Notes from June 2025#
2025-06-01#
Season 2 of "The Last of Us" again follows the game, switching the perspective more to Ellie now. I read some criticism, but I haven't played the game, so I am not bothered. It's true that there was very little mushrooms, but to me, it was always a show about people in the first place. And when Scars showed, I realised that there is enough potential for more seasons. The new characters of Abby and Isaac are a strong addition to the story (albeit underused in season 2).
A word on the soundtrack. Basing it on acoustic guitars makes all the sense in-world because that's one of the most like instruments to survive.
As promised, I rewatched "The Usual Suspects." The film aged like fine wine, although the soundtrack sounds a bit oldish, reminding me of Tim Burton's Batmans. What I like about this movie is that knowing the main twist doesn't spoil the fun because now you can spot details that you missed the first time. I really appreciate how different all the 5 characters are in personality and clothing style wise.
The second season of "Smiling Friends" keeps the quality level of the first one, delivering all sorts of absurd and completely uninhibited storylines that a person can come up with. I hope they will do more, otherwise my life will be a bit emptier.
[edit] "The third season will be previewed at Annecy on June 11, 2025."
Żółw the Turtle just did a normal, stool-shaped poop. It's an excellent news because it suggests that his diet has finally normalised.
I can see similarities between Joel from "The Last of Us" and Nick from "The Handmaid's Tale." Both kill without any trace of remorse to killing itself and both are later surprised that their loved ones don't take it as casually as them. There are, of course, also differences.
I decided to write "Black Mirror's" season 7's notes episode by episode. It's only fair.
I noticed that when I write, I use different sentence structures than when I speak. It's probably not so strange given that I have more time to shape what I want to say, but sometimes I reorganise the sentence based on how it looks visually. I wouldn't mind saying it, but I don't wanna see it in writing, though it's one way, and if it looks okay, it also sounds okay. Often it's around commas, which I have a peculiar relationship with. So, if you're reading it, I probably speak a bit differently.
It's always so satisfying when I close in exactly 500 characters.
2025-06-03#
We went to a store today to buy more smart casual clothes for the Summer temperatures.
2025-06-04#
During our dog walk yesterday, we noticed a red sun. You could have actually looked at it with your bare eyes. It looked amazing as it was setting (not on the pictures, though, where it looks like photoshopped in). It reminded me of Pharas' vehicle from Rork comics. We assumed it must be kalima, but it turns out there were wildfires over Manitoba in Canada, and that was a smoke from there, which travelled across Atlantic Ocean. Quite a distance.
Senior devs in a couple of years.
On our way from Madrid, we stopped at a drive-by diner and, apart from dining, we bought a pack of sweets from Jaén. (The diner BTW was amazing: a mix of the U.S. organisation of space and Spanish style.) The sweets turned out to be biscuits soaked in an anise-flavoured souse. I have a special relationship with anise, but I decided to give it a shot anyway, and it was worth it. The anise foretaste was very subtle, making it taste a bit like cough syrup (believe it or not, it's a positive thing).
I have had a special relationship with anise since 2008 when we drove to Slovakia to buy absinth, and we drank the whole bottle in 3 persons (following the recipe which we googled, so there was burning sugar, etc.). The next day I was so sick that I couldn't make myself have it in any form for years. Once, I got myself into a situation in a Georgian casino when I ordered ouzo and had to drink it. But now it was okay. Just a tiny little taste.
A post from Jess#
Also, I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but I'll say it again:
Part of your job as a senior is to tell your juniors about your fuckups. The embarrassing cringe reckless and lazy bullshit that you did when you were new, and the various times you brought down Prod. We ALL did it sometime. And then tell them: the moment you realized you fucked up, I know, the impulse is to try and cover it up, but don't do it. Come to the seniors you trust, and they'll help you unfuck it, and fight management tooth and claw like mamma and pappa bears to defend you from any shitheads in management. Because that's what our seniors did to us.
2025-06-05#
CursorAI asking me to prove I'm a human to log in is a chef's kiss.
(I was buying a licence for a team member! I swear! I don't use it!)
A post from camwilson#
I’m always saying this
Time Is Algorithm You Can't Hack
2025-06-06#
I have a super admin role in one of the systems we work with, and apparently, I can see other people's passwords in plain text. 🫠
I begin to suspect that there is a subset of people with whom all this AI is not compatible. And I'm one of them. It's like seeing colours among colour-blind people (or the other way around, but obviously I feel it more favourably for me).
This looks like my kind of page. I'll keep it opened and traverse to my morning coffee.
I have a lot of birds outside the window because our neighbours, as well as us, have a lot of plants in their patios, and that attracts birds. I've been muted in calls when not speaking because "birds were making too much noise." I am so used to it that I don't notice it for the most of the time.
2025-06-07#
The Polish title of "The Usual Suspects" was "Podejrzani" (just "Suspects"). Some phrases don't translate directly. However, the title was inspired by a quote from "Casablanca" ("Round up the usual suspects!"), and I could find Polish subtitles for that movie and see how did they tackle that sentence.
[2 mintues later]
So, it's "Znajdźcie podejrzanych" ("Find suspects") as well. It further confirms that it's impossible to do it smartly. Case closed.
Somebody has started using my old handle on Twitter. Extra points for not being a crypto scam.
The case of Max (former HBO Max) rebranding to HBO Max! shows that if we refuse to use their idiotic new name, they will cave in. We have the power.
"Sikandar" (2025) is an Indian movie, which is categorised as action drama, but due to my cultural differences with Indians, it was more comedic. But not in a bad way. I could appreciate the fights, which were improbable, like Jason Bourne of Mission Impossible taken up to eleven and feeling more like dance sequences. The narratives go their own way and often, I wouldn't understand what happened and why (but I could still follow the main plot).
It is interesting, though, that an aristocrat and a rich man (owning 25% country's gold) was made a main character without any interpretative twist. This or I completely missed it.
This reminds me of watching South Korean "Vagabond" and being utterly perplexed. Why were they shouting so much? Is the president portrayed as an harmless old man or with dignity? And some other things, which I didn't take a note of and I cannot recall now (remember, kids, always take notes of things).
One thing that fascinates me in Indian movies is this natural mixing of English and Hindi. Not like only words mixed in, but they would have a half of a sentence in English and half in Hindi. This is pretty much like we talk wity my wife between us because some phrases sound better in their own language, so we have a Polish foundation riddled with English and Spanish and occasional other languages (Arabic, Maltese, Finnish, Latin, to name the main offenders), so it felt very familiar.
And speaking of language, my wife, who's learning Arabic on her own, noticed the same or similar words in both Arabic and Hindi. That's why we learn new languages: to catch more patterns out there.
We went to Madrid to renew our passports and this meant going to embassy, and it was like a journey to government-official Poland I remember so well. The furniture and general aesthetics are one thing, but I also witnessed, but not experienced, classic Polish harshness of clerks. Not something I would recommend to anyone, but it brought some nostalgia, so I couldn't do anything but feel a bit nostalgic. It should be safe every 10 years.
"Then we both ran out of luck.
Luck was all we ever had."
2025-07-08#
"Tequila Sunrise" (1988) has always been on my radar, but I never bothered to even check it. I thought it's either 1920s' or 1950s' crime story. It's the 80s, and very hard in stylistics, like saxophone themes during love scenes. Might be an overlooked gem in these regards. Plot-wise, it feels like first attempt at "The Usual Suspects," including twist after twist and finale on the boat. The first half felt more like love drama between 3 main characters, though. Still cool.
Checking up on news crept on me.
The other day, I got tricked into installing "Whiteout Survivors," a mobile strategy set in a winter wonder land. The demo suggested something small, but it turned out to be a complex strategy with plot. What's worse, it had real life clock making me achieve certain stages in time. I wanna play the game when I wanna play, not to be forced like that. I uninstalled it after 1 day. Giving me a demo that has nothing to do with the final gameplay gets you round nothing with me.
2025-06-09#
A new item in my CD collection is the soundtrack to Enki Bilal's "Immortel, ad vitam," which was an adaptation/re-arrangement of a trilogy of his own comics. Largely composed of Goran Vejvoda's electronic compositions, with the addition of four songs. It reminds me a little of the soundtrack to "Planescape: Torment." A type of beats that I don't hear much any more. It also must have been even a decade since I heard it last time because it's absent from streaming services.
2025-06-11#
We noticed that whenever rain is coming, Żółw the Turtle stops eating. He has been fasting for the last 2 days. It's the second time like that. So, now we'll know. Handy little fella.
2025-06-12#
One of unexpected consequences of getting to a certain age is having eaten the best of certain foods. I still remember the best burger in my life and the best kebab, and I've been trying to find another as good ones ever since I had them, but there just aren't worthy competitors. They are fine, they are good even, but still no match. And what's more, I suspect that had I returned to Those Places, it would have been gone too. So, enjoy your best kebab when you find it, for it's a one time thing.
2025-06-13#
Helion engine is really something. Like DSDA Doom, but faster and without infinitely tall monsters (I never got used to them). Maybe I'll have a map or two now. Even the infamous "Planisphere 2" (which is inspired by Manhattan) runs without a single hiccup. Rock'n'roll!
2025-06-14#
What I like about various Doom ports is that all of them follow command line arguments, so I can swap them all in ZDoom Launcher.
This year's "The Accountant 2" is a follow-up to a story of autistic [Artistic Licence] accountant who's also a killing machine. This didn't change, and he even has a group of hackers helping him this time, which is all a bit super-heroey (it's like making up for the lost Batman on Affleck's end). That being said, the movie is not dumb and there is some connecting dots required. Also, Jon Bernthal and Ben Affleck make a great duo on screen. It was fun.
One thing that caught my eye was a bit of ensemble cast where Christian Wolff doesn't get that much screen time, but I think it worked well 'cause otherwise, it would feel like overplaying the same gimmick, and that would be weak. Braxton Wolff fills some space. And then, there is Anais (yet another killing maching) plot in the parallel. Then I read that it was an unrelated screenplay adjusted to the franchise. Worked better than other examples.
And there's the third part planned.
Holy macaroni. They're making "Spaceballs 2."
2025-06-16#
"The Order" (2024) is a story of a federal investigation of a neonazi militia in 1983-84. It fits in nicely with what's happening in the US at the moment. I was surprised that Amazon funded something like that, given their sympathies for the current regime. Anyway, strong roles from unrecognisable Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult. I liked ascetic visuals, reminding me a bit of "Longlegs," but very broadly.
A post from USS Joshua Norton, NCC-74819-B#
There are so many sayings that get twisted in this broken way. One of my favorites is "blood is thicker than water" used to justify abusive family dynamics. The whole phrase is "Blood of the covenant is thicker than water of the womb." and it literally means the opposite of what it's been twisted into — that connections forged in difficult circumstances and shared experiences are stronger than that of genetic relations.
2025-06-17#
Another interesting aspect of getting old is that I remember certain topics (e.g., Brexit, Gamestop, Bitcoin, or currently AI), and when I see now documentaries about them, they feel like a waste of time. I know that I could probably learn a thing or two from them, and I don't possess complete knowledge about them, but it's a largely known topic. If I was interested, I would read up on them back then. That means that when people are catching up, I can dive into new topics.
2025-06-18#
It's becoming too hot for headphones. *spots earbuds on the shelf*
I am using white-space: preserve-spaces for paragraphs on my page, which allows me to use multiple spaces in text, which in return allows me to create subtle visual cues. Paired with monospace font, it can really highlight parts of the text.
<br> behaves funny (it becomes a single white space) when used with white-space: preserve-spaces, so there is an exception.
p:has(br) {
white-space: unset;
}
2025-06-19#
It's not possible to write down everything as happened. Too many details obscuring the story. I tried to write down two stories from my life over the years, only to drown in details. Now it's finally going better because I delete a lot. Because writing demands trimming the text. The first draft is like a block of rock to carve from. The map is not the territory. The memoir is not the events. This means that the future me will likely not remember things I remove now. They will be forever gone.
2025-06-20#
I used to like to sleep in the suffocating heat of the Maltese and later Spanish summers. But this year, I realised that I have better quality of sleep with a ceiling fan on.
I have abandoned Signal groups because it wasn't working for me. It's hard to follow, threads are not intuitive, and once you scroll to the bottom, that's it, there is no finding where you've been. In other words, the UX is subpar. I still haven't left them, though, and the point of this note is to say that one of those groups has 17,793 unread messages. I don't think I ever got to this number of unread emails. Probably, the amount of email at this magnitude.
The most recent take on terms and conditions from Mastodon.social turned out to be an assassination attempt of the Fediverse. :D
Now that I established that the perfect burger and the perfect kebab are behind me, living in my memory, I have found the perfect bocadillo serranito, with pieces of jamón and grilled green pepper which literally melts in the mouth. Something truly exceptional. I'll go there every now and then until it lasts. I don't want to overdo it, though.
2025-06-21#
I remember "Sum of All Fears" trailer back in 2002 and being somewhat curious, but I haven't seen it in the end. Now, I got mainly curious how did politics got old 23 years later (the plot seems naive and quite Bondish, with a cunning neonazi plotting to drag USA and Russia into an all-out war). Seeing "The Accountant 2" recently, I was not prepared for such a boyish Ben Affleck. He's also quite action survivor, with Liev Schreiber doing most of the heavy lifting.
"Vice Principals" season 2 concludes the story. After a dramatic cliffhanger at the end of season 1, Neal Gamby is back, trying to readjust to the new reality. The show is still funny, which is important in a comedy show, and Lee Russel got a backstory that might allow us to feel somewhat sorry for him. He's still an ultimate asshole, but well, it's more nuanced now.
"Overally" is not accepted by the dictionary. We're left with usus, then. So be it.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overally
We found a young bird yesterday. It had one leg glued to the street. Luckily, it was on a parking spot and under a car, but still. I managed to detach the bird from the ground, but this rubber-like substance wouldn't let his foot go, and I was afraid I could damage the foot if I pulled na stronger. And then it barely flew out of my hand. I hope it survived in the end.
2025-06-22#
"Dhogs" is 2017 independent Spanish movie. I knew absolutely nothing about it, which is my preferred way, because I had no fucking clue what's going on. I saw events, but they didn't make much sense. Until the end, that is. The film is also quite brutal (but according to Soska sisters who did "American Mary," rape scenes should be uncomfortable to watch). Actors speak in Galician dialect, so I was very grateful for Spanish subtitles. I totally recommend it.
In the hindsight, this is like Michael Haneke, mainly "Funny Games," but the shots of the audience watching, well, us, also sounds like something from one of his movie (I don't know which one because I only read about it).
Aforementioned Michael Haneke said once that if you watch a movie and it doesn't challenge you, then you wasted your time. I have more lenient and leisurely approach to watching film, but this one not only challenged me, but I also felt judged by it. Here I'm watching a rape scene, and it's intersected with a shot of emotionless audience in the theatre. Which is basically me at this point. Nice once.
I suppose the movie is a comment to a human thing which is watching violence for fun. Or even, as here, playing violent games. When the Rabbit Man killed the kidnapper and, instead of freeing the woman, raped her, I thought, "What else they are going to do to her?" Because it felt a bit over the top. Turns out it was a video game. This reminded me of an outcry about torture section of "Grand Theft Auto 5." And yet, we choose to consume violence for emotional gratification.
2025-06-23#
Speaking of fictional games shown in "Black Mirror," I would love to play this game from "Bandersnatch" that the main character was creating. I know that the earlier one, "Nosedive," was created and can be played on ZX Spectrum emulators, but I mean the titular "Bandersnatch." The closest I got to was Evil Indie Game's "NO THING."
Oh no, they took down "Bandersnatch" this year! :D So much for preservation of culture.
If there is one thing that all the AI fooling tonnes and tonnes of people, it's that you can get far further with anything if you're polite.
What LLMs are is basically Politeness-as-a-Service. And it wins people in large amounts.
2025-06-25#
Żółw the Turtle doesn't like the full Andalusian sun. It's too burning even for such a cold-blooded fella. But he likes heat itsefl, so he's always at the edge of any shadow, and if too much of his shell gets into the sun, he moves along with the shadow.
Using "beforementioned" sounds Old English and suggests an attempt at mimicking formal style without full knowledge of the correct terminology. "Aforementioned" should rather be used. A bit of a shame because I liked "beforementioned." Maybe I'll use it here sometimes. You're my followers, you'll know.
2025-06-26#
One thing that reading to my daughter taught me was that when you read something out loud, you can see clearly if it was written well. It has the right flow. Some books felt like authors' revenge on their Polish teacher, and it turned out to be an invaluable experience. Ever since, when I write something longer (not notes here), I read it aloud to myself to hear it. It helps tremendously, especially with commas, which are always elusive for me. If you can read it aloud smoothly, then it's good.
In games, we can be whoever we want, and yet, I always choose the most ethical way. I could be an utter monster with no consequences whatsoever, but no. I guess that's how I am.
I was writing in the evening, before I went to sleep, and in the morning, I remembered the whole dream (though, it was in the morning, so a lot of it's gone by now; I'll try salvage as much as possible later). It reminds me that when I was regularly journaling, like every day regularly, I would remember all the dreams. Something about writing down your thoughts switches a toggle in the head and allows remembering dreams. Might reorganise my evenings to tap into that.
It took me 2 months of munching through 74 episodes of Music For Programming (there were 73 when I started at the end of April) to finish the cycle and while I'm planning to re-listen to them on various occasions, I decided to give a shot to over 200 vaporwave albums that I bought for 2 euros back in 2018. This means that I'm listening to Spotify only in the car. CDs in the living room and Bandcamp stuff on computers.
Because of bits showed to me by @mobydick, I just bought "Moby Dick" on a whim. I know when I see good writing.
2025-06-27#
I am a somewhat fan of Dune in general, although I read only the first book back in 1998. But I like the movies and the show. And that leads me to Toto's soundtrack to David Lynch's "Dune." The movie had troubled production, but this did not extend to the soundtrack, which I always liked and decided to finally get in a physical form. There are 80ish moments, but it got old way better than symphonic "Star Wars." I dig the opening monologue which was fully included.
As a bonus, there is Brian Eno's composition, "Prophecy." When I got "Atmosphere & Soundtracks" and I was listening to it, at one point I said to my wife that it reminded me of Dune's soundtrack. And then it struck me that I was referencing "Prophecy." Both albums are only 1 year apart, so this makes a lot of sense.
THE DUKE WILL DIE BEFORE THESE EYES, AND HE'LL KNOW – HE'LL KNOW! – THAT WAS I, BARON VLADIMIR HAROKNNEN, WHO ENCOMPASSES HIS DOOM. *manic laughter*
Ozark spelled backwards is Krazo. Back on Twitter, I even had nickname "Vincent Ozark" for a moment.
2025-06-29#
"Hit Man" (2023) is Richard Linklater's comedy about a fake hitman. You see, there are no real hitmen, but due to action movies, people think there are, so they try to hire them. And here comes our main character, Gary, who acts as a decoy. Once the money has been passed and order given, the police steps in to arrest the person. The first part was funny, the middle one (rom com) quite bland, although the flight attendant scene caught my eye. The finale was okay. Props to Glen Powell as the hitman.
Paul Schrader's screenplay "Taxi Driver" is an excellent read. I knew it, and it's probably the first script ever that I would see recommended for read. What struck me was how powerful the text was, the experience was much better than rewatching the movie, which is kind of outdated. The story of Travis Bickle didn't get old in its core at all. He's a role model incel before it had a name. Alone and rejected, he turns to violence. It's almost uncanny, the Internet only amplified it.
"Capitán Carver" from 2021 is yet another Spanish indie movie. The trailer suggested a story closer to "Kick-Ass," but to my surprise it turned out to be a slow-burning mix of "Taxi Driver" and "Lost Highway." The entirety of scenes are shot at night and the streets are empty, which creates liminal-space and dream-like feeling. Many scenes look like taken out of comic frames, only to intentionally backfire and look like a cheap wannabe. One of the problems of many adaptations.
It looks like Prime Video is a rich source of indie Spanish movies. Amazon sits on a tonne of movies that they don't seem to particularly care about and doesn't advertise, so it takes some effort to find them. Also weird B-flicks from the 1980s. Stuff I've never heard about. And it's there to watch.