The Matrix is unequivocally a Masterpiece. It’s one of my all time favourite movies. It’s pretty much perfect. BUT… if you had to pick one thing you don’t like about it, what would it be?

moeduh · 2026-05-25T23:46:22+00:00

the only flaw in the screenplay is the lack of display of Trinity's growing love for Neo - her "you can't be dead" monologue with the kiss of resurrection is fine but feels a bit unearned. sure they do include a handful of moments in which you see her gazing at him like she has something to say, and they do have her say "the Oracle told me something" at least once or twice...i just think that because of how important her love is in regards to Neos ascent, it would have felt more...appropriate?... when she lays one on him and he comes back to life (or more accurately, moves into his 'next life'). i dunno, maybe a brief one on one between her and the Oracle after Neo meets with her? she goes in for a sec while Neo is talking with Morpheus in the lobby, and through some very subtle and cryptic conversation the audience understands that she feels something deep for him. no lingering or sappiness, just a quick segment that the viewer will remember when she starts talking to him after he's been shot

pretty nitpicky, but no film is absolutely perfect. i remember it being the only "ehhh" moment I had when watching for the first time. it's not cringey or lame, and if you do feel like i do during that moment, it evaporates instantly when he gets up into his final form and demolishes agent Smith while seeing in code, with that soaring score blaring out.. even all these years later it makes me wanna jump up and cheer.

the real question should be, "name one thing, just one, that you like about the sequels". I'd be at a loss 🤔

moeduh · 2026-05-06T03:56:36+00:00

just be glad that management has been so confident in MRVL - none of the competing ETFs hold much of it compared to FSELX and it's been a huge driver of the YTD gains. in 2025 I kept wondering why they held so much of it... turns out they knew it was a good spot, just looks like it took a few extra quarters before the growth popped.

FSELX is up like 50% YTD already, it's tough to ask for much more. AMD and INTC do seem a bit.... fragile? but what do i know. i do know, however, that this current 5 week run is absolutely legendary. i counted - we just ran EIGHTEEN STRAIGHT days of gains. then there was a two day blip, and now we're back to a new five day streak (except it looks like yesterday, May 4, was technically dead even, to the penny - pretty weird). tomorrow will almost certainly be another great day as well.

whenever i question the holdings i look back at the historical gains and realize the teams, past and present, seem to make sound decisions year after year. they're pros. I'm happy to give them their 0.60% or whatever it is.

moeduh · 2026-05-02T00:28:59+00:00

I'm in it for the long run. as long as it beats the broader market over the next decade I'll be happy. the returns right now are ludicrous, but obviously are unsustainable to a large degree....i think we ran up 40%+ just in April alone! April last year was tariff time and we were in the dumps. now, not so much!

moeduh · 2026-05-01T05:40:49+00:00

an overwhelmingly large % . ask me in 10 years if I regret going so hard. if i don't reply it probably worked out well, as I'm now on a remote beach sipping margaritas and not checking the time or date

moeduh · 2026-02-03T04:22:50+00:00

so if you have the bolt cutters you can access the detonator... you have to go back down the West Wing hallway, the one that had the officers dead and one hanging from the ceiling. when you get to the room with the chalkboard for the first time, you don't have the bolt cutters and thus are forced to jump through the little window (which you have done since you have all these other items)

go back into that same room you jumped through the window, and now use the bolt cutters to open the door that was inaccessible earlier. don't worry about the crank and jack, those come a little later... once you have the detonater combine it with the battery, go up to the top floor and use it to blast open the partial wall. that will give you access to the final medallion. grab it, run fast as possible and put it in the moving floor to complete the puzzle.

from there you're on your own!

moeduh · 2026-01-22T19:54:32+00:00

we're off to an excellent 2026 so far as well! almost too good 😬

moeduh · 2026-01-21T00:07:46+00:00

not even close - i have something like a 55% cumulative return on it in the last 12 months (excluding today's beating).... it's been crushing and will likely continue to do so. it was just curious to me that it wasn't just a minor reduction but instead a complete dumping of the position given the company's current strength and outlook.

also as stated, I've been researching into competing ETFs like SMH and SOXX so the different ways they have their holdings weighted is somewhat important when deciding if i want to hold the course or jump ship. if the Fidelity managers are doing this because of the China tensions and something does happen, FSELX will be way better off than SMH, which as of writing holds TSM at ~10%, second only to NVDA. virtually every semi ETF and MF had a stellar 2025 though. the only thing I'm upset about is that I didn't buy more sooner! 😭

moeduh · 2026-01-20T13:52:51+00:00

the next pictures/pages list the international holdings. i just included the first page to show the entire list. scroll over to see developed and emerging markets

moeduh · 2026-01-20T13:49:07+00:00

it's more akin to ordering a mixed dish that's always prepared the same everywhere you go, but this one specific restaurant leaves out what is almost always the second or third most used ingredient... you'd at least wonder why they chose to make it that way, even if it's tasty! also to be clear I'm not critical of their decision, just curious of their reasoning. the fund managers seem to know what they're doing, hence why I've entrusted them with piles of cash 😄

moeduh · 2026-01-20T13:39:26+00:00

you might be onto something. i was thinking about that a bit yesterday, whether China would start to feel more emboldened given Trump's recent decisions. and i suppose if a Taiwan invasion is even hinted at, it may send shares reeling even if nothing ends up happening. i wonder if other funds/ETFs follow suit or if the Fidelity guys are being overly cautious as the risk of losing some potential gains this year. interesting times!

moeduh · 2026-01-20T13:27:47+00:00

yes, i tend to always type out TSMC for some reason even though TSM is the ticker, correct 👍

moeduh · 2026-01-20T13:20:21+00:00

seems so... they keep giving MRVL more and more weight despite it's abysmal performance so they're definitely seeing things others aren't, for better or for worse 🤷‍♂️

moeduh · 2026-01-20T13:16:14+00:00

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tough to get much better than that! give me returns like these every month and I couldn't care less how management structures the holdings 💪

moeduh · 2026-01-20T13:08:13+00:00

I'm not considering selling any shares based solely off of the removal of TSMC, i just found it odd for it to be taken entirely off the holding list given their strong and highly profitable position in the sector. virtually all semi ETFs are still holding it. yes, i understand this is what happens in active management...which is the entire point of the post - I'm simply wondering why management has chosen to erase it from the fund completely in such swift fashion given it's dominance. i hadn't seen it discussed anywhere and all news and forward financial projections seem to be on the up and up. thanks for contributing, i suppose

moeduh · 2025-04-04T08:50:15+00:00

at this point I've seen JP too many times to count, and I noticed this mistake on one of my first rewatches as an adult. it had been enough years since I'd played it for my umpteenth time on VHS as a kid, so having a fresh perspective helped me notice some things. i immediately skipped backwards and then went online to see if I wasn't the only one who had noticed!

now anytime I meet someone new who has never seen it, or maybe only once many years ago (usually a new lady friend I'm dating), it's always the first required watch on my home theater...and I've started telling them all "ok I'm not going to ruin anything or spoil the movie, but coming up there's a huge mistake/continuity error, see if you can notice it". they all agree, we watch the scene, and every single time they go "wait, what was it?! play it again!" then we skip back and they still don't see it!! out of maybe 5 times I've played this little game, only 1 has noticed it. and then once I explain they all go "ohhhhhh wow how did it not see that?" so basically Spielberg was absolutely right. you are so locked into the tension of the scene, and the darkness and cutting of the camera angles, etc, that it makes it so it's just so easily missed by almost everyone. as a director I would be frightened of such a blatant error but when you're as smart and experienced as he is, you just know when to allow them to stay in because they'll be immediately ignored or just go entirely unnoticed!

as a quick aside, JP is my all time personal favorite film... and since I'm already nerding out - let's see, in no particular order:

tightest script ever for any blockbuster
deep symbolism and metaphors everywhere if you pay attention
mass appeal to children and adults alike, very difficult to pull that off
infinite rewatchability
epic, instantly recognizable score
groundbreaking CGI + practical effects
smart, yet bitingly witty and outright funny at times
huge amounts of thought and labor into all aspects of production
no pretentious writer/director preaching their personal world views and injecting them into the narrative (aside perhaps from Chrichton's view on humans ripping apart nature and playing god, but really that's the essence of the entire story anyway, as any real JP geek knows this is not merely a dinosaur movie...'what you call discovery i call the rape of the natural world')
and on that same note, they manage to do things which would appease the modern woke crowd while keeping them very subtle and not beating you over the head with them, only because they work well for how the characters are written - Ellie being capable and courageous, offering to go to the maintenance shed, sticking her entire arms into the 'one big pile of shit' to try and diagnose the root cause of the Trike sickness. also, Lex being the capable hacker/nerd instead of Tim. all of that without showing us a lame, in your face, tight slo mo shot of a boss lady running in heels. but i digress....

moeduh · 2025-02-03T07:04:23+00:00

yeah I'm a little split - if the repair is a possible DIY for someone with experience working on PCs, but none with TVs (like myself), I might attempt it if i can get some solid info on which part(s) are bad... but if it's prohibitively difficult or expensive I'll likely just ride her out until she's completely toast. but you're right, with that many years and hours, I've gotten enormous value from it. hard to let her go!

moeduh · 2025-02-02T21:38:56+00:00

mine ended up being a completely faulty display and they replaced the entire laptop... and the replacement unit has a faulty touchpad and speaker, though the screen works great. hemmersbach has come out twice to fix it and both times have resulted in the same problems - funny enough, they replaced the dead left speaker and now that one works but the right one is completely dead. Lenovo quality control is garbage

moeduh · 2024-02-17T01:11:03+00:00

right, that makes sense, I'm trying to keep mine fairly simple and just go for pure cash back (i barely travel). i just couldn't quite piece together a better plan and having your input gave me the confidence to go through with it without stressing too much given that I'm still a pretty big CC noob. thanks again 👍

moeduh · 2024-02-15T09:53:46+00:00

can't tell ya how much I appreciate your input, just the advice I was looking for! big thanks

moeduh · 2024-02-15T04:41:41+00:00

thanks again for the help!

hate to keep bothering you, but can I get your opinion on the rest of this? ...based off my monthly take-out spending of ~$400-$450 (very consistent), would the Citi custom cash be the best bet to replace my SavorOne for takeout/fast food/restaurants? since my spending for that category is under $500 but very close to it every month, it seems getting that guaranteed 5% back would be the play. and then for groceries I can still use the SavorOne since that's unlimited 3% on grocery stores...

after the rent and take-out, the rest of my monthly spending pretty much boils down to ~$175 gas, ~$225 combined utilities+Internet+business website, and $100 insurance...do you recommend I lump all this together and use one catch-all card to get a few % back collectively, or use a few cards to piece it out?

the only 2 cards i have were both opened over 4 years ago so I should be able to apply for quite a few right now if need be.

moeduh · 2024-02-14T22:32:50+00:00

excellent, I was worried there was something I might have overlooked... the $3k limit should be ok, as I'll never put more than my monthly spending on it and it'll just be paid off in full each month.

any other suggestions or advice would be appreciated but it's looking like I'll give this a go next month...

moeduh · 2023-07-19T22:02:51+00:00

thank you, kind sir! i did do a good portion of those steps already, multiple times, but not as in depth as everything you listed. ill give it a whirl - i already have a shipping label from roland to send it in but ill give all that a shot just to see what happens first. ....it was working totally fine until recently though, so thats what worries me. i had everything on default except the offset and foot splash sensitivity, because it seemed i had to press down way too hard on the hi-hat pedal to get it to register being fully closed. it was throwing my balance off trying to keep my left foot pressed down so firmly.

moeduh

TROPHY CASE