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Nosferatu (2024) I had a hard time trying to decide how to categorize this. Yes it's a dark story but it does not have a lot of what I usually call "horror" these days. The story is not deep and leave you with things to ponder so it's not a "drama". There is also this over-dramatic element to many scenes. I've decided to settle on calling it "horror opera". It was nice to do a bit more "old school" on the vampire stories to make them a bit more monsters of the dark. I found it pretty easy to watch although I probably wouldn't recommend it to most people unless the idea of "horror opera" appeals to you. Sinners (2025) Decided to stick to the vampire theme.... I saw a lot of hype for this movie but I don't think it's warranted. The primary problem is that this is 3½ stories stapled together. You have a gangster prohibition movie, a musician movie, a vampire movie and a small thing at the very end movie. They try to weave it together but it doesn't feel like it fits well. There are some cool moments here and there and a couple of fun ideas but I just couldn't get over the misfit feel of the movie. I guess if it interested someone then sure it is easy to watch but otherwise skip.

I got around to watching it. Can't Stop - Ummm so this was just an animated music video so yeah there was not much to it and the visual style was not particularly interesting. Close Encounters of the Mini Kind - Neat I guess. Spider Rose - Visually pretty but what was even the point of this story? It was not interesting or stimulating. 400 Boys - Visually kind of wild and the story was at least kind of stimulating. Obviously same style as Zima Blue. The Other Large Thing - Meh. Golgotha - Meh. The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur - Premise that has been done 100x and not stimulating visually. How Zeke Got Religion - I liked this. To me this was basically like a Hellboy short. Smart Appliances, Stupid Owners - Meh. For He Can Creep - A little fun but kind of meh. I still want this format to be a thing, multiple shorts with unique visual styles, but this season felt a bit boring overall.

https://www.uu.se/en/news/2025/2025-05-15-the-effect-of-physical-fitness-on-mortality-is-overestimated Please exercise.

Andor Season 2 - Too many good things to say this show is fantastic. Andor is the best piece of star wars media. Cancelled. Ahh yes, unsurprising. On the one hand I get that this show wasn't putting up great numbers and is really expensive to produce on the other hand... they're still making rings of power which is 4-10x more expensive. I'm really not super interested in reading 17 books in this series, so I might go find some sparknotes on this and live with the disappointment at Amazon's mishandling of this show. The Last of Us Season 2 - I have mixed opinions on this. I think this season was a step down from the first in terms of writing and general quality level, with the exception being the scale and set pieces being a large step up (probably due to a larger budget). I also have an odd perspective because I've played the first game but not the second, so most of this content was "new" to me even though they've made some clear changes to the source material. And without wanting to dive into the absolute cesspool of hatred and vitriol I've seen levied at this show, I will say Bella Ramsey is not as strong of a lead as Pedro Pascal. I didn't have any issues with the acting, in fact there were a few stand outs like Dina and Jesse, and some great sequences. Unfortunately there was so very odd writing choices and flat out perplexing choices which I assume are either poorly adapted from the game or something. I also appreciate some of the more grounded elements of the show, forgoing some of the more action focused parts of the games in favor of amping up the feeling of danger and lethality. Supposedly season 2 had a substantial drop in viewership but even then I'm hopeful that season 3 (whenever it releases) will continue the strong quality level and hopefully land this entire storyline. Naughtydog who made the games is obviously finishing up a brand new IP not related to the last of us, and Neil Druckman the lead writer/producer who also works on the show is certainly motivated to potentially work on a last of us 3 game, but I think that would be far enough away that any further continuation of this story is too far away for anyone to get excited. Mobland - Tom Hardy working as a fixer/gangster for Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren (both with fairly awful Irish accents). This show is very average with great cast. It has a cool tone, but moves fairly slow. If you're in the mood of British gangster stuff, it's worth a watch but don't expect to be blown away. Murderbot - I've read all the books/novellas, so I know the plot and the tone. I think the show is trying to hit the snarky tone but it feels muted and some of the awkwardness and comedy feel off. I'm also annoyed that the episodes are so short, it feels like they're not letting the show breath enough. I can't tell based on the pace where they want to finish the first season but I hope they're not trying to cram all three of the first novellas into one season, that would be way too much especially with the ~30min runtimes. I also have a hard time taking Skarsgard seriously as murderbot, my internal image of them is more androgynous leaning slightly feminine (their internal monologue especially) but this is probably due to the author being female and that bleeding through their general writing style. Clarkson's Farm Season 4 - This show is fantastic if you're interested with the general premise of watching Jeremy Clarkson incompetently farm. The cinematography is consistently great, I do wonder how many people from Top Gear / The Grand Tour ended up working on this? Or how they manage to pepper in a few nice bits of B-roll footage that looks like it's out of national geographic. Longwinded rant about general television seasons and strategy Overall, I'm in agreement with 90% of the internet about how these large budget tv series are incredibly frustrating to follow when you have 2+ years between seasons, and this is exacerbated by short season length. If you want a nice counter narrative, slow horses uses 6 episode seasons, but they film 2 back to back and release them at least 1 per year (the first two were released within 6 months of each other). This works for slow horses and keeps people engaged, but if I need to wait 2-3 years between seasons (holy hell when is stranger things finally ending? those "kids" are going to be in their mid twenties) - I quickly can lose interest and frankly need a refresher on what exactly happened in prior seasons. I'm not so naive to be unawares of the pandemic and writers strike absolutely trashing some production schedules, but both of these are no longer an issue and yet, writing on season 3 of last of us isn't even STARTED let alone complete, they're hoping to release season 3 in 2027, and HBO greenlit season 3 before season 2 aired (probably when they saw the final cut of the show). So what the fuck is taking everything so long? Why can't studios greenlight the writing of the next season BEFORE they finish production of the current season? This is especially true of series that are adapting material, you've got a fucking source to reference. If the studio doesn't want to renew the show until they see the numbers at least you can start production shortly after the season finishes rather than having to start from scratch and take even longer. I know for a while Netflix had the strategy of greenlighting 2+ seasons at a time so they could keep production moving - I believe they've moved away from this but I get this feeling that while tv shows are getting closer in quality to movies they're also leaving behind all of the advantages of having a tv show, like longer runtimes, slower pacing, side stories and characters being fleshed out, more frequent release schedules etc. /RANT

This recent season didn't seem as good as prior seasons. Can't Stop - This is literally a shitty red hot chilli peppers music video and I don't like the band, I think i watched all of 15 seconds of this it was so awful. Close Encounters of the Mini Kind - Cool animation style with the emphasis on tilt shift, but very boring premise, at least it didn't overstay it's welcome. Spider Rose - Meh... Decent visuals but the plot and "twist" didn't grab me. 400 Boys - I like this black culture/ british grime inspired design and overall thought this was a good episode. (Same studio that did Zima Blue S1 and Ice S2) The Other Large Thing - Cats want to rule the world, very boring idea with generic animation. Golgotha - Why is this almost entirely live action? The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur - Why in the fuck is Mr Beast in this? How Zeke Got Religion - Cool art style, with a slight variation on the nazi occult stuff, good episode. Smart Appliances, Stupid Owners - Basically a series of animated one liner jokes, not even that funny. For He Can Creep - Cats vs Satan, at least this premise was moderately unique.

Updated the firmware I was way behind so this was good. Apparently you are supposed to do it 2-3 times. Formatted the SDcard Apparently you are supposed to do this like once a month anyways. Used the cig lighter power adapter. Power through the GPS mount. Power direct to camera. Long story short, I have been isolating components one by one and it's working ok now but I believe the issue might be the rear view camera. A little more testing but it's getting close.

I would have almost certainly purchased that had it came out about 8 months sooner. I almost bought a UDM Pro / SE but I really wanted it to fit in my small structured wiring cabinet. That being said I love my my Minisforum MS01 thats amazing for a home lab. I have a 10 gbe connection to my PC, 10 gbe to my fiber WAN, and 10 gbe to my switch, and a spare 10 gbe available for another device as needed. My network is probably set for the next 10-20+ years.

Conclave (2024) - Disclaimer, I actually watched this before the pope died. Not long before he died but still before. When I decided to watch this I was going into it with the wish to see something a bit more just "plain" drama. No explosions, guns, zombies, body horror, etc. I wanted "plain" drama and I got "plain" drama. I liked it. I was in the right mood for it. It's a bit predictable in some sections but every character has their part to play and they do it pretty well. There are some visual moments in the movie that I appreciated too. Pace was never too slow or too fast to bother me or make me bored because it matches the mood of the characters. After watching I went online to read some reviews like I usually do....... oh boy I was not prepared. This movie was apparently controversial among some groups. Firstly a good number of people said it was "anti-Catholic". I'm going to assume many of those people saying that did not actually watch the movie. The movie is awfully sympathetic to the catholic church and those who lead it. Do people really believe there are no "factions" or arguments among the cardinals? Secondly this movie is apparently considered "woke trash" by some groups. I don't even know what the definition "woke" is so I'm not going to even try to address this. If someone thinks this movie is pushing an agenda then I think they are just being too sensitive and actually need to pay attention to some of the details in the movie.

So my Viofo dashcam is having issues. Freezing, restarting randomly, etc. I'm trying a few troubleshooting steps from /r/Viofo. I already updated the firmware which I probably should have done a long time ago because it was never updated but folks are saying to do it multiple times. Will try a new SD card and hardware kit too since apparently that is sometimes the cause. Not great. I don't want to buy a new one since I'm happy with what I have.

Daredevil: Born Again - This was really solid. It felt like marvel made for adults and wasn't afraid to shy away from the more brutal elements of characters like Punisher and Fisk. Someone pointed out that the middle episodes felt like they were filmed originally and kept before they did the major rewrites and reshoots which is why the first and last few episodes feel different in both tone and production level. I also don't entirely understand just how bad their production was because I seem to recall their original plan was 18 episodes and so I expected a sort of mid-season finale with episode 9 and then a quick turnaround on the next set of episodes, but their recent announcement of the next season being in March 2026 tells me they either had to completely scrap the rest of the episodes or they're going back and doing major reshoots. Well if they can keep the tone and general quality level of this season I'm fine with that. This is probably the best thing marvel has put out in a while. Again I want to thank whoever managed to convince Disney to basically admit the Netflix daredevil series was cannon - I hope Disney and Netflix come to some agreement and allow those seasons to be seen on both platforms as a type of cross marketing but I sincerely doubt that will happen. The Pitt - This ended well enough, they've already green-lit another season so I'm happy for them. Considering the hype this show had I wish them all the best and hope the next season is just as good. Wheel of Time Season 3 - They finally hit their stride and managed a fairly decent season finale. I feel like nearly everything this season was stepped up: costuming, acting, sets, action sequences basically this felt like the show finally hitting critical mass. My only concern is if Amazon is getting enough engagement to continue this show because I know they paid a shitload of money for the rights and it's an expensive production, so I hope they have enough of an audience to keep this thing moving - they certainly have like another 10 books to cover... Anime Stuff: Lazarus - This show is made by (and clearly inspired by) cowboy bebop's creators, it even has the jazzy style music of cowboy bebop. So far the first few episodes are alright, it feels a little too much like it's relying on character tropes from cowboy bebop, with a strange and parkour/gymnastic main character, a femme-fatale type and some others. I hope this doesn't feel like reheated leftovers and manages to carve out it's own niche. Sidenote: The release for this show is mega trash, dubs seem ok, but subtitles and original japanese audio are all over the place not to mention weird issues with quality and other stuff. I don't understand how people fuck up this hard on a show and not providing fans with good options for japanese audio + subtitles OR dubs.

Mickey 17 - It was ok. Easy to watch. It was not quite as funny as I thought it would be but I'm not sure it was trying to be more slapstick funny or satire. The trailer is pretty accurate, narration and all.

https://www.unisa.edu.au/media-centre/Releases/2025/exercise-of-any-kind-boosts-brainpower-at-any-age/ Please exercise regularly. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1078973 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03602-0 Please eat more vegetables and fiber. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/being-physically-active-even-just-a-couple-of-days-a-week-may-be-key-to-better-health?preview=d1d7&preview_mode=True Please exercise. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2025/exercise-as-an-anti-ageing-intervention-to-avoid-detrimental-impact-of-mental-fatigue Please exercise. https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/healthy-eating-in-midlife-linked-to-overall-healthy-aging/ Please eat more vegetables and fiber. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/daily-physical-activity-even-light-intensities-linked-lower-cancer-risk Please exercise. https://www.ecu.edu.au/newsroom/articles/research/five-minutes-a-day-eccentric-exercise-can-improve-your-life-ecu-study-finds Please exercise.

DAPHNI - Cloudy (Kelbin Remix)

It's no cinematic masterpiece but I have enjoyed watching this. Feels like Marvel for grown ups. A lot less woo woo special powers and flashy set pieces and a lot more just every day struggles at a smaller scale. Even the few fight scenes feel a little more grounded. I'm mostly pleased with it. This season has definitely been a step up but it's still very much high fantasy so that's going to be a quick turn off for some people and I hesitate to recommend it. Severance (Season 2) - I'm not a huge fan of some of what happened in this season. So many things were explained and the explanations were not satisfying to me. The show lost a lot of its mystique. The acting, the visuals, soundtrack is still all good but I hope in the next season they are able to bring more of the "weird" back which seems to be mainly connected with the cult/religion element of the show.

Not my tempo. I got the idea, I didn't mind some of the body horror but I feel like the last act completely shifted into absurdist nonsense. Orb: On the Movement of the Earth - I saw plenty of recommendations for this, which I was very uncertain of, but I gave it a shot. It's a strong anime, clearly seinen/adult focused with the majority of the show being about pursuit of knowledge, people's convictions, the dangers of over zealousness, the potential boons and harms of technology, commentary on religion - oh and aristotle, plato and socrates are quoted unironically just about every episode. If this sounds like an "up it's own ass" type of show... well that's partially true - it's saved by fairly good writing and a plot that links several shorter stories together. But I'm going to paste the description here because, yea it's not exactly doing much for the appeal of the show: As an aside, this show does depict some fairly graphic methods of medieval torture so, just be warned. Wheel of Time Season 3 - This season has been absolutely fantastic, but every single season so far has had atrocious season finales, so watch this show somehow manage to grab defeat from the jaws of victory and crash the ending... again. I have zero interest in the books but I do think the show has absolutely hit it's stride, and I'm hopeful it keeps going because it's a well produced high budget fantasy show that isn't from George RR Martin (I'm just kinda sick of his shit). Common Side Effects - This show was solid, far better than I expected. The first episode is literally on youtube for free if you want a taste of the general vibe. It's made by the same people as scavengers reign which should give you a slight barometer on the weirdness but I feel like this was a little more mass market focused.

Various videos - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Windows+11+IoT+Enterprise+LTSC So I have seen some discussions and a few videos talking about Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC. Supposedly it is out-of-the-box significantly debloated which would remove the need for unattend install scripts or the various sometimes-sketchy debloating programs/scripts. I'm not sure if I'm going to try it, the licensing element is a real problem (without resorting to massgrave or similar), but it's interesting.

https://privacytests.org/ Neat site that compares out-of-the-box privacy related functionality for many popular web browsers. https://airtable.com/appQ7TstG5Wn17FjY/shrraH105YVJQF2Yr/tblE1phJr6I27XBGE/viwJOh8hODbaFjcMZ Neat comparison table taken from here that compares budget cell phone plans in a big table. Seems like the Mint Mobile 15GB 12 Months is one of the better ones for a single line just under $25. Not looking to change right now but nice info to know.

A Different Man (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21097228/) "An aspiring actor undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance, but his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare." From one body horror movie to another. Kinda. Even just saying that makes me feel a tiny bit guilty and that is one of the problems I had with this movie. I felt it was decent movie overall except for the fact that the story is about a real condition, about a real person and they even have multiple people with the real condition (neurofibromatosis) cast in the movie. It's just a fictional story but it almost feels like a mockery sometimes. I have mixed feelings. Again it was decent and the genre description (psychological dark comedy) and the trailer are accurate but I don't think this is for everyone. Maybe if it interests you then give it a shot.

The Brutalist - It's a 3.5 hour movie that mostly tries to tell the story of a Hungarian Jewish architect and his brutalist architecture partially inspired by his time serving in a concentration camp. So it's super cheery and fun. It's definitely a good film but falls into the oscar-bait category. I was a bit disappointed how little they really get into the architecture part of his life and instead focus on the dramatic elements. Nosferatu - I'm not a fan of horror, and this just skirts the line between suspense and horror for me. It's a more slavic / traditional take on the vampire genre, which I appreciated. The cast definitely nail their roles, with a fair bit of purposeful overacting/melodrama. American Primeval - Nice little western mini-series that touches on some lesser known stories about how the mormons had a rather violent and bloody past when they settled their new area of salt lake city. It's mostly a "found family" story with a few people coming together to overcome a perilous journey. Worth watching if the premise is at all interesting to you. The Pitt - This is a fantastic medical series, I believe the creator is the guy behind ER, but this isn't about weird over the top drama between the medical staff this is much more of a very realistic medical procedural. I've seen a few videos from doctors claiming this is one of the most accurate depictions of emergency medicine ever put to film. It's also a damn good series, I really appreciate that each episode is 1 hour of their shift, and they have a decent sized cast able to keep things interesting. Strong recommendation. Daredevil: Born Again - I'm thrilled that Disney basically was forced to keep the cast from the Netflix show, and damn but they're making it work. I'm still concerned that the writing might not be there, especially since this series went through a total re-write at one point. So far it seems in line with the Netflix show in tone and writing quality. I hope it doesn't fall off. The White Lotus - I've seen so many recommendations for this show, but so far it's been far less impressive than I'd like considering it's ratings. I'll still finish at least season 1 but I'm not sure I feel interested enough to carry it forward. Anime Bullshit: The Apothecary Diaries - A very highly rated show about an apothecary that solves mysteries set in a fictional Chinese empire / palace. It's not my usual taste, but ti's actually quite good. The second season is currently airing and tends to rank in the top 3 every week. It's a bit of a mystery of the week / palace intrigue type of show with a female lead. It also manages to make the female lead multi-dimensional without relying on too many YA tropes I've seen applied to women characters. I've heard this show is basically an anime version of some Korean/Chinese historical dramas but I feel like that's a bit of an oversimplification.

Will Sparks - Cumon Lynnic, ItsArius & Mocean - Keep Breathing Bring me to life JP Candela - Topic Innellea, TH;EN & Carlo Whale - ID (Shadow) Deniz Koyu - To The Sun jazzy but not too jazzy take your time (30:08 makes me smile)

Split Fiction - Official Story Trailer | State of Play 2025 Shinobi: Art of Vengeance - Official Announcement Trailer | State of Play 2025 I have many memories of playing (and dying) Ninja Gaiden on NES so 2d ninja games have a small soft spot for me. Metal Eden - Official Gameplay Reveal Trailer | State of Play 2025 Hell Is Us - Official Gameplay Trailer | State of Play 2025 Saros - Official Cinematic Reveal Trailer | State of Play 2025 Directive 8020 - Official Story Trailer | State of Play 2025

The Accountant 2 | Official Trailer Friendship | Official Trailer HD | A24 MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 8: The Final Reckoning Super Bowl Trailer (2025) F1 - Official 'Summer 2025' Teaser Trailer (2025) Brad Pitt, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem The Handmaid's Tale | Season 6 Teaser | Hulu JUNE & JOHN Trailer (2025) Luc Besson

I watched this too and I have a bit mixed feelings about it. They built up the main character and then, instead of displaying more of what they built, they take a detour both with the character and the story. I would have appreciated focusing more on just his work. The antagonist (I guess) was interesting as a mirror character. I enjoyed it overall as a bit more of a casual watch. I did finish this. I almost think I need to go back and re-read the books. They changed less than I thought they would (from what I remember). It's a decent show but the premise needs to interest you otherwise it probably would seem boring. The end of season 2 is pretty much as far as I read in the books so I'm not sure what the next season might bring. The Substance (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17526714/) Oh boy. Where to start on this. I got kind of curious about this because of some of the buzz I saw online. I didn't even see the trailer and kind of went into it blind. This is like a weird combo of body horror, drama, pseudo-reality comedy something. There is a lot of tits, ass, blood, guts, puss and wet noises. Curious lol? I didn't love it but I did have a little fun watching it especially the ending which is where I felt they placed most of the comedy. Acting was good. Visuals were disgusting (intentional). Audio was nauseating (intentional). Plot was a bit predictable but the story is just not a complicated story which doesn't make it bad. 6/10.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18952341-the-grace-of-kings The Dandelion Dynasty #1 The Grace of Kings Ken Liu Still pretty early in this. It's very large in scale, covering many years, only a few characters but some of them are very major in the world of the book. I cannot read it very fast because of the writing style. Curious where it's going and I will be sticking with it.

Wind and Truth - I finished this, and have mixed to negative feelings about it. Sanderson has never been great at prose, but there's some real serious inconsistency across parts of the book. Modern language mixed in that feels jarring. The humor is almost entirely bad. And yet, there are whole sections of the book that I really enjoyed. It's frustrating because I feel like some of his other books were better written and better edited and yet this is supposed to be a semi-capstone of this series. There are some lines so full of cringe I almost groaned out load. I hope the criticism reaches Sanderson, and he either finds a new editor or slows down, because this wasn't a great showing. I know supposedly he won't touch this series again for several years while he works on other projects, maybe he can take the time to reflect and improve. I personally felt like you could see his improvement across his books, but this was a big step backwards. Moving on to the next book in the Sun Eater series.