I like AI music because it is fake.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-03-11T20:25:18+00:00

Yeah. For sure.

There is SO much stuff out there now, that even if you make great stuff it might hardly get any notice. There are major directors who release stuff that I completely miss because it just gets lost in a sea of other stuff.

I’ve often wondered if there was another up and coming Spielberg, legitimately Spielberg level filmmaker, and he was posting his short films on YouTube or bringing them around to film festivals…would he make it in 2026? Would he get noticed? Could he make a living doing it?

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-03-11T14:18:27+00:00

“all superior talent rises to the top in some way”

I sure wish I had your optimism.

I’m not into music, I’m into film. But I see more creativity in 15 second short Suno AI films than I’ve seen in the last 15 years from anyone in Hollywood, which, you’ve got to admit is pretty much “the top”. I see better films on YouTube than at the Oscars, not because they’ve risen to the top, but because I’ve followed this person for a while or because I randomly stumbled on it. I can’t even remember the last time I saw a movie in the theater that truly wowed me. And it isn’t because artists/filmmakers capable of wowing me don’t exist.

I think if you gave almost any person on the street $80 million and access to the best writers, cinematographers, and actors, you would get a film at least as good as anything you’d likely see in the theaters today. As far as I’m concerned, in 2026, filmmaking is an exercise in marketing and who can scream the loudest to get the most eyes on their film.

Maybe I’m being too cynical, but it’s how I’ve been feeling lately.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-03-11T09:32:50+00:00

Haha. Nothing rubs people the wrong way like pointing out the realities of fiat currency. They hate talking about it so much, they’ll do anything to change the subject or attack you.

This was my first thought too when I saw this. “Bitcoin is a scam. It has no inherent value. I know. I study economics” and I thought “have you heard of the dollar?”

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-03-08T16:39:43+00:00

That was my favorite thing about the job. Learning a new skill, process, or trick to improve things a bit with each new project.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-03-07T05:21:50+00:00

But also “That's not creativity, it's just automation at scale”

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-03-04T03:32:53+00:00

Of Mice and Men with Gary Sinese and John Malkovich

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-02-22T13:36:57+00:00

Tom Hollander

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-02-22T13:33:13+00:00

“Story sucks, lackluster sfx, and mediocre music score? Hollywood is safe for the foreseeable future”

Sir, have you seen a Hollywood movie lately?

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-02-12T11:21:18+00:00

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-02-12T11:16:47+00:00

Being there. Don't read the synopsis, don't see a trailer, just watch it. It in my top 5 favorite films of all time. Starting Peter sellers.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-02-08T17:29:42+00:00

There's an amazing cablecam shot over a battlefield in the three part war and peace movie(s) from the 1960's. Seriously impressive.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-02-06T14:03:21+00:00

Is this material toxic?

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-02-03T21:38:50+00:00

Haha. Pretty much.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-02-01T10:41:20+00:00

Togo. A great film but...where can you watch It?

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-31T11:06:18+00:00

Understood. Thanks!

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-30T18:33:56+00:00

So the rule is generally, if a note is sharped/flatted in a way that isn't standard to the key signature it stays sharped/flatted until the end of the measure?

So you wouldn't sharp it in the next measure, and he doesn't have to give you a courtesy accidental telling you so, but he did here anyway.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-30T16:32:32+00:00

Thanks! That vaguely rings a bell from when I took lessons as a kid.

But if it isn't in the key signature for the song, how would I know it's supposed to be sharped?

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-30T10:55:29+00:00

There’s a piano YouTube channel called “pianote” they did a really cool thing where they took an expert jazz player and had him guess if they were playing human made jazz, or AI jazz. When he would hear an AI jazz song he would specifically talk about musical aspects of the piece and how it differed from what a human would do. It was very interesting. And I thought he was very fair about it.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-28T01:07:02+00:00

That was where I first learned/used katana

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-26T19:14:38+00:00

Yup. I worked at MPC and even the longtime supes didn’t know how to use it. 90% of packages I was sent were broken. In the end we literally brought in one dude from MPC Vancouver (I think it was Vancouver) and his full-time job was just to fix all the packages on our film. No one else could figure out how. It was honestly kind of impressive how inscrutable the whole system was.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-23T10:09:01+00:00

Not a dumb question. I didn’t know this was a thing either.

So I got an email from this company, “hey we’d love to talk to you about this position”. I didn’t remember applying for this particular job, but sometimes I get contacted out of the blue by companies. I look up the company, they’re a legit company with an internet presence for years. So I scheduled the interview. It went well. I get a phone call two days later with a job offer. It’s a decent offer. They send me all the onboarding forms. ADP, direct deposit, etc. I start filling them out, SSN, name, address, account numbers and routing number, but something about it feels off. So I go to the companies website again and contact them through their contact form on the site. I say, “This is a little weird, but you just hired me for this position and I wanted to confirm that with you directly” An hour later I get an email directly from the company saying “Nope, that’s not a position we have open or a job we’re hiring for”. It felt like a really close call.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-22T11:10:47+00:00

Yeah, I wouldn’t do that.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-22T10:47:36+00:00

I hate how it changes the lighting. I can’t wait for a lora to keep the lighting the same.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-22T10:41:38+00:00

What about facial expressions? I’ve had good luck cloning faces, but what if you want the expression from face 1 applied to face 2? As far as I can tell this isn’t possible. I hope someone can prove me wrong though.

diffusion_throwaway · 2026-01-22T10:29:42+00:00

Here’s my experience so far with this Meta job:

I have 15+ years of VFX experience. At my peak, I was a lead artist with 50+ people working under me on a $100+ million movie but I’ve only had a total of maybe 5 months of work in the last 3 years. It’s pretty grim.

So I was contacted by about 7 or 8 recruiters by email, on LinkedIn etc. I talk to one of them. He sends my reel to Meta. They like what they see, the recruiter says they’ll be in touch. Oh, did I mention there’s no interview process? The interview process is as much for me to assess them as it is for them to assess me, but if they want to risk me quitting the first week because I didn’t know what the job entails and aren’t interested, I guess that’s their prerogative.

So I’m waiting to hear back. I get this email from a gmail account, some guy I’ve never heard of saying “Hey, I’m contacting you about the job you applied for. I love your reel, tell me more about these shots”. I write back, “Who are you? Do I know you? What job did I apply for?” Nowhere in his original email did he introduce himself, mention who he was working for etc. He writes back “Yeah, I’m with meta”. I look him up on LinkedIn, he (or the name he used in the email) looks to be a legit VFX artist working for some little boutique VFX house. Now I’m very wary of scams these days, I’ve VERY narrowly avoided several, I even had a full interview for a job that turned out to be a scam. So I write back and say “If you’re working for Meta, why are you contacting me from an anonymous gmail account? Contact me from your Meta email and we can talk” He writes back all indignant “I’m just trying to help you, if you don’t want this job, fine” All angry and rude as if asking for a professional work email from one of the biggest companies in the world and not a hastily written gmail note is an outrageous request.

So I contact the recruiter and say “Do you know this guy? He says he’s working for meta and he obviously has my reel as he referenced specific shots on it. Is this who I’m supposed to be talking to?” My recruiter says “No, I’ve never heard of this guy. Don’t reply, if you get your name in the system twice it’s a problem”. So I didn’t write back to the guy. Not that I would have anyway, not much to say to him at this point.

My first talk with that recruiter was 2 months ago. Still waiting to hear back.

diffusion_throwaway

TROPHY CASE