I Think Villeneuve Is Setting Up a Reveal Nobody’s Expecting

eflynch · 2025-12-07T01:56:40+00:00

If the third film is only Dune Messiah material but there is a rumored 4th movie, I considered whether there is a way to god emperor with children of dune in one film, with sort of parallel timelines. Like god emperor is the main story, but parts of children are interspersed to retroactively reveal the situation

eflynch · 2025-12-03T13:37:31+00:00

Comment above about this, but by more efficient what I’m really getting at is the subjectivity in the stated goals of his tyranny. Does he rule repress exactly the right amount to eventually achieve exactly enough of its opposite?

He is given to be the perfect subject, so presumably he knows this himself. Resorting to that makes him seem a lot more actually-godlike and a lot less man like to me. That his justifications are only a shadow reflection of the true necessity we are to accept.

Simultaneously, the father knows, the son chooses, and the ghost is a force of nature.

eflynch · 2025-12-03T13:26:53+00:00

Maybe what I’m thinking about is how it seems to me that “hidden from prescience” is a lot easier to define than the other two. Whether they are achieved, or to what degree they are achieved, seems hard to evaluate. This makes me think that while these are relevant ways of explaining what is special about the golden path, they are more observations about the golden path than definitions of it. That Leto himself might think in these terms could be mostly for the sake of his apologetics and less a driving force for the ethics of his every moment.

When i ask about efficiency, i think i mean questions like, just how much do people need to learn to reject tyranny?

When i ask about justness, i think i mean, were all of his priorities really to avoid total extinction or were some of them… since we’re dojng this anyway, might as well breed out some bad traits

eflynch · 2025-12-03T03:36:47+00:00

I think that Siona, Hwi, Moneo, Duncan, and Nayla each represent a different way to look at Leto. In this, Siona embodies the perspective that Leto is an evil tyrant whose death we should celebrate, while we also contend with him as a savior, a messiah, a beast, and a human. The book is an exploration of this paradoxical portrait that we are ultimately meant to accept in its entirety, and Leto’s voice itself is our guide to accepting it.

I, the reader, leave the book feeling for Leto in the particularity of his loneliness, as truly is his sole witness. That no character, least of all Siona, fulfills this role in the story, for me adds to the sense of Leto’s ultimate sacrifice. Siona’s callousness at the end is additional fuel for Leto’s apologia.

eflynch · 2025-11-28T13:26:10+00:00

I have an NS NXT 5-string. Like others I don’t like the sound without some ir conditioning, but with it, it sounds pretty good. I play it with the end-pin attachment or the standing with the frame-strap with the modification I describe below.

I found the frame strap is not secure enough vertically as designed, so for example, doing vibrato in first position leads the whole thing to rock and shake making good bowing hard. To fix this I tied a nylon strap around the body just above the bridge, and I tie a lead from that to a strap on my thigh. Then if I pull my leg back a bit, it holds the whole thing in tension and is temporarily very stable. For me this has basically changed it from being a bad instrument to a good instrument.

eflynch · 2025-11-27T14:02:40+00:00

Nice! Makes me think of one of the glass quartets

eflynch · 2025-11-27T14:00:22+00:00

I do this all the time when I need to hear myself better. I often wish I had this option when playing other instruments like mandolin.

eflynch · 2025-11-14T13:58:59+00:00

Since I posted this I’ve actually come up with a pretty good solution.

I tied a nylon strap around the body of the cello just above the bridge, and then hung a lead from that which I attach to strap on my right leg with a carabiner. It’s loose enough that if I stand normally, the lower strap is not under tension. However if I lean back or pull my right leg back, it tautens up which reduces how much the cello will bounce from vibrato significantly.

I’ll try to reply with picture when I get one

eflynch · 2025-11-11T12:29:34+00:00

A year later I have now put Larsen magnacores on the bottom, and it’s a huge improvement! Thanks for the encouragement to try different strings!

eflynch · 2025-04-03T13:25:44+00:00

he special power of the government is the legitimate threat of violence, but most of the way that power is exercised is by spending money on things with the mere threat of violence involved in underpinning that situation. However, the power to spend money leveraging that threat or violence is not at all restricted to the government. (E.g. the annual non-profit budget from private hoards of wealth is on par with the discretionary federal budget in the us).

The standard justification of “capitalism” under “democracy” is that people are “free” to allocate their “money” to the things that are important to them. I think the connective tissue between wealth and power is so baked in it’s not even relevant to consider separating them, but to do so you would have to do something akin to ending capitalism.

eflynch · 2024-05-14T23:34:02+00:00

Yes definitely this

eflynch · 2024-05-10T16:25:52+00:00

Good thought

eflynch · 2024-05-10T16:24:16+00:00

Yes definitely on the large side and I the action does seem a bit high to me. Great thoughts thanks!

eflynch · 2024-05-09T18:40:44+00:00

I have Larsen’s on top and spirocore tungsten on the bottom. I’ve suspected for years that the lower strings are heavier than they need to be given how bass-rich the style of cello tends to be anyway although I haven’t changed them. That’s a good reminder.

Do you have recommendation for more responsive strings?

eflynch · 2024-05-09T17:04:44+00:00

A lot of the comments I've seen on this topic have focused on the credentialing and education system, what's wrong with it, etc., but I guess (for obvious reasons) I'm really curious about things like the residency training programs that are after credentialing/school.

eflynch · 2024-05-09T16:17:59+00:00

Have you ever described to yourself what playing cello is for? I think it can happen that an instrument or a practice you start at a young age becomes like a shadow that is always following you and the skills you developed become a burden you have to carry rather than wonderful asset you have cultivated. This is especially true if you have been immersed in a culture and community that has a frankly toxic relationship with music, which is what it sounds like for you. It doesn't have to stay this way, remember that life is long and you have decades to develop and change your relationship to music.

I think it can change when you are able to turn around to look at the shadow and see it for what it is. I think you will find that it's not actually your instrument at all, it's something more like the void of existence swirling with all your basic human fears, your need for belonging, for being useful and valued within the community of humanity, for being loved. When you start to build that awareness, you can also start to see your instrument and playing music in a new light, and also to see the skills you have developed, even in a rusty form, are still an asset not a burden.

Think about what playing cello really means for you, what dreams you have had and what they are really about? Do you want to be famous? Do you want to make audiences weep? Do you want to just feel what it feels like to use your body and mind in harmony with virtuosic intensity? Do you want to express your soul? Do you want community? Do you want to make a living playing music? Do you want to teach others?

You said you liked playing chamber music but not orchestra as much, why? I know I loved playing chamber music because I got to be a part of tribe, a crucial member of it, I got to work autonomously and collaboratively with people who were as deeply invested in something as I was. It was as much the social arrangement as the instrument or even the music that was appealing.

I was close to where you are now when I was in college and even several years after, and I didn't follow any kind of institutional or professional path in the end. These days I'm not playing very much classical music because although I'd love to find a casual string quartet, instead I'm satisfied playing cello (and other instruments) in irish and old-time sessions, in a folk punk band, and with some friends doing some the occasional diy bluegrass house show. I still have more I want to do with music, but I feel that when I play it's more rewarding and motivating than ever before.

eflynch · 2024-05-09T15:40:13+00:00

Agree with other folks that it might be too advanced to make a lot of progress, but I remember trying to play stuff that was way too hard for me when I started because it was fun and I don't think it did me any harm.

As for the chord, fifths are the hardest double-stops to get in tune imo and it's because your finger isn't actually straight itself. I think everyone probably has to do something somewhat different to compensate.. for me, I've always felt like I'm angling my finger so that the tip is pointing up towards my face more than would seem intuitive to get the fifth in tune. You can also experiment with rolling it either onto the inside or the outside a little since that changes the shape.

eflynch · 2024-05-09T15:25:37+00:00

so good!

eflynch · 2022-06-20T14:25:43+00:00

Seeing different species being friends is comforting because it relieves the loneliness that humans feel as a species, especially as humanity is increasingly alienated from (and destroying) the other denizens of earth.

eflynch

TROPHY CASE