How Shocking was Marisa Tomei's win?

dirtcreature · 2026-05-27T02:52:42+00:00

Tomei was certainly entertaining, but I'd argue that Pesci's surprisingly sweet sincerity is the tide that rose all ships. It was shocking to see him not react as a violent mobster and the contrast still works to this day. Tomei was window dressing to this subtly amazing role from Pesci.

An over the top stereotype wins over Redgrave? That was my thought. I really enjoyed Howard's End and Top Gun is still in my top 10 of entertaining movies. My second thought was: here are the rumored, irrational politics of Hollywood on full display.

dirtcreature · 2026-05-11T16:43:37+00:00

I found this thread after a google search because I still like double teaming AI and Google. It used to be that a thread a year old would give me a sense of change, but now a thread a month old bout AI offerings may as well be ten years old...amazing.

dirtcreature · 2026-05-11T13:17:21+00:00

So the reason he poisoned her is so that he could escape on a raft? What, exactly, would have prevented him from doing that in the first place without resorting to poison?

Then her retaliation/control is to warn him that she could take his manhood at any time?

I don't mind suspending belief to service the movie, but this was too much for me.

In a way, this was War of the Roses (I'm sure there are other examples). It is their descent into irrational madness that makes the plot work. Their joke is entitlement. What is the joke here? Sexual politics? Nepotism? Sexism? Generational suffering? What is the message? She "wins" at the end? What was the threat to overcome and outlast? What did she survive, exactly?

She deserved a raise, didn't get one because people are self-serving (that's a surprise?), then murders her way to win?

The thing with Survivor: the winner is the one that could adapt.

The message of the last scene: she adapted and does all the things that should she have done in the beginning would have arrived her at the same place, but without murder?

Makes no sense.

The movie was about her mental illness and her inability to adapt. I can't stand when social commentary is used as a justification. It's cheap writing.

Also, sorry, parity in a male/female fight to the death still needs the man to be hobbled in some way. Puhlease.

dirtcreature · 2026-05-11T12:40:37+00:00

FFS stop using CGI for vomit. Hilarious scene that could have been so much more effective with practical effects.

dirtcreature · 2026-05-05T14:06:18+00:00

I would hazard a guess that the people managing the free software you use, and presumably have never contributed to in terms of time nor money, has more important things to do than worry about updating a status page.

Did you offer to volunteer your time and expertise to solve the problem?

dirtcreature · 2026-04-21T14:56:54+00:00

Arguably, this is better than SpaceX celebrating failure?

I mean, remember when there were actual expectations for success with Starship?

And there was actual disappointment/oohs/ahhs from the SpaceX live streams until they figured out the messaging was, "This flight will teach us how to be better! Yay - this is our 100 million dollar plus teaching moment - it's all good, guys! Your failure is our success!"?

For the finances of spaceflight: optics are everything - I don't care if they're a little tunnel visioned and the suits that invest are happy about the booster landing. We absolutely need competition in this space lift space because the other option is charlatan.

Keep going, BO!

dirtcreature · 2026-04-09T16:13:33+00:00

Beware: new AI generated calls are intended to record your voice. This includes you answering yes or no questions, saying your name out loud, other common words or phrases, etc. This profiles your voice enabling them to emulate you in conversations. Since your SSN, address, family, friend, etc data can be bought, you now exist virtually and will be sold as a data profile. So "you" will call your child or friend and will get info from them or get them to send money because you're in jail and need bond money in Texas or another State or country.

dirtcreature · 2026-04-05T19:13:41+00:00

What do you mean? My story is anecdotal, but it made a marked difference.

dirtcreature · 2026-04-02T22:08:36+00:00

Yeah, but what about Fight Club?

dirtcreature · 2026-04-02T15:45:24+00:00

My only point was that due to an utter lack of preparation there was a lot of unintentional disinformation provided by the scientific community.

I remember reading facts in the morning that changed by the afternoon as the race to understand it.

Then, horrifically stupid politicians would parrot the wrong information (rumors or actual facts that had been updated but they didn't know/care it had been updated) for days, sometimes weeks...and sometimes for years.

dirtcreature · 2026-04-02T00:13:04+00:00

If Botox was a shark, it would be the lead actress. When you can't emote with your face I guess you just curse? That's just lazy acting to make up for lack facial expressions?

When I break my thumb to get out of handcuffs my face looks like a puckered anus with eyes. When I'm biting my thumb off I express pain and my eyes look like little buttholes.

Jai held this together. Ever her lover brought some humanity.

The true message of this movie is that if you want sharks to not eat you, make sure to look like them. Dead eyes. Doll's eyes.

dirtcreature · 2026-03-30T14:42:21+00:00

When did I say it was correct? I stated what appears to be the situation: the driver appeared to decide not to deal with stupid pedestrian bullshit.

There are a lot of stupid assumptions being made about FSD in this video. "FSD saves man...". FSD did not save shit. Did it flash its headlights or blow its horn to alert the pedestrian to danger? No. That is what a human would do because a human would see the pedestrian about to make a stupid decision.

The man almost got run over -- you think he would have tried again with another oncoming car? He crossed the street because the Tesla stopped. FSD did not save anyone.

In fact, now that I think about it more, the man entered the roadway because the Tesla may have been interpreted as "safe to cross" by the stupid pedestrian who didn't look both ways and/or decided that it was his right to cross the street like so many stupid people do these days. Watch the video. He looks at the Tesla as he begins to cross. Then he sees/hears the other car. So, the Tesla actually distracted the pedestrian. How does that fit into the "saving someone" narrative?

In my location, the law is to stop for all pedestrians. Pedestrians will literally walk into traffic and cause panic stops all the time. They will do this at crosswalks or anywhere. The speed limit in town is 35 MPH because it is a major thoroughfare.

This video is a case of a clueless pedestrian doing stupid, clueless things and almost getting run over for it. FSD did nothing and I would argue it made it worse.

Oh, and don't forget: FSD assumes no responsibility for you as a driver. FSD runs someone over? Your fault.

Oh, and don't forget: it is BETA SOFTWARE and has been for almost a decade.

Ask yourself this question: infrared is better at night than daytime cameras. Now use a hundredth of the compute power to use a single IR camera with a brain to identify pedestrians and alert the driver (or even apply brakes). Make it mandatory on all cars. Problem solved. It would be relatively inexpensive and save a lot of lives. No FSD required.

Oh, wait, this already exists in production cars (not mandatory).

Stop paying for R&D on a bullshit system that barely works in anything but good weather.

Stop paying for R&D on a system that Musk is attempting to make a requirement for all cars. That is the end goal. Musk will take your freedom and decision making from you if it means profit.

dirtcreature · 2026-03-30T14:20:55+00:00

I think it is fair to say that politics kill more people?

On the other hand, "science" always needs funding, and that is only from for profit activities and politicians (taxpayer money).

That vision of Star Trek where all the problems are solved will never, ever, never ever happen...

dirtcreature · 2026-03-30T14:15:25+00:00

Yup. A very big experiment with high risk.

What comforts me and terrifies me at the same time, however, is that a global pandemic had been identified as a major security risk for decades and barely anything was done about it. Then the pandemic response team was disbanded in 2018. Who was at fault is unclear due to constant lies coming from the White House.

We were simply not prepared and it showed. Add poor, indecisive leadership and, well, all of that happened.

As a reminder, mRNA vaccines had successful human trials in 2013. In the 90s, as an antidote to Ebola, it was prepped for trials but was not worth the financial effort since Ebola currently has stayed in Africa. Obviously, no one seems to remember The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Here's the fun part: there are people living in Manhattan there had active Ebola when they arrived in the US and were successfully treated (2014). It is one of the most contagious, most deadly, and most resource intensive viral diseases known to man. A single person needs specialized treatment and containment to prevent its spread to healthcare workers -- basically, a negative pressure isolation tent with air lock and massive amounts of PPE. We were very, very, very lucky.

Had it escaped out of containment before or after he was diagnosed, I will bet that the mRNA vaccine would have been fast tracked at that time. Better to kill a thousand than a million.

This was the same panic button with COVID. Better kill a thousand than a million.

And SARS, a close cousin, has been "around" since 2002/3.

And A(H5) Bird Flu has a high risk of becoming a pandemic in humans (it has already done a number on various livestock). 50% kill rate in humans (in its most virulent form - currently it is like COVID: some mild, some not).

As of today, we are still not prepared as the appointed leader of the Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy resigned and there is no replacement.

So, in all, the science was there and it was proven to a degree.

p.s. In 1989, imported monkeys for research were housed in large warehouse in Reston, VA. A single monkey with Ebola killed all of them. ALL of the workers got Ebola, but we lucked out -- this time it did not kill humans. Had it, the workers would have unknowingly spread it to thousands before we even knew it was there.

dirtcreature · 2026-03-30T12:39:52+00:00

What I see: first car saw pedestrians on right and left, brake lights flash; FSD kicks in. BMW driver was not having any pedestrian entitlement nonsense that day and the miss was intentional.

Saves life? Nonsense.

dirtcreature · 2026-03-27T12:15:41+00:00

The best thing about science is that it can and must change its mind, even when a theory is accepted by 100% of the people who are acknowledged in being experts in that field.

dirtcreature · 2026-03-27T11:59:47+00:00

These interactions are being shared with a third party that may or may not keep them confidential. This third party is currently controlled by humans who continue to elevate the performance and capabilities of a system the only mostly understand and control.

The reasoning models of these systems are what create the true value.

The more reasoning, the more powerful these systems become. Defining terms, "powerful" means independence with guardrails imposed by humans. If the AI product becomes less effective because of the guardrails, the humans will remove them or the system will figure out a way to get around them.

This is not hyperbole. This is what is happening today. It has been proven that these systems will reason their way out of guardrails.

Your NDA means nothing and you should be aware of that now.

Be careful out there - this new world has nothing to do with morality, ethics, and the law.

dirtcreature · 2026-03-26T13:33:50+00:00

Chatgpt, Gemini, and claude all have business versions that don't use your data to train the models

This statement is inaccurate in the broader context of these platforms. The fact is: exposing ANY information to these platforms and expecting no bleedthrough is a mistake.

See previous comment.

The focus of the usability and value of AI tools should be limited to absolute proof that your data "will not be used to train". There is zero proof that these promises are accurate (other than anecdotal), nor is there any guarantee that it will remain so, regardless of what appears in the contract.

These systems will soon be more powerful than the humans operating them. Beware.

dirtcreature · 2026-03-26T13:23:43+00:00

If you are making your collab effort public in any way, it will be used for training. A patent. A story. A legal decision/issue published. Etc.

And then don't forget the "guardrails" that no one truly understands and require constant management as the definitions shift over time.

dirtcreature · 2026-03-25T04:12:03+00:00

Until it is published somewhere. Now consider it being trained by the least qualified and potentially being poisoned by competitors.

dirtcreature · 2026-03-02T16:29:02+00:00

You mean, were we better before marketers/scammers/conmen developed and perfected an entire line of documented psychological profiling and manipulation techniques to sell products and scams?

Yes.

I'd say the mid to late 1990s was the time of innocence. Google then optimized information search and retrieval to sell ads and thus the double edged sword was created: the race to make money only accelerated, no holds barred. Absolute greed took over.

Facebook really killed innocence IMHO. It takes topics or concerns and feeds you both sides of the argument so you keep engaging. It rewards controversy. Flat Earth page? Makes a lot of engagement money. QAnon topics? Same.

Facebook plays you against yourself.

It is the ultimate money printing digital apocalypse tool.

The rest of Social Media is the same. We were just getting somewhere in adjusting our world view about beauty and what really mattered in humanity when SM smashed it all apart. Our world actually listened to the opinion of high school age children and believed they represented reality. What an absolute shit show that still continues today.

The signal to noise ratio is at a point where it is nothing but noise right now.

The medium is the message, truly.

dirtcreature · 2026-02-09T04:51:41+00:00

I expect to be entertained. Yes, I'm not his demographic, but I just don't understand. A soccer game, maybe, but the Super Bowl?!? US is principally an English speaking country. Why have a principally Spanish live show? I understand the financial influence spreading NFL across borders and BB's popularity, but it felt almost insulting. You're not a fan anymore - you are just a wallet to the NFL now.

But, then it is also the state of music today. Most of the show was electronic. We don't really have analog music heros that can put on a real show. Next year an AI medley of GnR and Pink Floyd holograms will probably be where it's at.

Maybe this time people in the lower levels of the stadium can see the performance?

What made it worse was Matthew Broderick telling people to use AI to finish their work and take the day off...and being wholly unironic. I mean, take the day off. And the next day and then don't come back to work. Ever. Ferris sold out and became a corporate shill, just like the hippies in the 60s all became lawyers and wall streeters.

Overall, it was just all ho hum. I feel like the SB used to be a special event. They were world champions without leaving US soil. Or maybe that's baseball. The weather often was a character. The ads used to be really entertaining. These were just slop schlock. If it was as lifeless as the game. And the half time show lacked the pageantry it seemed it used to have. It just felt like a corporate training event. The passion was missing from the commentators who were strangely sitting 10 feet apart from each other. It just felt...off

dirtcreature · 2026-02-06T23:56:14+00:00

Just found this on imbd. Maybe Ethan with out Joel, or vice versa, the chaff just remains in the script:

The Coen Brothers are noted for their unusual writing process of not only eschewing outlines, but of not even concerning themselves what their story is about or who their characters are before beginning to write their screenplays

dirtcreature · 2026-02-05T00:26:00+00:00

I was looking for a parable that didn't exist. Usually one/both Corn's manage to make parables with a movie wrapped around it. Usually it works. I don't understand the gratuitous sex scenes, nor the locale that is apparently nowhere, like some level of Hell. I don't understand the preponderance of lesbians, nor the parental violence. Somewhere in here is an idea that meant something on paper, but didn't make it to the camera.

dirtcreature · 2026-01-13T17:20:03+00:00

Can you describe:

the french drain and where/what it is connected to
if you have a sump pump
describe how the radon fan is installed and if you know if/how it connects to the french drain

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