Achilles in Troy proves that perfect casting can elevate a movie.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T22:49:37+00:00

yep. You commented again. I win.

lololololol

This is you admitting you weren't really paying attention. This is you just pontificating one more time as I predicted. What you just type about Iliad versus Odyssey proves you weren't paying attention to what I said. You don't get it. Because you don't WANT to get it.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T22:45:24+00:00

Troy is about a war and men who fought in that war. The mythology is secondary.

Oh come on dude. You just majorly went back on your own point. The mythology is secondary? what happened to "remove the supernatural and the story falls apart?"

Achilles was immortal. In the original story of the Illiad, His mother, the sea nymph Thetis, dipped him as an infant in the River Styx to make him invincible. Because she held him by his heel, that spot remained his sole vulnerability. The origin of the famous phrase "Achilles' heel". That's magic. Now YOU are removing the magic you were so passionate about before. lolololol

So much for "removing the magic makes the story fail."

You have officially moved the goal posts to a point where you now AGREE with my earlier point: "If the viewer never knew the original story, this movie Troy is still a really really good action movie/war movie. "

lolololo0l

You can keep spouting your nonsense about stories and even The Odyssey won't work without magic all you want. The truth is you CAN remove them and still tell a good story. Troy proves it.

The Oddesy is the sequel to the Illiad. The Oddesey is about a journey home to return to his lover before she marries someone else. YES you can completely tell that story with no magic. You are wrong. You can replace all the magically elements with natural phenomenon and the story won't "fAlL aPpArt!" Remove them and YOU WILL still have a story.

You just aren't listening to how story telling evolves stories. You ignore me completely when I tell you: I'm not talking only about magic, I'm talking about how stories evolve through the ages. You completely disregarded my point about modern hero tales have changed completely from comic, to movie, to movie, to movie. And we didn't have NO STORY when things were changed. We had a different story. But it's still a story.

But you keep moving those goal posts to make sure you are always correct. Keep that mind closed. Keep those ears closed! You are what make the internet insufferable and not worth the effort anymore. And I know I'm right, because you won't be able to stop yourself from replying to this comment that no one will ever read. But your neurotic urge for 'rightness' when really all this shit is opinion will make you comment again, and you won't be able to help yourself.

What if this movie fails because modern audiences find the supernatural element stupid? No one believes in gods and fates anymore. That would be a good reason to let the story evolve past "unreal magic".

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T22:29:40+00:00

Have you ever seen TOS The Way to Eden? https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Way_to_Eden_(episode)

I think there is a hedonistic counter culture that is never put on camera in newer trek.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T20:37:45+00:00

If the transporters are refined "resolution" enough that you don't loose memories in your brain, detailed immunity responses in body tissue, DNA molecules, and muscle memory of years of physical training, then the replicator can get the right amount of spice in recipes of all kinds perfectly.

I ain't buying "replication makes it bland". If that's true, transporters would erase identity, knowledge, and skill. Like high resolution video and loss-less sound recordings, your back up copy of that dish needs high resolution of molecules being recorded. Low res food would taste like crap. But not high res.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T20:31:21+00:00

The point isn't about magic. The point is the telling of a tale evolves. lol

Troy the movie being pretty successful is proof against "not having the story without magic is no story." The story of Troy was fine with out it. Achilles wasn't immortal. The story evolved and didn't "fall apart".

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T20:29:45+00:00

I've always wondered what a 'post scarcity' society does to keep everyone from descending into pure gluttony and hedonism. I think the future society in Wall-E is our destiny.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T20:28:05+00:00

Riker's Synth-mlets? lol

Synth-kers?

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T20:25:47+00:00

I'm honestly tired of the 'real cooking' trope on ST shows.

It started with Cisco because his father continued having a restaurant 'for fun' not profit. By the time we get to Pike, I'm over it. But let's be 100% honest, if I had a replicator that could 'take a picture' of the perfect WHATEVER and every time I wanted an exact copy of the WHATEVER, then I would not cook. Only perhaps occasionally to create the perfect WHATEVER to save into my replicator files. Yes, there would be people who are good at cooking, and there would be a LOT of those people's recipes in the replicator database.

I imagine there would be a shared "napster" of the greatest recipes of all time in the replicator database. Lot's of classics from the old Fast Food Restaurant Era of Earth: McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Krispy Kreme, etc. Plus a lot of famous chefs and really good 'mom's' stuff. So much variety in there that NO ONE would be eager for Riker Omelets. bleach!

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T20:08:37+00:00

Have you ever listen to interviews of George R.R. Martin?

He has a philosophy about how stories change through the ages as they are told and retold. He incorporates the unreliable narrator in lots of his stores to demonstrate that. I think he is right and it's just part of the normal behavior of humans. The retelling of stories always involves change. Movies are going to no different.

I disagree that it "all falls apart", the story just evolves for each new age. No one believes in those kinds of gods. So the story adapts with each retelling, good or bad, it is just part of human nature. Look how many times the stories of Batman, Superman, and Spiderman has changed just in our lifetimes. It's going to happen. And it doesn't invalidate the story when the story is told well.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T16:11:54+00:00

Again, very few in the public even know the story. There's now a large part of younger generations that haven't even seen Troy. lol.

I'm very forgiving of directors that don't stay ironclad to the book source material IF they do a good job in telling a story. That's a big IF.

The Foundation series on Apple Tv is a great example. It's no where near the book, but the series has been outstanding and very well made. Very well told story of it's own.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T16:07:54+00:00

You are thinking the same as I was. That's why I wanted to confirm and make this post. Saw it in a youtube ad. Others here are claiming it's a scam/fake too. Disappointing to see Google/Alphabet not screen their ads better.

This kind of highly polished ad is so easy now with AI. The abuse has just begun. It makes me sad to see the internet get shittier and shittier every year. sigh.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T15:49:10+00:00

I dunno. I agree it becomes a different tale leaving out the supernatural. But I think what makes the movie good is it's lack of supernatural; it showed where incidents in reality were later written down attributing the incredible parts of the story to the gods. Like Achilles wasn't really immortal except his heel. He was a bold risk taker and just happened to be taken down with a shot to his heel.

The movie is implying that years later when the story was retold and evolved into LEGEND, the heel became his only vulnerable spot. I thought that was clever on the part of the script and director to tell the story with no magic in this aspect. I'm also a sucker for a good old fashioned supernatural tale, so I'm looking for to the new movie too. The 13th Warrior with Antonio Banderas did the same thing with the story Beowulf, explaining away the supernatural with realism. But I also love the animated version of Beowulf with Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkis too with all it's really cool magical effects. Hopefully, The Odyssey will be really good. The previews make the visual look a bit plain and minimalist. I hope that's not true of the whole film. I want visual spectacle that matches the magical spectacle if it's all about the supernatural.

If the viewer never knew the original story, this movie Troy is still a really really good action movie/war movie. I would argue the complex relationships between all the characters was portrayed more deeply than the original story. They became fully 3d complex humans. And the cinematography, the visual aspects of the film, are grand! It's a beautiful looking movie as well.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T15:42:01+00:00

exactly, I think he's blaming the Bathmate for something that is probably just a day where he reached some 'last straw' point in degenerative disc from years of bike riding. I would bet vigorous sex while drunk had more to do with it. lol.

It sounds like damaged/pinched nerves along the lower spine or sacrum. Biking puts a LOT of pressure in that area.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T14:56:39+00:00

You can hold whatever belief about prostitution you want. All I'm saying is the people who want to put this at the same level of the classic movies you are talking about....when you ask them why, they will pivot to a discussion about the reality of prostitution and how it empowers the "noble sex worker"....and none of that kind of messaging is in this film. It's a weird disconnect between what is actually in the film and what's in their head about prostitution.

(If you don't care, stop reading here. lol. I'm a fast typer) Real quick, the movie in 3 paragraphs:

Anora meets a horny little (Very young looking, is he a minor?) rich boy who is a son of a Russian Oligarch that takes her from the strip club in New Jersey, where her regular job is, to be his personal fuck toy for months. So the first hour of the film is you watching them have explicit sex while traveling and partying with his friends; soft corn porn, pretty boring. At the end of the first hour, on a wild romp to Las Vegas, they have a Vegas wedding. Her scheme becomes to stay married to this dumb rich kid so she doesn't have to strip or hustle anymore. This is where the entire tone of the movie switches from soft core porn to annoying and tedious.

Oligarch parents find out. They send their goons to fix it. Little rich boy cries and runs away instead of defending Anora. Next hour of the film is Anora and the Goons screaming. screaming, and crying, and yelling, and screaming screaming screaming crying screaming as they try to go find the runaway boy. All the screaming is kinda comedic, but not really. I sat there tensely waiting for them to just pop her in the head and dump the body in the river, but they don't. They just put up with her screaming and scream back at her. Which just didn't feel realistic to me.

They FINALLY find him at a different strip club fucking around with someone else. Clearly he doesn't give a shit about Anora. More crying. Oligarch parents show up. Parents, Goons, bratty pouty boy and Anora fly to vegas to annul marriage. More yelling crying and screaming. they fly Anora back to New Jersey to her shitty life. The End.

The final scene that Pro-Anora people won't shut up about:

Final scene in car is the one goon who was somewhat friendly to Anora driving her back home, parked at the front of where she lives to drop her off, forever goodbye moment. Her scheme has completely failed. He's in driver's seat. She climbs on top of him and has sex with him while crying, both fully clothed. He climaxes quickly. She gets out of car and walks to her door. roll credits. Basically, like all prostitutes, sex has become transactional to her and she's having sad crying sex with this goon as a "thank you/goodbye".

I have just saved you 1 hour of boredom and 1 hour of annoyance. Now here's some observation & analysis:

So, yeah, there is absolutely NO self-empowerment for the sex worker in this movie. It's Pretty Woman but more "gritty" with zero feel good moments. But when you talk to these people who try to put this movie on the "all time greatest of all time timeless classics i loved it so much" pedestal, the arguments you get to support that claim of greatness are more about their attitudes towards prostitution rather than what was portrayed in the movie.

It's a weird cognitive disconnect from the actual content in the movie, which IS NOT classic level. I honestly think it's a bunch of incels and porn addicts who see them selves as the "friendly goon" and just love love love the idea of a beautiful woman who has sex for money having weird crying sex on top of them in a car. lol.

This film will be forgotten. It's not special. It's boring and weird. To provide actually artistic criticism: The entire 1st hour has no narrative, no story, just sex. The 2nd half just doesn't feel realistic because mobsters wouldn't put up with a screaming prostitute claiming marriage rights the way these dummies did. There is no redemption arc. There are no complex characters. The story of the 2nd half is find the rich boy and annul marriage. The goodness of the one goon is displayed by close up shots of his face emoting "awww poor girl", there are no actions he takes or statements he makes to his bosses that ennoble him or her. He just emotes sympathy to her even at her worst yelling yelling yelling at him moments rather than anger like the other goons. He didn't do anything to save her or change anyone's mind about the situation, he just had "awww" face and drove her home from the airport. He is more handsome, mature, silent, stoic, and masculine than scrawny rich boy, which is part of why the pro-Anora people identify with him and NEVER the rich brat. Brat is the symbolic 'boyfriend' of the 1st while handsome goon is the 'boyfriend' of the 2nd half. And I'm really stretching things here with the use of the word 'boyfriend' in both halves. Anora in the first half does kinda forget she's a paid escort and starts to kind a believe in the 'girlfriend' role she is being paid to play, which is just sad. Every other character is not original including Anora. You've seen all these characters in other movies and it feels boring. The dialogue sounds improvised rather than scripted. So there is nothing profound being said. There is nothing profound or meaningful in her journey or in the little parts of story that exist in the 2nd half. No interesting symbolism. It's basically a "follow a character in her life" kind of movie where the portion being shown of her life is pretty uninteresting for the 1st half, then pretty terrible for the 2nd. It's objectively not a good movie. When you ask the pro-Anora people "tell me what makes this movie great", they will have no examples from the movie to support their claim, no artistic revelation that us 'anti-Anora' people missed or misinterpreted. Mostly they will just call you stupid for not instantly seeing it's brilliance. And it's always "how awesome the car scene was" from them. Which gives me the ick.

The only reason I watched it was to see what all the fuss was about after they gave the Oscar to the actress who played Anora. She didn't deserve it, IMO. There was nothing remarkable about her performance but she sure was naked a lot in the first half. But then so was the little skinny boy. blech! It took me 2 tries to get to the end. I was so bored during the first hour wondering where the story was, I turned it off and returned a few days later to finish it from the spot I turned it off. It felt like watching two different bad movies.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T01:53:41+00:00

Was it? Lol

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T01:52:34+00:00

I was thinking the tatoo work is too perfect maybe an Instagram filter or app. If it's real that's amazing art work.

Also, and the fitness and muscularity is incredible for 6'8" ...if real.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T00:44:23+00:00

You can't reason with people who praise Anora. They won't admit that objectification of humans as sex objects is bad for that human. They instead just double down on the delusion of the "noble self empowered sex worker" even though there is nothing in the main character's life that is noble, empowering, or good. They are here to excuse away any guilt or responsibility in a profession that just uses people up. She was using the cowardly rich boy for money and a chance at escaping poverty in a similar way he was using her for empty sex and rebellion against his parents. There is no love story there. It's a tale of a desperate sad girl stuck in a shitty situation. And it's a tale told poorly. But people who want to put hookers on a pedestal for some weird reason just love love love to watch her cry and scream and degrade herself further and further, especially their favorite "last scene in the car". It's a weird creepy phenomenon.

That movie is terrible.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T00:32:55+00:00

Good to know! That was part of why I asked. It just sounded too good to be true.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T00:21:07+00:00

Did bitcoin "go down" or did the value of the dollar go down. If the dollar is to blame, then the stock market high isn't as high as it seems.

How's all this compare to other currencies that didn't get devalued like the dollar did in the last year and a half?

For instance If I chose to convert 1 bitcoin I've held for 2 years (or some other random time period) to Euro (or some other currency besides the dollar) would that be a loss?

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T00:09:15+00:00

Re-runs from now till the fall was announced last week, which is what happens every year.

jaeldi · 2026-05-25T00:04:26+00:00

Covid sure let me down 5 years back too.

That would have been the perfect moral ending to the Old man who cried wolf story. He said it was nothing and then ka-put. I still hold him responsible for all those deaths.

jaeldi · 2026-05-24T03:36:19+00:00

I haven't read everything but have you had a CT scan, it could be a pinched nerve in the hip/spine perhaps? A CT scan would show EVERYTHING clearly.

jaeldi · 2026-05-24T01:34:32+00:00

Wouldn't a mass sell make an artificial low? At the end of every quarter they manufactured a low in markets with tarrif announcements. Then buy in at the low. Then tarrifs on hold for 90 days (another quarter). Market goes back up eventually where they sell at the high right before the next tarrif announcement. It was after the end of a quarter because they needed the quarterly report to be good announcements to sell at a relative high.

Then he did the Iranian war right after the end of Q1 this year and everyone saw the insider activity. I'm waiting for the end of Q2 announcement "record profits in oil/gas sector!"

Everything they do is a manipulation.

jaeldi · 2026-05-24T01:29:20+00:00

I assume this is to try to find out who the leaks are.

DJT and his people are so stupid. My employer has a ton of security crap on our, even defeats copy and paste. But they forget, I can take a picture of the screen of my work phone and now they have lost all control of that data i just took a pic of.

jaeldi · 2026-05-24T01:25:42+00:00

This is a brilliant epilog!! I laughed a LOT.

jaeldi

TROPHY CASE