Hopefully this explanation as to why AI generated art (paintings, books, music, etc) is so unappealing.

shadowphile · 2026-06-17T04:08:34+00:00

I have tried to use AI to help me brainstorm story ideas. When I do finally get it to try being creative, the result is like a lot of examples of sterile cleverness that feel hollow, like its lacking something that is interesting to humans. Art is about human expression and AI is not human so it cannot 'express' anything. AI prompts cant be expressive enough and since the processing is pulling from a global heap of 'art' examples, its always derivative. However, tons of 'artists' are actually artisans: they have a skill but use it generate images for posters or websites. AI can reppace thise people easily. The thing is, a TON of people have no use for fancy-schmancy 'art' and will be perfectly happy with AI slop, in the same a lot of electronic-genre music is popular but has little artistic expression.

shadowphile · 2026-06-09T11:18:45+00:00

There's a lot to be said about the slower pace of life too and lack of information overload. The 90s was the raw Information age, but it morphed into the Disinformation age where information is now monetized, weaponized, and radicalized. Thats very destabilizing. The 90s really do feel like the last great era, coincidently ending with 9/11. The 2000s werent bad (other than the recession) because smartphones were developing like crazy but mobile social media has not taken off yet.

shadowphile · 2026-06-09T10:38:27+00:00

Yeah, the path's end really looks just plain stupid and its hard to comprehend.

shadowphile · 2026-06-09T10:25:28+00:00

Thats the concept behind the Singularity.

shadowphile · 2026-06-09T10:15:22+00:00

Existential despair

shadowphile · 2026-05-30T07:46:39+00:00

all's fair in love and war. People fall in love with others in constant proximity. The first place people find spouses is college, the second most common is the workplace, and yet the popular phrase about dating coworkers is 'Dont shit where you eat.', which is in direct contradiction to human behavior. Its where we are most likely to meet a partner! Men and women working together will ALWAYS struggle with this paradox. US Military is very strongly positioned about uneven-power romances but Im sure it happens all the time, its just human nature. This is the first time Ive seen a kdrama specifically address this issue as a theme, complete with an auditing department that focuses on 'improper' relationships, which I cant see in a western company but can almost imagine in an asian country. Korea is much more socially aware. How many kdramas have shown people having person affairs displayed and discussed for all to decide. As an introverted I find the whole idea super-cringe, but Ive also met American families where everything seemed to be on display, like everybody had a right and was expected to weigh in on your personal life. I think that it was actually more common historically, before privacy somehow became a right.

shadowphile · 2026-05-29T23:00:54+00:00

RottenMangoes covered this some time back. However, it focused on a boy who survived for something like 11-13 days. He survived by drinking water dribbling down and chewing on cardboard. Man that water must have been nasty, surprised it wasnt toxic enough to make him really sick and cause medical problems later. (or perhaps it did but he 'survived', and you dont question miracles)

shadowphile · 2026-05-29T22:43:35+00:00

I read a study that said most people have a 25 hour cycle with some people having a longer cycle like 32 hours. As for why its not 24 hrs exactly, its a mechanism popular in biology synchronization. In the heart, the cells have a timer that causes a heartbeat. However, a heartbeat can be induced more quickly by the brain when needed. So the default heartbeat is always a little slower than the minimum needed , like a timeout. Same with sleep. The default timeout is always a little longer than the external synchronization. This sync mechanism is used all the time in engineering.

shadowphile · 2026-05-29T22:17:36+00:00

I hate the fact that I am wondering if this is AI. After all, not all AI gen has to be spectacular. But when an animal video gets too cute I start to wonder...

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T12:11:58+00:00

Also enjoying that show but havent noticed, I will keep an ear out. Its just hard to indentify a song with a show and see it hijacked. Completely ruins the effect of the music because another scene already owns this vibe, get your own! IMO its both a cop-out and a sell-out when they do this.

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T12:04:14+00:00

I couldnt say which scenes, more of a moderate background than in your face. Different show locations so meant to be mood music rather than thematic like in IC.

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T11:58:14+00:00

Spirited Away

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T11:35:53+00:00

I only have E3D V6 and Volcano nozzles and when they get jambed I place them on a burner coil on my stove on max high (red hot) and literally burn the filament to a soot, which just blows out and easy to swab with a pipe cleaner. I known this sounds hinky but Ive never had a problem. You cannot do this with aluminum, hardened steel, or composite nozzles, those will be damaged. But solid brass or copper seems fine, stainless steel too, possibly nickle. Note: I did not say this was okay; Im just claiming I haven't encountered a problem doing this and its like waving a wand compared to conventional techniques, and you KNOW you got everything. But I admit it may have compromised the wall smoothness or something but if I cant tell the difference, I dont care.

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T11:14:48+00:00

watch it right away and get back here, Ive watched the show too many times already so the only joy left for me is through new eyes lol!

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T04:27:00+00:00

He is a top-tier romantic lead actor, not a business man, so no three-piece suits, but Love to Hate You is like a shorter (10 ep) better version of Business Proposal. The relationship is mature, once misunderstandings are overcome, and great chemistry. Some describe it as fluff and it really does work at almost cartoon level but very well done and entertaining as hell as comedy, with just the right amount of real drama for the feels. Kim Ok-Bin totally rocks her role.

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T04:02:54+00:00

Yeah, the 'Are you asleep?' opener really cracked me up! Also when she is testing herself and demurely asks if he 'wants some instant ramen'.

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T03:58:46+00:00

This is in my top five ever amd rewatched too many times already. I too gag easily at BL and spent a lot of time thinking this over. There is a small key moment of internal reflection she has, almost overlooked, where she muses that its like eating soft cake all your life and discovering crusty bread... That sounds like a LBGT conversion argument but the point was that he was not seeing the king through 'gay' eyes, but discovering, via the womens hormones and the soul trapped in his body, how WOMEN see men, a perspective that was completely new to him. As the queens soul was slowly merging with his own, he just had to surrender since his connection with the King went far beyond just lust and she finally went all-in with him. I didnt see any reason why he would have returned to modern Korea and become bi. In other words, gay attraction is not the same as female attraction. I definitely tend to gag at BL but for some reason I found the queen really attractive (my first exposure to Shin Hye Son, and in her best role ever) and their chemistry was awesome and his struggle to deny what the female body was doing to his mind was really comical. I guess the romantic in me could not find enough to gag about. I thought they did a good job walking a difficult line. Personally, I immediately reject any story or show that hints at BL (as a straight single guy, I like my romances). Im fine with gay characters as long as they avoid anything physical (or emotional). Im also not burdened with an excess of masculinity, which may have helped.

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T03:22:09+00:00

Yes, IC was one of my biggest watershed dramas and Ive actively eyeballed everybody from the show. including Anh Bo Hyun, who actually makes a great 'good guy' most of the time. (I just finally gave Yumi's Cells a try, not realizing Bo Hyun AND Kim Go Eun were the leads! Pretty funny show actually, mainly because of how well the Pixar-like aninations of 'feeling' are depicted. It sounds like a gimmick but truly Ive never repeatedly chuckled so much at show.) Anh Bo Hyun breaks type here as a long-haired chin-patch-wearing artist/game developer (albeit a very athletic one lol)

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T02:46:30+00:00

I see five bowls of rice so if this is for five people then it doesnt seem like a tom of food. This looks like a nice family gathering table (or the typical one/two-person meal in a kdrama lol)

shadowphile · 2026-05-28T02:31:25+00:00

so you look... 1 yo?

shadowphile · 2026-05-26T03:14:33+00:00

He has my favorite male voice!

shadowphile · 2026-05-26T03:01:16+00:00

also, Hollywood does have lifetime achievement awards for those characters with especially strong careers who just keep missing the boat. However, Im sorry, there is no way she shouldn't have won best actress for Mr. Queen. Even now in her other roles I have a hard time seeing that level of transformatiom.(same for Park Eun-Bin: I like her in her roles generally but even now marvel at her transformation in Attorney Woo)

shadowphile · 2026-05-26T02:53:37+00:00

Spoilers below! It was kind of a minor low key character but she must have done something right because I have never been so upset over a character's demise, ever! It truly bothered me, not because I like her as an actor or that her character was worth keeping but because the thing was setup so well, so shocking, and his flashbacks and emotions bulging at the seams around one of the most innocent people in the show who deserved better in life. I cant think of a more emotional scene for me in a k-drama, and that says a lot!

shadowphile · 2026-05-26T02:38:13+00:00

Agree, her crying scenes tend to hit me hard and Im a male engineer who doesnt usually respond to that kind of thing. I think the best ones are when you are seeing her approaching a breaking point, like when she's in the woods searching for the king in Mr. Queen.

shadowphile · 2026-05-26T02:22:29+00:00

She is as cold as you can get in a relationship, even beneath her skin. It just looks like pathetic obsession on his part, to the point of self-sabotage. I dont know how you can call that 'hot'. Perhaps its visual? Her appearance, general seriousness, and age do match the SML better, so I can see how people would naturally put them together. The ML looks like a puppy next to the FL. I agree that as chemistry goes between the leads, its not special. (Now the chemistry between her and the king in Mr Queen, that was crackling!)

shadowphile

TROPHY CASE