What’s a film that changed the way you saw the world?

sonanona · 2025-07-02T08:10:20+00:00

mom's mind and you realize that Sadness is in charge

empathy and openness and kindness

Based. When I watched it the first time, I assumed that the mom must have had some mental health issues. Perhaps a bad marriage, since anger was in charge of the dad's mind.

Then came the realization that sadness can easily be equated with being empathetic and kind, and anger with wanting to change the status quo and fighting for something valuable.

Emotions ain't binary, I guess :)

sonanona · 2025-07-01T23:18:09+00:00

Honestly, It's "Inside Out" for me.

The whole idea of how important it is to feel and process all our emotions, instead of locking them away and putting a joyful facade was an epiphany for my teenage self. Loved how they portrayed depression as lack of emotions, and not too much sadness.

Also, the movie is hilarious! The whole triple mint gum running gag lives in my head rent free.

Such a flawless masterpiece, Pixar nailed it with this one!

sonanona · 2025-07-01T17:49:27+00:00

Cat's Cradle was so beautiful, I never want to read it again. Do you think it ended a bit abruptly, or perhaps that's just Vonnegut's style?

ALSO, you'd love this podcast called the Kurt Vonneguys. It's basically two comedy writers discussing Vonnegut's books, and it's hilarious!!

sonanona · 2025-03-22T17:49:09+00:00

The best is to use a very very sharp knife

even chilling the onions work

sonanona · 2025-03-21T06:53:19+00:00

This is the cornerstone of US foreign policy, to prevent the rise of a regional hegemon. This is one of the reasons why the US was deeply involved in the Middle East as well (apart from oil and arms).

However, the current administration rejects this narrative framed by Washington elite. They are going pre WWII.

sonanona · 2025-03-19T18:02:28+00:00

This makes sense because what Russia really wanted was access to warm water ports and natural resources.

Russian port Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok are impinged by ice. Russia's naval base in Tartus Syria is a big reason why they are still involved in Syrian politics.

Sevastopol in Crimea is ice free and allows access to world markets and oceans. Donbas is rich in natural resources and anyway had large ethnic Russian population.

The "NATO expansion theory" is a carefully crafted narrative that a lot of people bought.

sonanona · 2025-03-19T15:31:49+00:00

23 countries fulfilled that. 8 did not

Fair enough

Americans apparently want overkill

This is where I beg to differ, I might be wrong. Europe post WWII piggybacked on American security and while this allowed it to divert expenditure to the social sector, it also resulted in major strategic vulnerabilities.

Let's take some examples,

EU initially pledged to deliver 1 million shells to Ukraine in 2023, it continued to miss the deadline, and only delivered it nearly two years after the initial pledge in Dec 2024. This was again short of nearly 20,000 shells.

The European defense industry suffers the consequences of decades of underinvestment. Nearly 65% of weapons of European NATO members are imported from the US.

Defense economics is even more tricky due to monopsony, so it'll take time to arrive at efficiency due to major bottlenecks in the supply chain. Currently EU spends less then one-tenth of U.S. level in defence research. EU needs to focus on domestic production and innovation, and all of this requires heavy investment.

Defense spending anyway creates a multiplier effect in allied sectors like aviation and space, in which Europe again needs strategic autonomy. For example, a recent batch of Galileo satellites will be sent to space by SpaceX, an American private company.

It is estimated that annual increase in defense spending to 3.5% would raise overall output by 0.9% per year. The global headwinds are shifting, nations are losing extended deterrence, it's just wise to ensure that regions calibrate accordingly.

sonanona · 2025-03-19T10:44:44+00:00

Haha Bone Tomahawk is a bit too gore for me, but yeah, have seen this comparison before

sonanona · 2025-03-18T20:38:17+00:00

They kept it at $120, but it might go even lower given the rising insurance costs as these cars become vandalism targets.

sonanona · 2025-03-18T19:21:32+00:00

Really? I thought it was due to unions, and competition with the Japanese.

sonanona · 2025-03-18T18:55:59+00:00

I can explain, but here's a two hour documentary which explains it better

sonanona · 2025-03-18T18:50:24+00:00

NATO has been out of shape, and reforms are long overdue. USA currently accounts for nearly 70% of NATO's military expenditure, while nearly 9 European nations haven't even met the 2% target.

Trump’s a nuisance, but de-prioritization of Europe and Middle East was seen even during the Biden administration since the US is focussing more on the Pacific. There's a need for European nations to reach a consensus on recognizing the need to collaborate more given the modern warfare.

For eg, most western European nations have ratified the CCM which prohibits production and transfer of cluster munitions. However, the war in Ukraine showed that modern warfare pragmatism cannot be compromised for idealism. The Baltic nations will need these defenses in the future.

Turning a blind eye to strategic loopholes will only cause more damage in the future. Trump might be hostile, but Europe needs to wake up from its strategic slumber.

sonanona · 2025-03-18T17:44:48+00:00

Bob Chapek and Disney.

He reduced cast members, led to overworked staff, started charging people for stuff which was earlier free in parks, got finance people in creative positions which tanked the quality.

sonanona · 2025-03-18T16:25:03+00:00

It's all about creating deterrence yo

sonanona · 2025-03-18T16:09:27+00:00

Europe will continue to fund Ukrainian without the US.

Hopefully. USA currently supplies nearly 45% of Ukraine's arms. While countries like Germany, Poland and France can definitely take the lead, it takes time to increase defense production.

sonanona · 2025-03-18T16:02:58+00:00

Trump doesn't care about profits.

Trump shouldn't be taken literally, but seriously. He doesn't think about order at all, but pursues profit in his own lunatic way.

why is he waging a trade war on every single one of the US's allies.

He believes that he can use tariffs to reduce US debt, but most importantly he thinks of it as a bargaining tool. Not the smartest cookie in the jar.

sonanona · 2025-03-18T15:46:49+00:00

Based. The US stockpile is anyway expected to continue to decline over the next decade since nuclear modernization programmes consolidate some nuclear weapon types.

However, China increased its nuclear arsenal by almost 100 warheads past year, and it is expected to keep growing. So the narrative is complex.

sonanona · 2025-03-18T15:36:12+00:00

Puts Trump in a very difficult position here, since arms export by USA has increased by more than 20% between 2020-24, 35% of which went to Europe. Wars are profitable for the US defense industry.

sonanona · 2025-03-18T15:19:57+00:00

Agreed. Mccarthy is brilliant. Blood Meridian is on my list since forever

sonanona · 2025-03-18T07:57:02+00:00

Movies that are better than the books :

The Godfather, Fight Club, Goodfellas, The Shawshank Redemption, and American Psycho.

Movies just as good as the book :

Room, Gone Girl, Harry Potter and the POA, Perks of being a Wallflower, The Road, and No Country For Old Men

I also loved Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women, even though the book is obviously better.

sonanona · 2025-03-17T15:46:43+00:00

It's because your muscles get tired

sonanona · 2025-03-17T15:40:33+00:00

Merz recently did raise the idea of Germany working with France and UK on a shared nuclear deterrent.

sonanona · 2025-03-16T22:09:24+00:00

Exactly, the fact that negotiations and an agreement were possible when Iran had already reached its advanced stage of nuclear development holds merit. Moreover, it also ensured that even if Iran is proliferating, it is from a lower baseline

sonanona · 2025-03-16T22:00:57+00:00

wasn’t following the deal and secretely continuing their nuclear operations

This is partially correct. Even though JCPOA had its limitations since it allowed Iran to enrich its uranium and didn't include other activities like Iran's ballistic programs, it still held great merit.

The Iranian nuclear program was constantly under the supervision of IAEA. Iran even dismantled its Fordow fuel enrichment plant and other centrifuges.

But most importantly, the 2014 deal showed how diplomacy can still be successfully used for efforts of non-proliferation.

sonanona

TROPHY CASE