TwinIon

If you enjoyed this film, I'd recommend listening to The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith . It's a long interview with Christopher McQuarrie and it's completely insane how he makes these movies. I guess the same process applied to Rogue Nation as well, so if you listen to the commentary or interviews on that film you might be aware, but McQuarrie's process boggles the mind. He shoots these film with only a flimsy outline that he feels no need to adhere to. Often shooting defining sequences without having a script days or hours before. With Fallout, he wouldn't even write the script until he had photographs of where he was going to shoot it.

Almost everything about this film is reverse engineered from either a location that McQuarrie found visually interesting or from a suggestion from Tom Cruise. Tom wanted to do a helicopter stunt, so they figure out that New Zealand is the only country in the world that will let him do it. So they go to NZ. Then they want to push Cruise off a cliff, so they find a spot in Norway where the fall is precipitous enough, so they have to figure out where in the world kinda looks like both Norway and New Zealand where they can have some political intrigue. They built the town at the end of the film from scratch without knowing why the script would take them there or where it was even supposed to be, and they built it the way they did only to have good lighting for one shot of one character.

It's completely insane that these movies were finished, a miracle that they weren't dramatically over budget, and impossible that they make any sense at all, much less are any good.

McQuarrie also did a gigantic interview with Empire where he discusses all this, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

On 8/4/2018 at 11:39 AM, Pent said:

I read the GameFAQ thread that you linked to, but I might be confused a little...  I get how you can boost the Steal %, and I think I know what save scumming or whatever is...  so is that what you mean when you said "if I wanted to reload saves a bunch of times" meaning there were townspeople that you could steal from and if you failed you would just reload a save and try to steal from them again?  Can the items that you can steal from people change if you reload a save, or does the actual item stay the same no matter what?

The stuff that you can steal doesn't change, but if something has a low % chance to steal you can be better of save scumming rather than paying the money to restore your reputation (it's $100k in Grandport). Also, the guy you have to scrutinize in order to boost your chance to steal is a pretty low chance (I think it was ~15% for me).

Yeah, screw the guy that doesn't want to alienate the mega corporation that controls 40% of the box office and controls the franchise that represents the vast majority of his acting income.

What I don't like about wireless headphones has nothing to do with charging them or audio quality or anything else. I love my Bose QC2 when I fly. They're great and being wireless an almost unequivocal good (especially when I can just plug them in).

What I don't like and worry about is that we're taking an audio standard that was universal and open and without restrictions and we're replacing it with a standard that is being built on with proprietary technologies and infused with new restrictions. Look at speakers. For a very long time speakers only had a universal jack(s) that accepted whatever you plugged into them. When they went wireless, first they were bluetooth and bluetooth kinda sucked, but early bluetooth was at least mostly universal. Still, even then there were questions of what bluetooth profiles a device supported and what kind of audio could be transmitted.

Then speakers became more and more locked down. With smart speakers you're increasingly being locked into specific services for music and for voice control. Audio playback that used to be entirely source agnostic has become service and ecosystem dependent. If you want the best experience with your Homepod, you better use Apple Music. If you want the best experience with your Echo, you better use Amazon music. If you want to control them, you better be comfortable with their respective voice assistants. Sure, most of these still have a universal bluetooth connection, and some even have a wired port, but it's not the best way to use those devices, and the open standard is always treated as a second class citizen.

Now we're seeing headphones go that direction, and if you don't expect them to, you're being naive. Now we're seeing Apple and Google and Samsung build their proprietary tech on top of bluetooth. Want the best experience with your headphones? You better hope your headphone vendor works with your phone vendor (or even better, is your phone vendor). In a few years when that W1 chip grows up and is running a custom version of iOS that allows those headphones to be more and more independent from your phone, you better be getting your music and your podcasts from Apple and you best not ever switch platforms. The best experiences are becoming more and more walled in, and if you like living in those walls it'll all be fine, in fact, the experience will be better than it ever has been, but you're still locked in. Even more, those devices that used to last effectively forever are having their lifespan determined by an ever evolving and depreciating set of proprietary standards.

Sorry for the rant. Also, screw Nintendo for not supporting Bluetooth on the switch.

Jones has his fanatical supporters that will follow him on whatever platform, self hosted or not, but what getting him off of Facebook and Apple Podcasts and (hopefully) Youtube does is dramatically limit his reach. These platforms extend his audience far beyond what it would otherwise be and it legitimizes him in a way that he cannot achieve by himself. When his podcast or his video or his story gets recommended by some algorithm because other Fox News viewers also liked that content, it pushes his narratives to people that aren't die hard Infowars followers. His content ends up in feeds of people that don't necessarily know who he is, and when these platforms push his headlines and thumbnails it only serves to push his false narratives well beyond his existing fanbase. This isn't about extinguishing his voice or taking away his rights, it's about treating him like the cancer he is and limiting his ability to spread.

These platforms don't need to take responsibility for every bit of content that they host, but they should be responsible for their loudest bad actors. Everyone draws a line, and if Jones hasn't crossed it for your platform, I have a hard time imagining who would.

More Jean Luc can only be a good thing. God I hate paying for another stupid streaming service.

Even automakers aren't really happy about this. I imagine that they need to justify their investments in R&D, that they're going to need to continue to do it for Europe anyways, and what they dislike most of all is all the uncertainty. If this ends up shattering US standards among the states, it could be a real hassle for them.

38 minutes ago, ort said:

I think they just pay the ransom on iOS. Unless there is some weird back door thing going on, they give the normal cut to apple. 

I assumed either they just paid, or they made it like Amazon Prime where you get re-directed to a web page before you can buy anything.

In an effort to get around Google's 30% cut, Fortnite on Android will only be available through Epic's website, not through the Google Play Store. That's a massive deal, and it'll be interesting to see how Google responds. It's possible that they just accept that Fortnite is an exception, and that it will remain that way, not provoking other big name games to follow its lead. It's also possible that this could lead to the seemingly inevitable breakdown of the hard and fast 30% cut, which at one time seemed so generous, and now seems like a ridiculous burden.

I'm not familiar with the iOS version. Does it just not allow in-app purchases, or is Epic just paying Apple's ransom?

Quote

“Most of the incidents where presumptively conservative speech has been interrupted or squelched in the last two or three years seem to involve the same few speakers: Milo Yiannopoulos, Ben Shapiro, Charles Murray, and Ann Coulter ,” Sanford Ungar, the Free Speech Project’s director, writes. “In some instances, they seem to invite, and delight in, disruption.”

You don't say.

1 hour ago, Scape Zero said:

 Eeehh... Gonna have to wait on this one then.

 

It's one thing for a free game to require hundreds of dollars a year, it's another if a paid game requires it.

The idea is that the cards you open will have an intrinsic value that you could theoretically recover through the marketplace. So if you spend a bunch of money and open packs or purchase individual cards, you could recoup some of that if you stopped playing. I'm skeptical of how exactly that market will play out, especially over years of the game's evolution both as a game and as a marketplace.

I also think that it's a model that will really discourage growth. Even if you are giving the cards a real value, Hearthstone cards feel like they have value because they have value to you, and you can earn them for free. I think the biggest question is if the game is good enough to get people playing. If the game is good enough, people will figure it out and we'll start to have real dollar values for what it takes to be competitive (at whatever level you want to be). That last part is particularly interesting, because in Hearthstone you have an approximation for how expensive a deck is, but in Artifact we'll be able to say that a given deck currently costs exactly $X to build.

6 hours ago, Scape Zero said:

I wonder if Valve will continue good guy Valve and let you get additional cards for free, without a massive time investment.

I believe that because you can trade cards there is no way to get them for free.

Quote

Artifact will not function as a free-to-play game—you'll have to buy something akin to a "starter" pack of gameplay cards, another staffer later clarified, before you can load into a game. Further cards can be purchased in packs and singles, either directly from Valve or from fellow players. And this, Newell insisted, will do something important for how the psychology of its paid cards plays out. "When you’re in a free-to-play environment, you get into a tendency that rarity equals power," Newell said. He called this an "artificial relationship" and insisted that in Artifact, "that’s not the case at all. Lots of common cards will be super powerful."

Source

Here's the NFL's fact sheet for the new helmet rule. It includes some very dull videos for different positions that aren't necessarily clear in describing what is and isn't allowed. Given that this is a potential ejection for something that has always been legal and basically standard Football form, if this is implemented in an inconsistent way, it'll be real trouble.

2 hours ago, Jason said:

Don't a lot of self-described Catholics basically ignore the Vatican most of the time?

I've seen this in my own family. My brother recently converted to Catholicism and it's been interesting where he chooses to focus his faith and where he differs from the Pope.

I was thinking about it a bit more, and I think part of my frustration with the game is how little it communicates what is important to character power levels and how much out of your way you need to go to raise it. It's very old school, and probably not in a good way. I think the expectation that most have is that if you follow the story that you'll naturally progress at a certain rate and you'll naturally find or be able to afford suitable gear. I have not found either to be the case at all. You have to do a lot of grinding and you really have to search for better gear. Just grabbing every chest and looking through every store is not going to be enough.  I think it's fine for a game to let you discover things, but I think some of that could have been more obvious. I certainly went in with some preconceived notions that didn't bear out, but this is a game that I think is catering to those like me that have played a decent amount of these games, if not for a while.

Got to see it last night in digital IMAX. First of all, I'd only recommend the $19 digital IMAX experience to someone with AMC A-List, because the screen at my theater was hardly bigger than the big theater at the local ArcLight, which doesn't upcharge at all. Also, I didn't realize that the digital IMAX screens are not in IMAX ratio, which seems especially strange for a film where the only IMAX sequences were shot digitally. Still, the IMAX sound was pumping at full volume, with a few people in the crowd even yelling to turn it down during the trailers (thankfully they did not). Having the upgraded sound experience made a very big impact on this film.

My first thought after seeing the film was how odd it was that it wasn't until the sixth installment in this franchise that they actually made a sequel. I imagine it's no coincidence that this is the first time director has returned to the series, and in this case McQuarrie was also the writer. Far more so than any of the other MI movies, this is one that actually acknowledges the past in ways both subtle and direct. Characters from previous films return, there are tons of callback shots, and there are references scattered throughout, many of which I'm sure I missed.

This series has always been rather unique that it operates more like an episodic TV show than a serialized TV show or movie franchise. Small things persist from entry to entry, but for the most part it's like the Simpsons; whatever happened before is mostly fodder for jokes or winks and nods to the audience. Otherwise explaining how the IMF exists when most current and former agents eventually turn evil or why Ethan still works there when he's been repeatedly hunted and disavowed becomes difficult. It's a series that has always had plots that were unnecessarily complex, but also where the story has never really mattered. Suddenly caring about continuity this far in is almost jarring, but shockingly well handled. McQuarrie toes the line just enough to inject a bit more pathos into otherwise blank slate Ethan Hunt, but doesn't really want you to dig that deep.

After all, this series, with Fallout being no exception, isn't looking to tell a story, pages in the script aren't there to convey ideas or themes or build characters or relationships, the words are merely functional: a delivery system for action set pieces. In that Fallout delivers exceptionally well. Despite a rather bloated 147 minute runtime, this is a film that is propulsive. It stops for longer than usual to catch it's breath, but that's partly because we as the audience need that time to do the same. The set pieces here are incredible. Even when Tom Cruise isn't piloting a helicopter or jumping out of a plane or crashing cars through the streets of Paris he's just such a formidable screen presence. McQuarrie is able to make Cruise running through the streets a more exciting chase sequence than most action movies.

Thankfully, Cruise isn't alone in this either. Series veterans Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are well utilized in their sidekick roles, providing the humanity that Cruise is less capable of delivering. The women of this outing often steal the show. Rebecca Ferguson is back and feels as dangerous as ever. I particularly liked newcomer to the series Vanessa Kirby's unfortunately short appearance. I expect we might see her again in an inevitable seventh installment. Jeremy Renner was absent given how busy he was not being in Infinity War, so our CIA agent de jour this time is Henry Cavill, whose formidable presence enhances every scene (praise to the mustache). He's described early on as a sledgehammer, and it's the best possible moniker for his turn here, as he pounds his way through the film.

Also pounding is the soundtrack. The score is another highpoint, and possibly the most propulsive since Fury Road. At times it even reminded me of Gravity, where the line between score and sound effects faded away. Blaring as it was in my IMAX screening, it goes a long way into making you feel every blow and crash along with Ethan Hunt.

I'm not sure if Fallout is my favorite in the series, but it's certainly in contention. For anyone who isn't a fan of Mission Impossible, Fallout has nothing new to offer. For anyone who does appreciate what this oddball franchise has been delivering for 20 years, Fallout is a another wonderfully filmed helping of watching a billionaire continually risk his life for our entertainment.

Granting this particular restraining order seems like it's probably correct, even though this whole issue seems pretty clear from a constitutional point of view.

Also:

I'm dubious about both the gameplay and the economics of the game, but I'm interested in how it will all turn out. The complexity alone might be too high a barrier to entry, but I'd be happy if it ends up being a new favorite.

On Monday LeBron's "I Promise School" opened to help out underperforming and at risk kids. I think this is a really admirable act of public service and a really smart way to address a variety of problems. Here's a look at some of the ways that this new school is different. Overall I think it's fair to say that most of the unique elements of this school are things that have nothing to do with the curriculum. It's all about supporting the children and their parents to help alleviate the myriad issues outside the classroom that lead to poor academic performance and life outcomes. Things like longer school days and stretched out school year. GED programs for parents and on-site food bank.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this new school is that it's part of the normal Akron Ohio public school system. It's not a charter school or private school. LeBron's foundation is providing funding, but I think it's great that this is a part of the public system and not something apart from it.

3 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

There's a really good video where they were at some conference they were talking about the development of the game, the challenges of making their first open world RPG, what worked and what didn't work the way they had hoped. Human combat was one of the areas that didn't get the refinement of the Robot Combat, and they talked about that at length, how they developed it and what could be improved. It was illuminating and it makes me extremely excited for the sequel because they have such a great foundation with this first game and they know what they struggled with.

 

If I remember, I'll link it when I get home. 

Thanks for the link, I'll try and check it out. The NoClip documentary on HZD is also worth watching.

I think they're obviously talented and have a solid development team that knows how to make quality games. What I'm slightly more concerned about is just the effect that scaling an operation like that can have. If they can take the lessons from HZD and put those to use across their teams,  they very well could become very successful at pushing out more great products more often. Otherwise, they wouldn't be the first game developer to lose their way after scaling up and moving to a more aggressive release schedule.

That would have been a giant mess. I wonder if this would have been different if Bolton had been in office at the time.

HZD is categorically different from their previous games. It's absolutely AAA in every sense. Still, one great game isn't really a track record.

Hopefully this is all for the better.

21 hours ago, Duchess May said:

Well, I would say Linux/Terminal savvy, anyway.

This is probably worth emphasizing. I think that there are some images that you can get to make setup mostly painless and gui based, but with this stuff there is always a decent likelihood that something small goes wrong and it'll be much easier to fix if you're comfortable using a command line or with Linux in general. It's not a requirement, and probably isn't a bad introduction to such things if you're a total newbie, but it's worth mentioning.