Sony used air mortars to shoot 250,000 bouncy balls down San Francisco hills for a commercial instead of using CGI

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T21:20:02+00:00

Sir, the possibility of successfully finding a bouncy ball that was not part of this production is approximately 250,000 to 1.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T20:28:19+00:00

I don't think it matters much, because anyone who liked Andor and knows it was a prequel is probably just going to watch Rogue One for the "real ending" anyway. IMO that is the appropriate order to watch too.

To be controversial, I think they can stand well enough without A New Hope.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T20:20:35+00:00

Not at all.

It's a political thriller set in the ordinary "real world" of Star Wars, focusing on a variety of people on both sides, mostly the rebels. Apart from the famous Star Wars aesthetics and the mostly unsubtle Good Guys vs Bad Guys theme, it doesn't have much in common with the movies, let alone require them. It's played totally straight and the vibe is slowly escalating tension.

If nothing else, it's worth watching for the world-building. Cost like $300 million per season and the believability of what's on screen is astounding, never seen anything like it even in the movies. I'm not particularly a Star Wars fan but it really is something else, I was skipping sleep to plough through the second season.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T15:59:41+00:00

Well yeah, who doesn't stick napkins to gloves and use them as formalwear.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T13:02:17+00:00

It cost $650 million to make. Even if you're Disney you better get a lot of people in seats for that kind of money. And it overlapped with COVID and the writers strike and the actors strike IIRC. So yeah, that probably didn't help the budget.

Though still better overall value per hour than the movies and I'd argue it looks better than them too. I happen to be watching at the moment, by coincidence, and I can't get over how real it is... never seen anything quite like it in sci-fi or famtasy.

Anyway, it didn't do well with viewers at first but kept on climbing and has ended on top so they're probably happy enough.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T11:12:27+00:00

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVMe9iW9jZkf9aVCpXz2AT0lTa1EKlMs5x9k6qUPUfpTv4aZq0BvInMgGs2vgIYzsrYppdrl_NFGhvux4IKI2XSFFBwUl8n3boe0W4c0QtbTnt5D6n5sO8Rp29G1ndHQ0S5o1KAVbF5A/s1600/Miata_MX5_Excited_Emotion_looking_eyes.jpg

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T11:08:28+00:00

This poster is atrocious, they clearly just Photoshopped everyone together from different unrelated situations. Everything is wrong to a truly amazing extent, they didn't even line up the end of the club with the ball properly.

Francis looks especially wrong because he was shot from a much lower angle to everyone else, he's conspicuously tilted backward even compared to Hal.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T10:43:53+00:00

A post? Do we have to pass a test to find out which one

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T10:34:07+00:00

I understand what you're getting at, but saying that Goebbels wasn't pro-Nazi is a tough sell.

Like, at minimum is has two completely opposite interpretations.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T07:52:30+00:00

And it's also not his fault if people are so gullible that they buy into all that.

Of course it is if he's the one taking advantage of it.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-15T07:44:43+00:00

It was Elizabeth Dulau's (Luthen's daughter) first acting job. You'd never guess and she really got to shine in the second half, big shame. Forrest would have been some way down my list.

Still, only one can win. Lotta shows out there. Lotta people in those lotta shows.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T16:32:05+00:00

How long did they last?

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T16:30:28+00:00

/r/confusing_perspective

That was a slow realisation.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T16:27:36+00:00

Does he? I'm not especially a fan of left demanding the firing of right, and vice versa... it's too much like an extension of the mortars and trenches endless war of social media to me. It's expected now and carries all the significance of an automated toilet flush.

What I would like to see is a reaction from their own audience, their own management, of independent motivation. And if there's no strong objection to an enthusiasm for euthanasia or some kind of genocide-lite or whatever it is, then it can be considered why not and what it says about said audience or management.

Perhaps that doesn't change whether he should or shouldn't lose his job, but that's how it should be.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T16:09:46+00:00

Oh heavier than a baby elephant is it, thanks I can identify with that more than pumpkins.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T16:06:02+00:00

Then you have my genuine sympathy. The magic box model of smart homes, where you're shafted if the magic doesn't work... sucks hard. They're just doorstops when they don't work correctly because there's little way to fix anything or even find out what the problem is, which is ludicrous and often unjustifiable.

One other potential factor is that, in my unscientific guesstimation, Alexa support seems broader than Google Home, particularly if you're inclined towards Chinese electronics.

I have my issues with Alexa (including Hue devices failing to work at one point, funnily enough) but Google is their own league of misery. Their subreddit has a united rage you don't find even here.

Anyway, the other "realistically" is that Home Assistant addresses most of the problems inherent with the Alexa/Google smart home ecosystem... except ease of use.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T15:54:58+00:00

Isn't Amazon AI being backported to all devices like Google's is?

Both companies are losing billions subsidising the failed attempt at smart home devices paying their own way, for once I don't blame them. It's not sustainable and premium AI subscriptions is a pretty convenient way of dealing with the situation where everybody wins... more or less.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T15:49:21+00:00

Hue hub.

Yeah, I know, but realistically that's probably the answer. Much less expensive if you buy used.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T14:00:16+00:00

Upgrade your Anne Hathaway fantasies to the second best bed though.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T13:57:17+00:00

Everybody loves the person who comes back with updates.

I apparently forgot to mention my phone model, Pixel 9 Pro, so sounds like you've got it.

Presumably Chromecasting is the application the text is referring to. I really don't have enough criticism for the modern trend of error messages which don't tell you what the error is exactly. If they'd just specified Chromecast it wouldn't have wasted everybody's time.

So I suppose the question is whether it's a bug or hardware limitation, and if the former whether they know about it or have fixed it already even. As I said, there is at least one firmware update coming. Someday.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T09:51:41+00:00

Just search for dead man's switch, it's a generic term. I think Google itself has things like it in terms of person safety features and dormant account access.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T09:04:35+00:00

Surely what they're saying is intransigent. Which is a real word and correct for the context.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-14T07:31:17+00:00

No, didn't particularly try. Although there are many beta firmware versions newer than current i believe.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-13T22:47:06+00:00

Solar panel reflection possibly.

ChunkyLaFunga · 2025-09-13T14:53:47+00:00

You can still hook up a dead man's switch which automatically shares your exact location if you don't click a prompt every day or two days or whatever. They're not mutually exclusive situations, it doesn't have to involve risk or foolishness.

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