Pensieve: Mar 8 2024 - on Dune 2

A collection of public thoughts that could be blogposts but i dont have time, so here, have the short form. I may upgrade these to full posts in future.

• Dune 2 (SPOILER ALERT)
  • overall, feels better on the second watch because I was able to follow the random flashbacks and cuts better, and take more time to appreciate the sheer art of the movie because I already knew the plot
  • I mildly dislike the ambiguity of whether Paul is actually The Chosen One or is he cosplaying the Bene Gesserit planted religion. Key qtn: was he actually semi-dead when Chani revived him? Because she literally put like one tear’s worth on his lips and he insta-woke up. There were also a lot of awfully convenient happenings he had no control over, eg summoning the grandfather worm, and calling a big storm when the Emperor arrived.
  • There were also obvious plot holes, such as the Sardaukar letting Paul just walk up to Baron Harkonnen and kill him, or the lasguns being able to shoot the mining rigs while the Ornithopters were still up, meaning that the whole tense scene with Paul and Chani working together to get the rocket launcher shot at the Ornithopter was completely pointless. Also how do all the fremen get their barang barang on top of the sandworm MRT ah.
  • why did they have to leave Chani’s friend Shishakli behind when they abandoned their home base, for Feyd Rautha to barbecue? why?
  • did Rabban Harkonnen know the locations of the Fremen the whole time and it took a madman like Feyd Rautha to actually bomb them? because Rabban was definitely motivated? There was a scene where he tried but how come it took them so long to bomb the water reservoir place?
  • Serena Colyer says this was shot in Namibia?
  • Everybody loves Stilgar
  • Christopher Walken as Shaddam was an interesting choice - too recognizable, weird speaking style, but v credible as a weak old man which was kind of the job
  • I thought Austin Butler did fantastic as Feyd-Rautha. really portrayed a psycho brute who honestly wasn’t all that great with a knife but he loved the stabby stabby.
  • I couldnt tell the difference between Lea Seydoux and Anya Taylor-Joy
  • loved the black and white triangle cinematorgraphy of Feyd Rautha’s birthday celebrations
• Kung Fu Panda
  • Loved the KFP 1-2-3 progression. Tai Lung, Lord Shen, and Kai were all threatening in different ways, and increasingly with Po getting comfortable as first Dragon Warrior, then Inner Peace, then mastering Chi with his Panda crew, all felt very natural
  • KFP4 was about passing on the torch and embracing change when it is time. the rabid bunnies were kinda cute but also a little creepy/awkward? and the chameleon’s fight wasn’t greaaaat given how much power she had but I loved how Po could wield the staff of wisdom. it was a little too obvious what the Big Twist was but thats fine, it was still fun. Not having the furious five back was kinda sad but it was alright, we got the dulcet tones of Ian McShane back as Tai Lung again so all is well! I think this is hopefully the end of KFP as I dont see how they can up the stakes or top KFP3 from here. KFP is also not the same without Oogway.
• Tarek Mansour is interesting. Cold reachout, 15min get to know you, high leverage meeting with good vibes on both sides. No idea how to build beyond that.
• Setting up a group chat for climbing and smol haus has been surprisingly effective. I would lean into it more if I wasn’t facing some existential dread about the future of the community. Still I recommend that others do it, for friend groups to intersect sometimes without you.
• Being responsive on texts and emails feels very good. do more.

Randoms:

• enjoying Contigo with Tiesto
• taylor swift in singapore has had huge impact
• i enjoyed writing a good FSDP+QLoRA summary today.
• “field notes” on AI Engineering becoming an accepted term

Mar 9

• the jeff tang vs anton meetup today was a super interesting study in contrasts: Life vs Death
  • Vibes couldnt be more different: Death was inside a classroom, and just showing slides, Life was outside with happy chatty attractive people and Bryan Johnson being a celebrity
  • But both had more interesting similarities: pursuing kooky, ambitious things that weren’t a boring standard thing. Both Andrew (Death) and Jeff (Life) were authentically pursuing ideas that everyone could get behind.
  • ceteris paribus i’d still work on Life because it can directly impact you rather than the theoretical nature of Death. fitness, life, joy, fun, trampolines. Jeff even found a penis botox guy (dont ask).
  • shipped a weekend recap, 1yr anniversary pod after realizing i had to add the 1yr anniversary thing last night, causing several hours delay.
• “ripped off the bandaid” and prepped myself to move on. felt bad doing it, but left brain knows it is what is needed long term. there is nothing lasting and positive to be had from the current arrangement.
• Tennis for the first time in a long time. I constantly think about my need for better footwork and follow through in tennis, that needs to be done in the rest of my life.
• People like when I sing and play guitar
• It’s interesting that people have hobbies like fashion shows and late night clubs and parties and I have zero desire for these things. Sign of age? or just completely different interest?

Random:

• Mark manson’s 40th birthday thread
• people are openly talking about how apple vision pros are collecting dust, which is kinda sad.

Mar 10

• Ben continues to be a great conference business partner for me even though today was a glum call where we made some concessions. I wish he were better able to take things off my hands but also I need to step up
• Having a small group of “bros” to talk thru personal and relationship problems is great. Sorely needed and somehow I now have some local “bros” who themselves are really impressive that are somehow my “peers” - not really but i could get there if i worked hard. Just sit and take turns, each person being the “main” focus for an hour each.
• lots of personal stuff here today i can’t share.

Good reads:

• https://cep.dev/posts/every-infrastructure-decision-i-endorse-or-regret-after-4-years-running-infrastructure-at-a-startup/
• https://maartengrootendorst.substack.com/p/a-visual-guide-to-mamba-and-state

Mar 11

• back to my personal weight lows!
• went to Iron Temple today. having a consistent set of gym buddies is proving helpful for staying consistent at working out. Richelle in particular.
• i had a call with the lifestory founder today. he’s only 4 months in. doesnt have a strong direction beyond what he has today, which is: good voice experience, bad summary experience. he could go in the biographer direction, or the friend/companion direction - i wanted a developer api. i think he’s going to turn me down just like avi/tab, which is fine. i think the biographer angle is good but idk if its a VC scale idea.

misc notables

• planetscale vs turso minidrama https://x.com/isamlambert/status/1766899525841793369?s=46&t=90xQ8sGy63D2OtiaoGJuww
• actually good take on planetscale layoffs and free tier killing https://x.com/mrjasan/status/1766792350695665912?s=46&t=90xQ8sGy63D2OtiaoGJuww