Apr 17, 2025, 2:25 PM
Apr 16, 2025, 5:45 PM
Apr 16, 2025, 5:43 PM
Apr 16, 2025, 5:43 PM
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.
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.
Apr 15, 2025, 8:59 PM
This #ChatGPT 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.
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.
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.
Apr 11, 2025, 11:14 PM
Apr 11, 2025, 4:15 AM
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.
Apr 6, 2025, 9:00 PM
Novelette is Trying
Small production set in Vancouver. Black & queer lead. Curious to give it a try.
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.
Mar 31, 2025, 2:02 AM
Am I the only one watching #Junos via CBC Gem finding the audio a bit weird? It’s like a few channels are muted
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 #USPol.
Thanks, Jeffrey Goldberg.
Mar 20, 2025, 2:46 PM
“Here is a chart”
🥹 welcome back @j_mcelroy, missed you
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 #ReactNative and expo.
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.
Mar 4, 2025, 8:34 PM
Every day reading #CanPoli and #USPol 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.
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.
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 #NotMyPresident 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.
Feb 20, 2025, 10:47 PM
Great piece.
https://thewalrus.ca/common-sense-politics
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. #Politics of resentment. An angry bunch is an engaged bunch.
Feb 20, 2025, 10:40 PM
For anyone interested in reading a weekly curated best moments of humankind's wordcraft, the #newsletter is https://buttondown.com/perfectsentences
Feb 20, 2025, 10:37 PM
Feb 16, 2025, 6:10 PM
This Friday for the first time I took a #seaplane from #Vancouver to #VictoriaBC. 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!
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 #Instagram replacement for me.
Feb 15, 2025, 1:30 AM
Discovered another #PixelfedAlternative 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.
Feb 14, 2025, 6:43 PM
#Pixelfed 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 👀 https://mastodon.social/@jesseplusplus/113891449411033309
Feb 14, 2025, 2:18 AM
My #introduction post is actually a page that I'll be trying (not too hard) to keep up to date:
https://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.
Feb 13, 2025, 9:19 PM
Decentralized social media still has a lot of rough edges but the email analogy the concrete tips go a long way. https://video.fedihost.co/videos/watch/2fdb8e23-6ef1-4cac-853d-a5e104ba82cb
Feb 13, 2025, 7:51 PM
Stupid truck kills person, Mounties issue warning, people continue getting stupider trucks, police gets more budget.
Just North America things. https://flipboard.com/@cbcnews/british-columbia-i8sdok9nz/-/a-Zofdnf4GQcqozM--QyII-g%3Aa%3A107108217-%2F0
Feb 13, 2025, 5:15 PM
This is incredible. Super timely. I just watched a @fedihost podcast about the challenge of bringing I cities to the fediverse and this kind of grassroots effort is blowing my mind on its effectiveness. https://socialbc.ca/@chris/113980763976318326
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.
Feb 6, 2025, 7:29 AM
Jan 30, 2025, 7:21 PM
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
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.
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.
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.
Jan 4, 2025, 2:49 AM
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.