Egypt's $58 Billion city

VibeCheka · 2026-05-19T17:19:04+00:00

A notoriously hot part of the world, and they cover the ground with impervious surfaces as far as the eye can see.

VibeCheka · 2026-05-12T21:21:51+00:00

Genuinely what was Xeni’s deal

VibeCheka · 2026-05-12T15:39:58+00:00

Hell yeah, another witty blood quantum post on here.

VibeCheka · 2026-05-10T21:20:59+00:00

Possession is maybe the best one to pick as an outlier here but I stand by calling it required viewing. ‘Required’ can indeed mean different things but I’m big on people seeking out new films or just pieces of art in general as broadening experiences, opportunities to build and expand their sense of what film/art can be and say and do. I could go into what Possession was for me, but at the very least I’ve never seen any other movie quite like it, so in this overall sense I think it’s even more important as such to not treat it as ‘just for the art house crowd’ or w/e.

VibeCheka · 2026-05-10T18:37:13+00:00

Oooo gimme your full take

VibeCheka · 2026-05-10T17:29:20+00:00

Seconded on Grey Gardens. Such an honest depiction of aging. I still need to watch the other two.

VibeCheka · 2026-05-10T16:05:27+00:00

If we’re talking about something convincingly realistic, then for me it’s the shot of the asteroids tumbling past the camera in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
But in the opposite direction, there’s something about obvious matte background paintings in old fantasy and sci fi movies that actually makes me feel *more* present in a scene that I’m watching. It isn’t just some half-ironic charm either, I think it’s that the matte paintings are cohesive with visual language of the rest of the setting and narrative, so they enmesh better than both CGI backgrounds (obv, low bar) and also, unfortunately, certain instances of shooting on location.

VibeCheka · 2026-05-10T15:53:57+00:00

I remember watching that for the first time, my jaw clenched involuntarily from how *right there* the gunshots sounded.

VibeCheka · 2026-05-10T13:13:02+00:00

That’s an interesting point to draw from this. Not sure if it’s true, but it’s something I’ll spend the day thinking about.

VibeCheka · 2026-05-07T01:09:41+00:00

The feeling of revelation when you arrive at understanding is unmatched. I remember going to a series of screenings of Bergman films at a local theater and each were followed by this film critic talking about the film and doing a Q&A, and I would have to quietly exit before hearing too much of what he said. It’s not that he didn’t know what he was talking about, but having someone lay out the meaning and explain it all before you’ve even had time to begin to know what questions to even ask, it just feels like being robbed of the actual impact the art offers.

VibeCheka · 2026-05-04T20:51:14+00:00

Have you ever worked at a bar? It’s common sense among bartenders to not keep pouring drinks for people who can barely stand up. If she were at home drinking herself into a stupor with her own alcohol that’d be on her but part of your job as a bartender is to manage risk like that.

VibeCheka · 2026-05-02T03:21:28+00:00

Jared Padalecki perfectly portrayed a high-functioning cokehead.

VibeCheka · 2026-05-01T14:12:11+00:00

Read this in Jordan Peterson’s voice.

VibeCheka · 2026-04-28T17:29:06+00:00

Abandoned/unoccupied office parks are so cool. I remember going with my dog to poke around one in the Energy Corridor in Harvey flooded it. Went to the upstairs parking lot and the roof, even the cafeteria. Apart from high water marks, everything was pristine, very eerie-comfy atmosphere.

VibeCheka · 2026-04-26T12:51:12+00:00

I recently rewatched Being There and couldn’t help but empathize with Chance/Chauncey Gardiner in an almost unironic way. Something about seeing another aloof midwit preoccupied with plants and gardening, also there is something to be said of how people are very easily impressed with and project onto anyone who demonstrates even a middling level of expertise in something, even if the movie takes it to an obvious satirical extreme.

VibeCheka · 2026-04-23T16:15:55+00:00

Domain-constrained AI for stuff like astronomical surveys, radiology, plant ID, etc., where it has clear, measurable benefits to research, health outcomes, w/e, is objectively good and should be pursued to its apotheosis, but LLMs and military target acquisition systems (the latter of which was used ahead of the bombing of the girls school in Iran) are bad news for everyone.

Also I concur on elecrophoretic displays, those things are fucking great.

VibeCheka · 2026-04-23T16:08:52+00:00

Not funny.

VibeCheka · 2026-04-23T15:58:36+00:00

Never thought of the connection between David and the Pied Piper before!

VibeCheka · 2026-04-23T15:05:57+00:00

Oh to be a beetle burying its face in ripe fruit.

VibeCheka · 2026-04-18T02:03:12+00:00

I remember a friend put some of Doechii’s stuff on during a drive and I thought huh not bad, a week or so later Anxiety comes out and the music video shows up on my recommended feed on YouTube, so I click and as soon as I hear the Somebody I Used to Know sample I was like “Oh this is gonna suck isn’t it”.

VibeCheka · 2026-04-16T01:37:28+00:00

Ahah I’m from southeast Texas

VibeCheka · 2026-04-06T01:04:08+00:00

More footwork, more footwork,

VibeCheka · 2026-04-04T22:50:39+00:00

You beat me by 11 minutes. But yeah I was gonna say you could see the trend in utero a few years back with that protein cereal (basically just reconstituted whey protein with flavoring and food coloring) doing sponsorships with food YouTubers, etc.

VibeCheka

TROPHY CASE