I've been using Bluesky for a couple of days now and it's rather interesting that some accounts that I really liked on Twitter (like QI and Engadget) are either not present on the Fediverse or tried to create a presence but became inactive after a bit.

But on Bluesky, they are very much active.

So why the difference? Is it a lack of interaction? Or the percieved fragmentation due to how Mastodon works?

#Mastodon #Fediverse #Bluesky

So ... based on feedback about the Flutter book, pivoted from an adult/programmer oriented approach to be more kid/beginner friendly and re-wrote the first two chapters to fit the new approach.

I was set to start on the third chapter when yak-shaving struck again 😛

I started thinking about a BlueSky client because apparently BlueSky engineers are overloaded and can't add the ability to filter out reposts. And I wanted it ....

So that's where I am today — coding. Hopefully, will get back to writing later today?

#Writing

So, I suddenly have the time to write, but have three different books clamoring for attention 😛

1. A Flutter programming book with 2 chapters written
2. A completed novella that needs to be totally re-written
3. A new novel in a new genre that's suddenly very interesting

What to do?

#Writing

The audio book for my second novel, "Sir Lanka Files" is now available! It's about the humorous misadventures of a private detective in a future island city ruled by a guild of thieves. More details here: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0DQ63PSMR/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-424788&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_424788_rh_us

Shout out to Brad Derry (https://bradderryvo.com/) for the great voice work! If you need somebody to voice your audio book, he's the one! Check out the book sample (at the link above) for Brad's excellent work!

#ScienceFiction #Humour #AudioBook #Writing #FediBooks #Bookstodon

If you like scam/con movies, you might enjoy "Mechanic Rocky" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27191250).

Most movies have one or two layers. I generally look for a second layer in any movie since I'm just that kind of person 😛This one had three layers and I almost missed the third one because I kind of relaxed after figuring out what the second layer was. So if you like that kind of mental acrobatics, this one will definitely appeal.

#Movies #Telugu #Tollywood

"Kanguva" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22036406) is such a horrible, pointless movie. There's so much lack of logic and pointless scenes just supposed to evoke some emotion that I don't know where to start.

I read the bad reviews and thought "There has to be something in the movie which redeems it" and watched it. But I was wrong. There is nothing to redeem this one and I probably should have saved myself some time by not watching it 😛

Only reason you might want to watch it is if the laughter caused by the absurd situations, the bad creature effects, and the bad graphics is something you'd enjoy.

#Movies #Tamil #Kollywood

I have availability coming up in January. If anyone is looking for an iOS developer, please let me know. #getfedihired

"A Man on the Inside" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26670955) is one of the better US comedies to come out this year. Ted Danson is brilliant in the show and the show itself is funny, insightful, and often very poignant. I loved the whole show but I loved the final episode the most — it just had so much feeling and emotion.

I really hope that there's a season 2.

#TV #US #English #Comedy #Netflix

Check out my audiobook about a man on the run from his wife's wrath after selling her dog to a Martian: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0DL7S8Q24/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-418986&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_418986_rh_us

Shout out to Brad Derry (https://bradderryvo.com/) for the great voice work! If you need somebody to voice your audiobook, he's the man! Check out the book sample (at the link above) for Brad's excellent work!

#ScienceFiction #Humour #AudioBook #Writing #FediBooks #Bookstodon

"Bagheera" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15380608) was interesting up to a point. The start was good, and the evolution of the character was engaging. But then there is a point towards the end (the last 15 - 20 minutes or so) where it felt as if the writer went into auto-pilot mode. Everything just felt kind of forced. It didn't resonate as much and it felt just so rushed and kind of by-the-numbers and ended rather unsatisfactorily in a bloody mess.

#Movies #Kannada #Sandalwood

I started out thinking that "Brother" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23549436) was going to turn out to be like other Jayam Ravi movies from the recent past. And it looked that way for the first half hour or so. But then things got better 🙂

Maybe it's just the subject matter — about somebody who's constantly asked to live the way others do and to look away from what is right. Somebody who's asked to conform just because "this is how things are". And he doesn't. He never conforms. And I liked that.

Being told that people who don't follow the rules or don't do their jobs is because they know better, being told that the "system" works differently and that you'll only know if you are in the "system" — this kind of stupid attitudes (and platitudes) that are present in society and the sheer absurdity of it all resonated with me.

Then came the melodrama as usual. Most of the people in the movie don't seem to care about what is right and what is wrong. It's all about how people perceive you. They will take abuse from somebody to get a job done, but will also blame people who don't take the abuse from others. So all sorts of foolishness and hypocrisy where right does not matter and all that matters is that you conform and do what everybody else does.

And the emotional manipulation. Oh, the emotional manipulation that everybody seems to indulge in as part of daily life. I won't even go into the painful school skit that no school would have allowed.

At this point, there's a subtle (or very obvious, depending on your point of view) track change — instead of the movie being about Jayam Ravi fighting the whole world and how they think/behave, it becomes about Rao Ramesh's character and overcoming his ego. One thing I'll say though — Rao Ramesh is well suited for this kind of role, and he excels at it. Speaking of roles, I really loved Saranya's role in this movie too 🙂

But overall, this change in tracks was too jarring for me and the movie just feels as if it's directionless. They try to salvage this a bit at the very end but I'm not sure if it works or not.

#Movies #Tamil #Kollywood #ReverseDirection

I've been looking forward to "Devara" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11821912) but it turned out to be a huge disappointment overall. The movie is alright if you turn your brain off but it's nothing spectacular.

First of all, talk about jumping the shark 😛 You'll understand what I mean if you watch the movie. They've literally gone back to the origin of that phrase.

Then there's the big plot twist — it's evident where it was headed from the moment it was introduced and I mostly watched the movie to see if I was proven right. And I was.

Then there's Janhvi Kapoor's character — the most poorly-written love interest that you could probably find anywhere. I think they were looking for humour with her but it just felt stupid, and silly.

And don't get me started on the "All Hail" a la Vijay's movies .... It just felt so very overdone.

#Movies #Telugu #Tollywood #OverHyped #JumpingTheShark

Time to rebuild my follower base from Twitter on Mastodon!

I’m Vidar, founder of Street Art Utopia, curating the most inspiring street art from around the world.

Every new follower who comments here will receive a high-quality street art photo as a thank-you reply! Feel free to request a specific theme for your photo!

Editing a book on iOS development (using UIKit) at the moment — 1100+ pages. But for some reason, it has made me think about writing a book on #Flutter development 😛

Should I do it? I don't know ... But thinking about it.

#Writing #Programming #Books

Hey friends, if you see this, could you introduce me to someone worth following on this app?

After fifteen years on that other app, it feels daunting to start again from scratch.

In Telugu cinema, Suhas seems to be so good at picking roles that are not run-of-the mill. I first noticed him in "Writer Padmabushan" which I absolutely loved. Since then, I've watched any movie that has Suhas in it. None of them have had the overly macho, beat-everyone-up-without-raising-a-sweat type of characters. Instead, they generally are different shades of the everyday-man.

"Janaka Aithe Ganaka" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32843331) is another Suhas starrer that I absolutely loved from the beginning. There's so much humour and sentiment in the movie. The family dynamics, the relationship between Suhas' character and his wife, and his friendship with Vennela Kishore — it all worked so well to make this an interesting movie.

Then came the core of the story. That too worked for me in terms of Suhas questioning the system. There were a few melodramatic moments which had me rolling my eyes, but overall the story worked for me.

And the ending? Priceless!!

#Movies #Indian #Telugu #Comedy

Haven't done much painting recently. Without too much warning, I find myself in the middle of editing the third edition of a massive 1000+ page book that I last edited 3 years or so ago. Plus, we've had to move suddenly too.

So I'm writing (or at least editing) but probably won't get back to the painting and writing till next year. I guess that's how it goes sometimes?

#Writing #Painting #Life #Busy

I'm thrilled to announce that the audiobook version of "Honest, the Martian Ate Your Dog" is now available on Audible 🙂

https://www.audible.com/pd/B0DL7S8Q24/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-418986&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_418986_rh_us

If you want to listen to a sample, you can do so on the Audible site.

#Audibook #Writing #Bookstodon #Fedibooks #SciFi #Humour
Audiobook cover for "Honest, th…

Up at 4am after the time change because I'm too stressed out to sleep.

Please please send work my way. I'm super talented and experienced in Python, data, and ML. I'm talking decades. It makes zero sense that my family and I should be on the verge of going hungry. I guess I just don't have the magical keyword combination to get the LLMs to pick up my resume. This is the dystopian future we were warned about. I'm certain of it.

#GetFediBHired
#MachineLearning
#Python
#DataScience

I'd heard good things about "Lubber Pandhu" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27007466) but since it's a cricket movie, I wasn't sure if it was going to be just a sports movie or something else. The beginning seemed to indicate that it was going to be more than "just" a sports movie 🙂

One thing I loved about the movie was the little bits of old Tamil songs that they play every often through the movie. The selections were super!

And the other thing was the humour running through the movie — not the usual slapstick comedy track which doesn't always work, but genuine moments of humour.

And the slow build up to the confrontation between the two players is really enjoyable. On one hand, you keep waiting for the confrontation, and on the other, you keep watching it build up and laugh at the little tiny events that are made so huge due to ego conflicts.

Once things erupt, the tug-of-war between ego and love is just so very beautifully depicted. The whole experience is so totally engrossing. Basically, I feel that the movie played on so many levels and it was excellent in all those levels.

With this movie and with "Meiyazhagan" it almost feels as if we are back to the heyday of Tamil movies when they actually were worth watching and were all not about shedding blood by the buckets and beating up baddies. Will the trend continue? I'd be be interested to see how this goes ...