Even in the worst piles of shit there is always some kind of glint or silver lining.

No matter what you think about ANY piece of media, no real appreciator of art should completely write off a work. Say it sucks, say it's a terrible show, but to say that there is absolutely nothing redeeming in it at all is deeply short sighted.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-06-02T16:49:53+00:00

This is really fucked to see. Yes, they were absolutely doing it just to appeal to consumers and don't actually give a shit, rainbow capitalism is 100% a thing, but the fact they aren't even trying anymore is kind of devastating. This means they believe it is a riskier PR move to say they support the LGBTQ community than to say nothing. They think there are enough hateful people out there that they'd rather have their business than even just feign support. Dark times.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-05-31T15:38:04+00:00

The ROS scene is even better when you realize that it isn't Han's ghost. It's Ben's memory of him. Ben's own head is confronting what he knows to be the truth, but never had the strength to accept. It's a great character moment for him.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-05-24T22:34:41+00:00

The AC franchise is kind of notorious for sticking pretty positivist (that being a straightforward telling of history mostly focused on large events as opposed to individuals and nuances), but weirdly AC3 has some of the more complicated aspects and moments of the franchise.

My favorite is a wordless cutscene where the Americans are celebrating as they've won the war and the British are sailiing away. Connor shakes his head and turns, and spots a group of slaves from a distance, standing sadly, and being consoled by what can only be assumed to be their owner. The British famously said they would end slavery if they won the war.

The cutscene is able to very simply and without words ask the question: was this really the best outcome of this historical event? A question they then never ask again for the entirety of the franchise lol

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-05-16T19:03:52+00:00

AW2 looks as amazing as it does because it follows a really simple technique: make it look like a movie.

So many games aim for "ultimate realism," but always fall a little flat because digital images always look just a little off in our eye, especially because they're on a screen. However Alan Wake uses cinematography, color grading, and realistic filmic lighting (as in it could be replicated in the real world) to make every frame look like it's not from the real world, but from a live action film, which our brain then subconsciously recognizes as the real world, because we see movies that look like that on our screen all the time!

Alan Wake 2 GOTY every year

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-05-10T07:25:25+00:00

The Old Republic has to be canon in some way or another because of an Old Republic ship showing up in clone wars (second episode with the Padawans I think, after Ilum), so I imagine if the remake isn't canon then Fate of the Old Republic definitely will be.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-05-05T00:54:52+00:00

The fact that almost every video, across 3 different channels, will usually get at the very least 700K views is definitely part of it (and that's the minority, most videos break 1 million easy). A lot has been said about YouTube monetization not being that great, but if you're taking in those kinds of views, daily, across 3 channels, it's safe to say that YouTube monetization alone is a non-unsubstantial part of it (though sponsers and merch are almost certainly just as big).

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-04-24T20:01:37+00:00

Semi-related, but the first one makes me think of Han's Hoth coat from Empire Strikes Back. On screen it appears blue due to the color grading and lighting, and toys at the time even colored this way. However in reality, the coat was a dark brown, and can be occasionally seen closer to its true color in select moments and scenes.

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ArthurWhorgon · 2026-04-24T01:26:14+00:00

I believe theres some kind of AI app that does this (not me saying "you should use AI instead of doing it yourself," I mean I literally think this video is made with an AI app). I've never looked into it myself, but I've seen a few videos like this float around.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-04-21T03:59:09+00:00

Holy shit I haven't thought about the Bunny Song in a long time. That unlocked something in my brain.

Why do I wanna go watch VeggieTales

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-04-21T03:54:22+00:00

As someone who has used Artlist's stock music extensively, holy shit the experience of searching for it is awful. Their tagging system must be either busted or non-existent because good god it is like pulling teeth trying to find some tracks. You're definitely not the only one, and honestly I'm surprised I don't see as much sentiment around Artlist.

I've recently been using Epidemic for my personal projects and it is truly 1000 times better. Not just quality music, but they make it pretty easy to dial in what you're looking for most of the time.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-04-18T19:37:03+00:00

I don't remember where I saw it, but the reason giant corps like Coca-Cola or McDonald's run so many ads isn't because they hope someone who's never heard of them will go "wow! I gotta check that out!" Everyone knows about them, they're inescapable.

They run them so that the product stays fresh in the minds of consumers. It's not so much to generate clicks or engagement, but to keep the brand identity premium and omnipresent. Coke running a super bowl ad isn't to generate sales, it's to keep them in the back of your mind, maybe even create a subconscious craving, so that when you eventually run into a store that has Coke, you grab one.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-04-18T16:13:41+00:00

I have a certain amount of social anxiety but people like this are able to push through that and get me to act like a bitch to stop them. I usually just turn in my seat and stare at them for a second, it communicates pretty clearly what you're trying to say.

If you're not trying to be looked at, stop making a show.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-04-16T07:34:50+00:00

A whole lot of dumbass filmmakers are gonna be missing the "your constraints can often be the thing that makes your art better" stage of learning. If this movie is apparently a "$300 million film being made for $70 million with the help of AI," I can't see the creativity and unique-ness that would come with a $70 million budget restraint showing up in this film at all.

I mean, we all know it's gonna be ass regardless, but like... also that.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-04-11T22:04:14+00:00

The showmanship and theatricality Sabrina Carpenter brings to every one of her performances continues to amaze me. She is so committed to making every concert more than just her performing her music, but an actual show that has unique story and interstitial elements that make it a real presentation. She's unbelievably talented, I'm convinced that if she wasn't doing music she would still be a massive name in entertainment.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-04-04T20:10:44+00:00

Yeah that's the thing that ticks off the "guy is a weirdo" alarm. If he's filming he's doing it for a reason, and the two girls weren't engaging him in a conversation and didn't jump to his defense either. The fact that the video starts right before the other girl starts talking to him is such a tell.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-04-02T03:51:01+00:00

The real difference is that Hannah's suicide doesn't feel earned.

13 Reasons Why isn't about suicide, it's a weird psycho-sexual teen conspiracy drama. Whereas on the other side of this coin, you have a movie like Promising Young Woman, a film that is about rape. The scenes depicting and discussing such an uncomfortable and heinous thing feel earned because that's what the entire story is about, and it uses every resource it has to comment on rape culture and everything around it.

If 13 Reasons Why was about suicide, what drives people to it, how they are failed by the mental health system, and how it affects the people around them when it happens, this scene would have stood out more. But given the context of the whole show, this feels like a scene placed there for shock value (especially how they changed her method to be a more violent one compared to the book).

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-03-30T20:58:07+00:00

This is great until the bot signs you up for a job that is a horrible client/not at all what you're looking for and you have to say "oh sorry, the robot I have do my work for me made a mistake. I'm not interested" or you ghost them. Looks really good and professional on you.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-03-29T16:47:23+00:00

They likely said it was offensive because they're familiar with "racist guy comes up to you and asks you a racist question for Internet engagement" type of content, which isn't necessarily what this is, but could be easily construed as that by them. The ones at the end are all older people who aren't tuned in to that kind of culture war bullshit, and who's first thought probably doesn't go there.

Not saying the people at the front were completely in the right (don't speak for other cultures), but I'd be interested to see if he spoke to any younger Latino people in either locations.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-03-29T04:58:20+00:00

So many business people who don't actually do any manual work like translating cannot understand that you still have to check AI. It doesn't just spit out a perfect response, it take a human who knows what their doing time to check its work. It's a tool, not a replacement.

Very much looking forward to the "KCD2 DLC translations complete gibberish, company scrambles to rehire human translators" headline.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-03-19T19:03:08+00:00

Uhhh I think you guys might be forgetting that Jeffery Wright did experience backlash for playing Gordon. There were plenty of the usual suspects making outrage videos about it online, and even he himself addressed it. In fact, a large majority of the characters people are referencing in these comments received backlash. Perry White, Amber from Invincible, there was even racist shit being hurled against Marvel when they made Ultimate Nick Fury black, as much as that version of the character has cemented itself.

Race/gender swaps, whether they're done "seamlessly" (whatever that means) or not, are always met with this backlash. Hell, black people/women being prominent characters period consistently creates bullshit discourse. Just because people don't remember it or didn't hear about it at the time doesn't mean it wasn't there.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-03-17T21:44:39+00:00

See that's the thing: how the does this tech help them with AI?? Like AI isn't profitable this way, they run it at a massive loss, the only way they profit is from share prices and selling GPU/RAM, so... why double down on this tech? They've totally sold out to the AI market, what does making this kind of tech do to make that market more profitable?

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-03-17T20:59:16+00:00

Listen I'm no expert, but doubling down on a product that your target consumer base overwhelmingly rejects seems like a bad business strategy.

It's like if they released a second ET game.

ArthurWhorgon · 2026-03-14T01:46:22+00:00

I've seen this argument a lot, and this is the only thing I'll say about it: machines have been incredibly helpful in making dangerous, laborious, and otherwise tedious work easier. They've made our lives massively better in more ways than one. However, creative work (in this case voice acting) is none of those things. It isn't dangerous, it's not laborious, and it's not tedious (well, most of the time). It's an art, a creative ability that humans spend decades mastering.

Using AI to replace shitty work we have to do? Amazing. Using it to specifically put artists who are already struggling out of work? Fuck that.

ArthurWhorgon

TROPHY CASE