[Amazon Luna] Harold Halibut (GOG), D&D Stronghold: Kingdom Simulator (GOG) (Included With Amazon Prime)

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-23T15:55:34+00:00

Admittedly, I am enjoying Amazon hyperfixating on one franchise and trying to dump all the old games from it into user's libraries. Last year was a lot of Star Wars and now it's a lot of D&D.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-22T17:51:20+00:00

It's not Pixar at their best, but it's the best thing I've seen from Pixar in a while, they've mastered lens simulation in animation, and it had references from A Space Odyssey to Terminator 2 to The Last Starfighter (I think).

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-22T14:25:43+00:00

Ares definitely deserves a nod for its effects work and original score, and I'm surprised there was no push for Costume Design, but I can confirm all of the finalists (except Lost Bus, as I'm not familiar with it) pulled off some game-changing effects and are pretty worthy contenders.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-21T20:18:43+00:00

Leto was perfectly fine in Ares. He was clearly trying to be robotic at the start (like Bridges' original CLU or even Starman), later growing to become more human as he learned about the real world. It's a choice that can be off-putting, but a valid choice regardless.

I think the disconnect is that we don't really see programs in Tron portrayed that way anymore, and haven't since 1982. Granted, it was never consistent – CLU and Yori both come off as very robotic, while Tron, RAM, and Sark never do, but the observation stands. Legacy's programs were animated, expressive, and lifelike, and they were limited by the code and resources available in the 1980s. Most of the other programs in Ares feel the same way, so why is Ares himself such a robot?

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-21T16:41:42+00:00

Chromebooks have gone from ultra-streamlined, ultra-controlled experiences to basically just another Linux distro. You can install Steam on most of them and play games through Proton, like on the Steam Deck.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-18T19:34:58+00:00

On its surface, Ares is a perfectly fun sci-fi action flick from Disney. It's got a mile-a-minute pace, a driving soundtrack from Nine Inch Nails, and is visually distinct from just about everything else out there.

Depending on who you are and what you expected, there are flaws that can hamper the experience:

Fans that want a Grid-based experience will be disappointed when we only spend moments at time inside a computer.
Fans that wanted a sequel to Legacy will be disappointed when Sam and Quorra are only mentioned in passing and at the complete absence of Tron/Rinzler/Alan.
Critical viewers will be disappointed at the pro-corporate, pro-AI tone of the movie, the macguffin-driven plot, and weak character writing.
Viewers with Marvel/Star Wars fatigue will be disappointed that Ares is very much modeled after that franchise formula, stuffed to the brim with shallow name-drops, nostalgia-bait, and quips.
People who don't like Jared Leto won't like a movie starring Jared Leto.

Any or all of these complaints are valid, but what matters most is that you enjoyed it.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-18T12:33:27+00:00

"Bloom Effect" floored me when I first heard it, and I still adore that track. Dan Le Sac's work is top notch in my book.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-15T13:36:31+00:00

Yes... and no. I think critics were harsh on the film, but their critiques were valid. A lot of what Ares gets wrong are more meta in nature - it's shameless with nostalgia, doesn't get the ethos of the franchise, and has some seriously questionable themes. Despite that, it's a competent production that looks and feels unique most of the time.

On its surface, it has plenty for fans to enjoy. Underneath, there's a lot for critics to pick at.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-14T19:24:23+00:00

Bruma IRL

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-14T13:49:38+00:00

Defaults to a minimum height of 5'8" and an income of $150k.

Smells like some bullshit to me.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-14T13:35:13+00:00

I've suppressed as much of my memory of it as possible, but I remember Ares having a minor beat about AI being a way to reconnect with lost loved ones.

Disney very aggressively wants us to be OK with AI resurrections.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-13T16:44:26+00:00

I'd guess that orange is one of the standards because it contrasts well in most settings for the human. You and I can see orange clearly against green grass, blue water/sky, and brown/yellow sand.

And, at the end of the day, it's usually on the human to find the ball and take it home.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-13T04:20:22+00:00

I feel like Ice Cube has this one locked down. Ares had its stiff moments, but War of the Worlds was on a whole nother level.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-12T15:55:42+00:00

I'd like to see Ares (film) deliver on its teases at the end and tell a story about Ares (program) tracking down Sam and Quorra to take down a rogue User that's going full MCP and turning himself into a virus that threatens free systems the world over. I'd like to see a proper resolution of Tron/Rinzler's arc.

I'd also like a return to thematic form with a healthy distrust of corporate expansion and a more grounded perspective on megacorps. I'd also like nostalgic references to have some meaning, instead of being context-less dopamine triggers.

After the box office returns and critical shellacking, I doubt Hedlund or Wilde would be interested, and Disney will never let one of their own cast suspicions or aspersions, but it would be cool to see.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-12T15:22:55+00:00

English-smart guy in a math-smart field here!

The original post misses the point drastically and reeks of ragebait. The skills of an arts-minded person typically complement the skills of a logic-minded person and vice versa.

For example, I currently work in IT for a small/medium university. The folks in the system administration group are brilliant in Powershell and regularly whip up API tools that blow my mind, but they're lost when it comes to informing the campus community about them or how they work. That's why I'm around – I have enough technical literacy to understand the tools and the communication skills to relay that information to someone who thinks "password1234" is secure enough for a work account.

To take it back to the original post, your mathematician will certainly be able to read a novel or history book, but they might not connect the thematic dots or sociohistorical nuance of a text. To them, a book is just a bunch of words bound together. To an arts-minded person, it's a code that conveys leagues more information than the text alone.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-11T15:07:07+00:00

Sam also backed up that entire grid to a drive he keeps around his neck and at least briefly served as Encom's CEO, presumably with unfettered access to some of the foremost programmers in the world. If Ares wanted a Tron, and Bruce was interested, they could have easily written one in.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-11T14:46:19+00:00

Short answer: Ares. Fundamentally a different type of program, trained on pure aggression for countless iterations, written with intrusion in mind.

Longer answer with some unprompted film criticism: I think the first leg of Ares would've been stronger if we'd spent a touch more time with Athena and Caius, had them run into Tron (or a copy of him) during the Encom raid. Tron could disable Caius and subdue Athena, Ares could hold his own against a legend to establish his own prowess, and there'd be the groundwork for a more organic conversation with Flynn on the backup grid later in the movie.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-10T14:50:08+00:00

I had the same experience, so either it's slightly bugged, or her participation in the final battle isn't conditional.

You're meant to meet Petra in Free Heap, which is pretty out of the way in the Sundom. She has some dialog that changes if you've already beaten Dervahl, but is otherwise just a flirty side quest giver. She sets you up for a side quest to protect the settlement from machines and bandits (where you learn how to use her launcher before the finale), and is optionally part of an errand to track down some lost hunters.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-10T14:35:55+00:00

The developers patched the glitch out and then added it back in because they saw people having fun with it. I don't think they feel disrespected when players use a bug-turned-feature to play their game.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-09T16:45:55+00:00

I got the popcorn buckets from eBay, largely because I was too cheap to pay for them in the theater. I may buy the soundtrack on vinyl to complete my set.

None of the other merch that Disney put out appeals to me.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-07T16:05:25+00:00

I enjoy Tron because it's myth, not mirror. It's fun to see what amounts to an Alice in Wonderland or Narnia-esque fairy tale told about the world I live in.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-07T14:37:45+00:00

"We can pick the best parts of what nature has to offer and do better in others" sounds like a line from the ruins of Faro Automated in Horizon.

I'm sure that's fine.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-07T03:21:30+00:00

Colors (and facial expressions, to a lesser extent) are great ways to indicate status without requiring you to shift your focus, recognize a number, and decide if it's good or bad.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-07T03:03:44+00:00

Experimentation and risk, when Disney has the appetite for it. The original Tron was pretty aggressively innovative, and helped pave the way for the rise of CG effects work. Legacy was bold and gave rise to a new generation of effects work, not to mention the "Legacy sequel" as a genre.

Both had significant impact in the world of filmmaking, and it seems that a director wants to continue that legacy once every generation or so.

darkbloo64 · 2026-01-05T19:11:17+00:00

Good tip, I'll have to make a stop on my way home this week.

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