kuhla

Even with the "it felt like work" problem, that I mentioned previously, I did try to revisit this. It is rated highly and I see lots of positive posts about it however I ran into a new problem. There is an explicit, orchestrated gang-rape of a minor which, even though it was from the point of view of an antagonist character, just felt entirely unnecessary to include. The book moved on from that but in the back of my head I just kept worrying that the author was going to do something extremely uncomfortable like that again. Ultimately decided to drop it. Working on something new but too early to post about it.

Pluribus I saw part of the first Saw movie but I didn't finish it. Why? It's torture porn and everything else in it feels like just some window dressing. I don't need that in my life. I have not watched Chernobyl because after viewing a few clips it seems to be back to back downer-to-downer-to-downer. Extremely depressing. I don't need that in my life. About halfway through the first episode of Pluribus I had already decided this was not for me but, because of the hype, I wanted to give it a chance and pushed through the first two episodes. I'm done. Not watching anymore. Pluribus is cosmic eldritch horror. Everything else in it feels like just some window dressing. Humanity was completely wiped out and not even with a bang but with a whimper. They never had a chance. There is no ethical dilemma. No moral quandary. Nothing to explore. Not for me. I don't need that in my life.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.