"Animal" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13751694) is a weird one.

There’s a core story that I like so far (an hour in), but it's wrapped in all sorts of nonsense that I dislike — ideas about alphas, stupid senseless stunts with planes, not seeing the reality but talking about a father who can do no wrong ...

There's just too much disavowal of reality and just weird posturing for me to really like the character. The movie? I'll know when I finish 🙂

#Movies #Hindi #RanbirKapoor #Animal

Looks as if Karl Guttag will be reporting in detail about his experiences with the Apple Vision Pro 🙂

https://kguttag.com/2024/01/20/updates-ces-ar-vr-mr-la-sid-conference-apple-vision-pro-ordered/

I’m looking forward to this since Karl has good insights on AR/VR and while I’m not really looking at the Apple Vision Pro at the moment, based on Karl’s experience, I might change my mind.

In the above post, Karl also mentions the new Sony MR headset. That had only been in the periphery for me but given what he notes about the passthrough camera placement and the weight distribution of the headset, I might need to take another look.

#AR #VR #MR #AppleVisionPro

I've been a bit busy the last few months — family health issues, work, a possible move on the horizon etc. and haven’t really had much time to be on here.

Probably not going to get a lot more time for the next month or so either, but trying to get back to writing about stuff that interests me again …

#PersonalUpdate

"Three of Us" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23804378) is a wonderful, sometimes melancholic, movie.

It starts off with this air of melancholy that kind of persists throughout the movie. It might feel a little slow at times, but I loved the feel of nostalgia and, sometimes, whimsy that the movie evoked.

The actiing was brilliant — not just words, but emotions evoked through a gesture, or a glance.

I always notice Jaideep Ahlawat when he appears in a movie, but afterewards, i can't remember the movies themselves. Swanand Kirkire was great too, but the standout performance here was by Shefali Shah. Absolutely brilliant!

#Movies #Hindi #Bollywood #SliceOfLife #QuietReflections

I generally like Nani's movies, but some of his recent ones have been especially good.

"Hi Nanna" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt25433734) has to be at the top of that list as far as I'm concerned.

At first, it felt a bit like "How I Met Your Mother", but there is a turning point and once you hit that point, there is no looking back. I just had to finish the rest of the movie.

It was heartfelt and moving. It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride of expecting something to happen and have something totally different happen.

One central premise might seem a bit unlikely, but it made the overall movie work.

Definitely recommended! 🙂

#Movies #Telugu #Nani #HiNanna

I used to develop apps for my own use and then distribute it as freeware.

Then life got busy, I stopped writing apps for personal use — just developed for the App Store.

I'm back full-circle now — coding apps for my own use ... but I don't release them in any form, just too much work/hassle.

How things change?

Or maybe we've become too used to centralized distribution points?

I don't know ...

All I know is that suddenly, after a long gap, at least a couple of my most-used apps are developed by me.

#Coding #SoftwareDev #PersonalProjects

"12th Fail" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23849204) is an inspiring story — a story of striving against all odds, against corruption, against classism, against hundreds of thousands to gain a coveted position.

This is more true-to-life than a lot of recent Hindi movies and so far I love every minute of it. I've lived some of it and I do understand where the people are coming from. Makes me nostalgic but also makes me want to stand up and cheer!

#Movies #Hindi #Bollywood #AgainstTheOdds

"Parking" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28184712) is an interesting story about how a small incident can blow up to become a big issue due to egos, misunderstandings, and due to the opinions of others affecting our actions.

Maybe this is a (South) Asian thing, but I totally understand how the two characters came to be in the situation that they ended up in ...

A lot of us just rely way too much on what others think/say about us than just living life the way we want to.

#Movies #Tamil #Parking #RealLife

I get so tired of movies where people know what happens (deja vu, time loop etc) and know that certain things will happen due to their actions and still do the same thing expecting to stop the events.

How does that make sense at all? If your actions cause a chain reaction, shouldn't you stop?

It's so annoying when they persist despite knowing what will happen instead of trying a different course of action ... Or not doing anything at all?

#Movies #Plot #Writing #DejaVu #TimeLoop

Watching "Kho Gaye Hum Kahan" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15434074) I felt this strange sense of connection to both "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" and "Dil Chahta Hai" — it was almost like a journey across the years with different lives ...

KGHK brings home the fact how different things are in the digital age and how much things have changed since the other movies, which were like 10 years apart.

I was quite surprised to realize that it’s been 20+ years since “Dil Chahta Hai”. Where has all the time gone?

I liked the depiction of social media reliance in KGHK and how it probably is true for some and while I can understand the culture, I still feel like an outsider looking in on strange creatures 😛

What will it be like 10 years from now? Interesting to ponder ...

#Movies #Hindi #Bollywood #DigitalAge #Change

I have interviewed 100s of candidates for software engineering positions.

I’ve done take-home tests, in person challenges, pair programming with the candidates.

All of them were awful experiences for me and especially for the candidate.

I can only think of a single instance where a code challenge exposed a poor software engineer and I could definitely have made the same assessment just by talking to them.

Lately I’ve stopped doing any software or mental puzzles.

I don’t do any of that when I interview designers or QA people or HR people, so why would I be particularly toxic towards software engineers during the hiring process?

Instead, I actually read their resumes (which is significantly quicker than doing interviews, asking them to repeat the same information), and then I ask them questions like:

- Where do you get your tech news?
- How do you learn about new technologies?
- What do you most appreciate in your coworkers today?
- What is a perfect workday like for you?

I specifically avoid trap-style questions like “what is your greatest weakness?” or “why are you leaving your current job?”

I recommend that you make a plan for what you want to learn about the candidate, e.g. “are they good at acquiring new skills?” or “do they share the same values as the team?” and then structure the interview around that.

Be a non-toxic manager. Make your company look good during the interview process. Get better candidates.

#jobs

"The Family Plan" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16431870) was much better than I expected 🙂

In fact, I think the only other Marky Mark movie that I enjoyed more than this was "The Big Hit" and that was way back in the 90s.

Mostly good fun, a few stupid bits, but overall good family entertainment!

#Movies #English #Hollywood #MarkWahlberg

I’ve spent the past couple days battling with SwiftUI’s transferable protocol and ShareLink to export images to iMessage while retaining the gps data and I haven’t cracked it. Does anyone have experience with this?
#iosdev #swift #swiftui #indiedev #help

"Dhootha" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19868374) has an interesting concept but is marred by poor execution.

The characters over-explain everything and Naga Chaitanya has just one expression. I'm not sure he can make the main character believable ...

I'm still on the first episode and am on the fence about continuing, but I guess I’ll continue to watch just to see how the episode ends.

#TV #Telugu #Thriller #SuperNatural?

"Candy Cane Lane" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21328106) is an OK enough Christmas movie, but I expected something special/magical from it.

Just didn't get that feeling. It was just a run-of-the-mill kind of story with a little bit of heartwarming family-stuff thrown in.

Just didn't have that “something” which makes you care about the characters …

#Movies #English #Christmas #CandyCaneLane #EddieMurphy

"Label" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt25965602) continues to impress with each episode. The story is interesting, has at least one poignant moment in each episode that also makes you think about people in general, and has interesting twists.

Well worth watching ...

#TV #Tamil #Legal #Gangster #Label

Exchange from "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters":

"Cryptozoologist, what's that?"

"He studies animals that don't exist."

If he studies animals that don't exist, isn't the correct term "hallucinating"? 😛

I believe it's more correct to say that he studies animals that aren't yet proven to exist?

#TV #Monarch

"Kannur Squad" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt25274786) is a good movie — part police procedural and part road trip across India ...

Not a lot of one-man-against-20 "heroism" (except towards the end) but a more accurate and realistic depiction of police work than is usual.

So many small touches like the initial case to introduce the team, the individual personal stories, the bureaucratic hassles you would have to face in day-to-day police life (which is never shown in the more “hero”-oriented stories) etc …

Well worth watching.

#Movies #Malayalam #PoliceProcedural #AcrossIndia

"Tiger Nageswara Rao" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9688874) is a horrible male-centric movie. The women are used, abused, held-hostage, and simper after the "hero" but don't seem to have any capacity to think or any agency of their own ...

Of course, this is all probably excused as this was how it was in the 70's?

I wanted to stop watching it multiple times but continued on just because I want to see how bad it gets. And it gets really bad …

No real redeeming qualities to this one.

#Movies #Telugu #TheOther70sShow #AMansWorld

Disney's "Culpirts" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14531774) says that it's about what happens after a heist.

But I think what they're trying to hide is the fact that this bunch of clowns couldn't have pulled off a heist in the first place.

They aren't paranoid enough, really stupid, and not really criminals. The only way the story moves forward is by them being stupid. And I really hate that kind of lazy story telling ...

#TV #Culprits #English #Heist #BadWriting