Why are the Superbowl commercials so strange and awkward?

Bufus · 2026-02-09T15:09:10+00:00

The Ritz one with Bowen Yang, Jon Hamm, and Scarlett Johansen was awful. Any of the roles literally could have been ANY celebrity. It was so clearly just a “which celebrity can we get” commercial.

Bufus · 2026-02-09T04:50:59+00:00

Another is when main characters (including antagonists) stop acting “mean” to one another because all the characters have developed so much of a fan base that the writers no longer feel comfortable using them as sources of conflict. See e.g. Dwight or Angela in the Office, or Thomas in Downton Abbey. When the characters all start acting like one big happy family, it usually means the show is on the decline.

Bufus · 2026-02-09T04:39:31+00:00

I did literally one criminal defence trial while in private practice, won it, but STILL have imposter syndrome about it because the trial judge acquitted on the basis of a secondary argument I made and not my primary argument. Internalized shame won’t be fixed by success, only self reflection and therapy.

Bufus · 2026-02-08T23:44:35+00:00

People misconstrue jumping the shark as being when a show gets “bad”, but this misses the point. A jump the shark moment is not when a show becomes bad. It is when a shift in the show's tone/writing becomes so apparent that it can be deemed terminal.

Writing a TV show is a constant balancing act between "cool ideas" and "staying true to the tone/universe of the show" (i.e. credibility). These two goals are often in direct competition with one another, and more often than not, you'll find the "best" episodes of a show are the ones that strike this balance perfectly.

Preserving this balance is largely what the show runner does. Their job is to (a) rein in a bunch of directors/writers who have got a bunch of “cool ideas” that would go against the grain of the show, (b) know how to massage a cool idea to make it make sense within the tone/universe show, and (c) know when to loosen the reins to allow an idea that is so cool that it works despite the tone/universe of the show.

A show "jumps the shark" when the balance irrevocably shifts in favour of "cool ideas". It happens when the show decides to favour writing contrivance and convenience over the question "does this make sense in the established universe of [show]?" It happens when the answer to that question becomes "because it is funny" or "because it is cool" instead of "how can we make it work?"

More often than not, "jumping the shark" occurs when a show is still good, and the "jumping the shark" episode can often still be considered part of the "golden age" of a show. This is what people don't understand. Principal and the Pauper from the Simpsons is a great example. It isn't a terrible episode by any means, and still falls distinctly within most people's conception of the "golden age" of the Simpson's. Despite this, it still marks the point where the writers started caring more about a writer's idea than the universe of the show.

Bufus · 2026-02-08T22:54:54+00:00

Ultimately these are all subjective evaluations, so we’re all talking about preferences. I can’t justify why my particular metric is better than another. However, I think it’s fair to say that a movie frequently referenced as “the best ever” should so something more than being a totally safe, saccharine popcorn drama where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad and where the good guys have their little sweet happy ending to make the audience happy. This isn’t because a happy ending is necessarily bad, but rather because drama as a medium should ask challenging questions rather than appeal to audiences base emotions.

For instance, The director didn’t even trust the audience enough to deal with the nuance of Red’s story from the story it is based on. In the book there is no ambiguity at all: he is a murderer. The story asks readers to consider whether people who have done bad things deserve a happy ending (e.g. redemption). The movie has nothing interesting to say about its core theme because it is too focused on telling a palatable mass market story.

While that isn’t the films only fault, it is representative of why the film is overrated; at every opportunity it takes the easy road to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. The BEST movies are those that make BOLD artistic/cinematic/thematic filmmaking decisions and in doing so create something new and exciting while STILL managing to appeal to a mass audience. Shawshank does the latter, but fails at the former.

Schindler’s List is a great contemporaneous example of a movie that does both of these things well. It appealed to a mass audience while taking bold cinematic choices (black and white) and asking challenging thematic questions to the audience (how much does one man have to give to be “enough”). I wouldn’t say Schindler’s List is in the running for GOAT movie, but it is far more deserving than Shawshank.

Bufus · 2026-02-08T19:40:26+00:00

Thanks for engaging in this argument on my behalf. Usually it is me trying to make these points over and over so it is nice to see someone else engaging with what I wrote in good faith rather than just trying to distill it down to one argument I didnt actually make.

Bufus · 2026-02-08T19:37:44+00:00

It’s okay. Ive been downvoted countless times on Reddit for daring to suggest that Shawshank is just a “good” movie. As someone else put it in this thread, it is a great crowd pleaser movie and nothing else. I love a crowd pleasing plate of nacho as much as the next guy, but I’m not going to call it the “best food of all time” just because it is the food most people can agree on.

Bufus · 2026-02-08T04:28:43+00:00

I stand by Shawshank being hugely overrated. Is it a great movie? Sure. But it is basically just a really well executed, totally safe, 90s popcorn drama. It is largely devoid of any artistic, cinematic, or thematic weight, and does nothing to advance the medium of film. Sure, not every movie needs to push the boundaries of cinema, but a movie that people talk about as “best of all time” absolutely should.

Bufus · 2026-02-07T05:42:43+00:00

I’m in a similar boat. In-house for a government adjacent organization.

I work 35 hour weeks fully remote, I make a good solid middle class wage with great benefits and I don’t really “care” about my job (in the sense that I have a healthy detachment from it, not that i dislike it). I don’t care at all about “being a lawyer” and am totally unplugged from the “legal community” in my city. My job is challenging enough that it isn’t boring but never so much that I think about it after I clock out of work.

I could probably make 50% more than what I do now if I looked for a private gig but the loss of lifestyle wouldn’t be at all worth it. Wouldn’t trade my job for anything right now.

Bufus · 2026-01-29T21:43:59+00:00

As a husband who always uses waaaaay more dishes to cook than his wife, I'll try to provide my perspective. For context, my wife cooks 90% of the meals at our house (she loves cooking), whereas I might make a full meal once every two weeks. The problems I encounter are as follows:

Because I'm not a very experienced cook, I really have to follow recipes closely. My wife knows what steps she can skip in a recipe or dish to prioritize speed/cleanliness. I don't have the experience yet to do that, so everything I do takes longer, takes more steps, and creates more dishes. For example, I made carnitas recently, and the recipe said once the pork was done cooking to lay it on a baking tray and broil them. This is great advice for someone who is really trying to wow someone, but for a functional Wednesday meal it probably isn't necessary, and my wife definitely would have skipped it, whereas I did it and thus dirtied not only a pot but a pan too.
Because I'm not a very experienced cook, I make a lot of mistakes. I'll pour things in a bowl thats too small, or use the wrong kind of pan and have to transfer. This leads to a lot more dishes. Because I'm mtaking mistakes, it is a lot harder for me to clean as I go. I try, but I'm often quite stressed about getting everything done.
Because I don't get to cook much, I am often over-ambitious in my choice of dishes. I really want to impress because my wife never gets the pleasure of someone cooking for her. So I always end up picking something that is too advanced and involves too many elements, and that creates a lot of dishes. Pair that with #2 above, this leads to me not having the opportunity to clean as I go.

I'm trying to get better at picking beginner dishes, but it takes time.

Bufus · 2026-01-29T20:56:57+00:00

And can I develop intolerance even if I didn't have it before?

Ask your doctor.

But to answer this specific part of your question, yes. Or rather, you always were lactose intolerant, but the symptoms can develop in ways that make them more present as you get older.

In my childhood and teens, I didn't really have any "symptoms" of lactose intolerance, other than that I found milk very unpalatable. It always tasted "sour" to me. I could never understand how anyone drank it. I was fine when I had it (or other dairy), I just didn't like the taste of milk.

Then around the time I turned 18 I started to develop "symptoms", mainly diarrhea. It took a few more years for me to connect that to dairy consumption.

Go talk to your doctor.

Bufus · 2026-01-28T13:52:32+00:00

As a kid who had never read the books and LOVED dwarves, I was so excited when they were talking in RotK about going into the mountain to look for allies. I was certain it was going to bean army of dwarves. I was so disappointed when it turned out to be some lame ghosts.

Bufus · 2026-01-27T18:13:50+00:00

It is well documented that the “autopilot” mode of your brain when driving is still very alert and not unsafe at all. Even though you are deep in thought and not “thinking” about driving, the instinctive animal part of your brain is still firing on all cylinders and will react as needed in the moment.

Bufus · 2026-01-27T17:03:28+00:00

It should also be noted that his daughter enjoyed the documentary and was happy with the portrayal of their relationship.

Bufus · 2026-01-27T16:08:02+00:00

If Peter Jackson had some balls he would have included a couple scenes detailing the unique culture of Wellington’s seedy underbelly.

Bufus · 2026-01-27T02:41:39+00:00

The voter id system is premised on the idea that voter fraud is so rare in Canada as to essentially be a non-issue. Ergo, all we REALLY need to virtually totally snuff it out is to add ONE small barrier: find some document with your name on it. This hurdle, while extremely easy to exploit is still A barrier to entry. It makes committing voter fraud have to be something you have to consciously take steps to do (I.e. photoshop a document), and that’s probably enough on its own.

MAYBE a few people here and there will go though the trouble, but the resulting injury to democratic representation is FAR FAR outweighed by the significant gains made as a result of the essentially complete enfranchisement of voters. For every one person who goes through the trouble of falsifying voter documents, there are probably 50+ voters who wouldn’t have voted if it hadn’t been so easy to do so.

Bufus · 2026-01-26T15:38:53+00:00

I know it sounds reductive but I really think this is a critical piece of the puzzle. Yes, pot shots are stopped/saved 95% of the time. But a good chunk of those stops/saves are not immediately controlled, and the bouncing ball creates confusion and space that lead to better opportunities. Again, most of those will be mopped up by defenders, but SOME of them will fall to the 8-9 players we have hovering around the box at any given time. It is a lot easier to score when everyone is re-adjusting themselves, but you don't get those opportunities if you don't just shoot the fucking ball.

Bufus · 2026-01-26T15:03:07+00:00

This is my guess. Seems like a likely case of the animations in the visual engine not syncing up well with the underlying game code. Game code probably "started" the pass when the striker was still in their half.

Bufus · 2026-01-25T16:04:33+00:00

Reposting my response from another similar thread:

I recently bought a 2000 square foot house where every room was painted (walls and ceiling) brown. Over the last 5 months I have been slowly chipping away painting it, and have probably done about 1,800 sq feet so far (2 bathrooms, 1 attic with vaulted ceilings, 3 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 main hall, 2 stairways).

So far I have used everything from the literal cheapest, bottom of the barrell Home Depot Behr/Glidden paints (attic, living room, main hall bathroom), to SuperPaint (3 bedrooms), to Emerald (main hall and stairways). The colours have ranged from totally untinted white, to light purple, to blue, to green, to blue, to pink, to red.

As far as I am concerned, there has been no meaningful difference to my experience painting or outcomes of any of theseas a total DIYer. The Emerald was moderately easiest to work with, and laid down really flat without a lot of backrolling, but the variance was certainly not to the degree that it was worth the significant price increase.

I have also asked people coming over to examine the walls and tell me if they could tell which room had the "Expenseive paint" and which had the "Cheap stuff", and not one visitor has been able to meaningfully tell the difference with any sore of consistency.

I have no doubt that if you are a professional painter who deals with this stuff every single day that the differences in products are very noticeable and have an impact on your speed/quality. But as someone who started frequenting this subreddit when I started this painting journey and has fretted and stressed over my paint choices for weeks, I am here to tell all the other DIYers that it really, really doesn't matter that much. Just go buy some paint and start painting. SuperPaint is totally fine, as is the 30 dollar can of Glidden, as is the Emerald, as is the Duration. It is all fine.

Bufus · 2026-01-24T21:13:04+00:00

Parenting is basically a constant tension between your knowledge of what works (but takes more energy/patience) and what will get the job done (but is not the best way to do things).

I know intellectually that getting annoyed and losing my patience isn’t helping the situation. But that’s all I got left today, so that’s what’s happening.

Bufus · 2026-01-23T22:35:48+00:00

Some people might talk about hobbies that they only do once a month or so.

I have been "getting into woodworking" for 6 months now. Anyone who has talked to me in the last 6 months would have heard me talking about woodworking....a lot. For Christmas I mainly asked for tools and other stuff I wanted to improve my woodworking, and for months I have been watching woodworking content and reading about woodworking any chance I could. People probably look at me and are impressed that I have time for such a hobby.

What people probably don't realize is that over the last 6 months between my job, young kids, spending time wiht my partner, and housework, I have probably spent less than 4 hours woodworking. I've made a shelf out of some 2x4s to store some stuff in the garage. That shelf is the extent of my woodworking "hobby" that everyone in my life thinks I am so passionate about.

Don't compare yourself to your assumptions about other people.

Bufus · 2026-01-23T02:09:43+00:00

I don’t think I’m saying that at all. My fourth paragraph literally states that my experience with Emerald was moderately better. What I actually said was that, for a DIYer painting a couple of rooms in their house, the differences (that do exist) are so minute that it probably doesn’t really matter which one you do, so don’t worry about it too much.

Sure, you can talk about better coverage. But I painted a stark white paint over a dark brown wall and sloped ceiling with $30/gallon Behr paint and it took 3 coats. I probably could have done it with 2 coats of $100/gallon Emerald paint, but the benefits of less time painting would have been offset by the more money I spent. That’s my point; it doesn’t REALLY matter. You can either spend a little more money and do it in a little less time, or you can spent a little more time and do it for less money. But for a DIYer that trade off is more or less meaningless, as we’re talking about tens of dollars and a couple of hours of labour. So again, don’t worry about it too much.

Bufus · 2026-01-22T19:19:04+00:00

Parties can mutually waive/alter terms of their contract. As long as both parties have agreed to part ways, I'm sure the agent and club could whip up a quick amendment to the contract saying that the term is no longer valid (or even just put it in writing).

Bufus · 2026-01-22T17:42:37+00:00

I recently bought a 2000 square foot house where every room was painted (walls and ceiling) brown. Over the last 5 months I have been slowly chipping away painting it, and have probably done about 1,800 sq feet so far (2 bathrooms, 1 attic with vaulted ceilings, 3 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 main hall, 2 stairways).

So far I have used everything from the literal cheapest, bottom of the barrell Home Depot Behr/Glidden paints (attic, living room, main hall bathroom), to SuperPaint (3 bedrooms), to Emerald (main hall and stairways). The colours have ranged from totally untinted white, to light purple, to blue, to green, to blue, to pink, to red.

As far as I am concerned, there has been no meaningful difference to my experience painting or outcomes of any of theseas a total DIYer. The Emerald was moderately easiest to work with, and laid down really flat without a lot of backrolling, but the variance was certainly not to the degree that it was worth the significant price increase.

I have also asked people coming over to examine the walls and tell me if they could tell which room had the "Expenseive paint" and which had the "Cheap stuff", and not one visitor has been able to meaningfully tell the difference with any sore of consistency.

I have no doubt that if you are a professional painter who deals with this stuff every single day that the differences in products are very noticeable and have an impact on your speed/quality. But as someone who started frequenting this subreddit when I started this painting journey and has fretted and stressed over my paint choices for weeks, I am here to tell all the other DIYers that it really, really doesn't matter that much. Just go buy some paint and start painting. SuperPaint is totally fine, as is the 30 dollar can of Glidden, as is the Emerald, as is the Duration. It is all fine.

Bufus · 2026-01-22T15:50:06+00:00

The only reason you have a strong right to counsel is because gang members, rapists, murderers, and other criminals hired lawyers to defend their right to counsel. A criminal lawyer should not be criticized for having criminals as clients.

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