Victor Villas

Born at 356.42 ppm CO₂
🇨🇦 Living the good life in YVR
🇧🇷 Inner voice speaks in pt_BR
💻 Paying bills with software

me elsewhere

Latest Updates

  • Comment

    Apr 29, 2025, 5:13 AM

    LIB+NDP > 171 would mean a confidence agreement can be stablished and they can pass legislation by themselves or NDP losing official party status does it mean that liberals will need Bloc to fill that role instead?

  • Comment

    Apr 27, 2025, 3:14 PM

    Not every truck/SUV but always a truck/SUV

  • Comment

    Apr 22, 2025, 4:48 PM

    received a few awards for their redevelopment of into a "sustainable" mixed-use office space.

    This week they announced they're no longer allowing to be charged inside the building. They built the bike facility with charging stations - a bike facility that smells like sewage by the way, so they don't trust their own safety measures apparently.

    And this is just going to incentivize a riskier behaviour: charging the battery on your own desk, where the hazard is higher.

  • Wants to read

    Apr 17, 2025, 2:25 PM

  • Wants to watch

    Apr 16, 2025, 5:45 PM

  • Started watching

    Apr 16, 2025, 5:43 PM

  • Started reading

    Apr 16, 2025, 5:43 PM

  • Finished reading

    Apr 16, 2025, 5:39 PM

    Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, 9 out of 10
    Truly a landmark in the history of literature. This is a first crack in tainting the ideals of romanticism, using a dead narrator to excuse the grim and eschatological view of life and human struggles. The structure of the book, the whimsical choices, the events that transpire, they all conspire to a brilliant text.

    The book is best enjoyed with a little bit of context on 1880's Rio & Brazil, but generous use of footnotes from the editor and a good deal of curiosity for research should suffice to get immersed.

    The part of the book that I enjoyed the least was the middle of it, specifically the volume of attention dedicated to Virgília. But I also think that it is how it should be: so much time and energy and passion is dedicated to a romantic adventure that is ultimately unsatisfying and inconsequential, and the authors (the dead one and the real one) know this and decided for it, because that too is part of portraying a life.

    It should go without saying but it's always worth repeating that readers should keep in mind that the story is immersed in the zeitgeist of the 1880's, so gender roles, slavery, social hierarchy are all described by someone who was living that reality without a contemporary lens of criticism.

  • Comment

    Apr 15, 2025, 9:12 PM

    The response that comes from "think before responding" turned off is a wall of text but it turns out to be better, because at least it recognizes that the toggle has a design issue.

    Go figure.

  • Comment

    Apr 15, 2025, 8:59 PM

    This tooltip: "Think before responding".

    This is:
    - not descriptive what the feature really does;
    - misleading because why would I ever want a thoughtless response;
    - not accurate because "think" is a vague and amorphous concept here;

    Was the goal here to just have a tooltip, whatever it says? Or is this a joke on users getting less used to think critically for themselves? Guess I'll have to ask that - with 'Reason' turned on.

  • Finished reading

    Apr 13, 2025, 6:58 PM

    Overdose, 9 out of 10
    Honest, well research and comprehensive. This book is almost the perfect material to get introduced to an evidence-based approach to "the war on drugs". That it was written by someone who was entirely embedded in conservative politics and grows a devout christian adds to the appeal to its universality.

    The one flaw of the book, if it can even be called a fault instead of perhaps a missed opportunity, is the little discussion of the infertile grounds to sow the thesis, because this is one of the most important things we need right now to move forward with solutions. The current political climate is that of conservative leaders calling "empathy" weakness. A good chunk of the book is dedicated to dismantling the stigma, but this bias is a foundational character aspect of at least a third of us: rugged individualism cannot be argued out of someone's core values and principles. How do we even get people to read this book cover to cover without triggering "culture war" reflexes of dismissal? I have no idea, and I guess it's a different type of book that needs to address this.

  • Finished watching

    Apr 13, 2025, 6:42 PM

    Kim's Convenience Season 5, 6 out of 10
    The end. The writers continued to deny the Kims meaningful character development - until the very last two episodes. I guess it's fair to expect that Saang-Il and Young-Mi develop slowly as any normal pair of middle-aged adults, but I expected more from Jung and Janet. But well, we're here for it anyway. At this point we're used to not expect much other than a pastime, mostly lighthearted and mostly wholesome, still sometimes a bit too silly, sometimes too stereotypical. The season ends with a bit of a cliffhanger but the series was canceled so it is what it is.

  • Wants to read

    Apr 11, 2025, 11:14 PM

  • Wants to read

    Apr 11, 2025, 4:15 AM

  • Started watching

    Apr 6, 2025, 9:37 PM

    Kim's Convenience Season 5, 6 out of 10
    The writers continue to deny the Kims meaningful character development. I guess it's fair to expect that Saang-Il and Young-Mi develop slowly as any normal pair of middle-aged adults, but I expected more from Jung and Janet. But well, we're here for it anyway. At this point we're used to not expect much other than a pastime, mostly lighthearted and mostly wholesome, still sometimes a bit too silly, sometimes too stereotypical.

  • Wants to watch

    Apr 6, 2025, 9:00 PM

    Novelette is Trying
    Small production set in Vancouver. Black & queer lead. Curious to give it a try.

  • Finished watching

    Mar 31, 2025, 3:30 AM

    Disclaimer Season 1, 8 out of 10
    Disclaimer: from beginning to end, uncomfortable and disgusting to watch. I suspected that it was intentional, and yet the direction and its conclusion still had in store a final punch to my stomach. There's so much to think about, to re-evaluate. Overall masterful storytelling, but I don't know to whom I'd recommend this.

  • Comment

    Mar 31, 2025, 2:02 AM

    Am I the only one watching via CBC Gem finding the audio a bit weird? It’s like a few channels are muted

  • Comment

    Mar 24, 2025, 7:55 PM

    Using [sic] when quoting people in positions of power is probably the most delightful and socially acceptable way to punch upwards, even if it brings a tint of academicism. It's a guilty pleasure.

    Done expertly, it's humiliating. Reading a well timed latin expression for "they're dumb, not me!" is the respite I needed while consuming my weekly poisonous dose of .

    Thanks, Jeffrey Goldberg.

  • Comment

    Mar 20, 2025, 2:46 PM

    “Here is a chart”

    🥹 welcome back @j_mcelroy, missed you

  • Comment

    Mar 18, 2025, 12:00 AM

    Thinking of starting side project number 623737278, while still keeping my current one involving my IndieWeb presence. This is usually trouble as my focus tends to resist dividing, but here we go.

    I never successfully launched a mobile app, but I hope nowadays the learning curve is less steep. Probably going with and expo.

  • Finished watching

    Mar 7, 2025, 6:12 AM

    Kim's Convenience Season 4, 6 out of 10
    The writing has its ups and downs and the portrayal of how academia deals with minorities codes some strange red flags... But the series marches on, mostly lighthearted and mostly wholesome, still sometimes a bit too silly, occasionally too stereotypical.

  • Comment

    Mar 4, 2025, 8:34 PM

    Every day reading and news starts an exercise of trying to make sense of the unreasonable.

    Is the strategy to dissolve the conspiratorial fame of conservatives by behaving so randomly dangerous that everyone else gets used to look for "dark money" and "cabal of elites" to process this madness?

    I'm already crafting meta-conspiracies.

  • Comment

    Feb 28, 2025, 5:29 PM

    Fifth day in Brazil.

    Being an expat is ever stranger. I do feel home. The birds, the food, smiles, slangs, the plants, flowers, sand. The car I used to drive. Muscle memory kicks in. It all feels like it should. Even the clouds look as if they had been broken and are now fixed.

    But I also feel like a visitor. The heat, the traffic, inequality. It’s the same as always, but also worse than it was. It’s strange to so easily overhear, to invisibly connect so fast.

  • Comment

    Feb 21, 2025, 4:46 PM

    “This government does not represent us”

    Yes it does, it’s literally called representative democracy.

    I have been there before (Bolsonaro), and while I get the chant, this cannot be used to excuse oneself from the consequences of these representatives.

    “I did not vote for this” isn’t a free pass, it’s the bare minimum.

  • Comment

    Feb 20, 2025, 10:47 PM

    Great piece.

    thewalrus.ca/common-sense-poli

    How to reconcile the anti-intellectualism that serves as a foundation for the denial of science with the apparent technocratic positivism behind the defense of tech oligarchs?

    The answer is grievance. of resentment. An angry bunch is an engaged bunch.

  • Comment

    Feb 20, 2025, 10:40 PM

    For anyone interested in reading a weekly curated best moments of humankind's wordcraft, the is buttondown.com/perfectsentences

  • Comment

    Feb 20, 2025, 10:37 PM

    Just saw @jsnell quoted from @upgrade reading @ingrid 's Perfect Sentences.

    It's so funny when these random cross-overs happen. Makes the web feel like a small place from time to time. Well, the group of cool people saying cool stuff might be in fact a small corner.

  • Comment

    Feb 16, 2025, 6:10 PM

    This Friday for the first time I took a from to . It's incredible. Beautiful scenery, downtown to downtown in 35 minutes, check-in in 20 minutes - quicker than BC Ferries as a pedestrian... The noise isn't as bad as I thought, but it's still a solid 90 dB so an earplug is welcome.

    The worst of it is the smell and the pollution from the fuel, and obviously the price. It's ten times the price of public transit for the route, but it's nearly ten times faster!

  • Comment

    Feb 15, 2025, 1:35 AM

    Unfortunately what I need isn’t really photography, which is what all three federated services deliver. My main needs are 1) Stories, 2) Highlights, 3) carousel posts mixing image and video. That’s the state of the art that would make an replacement for me.

  • Comment

    Feb 15, 2025, 1:30 AM

    Discovered another besides frequency.app thanks to @bluszcz

    The vernissage.photos and the Impressia iOS app. It looks like they were related but split in two separate projects? These seem even more focused on photography.

  • Comment

    Feb 14, 2025, 6:43 PM

    seems to have good momentum, as dan continues to churn out code at a wild pace.

    Still, it’s still quite not there as an Instagram replacement for me, and I’m afraid the project is competing for attention with Loops, the other project from same author.

    So I have been looking for alternatives, and today I found out about @frequency: open source backend is a mastodon fork, polished app, friendly and sensible maintainers. Following it closely 👀 mastodon.social/@jesseplusplus

  • Comment

    Feb 14, 2025, 2:18 AM

    My post is actually a page that I'll be trying (not too hard) to keep up to date:

    victor.villas/notes/now

    These days I decided that saying what I'm up to is more important than trying to state who I am.

  • Finished watching

    Feb 7, 2025, 6:12 AM

    Kim's Convenience Season 3, 6 out of 10
    Can't say I particularly enjoy the Raj & Janet storyline, but what can I say? The series continues its promise of being mostly lighthearted and mostly wholesome, still sometimes a bit too silly.

  • Media

    Feb 6, 2025, 7:29 AM

    Happy as if it's sunny in Whistler
  • Media

    Jan 30, 2025, 7:21 PM

  • Started watching

    Jan 19, 2025, 5:12 AM

    Disclaimer Season 1
    Recommended by a few friends. Interesting premise and trailer. Halfway through, I can definitely see that the directors succeeded in making viewers uncomfortable watching the emotional violence of young Catherine over Jonathan, but I think the same could be achieved with less explicit sex screening... oof I'm not used to this

  • Finished watching

    Jan 16, 2025, 6:12 AM

    Kim's Convenience Season 2, 7 out of 10
    Not much is different from the first season, still lighthearted and mostly wholesome, still sometimes a bit too silly.

  • Finished watching

    Jan 4, 2025, 2:49 AM

    Kim's Convenience Season 1, 7 out of 10
    Lighthearted and mostly wholesome, though a few bits are excessively silly. A great series to just hit play and relax on the sofa.

  • Finished watching

    Jan 4, 2025, 2:49 AM

    Kim's Convenience Season 1, 6 out of 10
    Lighthearted and mostly wholesome, though a few bits are excessively silly. A great series to just hit play and relax on the sofa.

  • Finished watching

    Jan 4, 2025, 2:49 AM

  • Finished watching

    Apr 10, 2022, 6:12 AM

    Severance Season 1, 10 out of 10
    Superb, definitely one of the greatest series of the year. The writing is great and the directing is amazing. The story is just so well timed, the corporate world has never felt so bleak and COVID-19 along with the approaching "return to office" mandates cemented the perfect stage. It starts a bit slow and perhaps only relatable to those immersed in white-collar culture, but it picks up the pace to become a suspense/thriller of general appeal.