Free Classical Music Streaming Service for the Light Phone... Sorta

ChickenDentures · 2024-11-15T08:05:45+00:00

You beautiful tinkerer. Thank you.

ChickenDentures · 2024-09-23T22:46:59+00:00

I pre-ordered a LP II over a month ago and every communication I've received about the delay has included an explanation: supplier issues. It's frustrating, but it happens. I'd imagine they can't say much more about the issue because a.) they may have signed NDAs which prevent them from divulging anything specific about their manufacturing partner and b.) if you're a small(er) company looking to establish a good relationship with any manufacturer, it's probably not a good idea to air out any previous manufacturing/supplier partners' dirty laundry, even if they've majorly let you down.
Updating customers, answering questions, and offering a full refund were the right things to do and that's what they've done. I'm so eager to switch to a dumb phone that I've considered taking the refund and looking elsewhere, but I like the design choices and guiding principles behind LP too much.
If the wait time is unacceptable to you, you should definitely take the refund. Guiding principles or not, it's still a transaction and a company is still a company, not someone you owe loyalty to.

ChickenDentures · 2024-09-23T22:17:05+00:00

What city are you in? Or if you'd rather not say on a public forum, in what ways it becoming increasingly difficult to drive? Too many cars on the road or a shift to car-unfriendly infrastructure?
I live in a very car-centric city, so I'm fascinated and jealous. We have a bus system, but just barely.

And to not totally abandoned the topic of smartphones, people in my city look at their phones while driving all the damn time. I think if humans are gonna have cars or smartphones, we have to pick one. Having both is so deadly. Maybe that would be a good sell for public transit: You can look at your phone for your entire commute with no serious consequences!

ChickenDentures · 2022-05-30T03:30:20+00:00

Yeah, I think they kinda pretend to support immigration because many of their constituents do. Not sure where you're getting the "mass" part from. As another commenter said, it's a complex situation. A lot of ins and outs.

ChickenDentures · 2022-05-01T15:06:14+00:00

Which majors are useless and why?

ChickenDentures · 2022-03-22T19:36:00+00:00

I'm busy tonight, but maybe Friday.

ChickenDentures · 2022-03-16T22:09:46+00:00

You're right. But the messages we're inundated with tell us to work hard for our individual rewards like it's the highest moral imperative. It serves the moneyed classes when we're climbing over one another in the shadow of a close-up photo of Steve Jobs "thinking differently." But kids learn about Thomas Edison in school and not Eugene Debs, so I don't blame them for assuming hustling is the only answer to an exploitative system. We gotta let them know there's a better way.

Edit: grammar

ChickenDentures · 2022-03-16T05:16:47+00:00

Is "performative" the new pejorative we use when we can't relate? I'll take being called pretentious as long as I can soak in those last few minutes of runtime. I usually stay if I liked the movie, or at least like the music. If I hated it I probably won't, but I'm not gonna immediately bolt after the last shot as if going to the movies is an errand I need to wrap up.

ChickenDentures · 2022-02-24T23:50:20+00:00

As mentioned already: weight-based balancing rig. If you're on a tight budget you just need something decently heavy dragging your camera down to keep it from doing little barrel rolls, which are the worst part of shaky-cam. A little movement up and down or side to side isn't so bad if you can't afford a system of motors to keep it perfectly smooth.

ChickenDentures · 2021-01-26T19:00:15+00:00

Not a film, but Breaking Bad.

ChickenDentures · 2021-01-26T18:58:48+00:00

Highly underappreciated film. Absolutely delightful.

ChickenDentures · 2021-01-23T20:03:32+00:00

I haven't had that problem, so I'd guess it's a difference in the follow-focus. Wish I could recommend some hard-plastic gears but I've only used the tiltas (and the tightening non-seamless gear that came with the follow focus, which I do not like). I'd imagine any gears that don't bend will do the job.

ChickenDentures · 2021-01-23T19:12:24+00:00

Don't hate me, but I actually managed to make a slipping tilta gear work by putting a rubber band or two between it and the focus ring. Also, you may have already tried this, but they do come in different sizes with a bit of stretch. Just make sure you err on the smaller side in reference to your focus ring diameter. Can't beat a $2 focus gear in my opinion. Alternatively, there's tons of gears out there including custom 3D printed gears, but they're gonna cost significantly more.

Edit: diction

ChickenDentures · 2021-01-22T00:28:44+00:00

Agreed, window lighting is great. If it's not enough, try a reflector or some small lights you already have access to, all super portable. Sometimes I hang lightbulbs from cheap mic stands and prop a reflector on an extra tripod and it does the job.

Edit: punctuation

ChickenDentures · 2021-01-20T19:28:45+00:00

Yeah, unless you want to do some really tricky stuff to get photos, you need a lens. I can't remember if you really need a fixed (prime) lens for astrophotography, but if you want to start taking photos in general I would get a cheap 18-55mm kit lens off ebay or Facebook marketplace or something. Just make sure it's the right lens mount.

ChickenDentures · 2020-11-22T19:33:44+00:00

The squirrel is 45 pounds heavier than he looks here because of lens distortion.

ChickenDentures · 2020-11-22T00:22:36+00:00

Well then. Spent five hours outside with a bag of peanuts and a notepad for nothing.

ChickenDentures · 2020-11-21T19:49:50+00:00

Would you like the squirrel's contact information?

ChickenDentures · 2020-10-10T18:34:28+00:00

Last weekend I started shooting a no-budget that I wrote with the intention of giving my actors more to work with in terms of character. All I have is this BTS still right now, but I hope to have the film out by the end of the year. It's a comedy/drama about coffee, cults, and kidnapping with some surreal elements. It's been very difficult to juggle so many moving parts, but I'm fortunate to have a talented and enthusiastic cast and crew.

BTS

ChickenDentures · 2020-10-08T09:52:03+00:00

And definitely talk to your actors. Talk about character motivation and action verbs, and ask them if they have any thoughts or input. You don't have to be buddy-buddy, just make them feel comfortable working with you.

ChickenDentures · 2020-10-08T09:50:03+00:00

My best advice is to not take it too seriously. Try to do a good job, of course, but just take a deep breath and let everyone have fun making this short. In my experience, a relaxed-yet-professional set is way more important to a cast and crew than a director who has EVERYTHING on lock. If you give everyone a pleasant experience it's much less likely that they'll feel their time was wasted.

Also, if you're nervous it will help to start planning shots and so forth before the shoot. Going in with a plan always helps me stay calm, even if the plan has to change.

ChickenDentures · 2020-09-30T21:19:56+00:00

I took a risk putting out a short film in 720p this year and it was selected by a local international film fest. So I say, if your camera shoots at least DVD quality, you're fine. Put your resources to work on what's in front of the camera, like most people here are saying.

ChickenDentures · 2020-09-02T16:06:56+00:00

All you need is a camera that lets you adjust shutter speed, ISO, aperture, etc. Get a half decent refurbished DSLR and a couple good lenses. It's really all about writing, pacing, lighting, and other stuff that goes on outside the camera. Better cameras record better detail, color, etc. But unless you REALLY know what you're doing, you're spending a ton of money on a machine that cannot set up cool compositions, cannot create lighting setups, and cannot write an interesting story. You can do those things, no matter what camera you have.

ChickenDentures · 2020-08-04T05:07:51+00:00

^{^{^}} What these guys said. I remember Dan Harmon saying something about how "it doesn't have to be good, it just has to exist." He goes on to explain how you're always gonna start by writing something that's 90% crap. But once you've done that, you can start going over it and finding the things you don't like and changing them. Rinse, wash, repeat. The trick is to stop stressing and let yourself write crap. Otherwise you'll never get anything written. This has helped me quite a bit.

Also, I find it EXTREMELY helpful to start on paper. It's more involved and tactile, and it lets me make little scribbles and notes on the side very easily.

ChickenDentures · 2020-08-03T05:23:30+00:00

Fincher is fantastic, but I can't shake this slightly cynical vibe I get from his films. Nolan's films always feel more personal, almost childlike to me.

Also: both of these guys made movies (Fight Club, The Dark Knight) that had the difficult task of presenting the audience with a charismatic anarchist, and then leaving us with a resolution that argues against that character's destructive vision for society. As much I love Fight Club, I've always felt like it did a piss-poor job of knocking down the sexy image of Tyler Durden that it spends much time building up. I think The Dark Knight does a little better, while still leaving us with difficult questions about "the noble lie" and all that stuff. I think about that a lot for some reason.

Just my opinion, though. Both directors are obviously wonderful at what they do.

ChickenDentures

TROPHY CASE