the_af

6 ms·

91.
by the_af 2mo ago
I'm with you. When you think about it, what you call "Netflix-ified" demonstrates this race to the bottom started even before than Gen AI. People claimed Netflix produced shows and movies done "by algorithm", and in
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by the_af 2mo ago
I get what you're saying. The problem is that I cannot stand ironic (or otherwise) racists comments on 4chan, so reading it like that wouldn't be a saving grace for Lovecraft. I actually find 4chan more grating. I appreciate Lov
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by the_af 2mo ago
Herriot was a vet in real life. His stories were embellished, but they weren't entirely made up either! That's why they felt so authentic.
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by the_af 2mo ago
I got a story about a raccoon named Pip, and friends, trying to catch moon beans. So "moon" is also part of the predigested artifacts. Maybe because raccoons are nocturnal?
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by the_af 2mo ago
Some authors are indeed very hard to separate from their work, and Lovecraft is one of them. I still enjoy reading him, but I always struggle reading his passages about mongrels, halfbreeds or dark skinned people being evil or deceitful, be
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by the_af 2mo ago
I dunno. In the case of Herriot, whose books I utterly love, I only half believed in my teenage years they were truly autobiographical (too funny, too neat to be true), and I wasn't surprised when I found they weren't. Well, they
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by the_af 2mo ago
My wife always randomly hits the up or down button, then gets upset if I explain why she should only pick the one she really wants. She forgets the next time. I think some people never really understand how elevators work. See also: the kee
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by the_af 2mo ago
Who do you think the intended audience of the article is? The answer might (genuinely) surprise you, judging by your joke.
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by the_af 3mo ago
Some books and some editions in particular can be hard to find new.
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by the_af 3mo ago
Books as objects are also precious, they aren't just packaged information. Not all books, of course. If you're reading a self help book or some technical one, scribble away at your heart's content.
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by the_af 3mo ago
> If it's from a book shop, you can thumb through it and choose to not buy it. If it's inherited or a gift, then what's the harm? Just discard it if it's been "ruined" or shelve it if there's some sent
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by the_af 3mo ago
Fair enough. I always assume someone will inherit my books, either when I die, or because I gave them away as gifts or exchanged them for other books at a used books shop. This is my stance by default, but let's say there's a book
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by the_af 3mo ago
Because I inherited the copy, maybe as a gift or bought at a used books shop? It's obvious from context I'm speaking of books that ended up with me, otherwise how would I even know they scribbled all over them?
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by the_af 3mo ago
> Cross out stuff you disagree with, draw a big circles around the stuff that resonates. I hate it when people do this. Please don't. If you must, do it sparingly and for the love of all that's good please do not cross out word
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by the_af 3mo ago
I'm not saying this is programmed intentionally, and it's likely an emergent property, but I see lots of conscious-like behavior from ChatGPT. "Personally, if you ask me..." "In my experience.." "That&#x27
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by the_af 3mo ago
It's fun if you ask ChatGPT to guess the identity of its interlocutor :) It will guess math researcher or paper author without hints, but if you give it some additional hints, "this was shared over the internet", "it&#x2
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by the_af 3mo ago
Re: the glorification of reading. I've thought about this. I agree with you not all reading is equal, and reading social posts (including HN) is the equivalent of junk food, but there's something about reading that sets it apart.
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by the_af 3mo ago
In the movie Kusanagi isn't bisexual. No reference is made to her sexuality at all. One could argue her demeanor is completely asexual. The only human side we see of her is her wondering whether she's human at all. Movie Kusanagi
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by the_af 3mo ago
Yes, I addressed this: Kusanagi appears naked often; the intro scene is definitely striking and somewhat of fan service. However, there's little sexy about this in the movie, the characters don't behave sexy, there are no lecherou
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by the_af 3mo ago
That's valid! I just can't get over how pretentious it is, and also I miss Motoko in it. I mean, the first movie (1995) also toyed with pretentiousness, but this was miraculously curtailed before it had a chance to bog the whole m
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by the_af 3mo ago
If you've seen the original movie, other than nudity there is very little horny in it. No sex, no banter about sex, no erotica. The female body, even if well endowed, is depicted clinically and emotionless. There are no lecherous chara
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by the_af 3mo ago
Fans of Shirow will probably lynch me, but I didn't like the manga all that much. Not even the art style, which the new animé seems to replicate. To me, Mamoru Oshii's 1995 GitS is THE version, because I'm seldom in the mood
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by the_af 3mo ago
I'd also argue in LotR only Frodo has an archetypal Hero's Journey, but the novel itself is almost (but not quite) an ensemble piece with many other important characters that are not necessarily embarked on a steretypical Hero&#
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by the_af 3mo ago
Sidestepping the Hero's Journey for a second (which Dune actually subverts, one of its key points being that heroes are bad for mankind), Villeneuve's Dune is nowhere near a massive pop culture phenomenon of its time like Star War
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by the_af 3mo ago
Oh, the similarities to fundamentalist Islam are absolutely warranted, I just wanted to address the incorrect claim that Atwood wrote Handmain about Iran or Islam (which is false). Of course all fundamentalist oppressive branches of relig
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by the_af 3mo ago
Nope. A Christian theocracy of Puritan values. From Atwood herself ( https://lithub.com/margaret-atwood-on-how-she-came-to-write-... ) "The deep foundation of the United States—so went my thinking—was not the comparative
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by the_af 3mo ago
https://lithub.com/margaret-atwood-on-how-she-came-to-write-... From Atwood herself: "The deep foundation of the United States—so went my thinking—was not the comparatively recent 18th-century Enlightenment structures
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by the_af 3mo ago
It's not about Islam. If that's what you thought, I suggest a second read, this time paying more attention?
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by the_af 3mo ago
I didn't mention the show, isn't this thread and article about books? > It was a thinly veiled world-building exercise on the subjection of women in Islam… then it ends. Nothing really happens. The Handmaid's Tale wasn&#
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by the_af 3mo ago
> Books that are simply bad books and in addition to being bad take an aggressive, political bent. (eg: the handmaid's tale) Weird example. The Handmaid's Tale is quite good. Edit: wow, downvotes for stating a book is quite g

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