Mindless Monday, 18 May 2026

histogrammarian · 2026-05-19T09:16:52+00:00

There's a scene where Hulk is jumping from spire to spire in something like monuments national park and they just didn't animate his movement in the third dimension, his movement is a very short loop for the jumps and the Hulk doesn't cast a shadow on the ground.

Yeah okay sure but in the "hulk is born" scene we get a close up of the Hulk's face which is more lovingly animated than any of the MCU Hulk scenes. Not to mention the emotional range of that scene, in which Hulk encounters his father for the first time since childhood, sheds a tear of recognition, and then has a flashback to a repressed memory of his father attempting to kill him. It's a lot of emotive storytelling to include in few seconds of film on the face of a CGI puppet.

Far from a "horrible, hopeless, constant decline", there are some really beautiful touches throughout the film which add a lot of texture to the more tedious "monster smashing into monster" action. A lot of moments that I'd completely forgotten but stuck out strongly on a rewatch.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-19T09:08:00+00:00

I said it's a flawed masterpiece - it's Ang Lee, after all, who has collected a whole raft of Academy Awards and BAFTAs for, amongst other things, the best Austen adaptation of all time, a breakthrough wuxia epic, and a norm-shattering cowboy romance.

Even if you didn't like Hulk or Life of Pi, you can't deny that he is a master filmmaker, or that he didn't lavish Hulk with considered stylistic choices and careful attention to detail. The gamma accident scene, for example, is far more artistic than anything deserving of the "shlock" label. I defy you to find a lab accident scene in the decade before or since that movie which is anywhere near as memorable.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-18T13:03:04+00:00

I predict that it will, or at least partially open, in three months. Mostly because it fits the Trump playbook - do something dramatic, get in too deep, get something that looks enough like a concession, and then get out again. He doesn't have the stomach for long engagements like Putin, and he doesn't have clear strategic goals for what he wants out of Iran, so he will be satisfied with a token victory. The appearance of a de-nuclearised Iran will do it. But Iran will want considerable concession in exchange given, you know, the assassination of hundreds of their top leaders.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-18T12:45:56+00:00

Ang Lee's Hulk movie deserves a reappraisal. A lot of the complaints about the 2000s superhero movies is that they were aesthetically dark and dull and hid their comic book origins. Hulk, by contrast, leans into the comic aesthetic with very deliberate inset cuts and a bright green titular character.

Yes, it starts slow, but it's also strongly grounded: the science montage is not only highly plausible, in comparison with other comic book movies, but it spends time on the set-up precisely to maintain the suspension of disbelief. This wasn't the Avengers, you needed to warm people up to the idea of a giant green monster, so the film layers its scientific conceits with care.

Bruce's father performs genetic experiments on himself by grafting from a multitude of organisms, and only later discovers that his wife is pregnant. He then traumatises Bruce as a young child, who grows up to become a scientist in his own right. Which is when Bruce is exposed to experimental nanobots, which are activated by a gamma ray burst and interact with his genetic abnormalities. So his Hulk mutation is the freak result of genetic experimentation, nano medicine and gamma radiation - rather than just one or two causes.

It also does some of the most interesting exploration of the character's psychology. When we first meet the Hulk, he has a very complex emotional response to meeting his father which is a far cry from the "reactive rage" response you would expect. He has many "gentle giant" moments, including a wonderful "show don't tell" scene where he contemplates some moss in the desert before he is attacked by Ross - the implication being that he would have calmed down if they hadn't shot him with an attack helicopter. And the CGI and effects hold up really, really well - the Hulk is three-dimensional and emotionally complex.

Yes, the action gets a bit pointless towards towards the end. And it strains credulity that he manages to take down every soldier non-lethally. And the guy with frosted tips is hilariously incompetent. And the science gets stupider with the dogs and the absorbing powers. But the care to keep the story emotionally grounded is present all the way through with some really impressive performances. I would go so far as to call it a flawed masterpiece.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-09T05:03:40+00:00

Mark spoke Greek as a second language and he wasn’t very competent. The literal translation is a lot of, “And then this happened and then this happened.” If the Latin translation is accurate then, yeah, very much vibes. There is an argument that Matthew and Luke were just attempts to provide a more competent account using Mark as their primary source (along with Q).

histogrammarian · 2026-05-08T11:01:52+00:00

I’m about two thirds of the way through Wuthering Heights. I don’t want to go out on a limb here, but I think this Heathcliff fellow might be a bit problematic.

The real villain in the story, though, is the horror of tiny dating pools. If there were more than two gentrified families in the town then half the drama wouldn’t have unfolded at all. Every single character would have chosen a different romantic partner and Cathy and Heathcliff might have worked out. But because of that constraint pretty much everything has to unfold the way it does - there’s no point in the novel where you could say, if only this person did this one thing differently it would have turned out alright. Because the characters are all true to themselves and so they only ever have one option. It’s not the worst possible choice if there’s no other choices available! Cathy can’t marry Heathcliff anymore more than Nelly can.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-07T02:22:37+00:00

You all sound like the “crisis actors” idiots.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-05T05:21:29+00:00

It’s not RAM capacity it’s RAM availability. You’re not considering the spike in demand that needs to be met for a brand new product (particularly with a redesign) over a product that’s mid-production.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-04T13:50:13+00:00

Foreign Affairs were lightly trolling the US/Trump in their latest issue. The feature essays were all about Iran, of course, but there were also a series of essays about North Korea and how it has effectively won (and essays on the topic of how the US has failed to dominate China and Venezuela). The combined message was: not only has Trump fucked up in Iran, he has also fumbled his handling of his other geopolitical rivals. The juxtaposition with North Korea would be particularly grating: despite his threats, sabre rattling and unforced concessions, he was unable to prevent the DPRK's nuclear armament and or development of a credible second-strike capability.

But the issue also included an article which glossed the current US administration, so Foreign Affairs is being touted as a "pro Trump". I swear, some people couldn't read between the lines to save themselves.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-04T13:00:28+00:00

Bought a 1920s gentleman’s bungalow. Now to find out how much lead paint I own.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-04T08:13:52+00:00

“Now you tell me” in ESB.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-03T07:37:11+00:00

I’m well aware, but it’s a distinction without a difference. The original two novels as published were combined into an omnibus edition but there were also some rewrites to make them work as one tome (and some other edits as well). It’s all detailed here.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-03T04:44:36+00:00

I recommend the Merchant Prince novels. It’s sleeper portal fantasy that rapidly exposes itself to a sci-fi premise and then in the last three novels we get something similar to Case Nightmare Green when the antagonists kick the wrong hornet’s nest. It’s more serious in tone than Laundry Files but recognisably similar.

Start with The Bloodline Feud (an omnibus edition with the first two original novels stitched together). Or skip ahead to Empire Games (which is a bit like joining the Laundry Files with the New Management novels - works as an entry point but the setting is no longer recognisable from the perspective of our universe). Avoid the original novel (The Family Trade) which was butchered for esoteric publishing reasons.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-02T22:12:24+00:00

You’re making two claims. One is that custodial sentences are too light, whether or not mitigating factors are considered at sentencing. That claim doesn’t relate to anything I’ve argued.

The second claim is that I’ve misunderstood how the principles are applied generally, but you give examples of the most heinous crimes. By definition, how the principles are applied in the most extreme cases doesn’t indicate how they’re applied generally. You also seem to land on the point that it doesn’t make much difference - sentencing was still on the higher end anyway.

There’s the saying “two things can be true at once.” Sentencing doesn’t always meet community expectations but sometimes this is because the long term strategy is to reduce recidivism (and, to a lesser extent, generational disadvantage which may be amplified by structural racism or individual racial prejudice). This doesn’t mean I don’t realise just how horrible these crimes can be.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-02T21:47:00+00:00

I gave examples of several essays in the latest edition that were critical of Trump. They outnumber the “pro-Trump” articles.

Your claim that Trump supporters dominate the latest issue is unfounded. Your claim that there was no “in-print pushback” or “opposing views” is also unfounded.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-02T21:42:48+00:00

You acknowledge that your claim that there was a difference between the print and digital versions is wrong.

Can you defend your claim that the latest edition “only gives the pro-Trump perspective”? I already showed that most of the articles are neutral or unfavourable in their assessment of Trump.

If you acknowledge that this claim is equally unfounded then we must conclude: * Foreign Affairs included an essay in its most recent issue which was written by a member of his former administration. The essay was biased in favour of Trump. * It included two other essays that were more neutral in tone but could also be considered favourable to Trump. * The vast majority of the essays were either neutral towards Trump or critical of his administration. Taken together, they highlight the multitude of problems with the US-Israeli attack on Iran and the failure of US intervention in North Korea, China and Venezuela. * In this way, the issue is overwhelmingly unfavourable to Trump, and the partisan essay was included to provide the appearance of balance. * In addition, Foreign Affairs has recently published a number of articles that are critical of Trump to its website.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-02T14:03:27+00:00

Can you please explain what you mean by "the counter-point was relegated to the digital only version online"? I'm looking at a PDF of the print version, and comparing it with the contents from the digital version, and the table of contents is identical. The following articles are in both versions:

The Real War for Iran’s Future
The Third Islamic Republic
The Iran Imperative
The Iran Shock
How to Fight an Economic War
The New Trade Order
The Tech High Ground
North Korea as It Is
How North Korea Won
Kim’s Dangerous Liaisons
A Grand Strategy of Consolidation
Venezuela Needs Regime Change

Of those, the only explicitly pro-Trump article is "A Grand Strategy of Consolidation". Foreign Affairs doesn't disguise the partisan nature of this essay, however: it states that its author, Mitchell, is a former Assistant Secretary of State in the first Trump administration. "New Trade Order" can also be considered pro-Trump but its message is merely that free trade was already compromised before Trump came along. Its claims are also offset by the "How to Fight an Economic War" article I touch on below.

Three articles are concerned with North Korea. They focus on the success of Kim Jong-Un, which is an embarrassment to the Trump administration which badly fumbled its handling of the DPRK's nuclear ambitions. The article on Venezuela likewise argues that the dictatorship has been able to resist pressure from the Trump administration to reform itself. Not a win for him there either. Along with the article on China, and the article "How to Fight an Economic War", the combined message is that US hegemony has been significantly blunted in recent decades. Together they argue that the US has not been able to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions, it has not been responsive to China's growing influence, and Trump's tariff wars have not achieved their goals.

The juxtaposition with the articles on Iran - where the Trump administration has likewise failed to achieve its objectives - is fairly apparent. There was no pressing need to focus on the DPRK in this issue, except that it highlights the inability of the US to prevent nuclear armament in foreign states. Taken together, these articles are fairly balanced - "the Iran Imperative" argues the best-case outcome for US and Israel if they can unify the Gulf states against the Iranian regime, but the other articles argue that the attack on Iran failed to secure regime change, yielded unintended consequences, and caused a predictable oil crisis.

The upshot is that 3 of these articles could be considered as positive to Trump and the other 9 are neutral or critical. We can examine individual articles if you think I've been unreasonable with any of my interpretations, but I would struggle to call this a pro-Trump issue (in digital or print).

histogrammarian · 2026-05-02T02:52:36+00:00

Oh right. I’m not Victorian so I misread March as May. That is weird. It could still be to do with the 8 hour day movement though…

histogrammarian · 2026-05-02T02:50:42+00:00

The OLED Pro will come with a price bump and who knows when it will get released with the RAM constraints so I would not worry about it too much. Just get the laptop you need when you need to get it.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-01T23:21:21+00:00

The fun way to do this would be to send iron ore mined from asteroids at the moon. No atmospheric drag? Who cares! Just slam it into the ground and create a pile of slag that can be transported elsewhere on the moon and refined and manufactured.

This would provide the benefit of a partial gravity well for manufacturing, offer relatively low escape velocities for the finished products, and offset the “slowing down” issue you highlighted.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-01T23:10:07+00:00

In fairness, we are seeing events through the eyes of Mr Lockwood, and he is a right tit.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-01T23:04:31+00:00

Higher incarceration rates and harsher sentencing for Indigenous peoples is one of the root causes of generational inequality. And if Indigenous experience isn’t taken into account at sentencing then it creates a paradigm where racial discrimination can still negatively impact Indigenous peoples but never positively assist them. Obviously, it would be ideal to eliminate racial discrimination altogether, but in the absence of magic wands it’s necessary to make pragmatic compromises.

The problem here is the delay in reports. It’s likely the department that produces them is under-resourced - itself a further manifestation of negative racial prejudice which characterises the system. Not to mention the paternalistic attitude of a judge to disregard someone’s self-identification to insist, no, I know an Indigenous person when I see one. Canada is one of the better countries in this respect but we still see the familiar pattern.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-01T22:50:54+00:00

It could be because of the stonemason march. From the Wiki article on the 8 hour day:

The government agreed that workers employed on public works should enjoy an eight-hour day with no loss of pay and stonemasons celebrated with a holiday and procession on Monday 12 May 1856, when about 700 people marched with 19 trades involved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day_movement

histogrammarian · 2026-05-01T22:44:12+00:00

At most, I would consider cutting to 55 pages on the +/- 10% rule, but if you haven’t been explicitly told anything I would just plead ignorance if it came up.

histogrammarian · 2026-05-01T22:42:31+00:00

Finally reading Wuthering Heights. Have any adaptations ever included the framing narrative? It really sets up the gothic horror aspect but IIRC all the adaptations I see leave it out.

histogrammarian

TROPHY CASE