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JowlesMcGee

@JowlesMcGee@kbin.social

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6 Reasons So Many Movies Are Struggling At The Box Office In 2024 ( screenrant.com )

With ticket sales down and newly released movies hitting streaming and video-on-demand (VOD) services in record time, it's not surprising that films are struggling to make it big in theaters. For comparison, 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road grossed a whopping $45 million over a non-holiday opening weekend, which ultimately led to an...

JowlesMcGee ,
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I agree to a point, but Mad Max is an example of something original that seems to have come from a place of creativity instead of a committee and yet is still doing poorly.

So I don't think it's just that Hollywood has a tendency to do remakes instead of original stuff.

JowlesMcGee ,
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Just because it's a sequel doesn't mean it's derivative. All 5 movies are directed by the same guy. I can't speak for the first 3, but if you saw the 2015 movie and couldn't tell that it was a passion project, then I don't know what to tell you. We don't call Sherlock Holmes soulless even though Doyle wrote over 50 short stories starring Holmes.

It's entirely possible for someone to be creatively invested in a world they've built and want to keep exploring it in future works.

JowlesMcGee ,
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If you wish to enter Hades, you know the price that must be paid.

Bacon, fresh.

JowlesMcGee ,
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Well? What's the name of his book??

JowlesMcGee ,
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He was Paul Allen in American Psycho, though I don't know how successful that was at release.

JowlesMcGee ,
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Holy hell

JowlesMcGee ,
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Won't fit the hard mode, but Charles Sheffield's Tomorrow and Tomorrow was an interesting read. The first third wasn't really my thing, but after that the book goes way far into the future.

JowlesMcGee ,
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Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller would fit the hard mode here, for those interested.

JowlesMcGee ,
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This seems really fun, thanks for organizing this! I don't know if I read fast enough to fill in more than a few squares, but should be a fun challenge all the same.

JowlesMcGee ,
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I appreciate seeing Claudius pretty high up. It's been awhile since I dived into Roman history, but I remember Claudius leaving a strong impression on me. Definitely felt like he was expected to fail but then defied expectations.

JowlesMcGee ,
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Is Julian the Apostate on here? I have a soft spot for him, though he definitely wouldn't go in the top tiers. Also, did Philip the Arab make it on your list? My memory would place him as above average, though it's been awhile and I could be misremembering what all he did

JowlesMcGee ,
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Ah, perfect. I would agree with those rankings. I always wonder what the world would look like if Julian had ruled longer. Would he have been able to return Rome to a pre-Christian era? Or would all of his changes be undone anyway after his death regardless of how long he could stay in power.

And apologies for missing them, the image was hard to read on my phone.

JowlesMcGee ,
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I'm still slowly making my way through the second Gears of War book. They aren't exactly the pinnacle of literature, but I'm finding them better written than I was expecting. Karen Travis does a good job at fleshing out characters the games kind of sideline.

After I finish this one (whenever that will be) I'll likely try and start Hyperion again. For some reason I just haven't stuck with it

JowlesMcGee ,
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I would suggest looking at other Kbin instances outside of kbin.social. or look to mbin, which is a fork that in told is more stable. I also haven't made the jump from Kbin, but have been having similar issues with usability with it for awhile.

JowlesMcGee ,
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They were being sarcastic, by the way.

JowlesMcGee ,
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Was better in some regards. I think most minorities in the US would agree that they at least feel safe and more free to exist in 2024 than they would in the 1980s or earlier.

JowlesMcGee ,
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As a bisexual man, the 90s were much different for LGBT folks than today. But yes, for most people, the 90s wouldn't be too much worse than today, aside from economics.

JowlesMcGee ,
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Typical puppy couldn't sit still. Some things never change.

JowlesMcGee ,
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I'm surprised no one has said the obvious yet: Morbius

John Jacob Astor IV, lost in the Titanic, wrote 'A Journey in Other Worlds' - a scifi novel in 1894 ( en.wikipedia.org )

A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future is a science fiction novel by John Jacob Astor IV, published in 1894. Overview The book offers a fictional account of life in the year 2000. It contains abundant speculation about technological invention, including descriptions of a worldwide telephone network, solar power, air...

JowlesMcGee ,
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John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family.

Probably explains why the description of the book sounds like American power fantasy. Interesting to hear of sci-fi from so long ago though.

JowlesMcGee ,
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I'll never stop complaining that in the second movie Dooku tells Obi-Wan that the Separatists are the good guys and that there's a sith influencing the Senate. Which would have been a cool reveal for the audience, that we're rooting for the bad guys.

But then Dooku is also a sith anyway. What a wasted opportunity.

JowlesMcGee ,
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He's talking about Zaheer and the Red Lotus. They were extremely well intentioned, but set about their goals with violence.

JowlesMcGee ,
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I'm not super active on kbin, but I've never seen anything from Pug to suggest they're a bad person. On the contrary, they're probably one of my favorite posters on here, at least in terms of the content they bring. I also respect anyone here who actually posts content and engages in conversations. It's more than most (myself included!) can say.

JowlesMcGee ,
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Yeah, everyday I fear it'll get taken down. I'm seriously unsure how it's lasted this long. I hope it stays up forever though.

JowlesMcGee ,
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I'd like to recommend Old Man's War, which is the first book in a sci-fi series. I read the first 3 books in the series basically back to back within 2 months and really enjoyed them. I'm in a similar spot as you and I'm getting back into reading after not reading much for the past few years and these got me back into the habit.

Not sci-fi, but anything in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett is also a good (and usually easy) read.

JowlesMcGee ,
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I'd say they're my favorite as well! They're definitely the ones I tend to go to first when I get the urge to re-read any of the Discworld books.

Good choice in username by the way!

The frequency and duration of ad breaks is beginning to make me feel like I’m in that black mirror episode where they had to pay to stop ads from constantly playing. ( kbin.social )

I definitely consume too much dystopian content to be a fair dystopian barometer, but the sheer amount of ads being pushed my way is starting to make me feel legitimately anxious. It feels like a techno-dystopia where all of the neat and artistic elements have been extracted and then ground into dust for our corporate overlords....

JowlesMcGee ,
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If you have an android, you could look into installing revanced on your phone so you can listen to YouTube with it without ads instead of on your work computer. That's what I do.

JowlesMcGee ,
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I read one of his behind the scenes books (artist is Gary Lawson). If my memory is correct, he had to crank at least one of these out a day and there were times where he wouldn't have a good idea until later in the day. When that happened he sometimes threw his hands up at problems he would otherwise fix. Given the schedule, I don't blame him for saying these fly wasps were good enough haha.

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