Another test post, from the WordPress editor. Things look absolutely fine from here. They aren't wrong.
Why does it matter how they look on the inside? Will I ever want to look there? Possibly not. Then why does it matter? Why can't I use this as my editor of choice?
Vox Media has an updating list of all the Pixar movies, ranked by their Culture team from worst to best. They have been doing this since last year. So it is interesting to see the list updated with every Pixar release.
Since the release of its very first feature film, Toy Story, in 1995, Pixar has become one of Hollywood’s most celebrated animation studios. Ranging from superhero adventures to tales of a lonely robot on a post-apocalyptic Earth, the studio’s 22 movies to date have earned plaudits for being artistically adventurous and telling stories ostensibly aimed at kids that have just as many adult fans.
Yep, absolutely. I whole-heartedly agree. I and my family had recently watched Onward and had thoroughly enjoyed it. So when Vox says lets ” take a look back at the high highs and low-ish lows of the acclaimed animation studio”, even I want to attempt that. I do not agree with Vox Culture team’s ranking. So I want to put my own rankings out there.
* Nope, not gonna do that. I can’t rank all of them. There are 22 — how can you ever say if The Bug’s Life is worse than Cars 2. So, I will just give out my top ten; this is not a commentary in any sense. I am not a film critic. I can’t explain why one is artistically better than the other. What I can say is why I like, nah, love each movie in here.
As far as I can recall, this was one of the early movies I saw from the Pixar studio and I was left completely mesmerized. It was also the first time I realized how emotional an animated movie can leave you. The story was wonderful, made me emotional at many moments. And it wove the same magic for my daughter. So this remains a special movie, to this day; doesn’t matter if it is actually a good movie or not.
We watched the one the most recently as we were stuck at home for more than 3 months. And the fun we had as a family throughout was completely unforgettable. It made us laugh, made us cry and at times even terrified. It made us forget about all the terrible news that was spread through the world outside — makes it a very special movie for me.
Again, another of the early movies from Pixar. I wasn’t a parent then, but it made me aware for the first time what parenting would be. As I watched Sulley and Mike struggle to keep Boo safe, at the same time growing closer to her, it made me worried and equally excited for the parent that I was one day going to be. I fell in love with Boo as she expressed myriad of expressions through her toddler face.
This has to be one of the smartest and most creative animated movies ever made. Such a creative story stitched into a brilliant movie. The colours, the characters, their journeys alone and together. How they drove the central human character was fascinating. This was again a movie that made me realize what I need not do around my daughter as she reaches adolescence one day. The story was clever, the execution was top-notch and the emotional attachment was to the point.
Another clever movie from Pixar. The first half without any spoken words was absolutely brilliant. I still can’t fathom how the studio made us fall in love with a squarish droid. He doesn’t speak, he doesn’t have any human features. But he expressed so many emotions that many of the well-paid actors fail to do. Wall-E’s struggle to express his love for Eve had me root for this lovely droid throughout the movie. Wish humans didn’t arrive later in the movie to spoil what could have been the finest movie of all times.
Another movie that I watched way back in my teens when I had started to believe I had become too grown up to watch animated movies any more. Pixar prove me wrong — boy what a masterpiece this one is. A movie with a brilliant story that also teaches you so much. Still being so much fun at the same time. Toy Story completely defined the roadmap for future animated films — they had to cater to the kids and the adults with a kid within at the same time. This movie did it so perfectly.
I love music. And I love getting emotional while watching a movie. Especially if it weaves stories around families. So Coco fit just the right spots for me. Boy, oh boy. Such a wonderful ride it was. Those mesmerizing colours. The peppy, moving music. The story that has you gripped throughout. Coco was an experience of a kind. Again, such a meaningful movie that teaches you the importance of a family. I had a tear rolling down my cheek during the final reunion song.
Another film that touched my yet-to-be-a-parent’s heart. I was rooting for the worried, clown-fish dad throughout his transformation. And I can’t recall how many more times have I rooted for this guy since then. I watch this movie every now and then with my daughter. She loves it; she asks me many questions about what plays out in the movie. I pull her close to me into a hug and answer her to the best of my abilities. Knowing very well, that soon she too would want to explore more and I would have to stop being overprotective and let her do that. Anyway, see that’s what even thinking about this movie does to me.
There’s just so much to love about this movie. The friendship, the bond that we’ve seen grow over the 3 movies, comes so close to a culmination here. Full of laughter. Full of life-lessons. Full of heartbreaks. This is one hell of a movie - not just an animated one. Period. As Woody looks at Andy walking away while sitting close to Bonny towards the end, am sobbing away with joy. There are so many plots here and each one betters the last. This one is a string of masterclass at film making, one after another.
Just with that masterful opening montage, this one enters my top ten list any day. I had a lump in my throat right at the beginning. The movie follows it up with weaving such a beautiful story about Carl and his relation with Russel and the many friends he makes over their journey to Paradise Falls. I loved each character in this movie. Russel. Kevin. Dug. Even Muntz for that matter. The movie had me empathize with this antagonist too before he goes all bat-shit crazy, that is. And of course, finally Carl. I loved Carl so much that I had one character based on him in my fictional short story series. Up will always remain a very special movie for me.
There are of course many other movies from Pixar that didn’t make the list but have some brilliant scenes. When She Loved Me song from Toy Story 2. All the action sequence from The Incredibles. Speech on criticism and creativity in the finale from Ratatouille. These movies could very well have made the list, just for these scenes. But, for me, the others on the list are just very close. So these remain the honourable mentions.
I am surprised there aren’t more television sets that support Bluetooth to pair the headsets. Why do I have to decide if I want the larger screen or immersive sound? There are times when I want to watch a movie on the larger screen, but alone without disturbing others.
Why do I make things complicated for myself? Why can’t I keep it very simple? There is no need to spend too much time on fighting or working on something that’s not perfect or not exactly the way you want it to be. But it is manageable. Why is manageable not ok for me?
Being satisfied with manageable saves so much time, so much energy. Why do I then waste the time unnecessarily working on finding a solution which anyway won’t be perfect? Sure, may be it would good enough for me. Is that what I want? Manageable, but on my terms? Yep. Absolutely.
I have decided I will learn to live with manageable. At least, attempt to. Somethings are just not worthy enough to spend too much energy to get them perfectly to your liking.
Only a child’s mind can dream up a multiplayer game of Marble Run by stitching Jenga and playing cards together. The family had an evening full of some brilliantly close races!
The only way for you to Indiewebify your WordPress blog is to subscribe to a business plan? That can’t be right because that plan’s not cheap. #indieweb
Can I reset my resolutions that I started the year 2020 with? I didn’t get my full quota of 12 months to royally mess them up like I do every year.
Absolutely loved, loved Onward. Such a simple story, but told with so much affection, so much heart. Pixar is a master at weaving stories around families you start caring about just in 90 minutes of runtime. Exciting action. Brilliant drama. Had a lump in my throat at the end.
With the whole world with their faces behind masks, I’m surprised not enough energy is spent yet on finding ones that let you keep your spectacles on. I’ve tried 3 different types of masks till now and all make my spectacles go foggy just through my breathing. Can’t be just me.
There are three important rules you should live by if you want to survive in this world. First, always look over your shoulder. Second, never trust anyone. And third, never say “sure”.
Not to the shopkeeper that wants you to share your mobile number with him. Not to the neighbour that wants you to help him get some work done in his home. Not to your parents when they message you asking you if they can call now; they tell you it’s not urgent. You should listen to them. Not to your wife that wants you to promise her you would do something for or with her. Not to the politicians that want you to vote for them. Not to the boss that wants you to submit the revised estimates urgently. Not to the friend who wants to add you to a WhatsApp group of batchmates from school.
Because your “sure” is a promise that you know you won’t be able to keep up with. Don’t make any of these promises before you know what you are getting into. Follow their questions with some questions of your own; all should start with a “why”. Get them to be specific. Evaluate and decide what you are signing up for with your “sure”. Never ever lend an easy “sure”.
It is a different sort of day today. Things are very different. I mean what's with the lonliness within? It needn't be this way, but this can't be helped I guess. Anyway.
I am also very much reconsider the way I publish. Am back to thinking the "no-editor" interface is blot is not something I really find attractive at times. Everything is good. But a lack of a nice interface to write and publish does make me look out for alternatives. And WordPress always comes first - mainly due to the web app.
I also looked at Ghost again. This line in its comparison to WordPress left be curios.
If you're looking for a platform that increasingly attempts to do everything and don't mind cutting through the noise to make it work for your publishing needs, then WordPress might be suitable for you.
- Ghost vs WordPress
Is that a positive or negative? Plus according to Ghost, WordPress costs "average managed hosting starts at $115/mo". That sounds too high. Don't WordPress plans start from $5/mo?
Anyway, I will continue to explore stuff. Time for change again, maybe?
Another benefit is edit-on-the-go. Fixing issues with post is so much simpler with WordPress. Not with anything else.
The edit on the go is especially more powerful on desktop! I mean it opens up the editor and you can just add the text. It indeed is very powerful option. The editor is one reason I want to really consider WordPress -- even if I have to pay for it. I haven't finalized it yet though. The biggest deterrent for me is the lack of easy way to add IndieWeb support. I am yet sure if I can live without these -- mainly webmentions and syndication.
NYTimes decision to publish an opinion very clearly unfit leaves me uneasy. The publications need not lend a platform for all voices through their editorials; they need not publish all opinions. You need selection/edits - that’s why they are called “Editorials”.
The choice from The Atlantic to only provide annual subscription plans isn’t working well. As much as I respect what the publication reports, I can’t sign up for this long commitment. Plus it becomes costly to get in.
The time capsule tells you so much about how thoughtful the little girl is. Look at all the items she has selected to speak for her. And then the mushy little gems in envelop! Brought a smile on my face.
This is absolutely gold — Building the Perfect Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder
“It also made me realize that even amongst the structures and pavements and powerlines, how interesting nature can be in a single suburban backyard if you really stopped to look.”
The #GeorgeFloydMurder protestors in US are just people, asking for justice. I see no arms with them. Why are police afraid of and hostile to them?
From outside, the protests for “Open America” looked a lot more harmful to me. They were freaking roaming around with guns.
What if we decide that Thrusday is the start of a week and we get two days off in middle of the work week? Will we feel better? I feel by calling it “weekend” we put unnecessary pressure on Friday of reaching a logical closure.
I wonder how easy it is to write with WordPress. I know this is a brilliant platform; one that is used my many writers all over the world.
Oh, yes. You read that right. Not bloggers, but writers. I have no doubt that bloggers are writers. Doesn't matter how they movies.portray them. As Dave Winer says, movies are written by writers and they tend to look at bloggers with total contempt.
I received a call today from an unknown number. The lady at the other end wanted to know if I was interested in a new credit card. I patiently listened as she explained all the benefits I stand a chance to receive. When she was done, I calmly declined. Normalcy felt good.
I have decided to actively be back on Twitter again. In a way, I never was off Twitter; I have been a passive contributor on Twitter for more than a year now. During that time, Micro.blog became the place that I was most active at. However, recently I have found that the platform just doesn’t attract me. It has got nothing to do with the product or the community there. Both remain brilliant. It is the diversity (or the lack thereof) that just doesn’t fit my lifestyle, my routine.
My timeline is never active when I am. Even those who are active in my timezone do not share my interests and my culture. It is frustratingly difficult to become part of this wonderful community.
I had casually pointed out this challenge during my interaction with Jean on Micro Monday. I am afraid the things haven’t improved much in the 18 months since. I have made many attempts to overcome this. I tried to inspire people that I know, that I am friends with to join the service. I built Micro.Threads to check on the conversations that I missed while I was absent. I even tried to change my routine to better fit in. It was this last attempt that made me cognizant of the limits I was going to to just be an active participant at the service.
I know there are people from my timezone, of my interest that are very much active on the service. I am sure there would be a thread somewhere listing all such folks. But that thread cannot be discovered or be searched for. Those folks cannot be easily found. I have come to realize that neither of these is a challenge with Twitter. No doubt, Twitter has its own set of challenges. But, at least, I can participate as per my routine.
Lack of diversity and discovery remains Micro.blog’s Achilles heel. It’s a wonderful community on there; it just isn’t inclusive enough for me to fit in.
The Mystery of the Blue Train is a typical Poirot mystery, just not presented in her signature intriguing style. There are just too many shifts to the points of view of the supporting characters. The clues are perceivable, but they aren’t backed by any information that is revealed earlier. There were many moments when I knew what was being narrated was important, was a clue to something. But I could just not put my finger on why that was so. The resolution towards the end too did not feel very natural; it felt rushed, forced.
With the way the novel is structured, it felt as if Christie began writing this somewhere in the middle when Poirot is introduced, reached towards the end, and began to wonder how to tie the woven mystery up. All the side characters and their backstories were penned at that point and spread across the novel.
As a whole, the story just didn’t feel coherent. It wasn’t boring; I don’t think Christie can write a boring mystery. But it just wasn’t one of her finest works. I have heard even she has acknowledged this fact.
My 6-year old casually asked me today, “When I will grow up and go to space, way beyond the sky, will I see God?” I don’t think I have an answer for any that? Go with spirituality or science? And I am completely blown by her cursory reference to the travel to space. She believes it is going to be as easy as buying a ticket and getting onboard a rocket.
She continued, “And when the satellite is this small, why do they have such a huge rocket surrounding it? Why can’t they make just the satellite to fly away?” Any answers of mine did nothing to quench her curiosity.
I firmly believe the curious minds of kids should contribute to defining the next problem statements for science. There would be many that the jaded minds would not have thunk.
If you can write more than 2K words reviewing a small music app, it is the writing part you enjoy more. Start writing fiction.
For every action, there are tens of justifications. For every justification, there are hundreds of questions. Questioning every action of someone else’s is easy. Providing tangible feedback about their action is the hard part.
Whipping cream without an electric beater is not easy. For that matter, any part of cooking is not easy. The finesse, the delicacy needed for the job is beyond my clumsy engineering brain. I have even more respect for my wife and mom; they are masters of this art.