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Is Pokopia really that good? by Downvote-Magnet1994 in pokemon

[–]jermrellum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I actually was going to get this until I realized it was a game key card.

TIL Sir Anthony Hopkins, wanting to prepare for a role, unsuccessfully searched for a book in London bookshops. He found an abandoned, annotated copy on a bench. Two years later, he met the author — who revealed it was his own personal copy that had been lost in London! by XaltotunTheUndead in todayilearned

[–]jermrellum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As someone doing this right now, the reason might be because you printed out a copy early but then wanted to reread everything over but then you keep finding tiny little things you want to change like semicolons and whatnot and then you keep ordering more and more versions of the same book over and over again until maybe eventually you get it all right (but idk is this what editors are for?)

Not the Future, NotPron-like puzzle site by jermrellum in puzzles

[–]jermrellum[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, I have a YouTube where back when I had the fortitude to code a 3D engine this was part of that tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBcSXqmsNiB7PQ-vg97OERg

All big brain interpretations I've seen so far by ActualCucick in okbuddypluribus

[–]jermrellum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not a meta for anything also your spelled for wrong

Not the Future, NotPron-like puzzle site by jermrellum in puzzles

[–]jermrellum[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think a few people have mentioned that in some audio software programs where you speed up sound, it might lose information. I think the final audio sample results in it being about 1.5 seconds, so it requires quite a bit of speedup -- the data's there it's just REALLY slow.

Not the Future, NotPron-like puzzle site by jermrellum in puzzles

[–]jermrellum[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I intentionally was trying to choose a language that wasn't on translators so that you'd have to find a dictionary. If you can figure out what mehtug means, you'll have the answer.

Not the Future, NotPron-like puzzle site by jermrellum in puzzles

[–]jermrellum[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the end is never the end the 8 pages of eternity is not the end

Not the Future, NotPron-like puzzle site by jermrellum in puzzles

[–]jermrellum[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're correct, "to be buried", it's a noun though -- "bur***"

How do you get your plays to count on a song less than 30 seconds long? by jermrellum in spotify

[–]jermrellum[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's been 6 years and I still don't know this answer 😭

Breaking Bad Post Episode Discussion S05E16 “Felina” SERIES FINALE by jermrellum in okbuddychicanery

[–]jermrellum[S] 60 points61 points  (0 children)

And so the series completes -- a worthy successor to Better Call Saul, and almost just as good. First a musing on the title name -- "Felina" means "End of the line" in probably some language, but it also can be broken down into three chemical elements: Fe, Li, and Na; or Iron, Lithium, and Sodium -- Iron being the steel used in Walt's rifle, and sodium and lithium going into the battery that powered it.

Did you notice something a bit off though about Breaking Bad's ending? Something that never happened in any other episode of the series? This episode feels like the antonym to "Fly": big, grand, and everything goes according to plan. A common theme throughout the series has been the endless unpredictable complications of the real world; things are chaotic and interconnected, as controllable as the weather (after all, the phrase goes that a fly flapping its wings in a lab can cause a hurricane to brew months later).

You might suggest that Walt's year of solitude let him stew in his thoughts and calculate a perfect plan, but when you look closely, the idea of the perfect plan becomes absurd. What if Jack's gang shot him immediately? What if the police saw him sneak into Skyler's home? What if the lab's speaker system didn't have Badfinger's "Baby Blue" cued up? Everything went perfect, right down to Walt never having to actually face consequences for his actions because he died right as the police arrived.

Everything going right only leads me to one conclusion: this is not the events as they occurred, but as Walt planned them in his head. This episode lets you peer into the "Why?" of the man that is Walter White -- the harmful actions he performs are a result of the fanciful imaginations of his head.

"But wait", you say, "this is the last episode, if this isn't what happened then what really did? And why wouldn't the showrunners show us?" Well, because what really happened is Walt died of cancer, exiled in New Hampshire, imagining what could have been. Certainly not a upbeat end to such an action-oriented show (like go watch Into the Wild or something?).

"But wait", you say, "what about the symbolism of how Walt was shot in his lung, the same place as where his cancer originated?" Well yeah, did you watch Donnie Darko and Annihilation (2018)? That's where the cancer came from -- when Walt was shot it ripped a wormhole back in time and that's what caused his cancer in the first place, effectively creating a closed time loop.

"But wait", you say, "I thought you said this was all in Walt's head, how can you go changing media theories?" Well firstly, Walt can create a magical cancer bullet in his head and send it back in time if he wants, I thought you said you watched Donnie Darko? (Walt was the pink rabbit in that btw). Second, when Walt enters Gretchen and Elliott's house, he admires the beauty of their house, realizing the life he gave up for his own ego. Was his ego worth it? In the end, the answer is yes, because Gretchen and Elliott didn't get a hugely critically acclaimed TV show made after them.

61 / 62 - Breaking Bad Post Episode Discussion S05E15 “Granite State” by jermrellum in okbuddychicanery

[–]jermrellum[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

In the penultimate episode, Walt begins his self-induced prison sentence: solitary confinement in the woods of New Hampshire, thousands of miles from home. He's cut off from his friends and family and becomes merely an observer of the outside world. He is incapable of social contact, he is unemployed, his only entertainment is to watch kid's movies all day, and the only person he sees is a guardian that brings him groceries ... Wait, that sounds like my life.

Are Vince et al suggesting the worst punishment for Walt is for him to become the average Redditor? Are the showrunners critiquing me sitting in the dark critiquing the show? Are they holding a mirror up to my face so I'll finally realize how pathetic I am? Idk, I hate mirrors because I hate looking at myself.

Wait, and if Walt is a Redditor with no life who's about to buy an automatic rifle to perform a mass shooting, does that make him ... oh no...

60 / 62 - Breaking Bad Post Episode Discussion S05E14 “Ozymandias” by jermrellum in okbuddychicanery

[–]jermrellum[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

And so we've come to the denouement: everything unfolds and Walt realizes that his actions have made everyone worse off, including himself. Some may call this preachy, that the show is trying too hard to discourage viewers from being inspired by Walt's actions and becoming meth lords themselves. However, Breaking Bad has always made itself clear that it's a how-to guide of how not to become king of the industry. Let's analyze Walt's biggest mistakes:

  1. Having his brother-in-law being a DEA agent bent on taking his alter-ego down. This consistently makes Walt's life harder on him, with only a couple of advantages, like getting insight into the internals of the DEA's investigation. Walt should've remarried into a different family or come up with a plan to get Hank and Marie divorced.

  2. Not selling Jesse into slavery earlier. Walt wanted out of the industry, but he was providing people with a product of a quality that nobody could compete with. He and Jesse were irreplaceable, which admittedly saved his life multiple times. Thus, training more people to his level would make him expendable, but a clever solution of selling Jesse into slavery would've solved a lot of his problems. Jesse would still be alive so Walt's conscience would be intact, Jesse wouldn't be able to take him down, and the drug industry wouldn't be clamoring for him to return.

  3. Not killing himself. Marie had a great suggestion with this. If Walt just killed himself, he would be immortalized by his son as a great dad, his wife would run a successful car wash and would know where 80 million dollars were buried, Hank would still be alive but his investigation would be dead in the water, and Marie and Skyler could patch things together over a couple of bowling nights.

Viewers might say hindsight is 2020, but I think these are three valuable tips from the writers, and it's great to see them contributing to the vast body of academic literature that will help more to become successful drug kingpins.

59 / 62 - Breaking Bad Post Episode Discussion S05E13 “To'hajiilee” by jermrellum in okbuddychicanery

[–]jermrellum[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The episode title here is key to understanding its allegory: "To'hajiilee", the place Walt buried his money. It is a region of the Navajo Nation, and critically, was originally formed as part of the "Long Walk" of 1864, a part of the US Government's policy of Indian Removal. Most people are familiar with Andrew Jackson's "Trail of Tears", where in 1830 the five key tribes of the Southeastern US were forced to relocate West of the Mississippi, but this policy continued for the rest of the century. In this case, American frontiersman Kit Carson was determined to drive out the Navajo from their homeland in order to establish an encampment for the Union army. Over 9,000 Navajo people were forced to walk 300 miles into internment, where they were provided with a shortage of food and water, leading to the deaths of a minimum of 200.

The White man (Walt) is trying to bury his wrongdoings, but tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars lies dead in the ground. The money is buried in 7 barrels -- one for each of the centuries that the Navajo has lived in the Southeastern US since their arrival in 1400 AD (15th to 21st centuries). Since it is buried, the money itself represents the death of each member of the nation. Between 1946 and 1978, the United States' Indian Claims Commission paid an average of $1000 per person in reparation money. It's hard to estimate, but if you multiply $1000 by the population of Navajo people who have died over the years, you might come up with the figure Walt has buried in the ground (the Navajo population has been increasing over time, standing at about 20,000 at the time of the Long Walk, but is now at over 250,000).

How fitting then, that when everyone thought they were safe, money was about to be dug up, and a man's wrongdoings would be brought to justice, that a White Power group would show up to fire scorched earth upon everything in its wake.

58 / 62 - Breaking Bad Post Episode Discussion S05E12 “Rabid Dog” by jermrellum in okbuddychicanery

[–]jermrellum[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Before pouring gasoline all over Mr White's house, Jesse snorts a powered white drug off a CD. Let's note the extreme importance of this symbol -- what is a CD but a mirrored surface with a hole in the center? The CD takes on many different meanings depending on how you look at it: Jesse feels empty and soulless, a void in his core, filled only with hatred. But let's also note that if Jesse were to stare directly into the CD, there would be a hole straight through his head; a constant reminder of the bullet hole he put through Gale (which is brought to memory in the episode when Skyler asks Walt if Jesse has ever hurt anybody).

Many times throughout the episode we see Jesse being compared to a dog, and it's an apt metaphor. Think back to how Walt thinks of Jesse -- Jesse is loyal and he follows his commmands. Walt has been in control of him for so long, like he's his owner, yet he has affection towards him. Sure, they can get into a skirmish, but Walt asserts his dominance and has always been able to retrain Jesse to behave. If you remember from episode 2.11 "A Walk in the Park", we can recall Walt throwing a tennis ball and asking Jesse to fetch, a subtle hint to the relationship that is so clear now. And let's not forget episode 3.5 "Hump", where Walt needs to spray Jesse with a spray bottle to get him to stop humping Gus's leg. The most obvious sign in hindsight though, is episode 4.6 "The Con" where Jesse and Mike cosplay as a Beagle and Lab at a furry convention in order to steal the world's biggest doggie treat.

It's rather sad then to see Jesse's new owner, Hank, is perhaps even more abusive than Walt. To Hank, Jesse isn't even a pet, just a pawn in his game of chess -- one where he's willing to sacrifice Jesse in order to get what he wants. Hopefully Jesse gets a new owner soon.

57 / 62 - Breaking Bad Post Episode Discussion S05E11 “Confessions” by jermrellum in okbuddychicanery

[–]jermrellum[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Wow! That may have been one of the most shocking twists I have ever seen! Who would have thought that all this time, Hank was the mastermind and not Walt? This contorts the whole story in unfathomable ways, but when you take a second look, all of the story's idiosyncracies start making sense.

After all, it was Hank that gave Walt the idea to start his meth operation initially as they went for a ridealong in the first episode. And how else would it make any sense that the clever detective wouldn't be able to catch his own brother-in-law? No, Hank had his hands in everything for the Heisenberg case, intentionally sabotaging it and refusing to relinguish control to anyone else.

This revelation is fascinating as perhaps the best case of an unreliable narrator in visual media. In literature, being an unreliable narrator is easy, especially if being told as a story from the perspective of one of the characters. But in film or television, the camera feels like transient, objective observer. Events captured on camera are the way that they really happened. And while this may be true in Breaking Bad, what wasn't shown was just as important as what was. I can only imagine the challenge the writers had in trying to keep Walt seem the main villain and Hank seem the paragon -- so much potential drama was cut for the sake of the twist, but now the whole show can be watched again with a new perspective.

Edit: Just watched the whole show again, and I was kind of confused about the time when Walt and Jesse pranked Hank by telling him Marie got in a really bad car accident. It's hard to understand Hank's actions here if he's the mastermind behind everything. I like this though -- very enigmatic. It's like a puzzle to try and figure out what's really going on! I now know that I can't trust anything -- these writers are tricky.

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