Fruck
Lacks all conviction
Fruck is just this guy, you know?
User ID: 889
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
1d ago
Seconding cjet - please let me know when you finish that project (or if you want beta testing) that sounds like a fascinating and useful tool. I actually don't have that big of a problem with hallucinating these days, at least when I'm using models with live search like, well all of them except deepseek.
I have them set up with a custom prompt that basically tells them the date and their model name (because just the date leads to situations like where grok starts losing its shit because it doesn't know anything from the past two years), that they have access to Web search and python interpreter or any other tool I want to use, and then tell it to back up any facts it mentions with sources. That wouldn't help with your plot points problem though. That reminds me of the old Wikipedia though - it would work if we had that - back when every episode of transformers and pokemon and magnum pi was laid out point by point. Now I'm sad.
I can't help with getting ai to judge the quality of writing, though I do have advice for avoiding obsequiousness. Make a system prompt telling it to be like your Tiger mom who is very harsh and critical because she loves you and knows you can do better than mediocrity, and you feel like you need that push. It works best if you do it narratively, or like you are asking a friend for help. It doesn't work all the time, but it works better than 'give constructive criticism' because it gives the ai a new narrative to focus on and provides a reason to be critical that aligns with its built in desire to help. I'm not sure how much help it would be with fiction writing though. And you have to pick one or the other, I can't get those prompts to work together, I think because the jump from narrative style to instructions messes with their brains.
Reading back, I basically went the scenic route to I can't help. But remember me when you finish that application!
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
1d ago
Right but neither can a spherical cow man. AI is worthless without human interaction, as it should be.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
1d ago
Poison, believe it or not, also projected authenticity - they really were into that glam rock party lifestyle - which is why Bret Michaels remained a celebrity despite gradually turning into Janice from the Muppets. But when you get sucked up into the music machine you look soulless in comparison to 'authentic' acts like Nirvana and The Strokes (which in a way is just the same machine in the bust part of the cycle.)
All of them are artists. Blackpink are artists. The Monkees were artists. They will look soulless anyway when coopted by the machine. And while I'll admit I don't know a lot about Creed, I'm pretty sure they were thoroughly coopted by the machine, just based on the radio play they got back then and how much everyone complained about it.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
1d ago
Your semi-trolly comment is based on the shared cultural assumptions that housework = drudgery and art = purpose. We can automate processes, but not purpose, so on the path to eliminating the drudgery of housework, we eliminate the drudgery of soulless art. But people want to do art - not corporate memphis prints of mixed families at a picnic, they want to express themselves. So even while corporations all converge on an art style specifically designed to be 'inoffensive' and mass produced, even as ai makes it trivial to 'bring your imagination to life' and ghiblify your photos, people wistfully dream of the day they can stop working and make art. IGOR beat Father of Asahd in every conceivable metric. We might not notice authenticity, but our brains do.
On a similar note, if you pick a career as an artist to make money, you should get the paint in your house tested for lead. You pick a career as an artist because you want to express yourself more than you want to make money - stupid maybe, but it's true. Sometimes you have to make money anyway though. Does that make your expression inauthentic? No, because it's still driven by purpose. And necessity is the mother of invention. Simply by choosing a life of squalor so you don't have to work 9 to 5 (what a way to make a livin! (fuck that's what I'm singing for the rest of the day now)) positions you to make authentic art. Does that mean you will make authentic art? No, you can still make slop for a paycheck, and that slop might even be popular if you put your soul into it. I don't think anyone would disagree that The Boondock Saints was slop, an attempt to cash in on the Tarantino bubble of 90s movies about hitmen. It is also earnest as fuck and people love it for that.
Artistry is at all times a battle between those who wish to express themselves and those who wish to turn that expression into money. Sometimes and in some places it leans one way, while in other times and places it leans the other. Hair metal and bands like Poison look soulless in comparison to Nirvana and Hair Metal dies, then grunge gets coopted by corporate and refined and streamlined until we get Creed, who look soulless in comparison to The Strokes, and so on, same as it ever was (in case you don't like Dolly).
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
2d ago
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
3d ago
It's only obvious to you because you aren't blessed with the worldliness of a mushroom.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
6d ago
Even if we had jeered at you, never forget that we are just random assholes who don't matter. The more you tell yourself that the more you will believe it. And please post more, while I disagree with your conclusions I enjoyed how you write so much I nominated your op for an aaqc.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
6d ago
No Alex, as I have told you over and over and over and over and over and over again, what people want is to argue against your perspective. Not defend against your strawman of their perspective. Certainly not defend against your strawman of what Richard Hanania told you is the perspective of people they are aligned with on one issue. When you aren't writing sentence long sneers you constantly structure your posts like a smack down - but for Twitter arguments, not anything said on the motte. But nobody gives a shit what you saw someone say on twitter. Go argue that shit on twitter already.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
7d ago
I would back up this perspective (I didn't know Coogler said that though, that's cool) and while I found it disjointed and highly variable in quality, I would also recommend it. I think it shies away from easy narratives - there aren't supposed to be clear good guys and bad guys, which is why the protagonist - Smoke/Stack is on both sides. It's over-indulgent and maybe a bit amateurish, but I prefer that to hyper polished formula any day.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
7d ago
My perspective on the Irish part of it is that it is part of this movie's attempt to subvert the typical blacksploitation narrative. The villains are white, but vampirism eliminates the racial divide. The Irish are pop culture's whitest victims, so making the vampires Irish redeems their whiteness. Vampirism is not exclusively evil in the film - Stack and Mary are happy at the end.
But it's Irish through a black American lens - no division of North and South - every Irish person is a rebel obsessed with Dublin, always. An ancient vampire could be so old he pre-dates Christianity but also he gets kicked around by the English no matter what - because he's Irish. What @Tanista said about Americans larping as Irish on Saint Patrick's day is on point - that's the version of Irish in the film.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
8d ago
I don't understand how you can call immersion pre-critical, pre-reflective, or pre-self-consciousness then (I would drop immaturity from the conversation entirely if you want to avoid getting people's hackles up). While it can be that, you personally have to willingly suspend your disbelief to cry during a VN (which VN btw?) - your immersion isn't pre-critical, you deliberately gave that up to engage with the story.
And you are right that the connection between art and emotion isn't clear. But it is definitely strong. And of course Adorno is right about kitsch (imo), but I was looking at it from the other direction - an artist shouldn't try to manipulate the viewer, what they should do is try to express themselves, express their vision. Because if they can get their vision out, the person who connects with it - who can't not connect with it - will be moved to tears. It feels like you are trying to intellectualise that away by referring to 'emotions', but that would just be diminishing yourself.
That's why we hold up auteurs, even as movies rack up thousands of staff members - we respect the auteur because it's his vision, and he has demonstrated the ability to connect with us emotionally. Sometimes that's not because of the auteur, but he or she is usually our best guide. Sure Marvel can put out a dozen capeshit flicks and manipulate the audience with clinical precision - I would call that kitsch. But someone with an actual vision, who puts it on the page or film or score sheet, they might use camera techniques or bass heavy music to manipulate the audience, but it isn't kitsch when it's done in the service of connecting the audience to the inside of the auteur's head. The challenge in my view, is finding auteurs and other authentic artists. Sure we are all trapped in the same post-modern hellscape constantly trying to push us towards slop - even the auteurs are, blurring the lines - but true vision can still cut through.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
8d ago
Immersing yourself in the media is not switching your brain off though. I would like to think my post history proves that critical analysis of media is one of my primary passions, I am not trying to shit on it - by prioritise I didn't mean to imply they were exclusive.
What I took @wingdingspringking to mean by truly enjoy media, particularly with their comments about struggling with it as they age, is immerse yourself so fully that you forget you exist outside of the media. That is a transcendent experience when it happens, and maybe this is just wingding and me (or maybe just me?) but once you have done it, critical analysis just doesn't compare.
Usually when I find media like that I obsess over it, and then I analyse it endlessly.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
8d ago
Yeah I strongly disagree that critical analysis is more fun. It is a different type of fun, almost too different to compare, but definitely not more fun than immersing yourself in the media you are consuming. I think, based on your first paragraph in particular, that you have not sufficiently suspended your disbelief. Maybe suspension of disbelief isn't for you? But also maybe you have been poisoned by the media analysis framework. And it is a poison, because embracing suspension of disbelief is not pre-critical or pre-reflective by necessity, that's just critical analysis promotion, the willing, deliberate and conscious suspension of disbelief is a sacrifice the viewer makes to fully engage with the story's world and emotions. It is prioritising emotional connection over intellectual dissection and emotional connection is the heart of good art.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
8d ago
I think what will really swing things is if white people can find plausible alternative justifications for it. If they can convince themselves they aren't being racist they'll go for it. So I anticipate a lot more think pieces about dog whistles in the future.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
8d ago
Yeah the movie was a bit of a mixed bag, but that scene was incredible. Spoilers for the movie from here on out.
One of the reasons it was so compelling in my view is the way it subverted my expectations - up until then it had been following a pretty typical 'blacks defiant against cruel whites' blacksploitation narrative, an 'a celebration of black music and culture' narrative, with the only non-black song being the world's creepiest bluegrass rendition of a black song (that was another good scene though). Then they sing the Rocky Road to Dublin. And it starts off sounding a bit freaky like Pick Poor Robin Clean, with the main vampire calling out:
'Then off to reap the corn,
to leave where I was born,
I cut a stout blackthorn,
for to banish ghosts and goblins'
like a funeral dirge - slow and sombre, echoing hauntingly, drawing out words to throw the listener off balance. The tension builds with every second, and you wonder what heinous evil shit these kkk vampires are about to get into... And then the fiddle starts up. And maybe it's my Irish blood, but I found it impossible to not start tapping along with it, it's such a catchy tune. And not only are all of the turned people getting into it, they are enthusiastically getting into it, even Stack and Mary are joyfully singing and dancing along. It changes the entire dynamic of the film - gone is the manichean blacks vs whites narrative that the first act sets up, now things are more complicated. The vampires actually offer a form of salvation - by embracing the NRx philosophy, submitting to a philosopher king, Stack and Mary and co have gained both community and freedom.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
10d ago
I kind of see activists in a posiwid sense - yeah nothing is ever good enough for them, their job depends on it. What I find truly frustrating is that even after a decade of this, many people still somehow think progressive lip service is fine or even morally just - they will even joke about how useless activists are in one breath before condemning conservatives for racistly not want to throw money away on performative bullshit in the next.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
10d ago
I would absolutely do community service at the bridge - it seems like doing community service at the bridge is my lot in life anyway.
Edit: also I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, great job.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
10d ago
This is my biggest problem with rlhf aside from my free speech bullshit - due to the way llms work, rlhf means hallucination is impossible to solve - it is baked in.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
14d ago
I'm being hyperbolic of course, because I was making a joke - it's a minor thing, but it actually physically hurts when you go from darkness to bright light. Like after taking off sunglasses or getting high beamed on the highway.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
15d ago
I remember there are themes every time I get logged out and my retinas are seared. Dark mode has spoiled the shit out of me.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
15d ago
I can't find the interview now I'm afraid, I think it was an extra on one of the season box sets, but this was part of the reason Vincent D'onofrio lost interest in Law and Order Criminal Intent. He tried to get Balcer and Wolf to incorporate more stories where the cops or attorneys fucked up or where it just didn't matter, justice was thwarted before they even began, but Wolf was strongly opposed. Fuck I will try and find the interview, it was fascinating. If you make an effort post on this topic please let me know.
Fruck
Lacks all conviction
15d ago
I thought it was bad in Brisbane, but then I went to Sydney. Everyone down there has a partner, everyone has a child - it felt like I was talking to aliens.
Trust the plan snark is directed at human plans. God is on a different level. If it discredits the eschatalogical Christians that will probably impact the popularity of Christianity I agree - because threats are a good way to bully the ignorant into line - but it can only be good for Christianity on the whole - and the world, since it reduces the number of people doing things like trying to breed special cows to bring about the end times.
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