The animators knew that Carl would need a backstory to answer those questions. They decided to tell it with a prologue that details the character’s life from his childhood to his golden years. But these early scenes reveal that Up isn’t only about Carl—it’s also about his relationship with his wife, Ellie.
Source: Inside the Brilliant, Heartbreaking First 10 Minutes of ‘Up’ →
I got bored watching Multiverse of Madness. I couldn’t finish, may be I will pick it up again later. Nothing’s coherent.
I came to know that “how Disney ruined star wars” is one of the most searched questions around Disney. I wonder, have they? What about Marvel? They have done something – but ruined, it is not.
For my blogging/writing setup, I am done thinking long term. It affects how I post, acts as a hindrance to think freely. I trust my current setup with Micro.blog enough to take the plunge 🤞🏽
I don’t write a newsletter well. I don’t understand this medium. I have tried it a few times now. The first time, I published it as a links log, sharing links that I found useful. Then I made it personal, a letter about what’s up with me. It could well have been a blog post, every time. A weekly digest of my posts was a good tradeoff between a mindless link log and why-can’t-this-be-blog-post thought. But it felt meaningless.
To be frank, I don’t want to sign up for the added dance around subscribers and their numbers. I like it when I don’t know anything about who reads what I write. Also, I enjoy it when I am not forced to stick to a schedule of any sort. There are periods when I am highly active, writing, and sharing regularly. But then there are times when I don’t.
Newsletter wants to force a schedule onto me. Without a schedule, a newsletter is just another outlet for my blog posts.
I am an instinctive writer, my writing does not have any structure. Or nature. I write about anything and everything that interests me now. Because I read anything and everything that interests me now. My blog serves me best for the form of writing I do. Newsletters work for many — I enjoy reading them. But the form is not a natural fit for me.
So, I am done with my newsletters experiment. Every issue I have published is available on my blog as an essay. I intend on keeping it this way. RSS feed continues to exist.
The sense that one has become the instrument of invention is so satisfying that I find it truly stupefying that anyone would claim that artists are motivated to create primarily by the money they might get from such miracles. Not to say they shouldn’t be paid. Paying them provides them with more time and liberty to channel art. But it’s a rare artist who’s in it for the money. A real artist creates because he has no choice. He is pressed into the involuntary service of art, and thereby, humanity.
Between all the screwed up plans and schedules, Life happens.
I have been using my phone caseless for the past few days. I don’t remember the last time I appreciated the design of these devices this much. I am convinced now that the cases kill the uniqueness, the identity of the devices.
“What’s the ONE thing I can do / such that by doing it / everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
Hmmm. Profound. Makes me think.
I remember I had tried Typora once as a Markdown editor, and I was impressed even then. I got to know today that it’s available on Linux too. The feature set looks promising. I will give it a try, with Atom no longer an option.
Logging in at early mornings at office, busy throughout the day and exhausted in the evenings. The days haven’t been allowing me any time to ponder. Things don’t look to be changing at least for a few weeks next. Sigh!
There are places where even a sky crowded with clouds is lot cleaner than what you are used to seeing. Visited one such place. Calm!
I always love the shades that setting sun colors the sky with! 🌄
I know that these are three related terms with their own individual meanings, but I need a reminder occasionally. Meteoroids, Meteor and Meteorites.
I liked Atom on Ubuntu, it was a nice markdown editor. So, it was sad to read Github is archiving this project. Now, I need to start searching for another one.
A prototype of the now halted device includes dual-cameras, a key differentiator from market leaders like the Apple Watch.
Source: Meta Halts Development of Apple Watch Rival with Two Cameras →
Cameras on a watch never made sense to me. Why would you have that?
Excitement. Anticipation. Nervousness. A new job triggers all these within me, even after 15 years of knowing what it entails. Yesterday was one such day. I am looking forward to the next few days, months of a lot of expected and unexpected newness. A new role. A new phase.
[J]ust doing it once today is ultimately the only way to become “the kind of person” who does that sort of thing on a regular basis anyway. Otherwise (and believe me, I’ve been there) you’re merely the kind of person who spends your life drawing up plans and schemes for how you’re going to become a different kind of person at some point in the future which never quite arrives.
This whole essay hit close to home – I needed this reminder.
The only [linux] cheat sheet you need - Unified access to the best community-driven documentation repositories of the world
Source: cheat.sh. Brilliant - look at the demo available in the repo.
People almost invariably don’t want to hurt other people and feel bad when they do. The fact that we can feel a lack of respect or kindness in a given social situation is evidence that those good qualities are the water we normally swim in.
Source: Cynicism is Boring →
I love what Grammarly can do – but boy, its Premium tier is costly. Ironically, every time it corrects me, I want to pay for the service. But then I see how much it costs & I can’t convince myself that I need it enough. I tried LanguageTool for a year, but reconsidering now.
I am tired of even the simple utility apps going for subscription model instead of right out one-time purchases. Make the app a paid app – sure make it costlier than the subscription cost. Don’t say it’s free and present “Subscribe” button first thing when your user opens the app.
I understand, as a developer subscriptions are tempting. But please, respect your users. Or else you lose them.
I want to support the developers, but am fatigued. Subscriptions are costly. Now, I subscribe for service. And I pay for app. I am doing nothing else any more.
When writing, and also when doing research for writing, it’s important to get the details right, but that doesn’t always mean what you might think. Economy of detail is usually better than excess, which raises the critical question about which details matter most.
An insightful read this, Verisimilitude by Matt Gemmell. I found this suggestion really on the mark.
Research is a distillation. You’ll spend two hours reading, to get four paragraphs of notes, which provide eight words of story — but those eight words will take the reader into the world you’ve created, and create the impression that your character really is there, or really knows about this topic. Just make sure it’s either unremarkable that they would know those things, or that their knowledge has been explicitly accounted for.
While writing short stories that I based on some amount of research, I myself have struggled at times to know how much is enough. This was a good reminder from Matt.
Every now and then, there’s an XKCD comic which I can make no sense of. Today’s (or XKCD 2626) was such. I am not that smart you see 😄
To be lonely, then, is to desire an absent want. It is to feel an emptiness that remains unsatisfied — to feel isolated, in need, or abandoned, but with no one to help. Yet solitude is another thing altogether. To be solitary is to retreat into yourself, and to take great pleasure in your own company.
Source: Solitude is not loneliness. Here’s the key philosophical difference. →