Pointless Disconnected Blabs, Ramblings and Utterances

Page 57 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,711
11,085
126
Watched Buffy The Vampire Slayer for the first time last year, and recently finished a rewatch. That's the best shit ever, and has shot up next to Trek for my all time favorite shows. I was vaguely aware of it back in the day, and I remember thinking "That sounds like the dumbest shit ever...". If you gave me an overview, it wouldn't sound like anything I was interested in. It's a bizarre mix of story styles, with frequent brilliance. I had to readjust my brain to accept the way the stories progress, but it was worth the adjustment. Looking forward to my next watch through. Maybe late summer/fall. They're working on a new Buffy show, and I hope it doesn't suck.
 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: stargazr and Kaido

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
63,349
19,721
136
Colbert tends to do a more or less recent rerun on Fridays. You know, unless there's something about which he's passionate and thinks deserves attention. I admire that about him but not a real fan of "serious Colbert."

Anyway, from early Dec., I found out about this.



OMG, that would . . . I would be pretty upset. I'm still shaking my head.

This is just one of the reasons that I'd never even consider such services. There are many though. Anyway, I almost never listen to music any more and on the rare occasion I do (i.e., int the car) then it's either EDM, Alt or classical. Although Sisters of Mercy will always have a place in my cold, black heart.

Just one more reason to shell out for a nice, non-logging VPN.
I can't imagine being upset by that, it's just part of the "Spotify Wrapped" thing they do every year where they feed you data about your Spotify listening habits. I hate it because 1) it "gamifies" listening to music and 2) when it comes out, thanks to that, many spaces for music discussion are clogged up with people posting their Spotify Wrapped ("look, I'm in the top 0.4% listeners of band!" and "what do you think of my top five?" etc).
VPN would do nothing for this, because it's all from your Spotify listening.

I can't imagine "almost never listening to music anymore" either though.
Watched Buffy The Vampire Slayer for the first time last year, and recently finished a rewatch. That's the best shit ever, and has shot up next to Trek for my all time favorite shows. I was vaguely aware of it back in the day, and I remember thinking "That sounds like the dumbest shit ever...". If you gave me an overview, it wouldn't sound like anything I was interested in. It's a bizarre mix of story styles, with frequent brilliance. I had to readjust my brain to accept the way the stories progress, but it was worth the adjustment. Looking forward to my next watch through. Maybe late summer/fall. They're working on a new Buffy show, and I hope it doesn't suck.
I'm just going to assume it will suck and will be summarily canceled within a season or two for not immediately being a hit. I was a big fan of it, but I was a bit more in the target market than you and was watching from the beginning.
I at least had a black keyboard by then :p
(Well, supposing we're at least at 2003)
 

stargazr

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2010
4,251
3,852
136
Watched Buffy The Vampire Slayer for the first time last year, and recently finished a rewatch. That's the best shit ever, and has shot up next to Trek for my all time favorite shows. I was vaguely aware of it back in the day, and I remember thinking "That sounds like the dumbest shit ever...". If you gave me an overview, it wouldn't sound like anything I was interested in. It's a bizarre mix of story styles, with frequent brilliance. I had to readjust my brain to accept the way the stories progress, but it was worth the adjustment. Looking forward to my next watch through. Maybe late summer/fall. They're working on a new Buffy show, and I hope it doesn't suck.

That's about how I felt about the original 1992 movie. Not my thing but just kind of ended up watching it, and turned out to be pretty good. Maybe I will check out the series.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,711
11,085
126
That's about how I felt about the original 1992 movie. Not my thing but just kind of ended up watching it, and turned out to be pretty good. Maybe I will check out the series.
I watched the movie after the series, and it's super hokey in comparison. The series is kind of crazy. It's just a hodgepodge of incongruity, with comedy, drama, action, and horror with incredible periods of depth. I consider it brilliant. First season is a little iffy, but it really takes off after that. It has to be watched serially. It's not the kind of show you can jump in anywhere.
 
  • Like
Reactions: stargazr

stargazr

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2010
4,251
3,852
136
I watched the movie after the series, and it's super hokey in comparison. The series is kind of crazy. It's just a hodgepodge of incongruity, with comedy, drama, action, and horror with incredible periods of depth. I consider it brilliant. First season is a little iffy, but it really takes off after that. It has to be watched serially. It's not the kind of show you can jump in anywhere.

lol, yeah some cringe worthy moments in the movie. Donald Sutherland was great though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lxskllr

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
63,349
19,721
136
There was a eight issue comic series called "Fray" set hundreds of years after Buffy, in it there hasn't been a slayer for ages due to the outcome of the show, and the watchers sort of fell into disarray, I enjoyed it.

The other day I spent a few hours on this project, trying to make the end result of amplifying my harmonium better. Both mic and transducer have been picking up the clack of the wood at the end of the keys hitting the key stop above it when I'm playing, so I decided to add some felt. Pretty tedious (42 keys, each with two strips needed), but it's done and I got to listen to music while I was doing it (via actual CDs on a decent-quality 90s micro/shelf stereo, sounds great). I reckon I may be one of the leading authorities on the instrument in the city now.


0116261623.jpg


0116261444.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: lxskllr

Charmonium

Lifer
May 15, 2015
10,647
3,602
136
That's certainly a take. Everything I read says people don't like s01. I like it fine, but it definitely got better.
Ah, Buffy. Sure, it tended to follow the 'monster of the week' approach.

But I think that I'm probably more of a Vampire Diaries fan.
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
63,349
19,721
136
Someone to whom $800 is not a significant sum, or someone who wants to present an image of wealth? I don't doubt that they're better quality than $8 sunglasses.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
52,158
7,528
136
Someone to whom $800 is not a significant sum, or someone who wants to present an image of wealth? I don't doubt that they're better quality than $8 sunglasses.

It took me a loooooong time to internalize that there are people who really do care about status:

* Name-brand stuff
* Originals
* Unique things
* Rare items
* Otherwise unobtainable experiences

I tend to get overly practical at times. For example, "Starry Night" by Van Gogh would easily sell for $100 million dollars+. However, you can buy a 3D-printed replica on real canvas in a large 53" x 66" size for $1,350:


Pretty cool because it replicates the OG physical brush strokes. As a (wannabe) artist myself, the art itself is what I care about, not so much if I have "the one & only copy in the whole wide world":

1768928490819.png

But then Amazon just came out with a new Samsung Frame TV competitor. $1,099 for a 65" matte-screen QLED television with 10 different frame colors & every publicly-available artwork on the planet as rotating screensavers, turning your home into a 24/7 art gallery:


So endless artwork for less than an accurate 3D replica, sign me up!! The whole "status" thing isn't a major driver for me, haha. I understand it more as I've gotten older, but showing off doesn't really appeal to me, I guess. But for some people, just knowing that they have "the best" or "the original" or whatever is what tickles them (re: the whole NFT craze, lol).

1768928452083.png
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
63,349
19,721
136
I can't really see spending $1k on one piece of wall art either, regardless of whether it's a rotating display piece.
I did spend $200 on one painting, but that was driven a lot by it being on display at a local coffee shop where I got started on playing open mics, and it being a piece by a member of my local community, and it also having a cat on it that looks exactly like my cat. I had already decided to buy it when I saw that I actually specifically knew who it was that painted it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kaido

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
63,349
19,721
136
One of my other pieces of wall art was sitting on the curb near my favorite breakfast restaurant, there was a sign that said "free art" and a few pieces sitting out there. Definitely looks like they were just made by some local.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
52,158
7,528
136
I did spend $200 on one painting, but that was driven a lot by it being on display at a local coffee shop where I got started on playing open mics, and it being a piece by a member of my local community, and it also having a cat on it that looks exactly like my cat. I had already decided to buy it when I saw that I actually specifically knew who it was that painted it.

Well, and that's where personal motivation comes into play, right? It all depends on where you want to get your meaning from:

1. Do you LIKE the art?
2. Are you motivated by showing it off? (nothing wrong with that!)
3. Do you want to support a local artist?
4. Do you want a unique hand-crafted item?

Between Midjourney & Nano Banana Pro, I can create & recreate any image in any style or any idea I have in literally seconds, whether it's comic book-style, photorealism, illustration, etc.


Would I want to hang some random pushbutton art on my wall? Meh. Could I generate some crazy-awesome images & get them printed out on canvas? I mean, sure...but why?
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
52,158
7,528
136
I can't really see spending $1k on one piece of wall art either, regardless of whether it's a rotating display piece.

See, this is where money doesn't make sense to me.

I was making $7 at the pizza shop back in the day. I went to visit a friend at a guy's house was travelled for work. On his house tour he showed me the carpet (rug) that he got from the Middle East that cost $25,000. The carpet that was used for the entry rug. That carpet that I walked in on with my dirty shoes. He just shrugged and said that's what carpets are for - for walking on!! And then he wandered off.

At the time, my annual income was under $15,000 a year. It kind of hurt my brain LOL.
 
Last edited:

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
63,349
19,721
136
Thinking I'm going to add an old jazz tune to the repertoire, When I Get Low I Get High or Comes Love (might actually go for both).