Matthew Gomez2 said:I hadn't really looked at things from that angle before, so I truly appreciate the sentiment behind that message—thank you. I’m still figuring out the exact roadmap, but my plan is to dive into software engineering and eventually build a business alongside my girlfriend; we both intend to live as minimally as possible. For us, money won't ever be an issue, but we don't want to treat it like some sacred object; to us, it’s more of a tool or even a bit of an illusion. My thought is to provide my kids with everything they might need, and then later on, have those deeper conversations with them about what it all actually means. Growing up, things were pretty tough for me—we struggled financially, and there was a real lack of communication with my parents. For a long time, that felt incredibly unfair and painful, and while I've reached a point where I can look back and accept it as part of my journey, the sting of it hasn't entirely disappeared. I don't want my children to go through that same kind of hardship, but more importantly, I want to make sure they have the open dialogue that I missed out on. To me, that connection is just as vital as anything else.
Slightly off-topic since this isn't really a spiritual debate, but—do you actually think you've got what it takes to teach yourself how to code and actually make a living at it? I don't know you well enough from your posts to say for sure, and maybe you've got buddies or mentors ready to help you out with projects and stuff. If you don't... well, you're gonna need some serious grit to pull off programming, and I don't know if you've got that. Just saying—I don't know you, obviously—but good luck regardless.
I guess the biggest issue with this whole "isolated paradise" fantasy is the kids. And from what I can tell, you’re actually planning on having them—which, man, good luck with that. Once they hit public school and face the real world, they’re gonna see what everyone else has. If you aren't providing everything their classmates have, they’ll probably just shut down at first—then eventually, they might even turn on you. To avoid that total meltdown, reality's gonna hit you hard, and you'll end up grinding through every job you can find just to keep them from feeling left out. There's that old saying about how you only truly grow up once you stop putting yourself first—usually happens the second you have kids. Though, I suppose there are those rare types who prioritize others regardless of blood—like doctors or whatever. And maybe you’re sitting there thinking—how am I even supposed to explain to my kids that life isn't all about rocking Nike sneakers or designer sweats? Like, they can look totally fine in some cheap stuff from Target, but they’re still gonna feel left out—I guess. It'll be because they missed that one big trip, or you didn't shell out for those fancy private language tutors, or they aren't playing any sports, or they missed out on summer vacation... or hell, even just not having enough for an ice cream. There's always gonna be something—it's just how it is—and you'll end up feeling like you failed them, or at least like you aren't doing as much as everyone else.
It’s easy for those high-and-mighty types—popes, bishops, even the Dalai Lama—to spout all that deep philosophy, I guess... but once you've actually got kids to look after? Reality hits you like a freight train—and then you finally get what life is actually about, you know? What it means to live—and how fast it all slips away.
Bad Santa 2 was such a letdown—it’s just a bunch of cheap, vulgar jokes wrapped in this weirdly politically correct package, I guess. I actually had to turn it off after only 45 minutes.
Brutal. This movie aged like fine wine—seriously. It’s this killer blend of *Breaking Bad*, *Sicario*, and stuff like that, but without all the extra drama, since it feels more like a gritty docu-drama or something. I remember catching it on TV when I was just a kid, back before I could even read subtitles, I guess. And honestly? Benicio Del Toro was my favorite part then, and he still is now.
A few random ones come to mind: > (2017) - I remember starting this on TV and just giving up after maybe thirty minutes... those CGI fights with drones and whatever else were just so boring. Honestly, the plot felt incredibly generic—that was pretty much why I bailed.
> (2000) - I tried watching this late at night, but man, it’s totally disorienting since it tries to mimic how addicts actually see the world. My brain just felt mushy halfway through so I just went to bed.
> (2010) - The whole story felt kind of basic, and that color palette? Exhausting. I wouldn't say it's a disaster, but you probably need to watch it during the day just to stay awake.
> (2013) - All I remember is that absolutely nothing happened in the first twenty minutes while I was watching. I don't recall much else, but I definitely wondered who would even bother making something like this.
> (2017) - Same thing here, I lasted about half an hour. The scenes drag on forever, and the dialogue between the priest and the layman is just... weird. Plus, I basically predicted what was going to happen before I ended up reading the synopsis later.
Filth (2013) Honestly, one of the most brutal comedies ever—if you can even call it that. Every single scene is just... painfully funny? Plus, you get stuck listening to that thick Scottish accent the whole time. It’s got everything a dark comedy needs: corruption, manipulation, swearing, hookers, drugs, vomiting, insults... basically all the trash.
Seven Psychopaths (2012) Not really a pure dark comedy, I guess—it's kind of a bit of everything. Seen it ages ago so the details are fuzzy, but I know I walked away feeling pretty good about it.
Pain & Gain (2013) Killer comedy from start to finish. Seriously, I was actually crying laughing when I first saw this.
Crank (2006),Crank: High Voltage (2009) Movies where Jason Statham has maybe a few hours left to live, so he's just tearing through the city hunting whoever's responsible for his impending death. I've seen them on TV a bunch of times already. Just total madness. Kind of a bummer they never made a third one.
The movie does a solid job showing how Balram transforms—like, watching this naive kid from nothing turn into a driver for some super wealthy family in India. Once he hits the big city, he’s basically navigating a version of the modern Western lifestyle, but done the Indian way. For me, the heart of the whole thing is those moments where he’s just being too trusting, or when he finally starts caring about his own hygiene—plus that first real clash with his poor family. It’s pretty raw. On the flip side, the whole bit about him killing his boss and the way he tells his "life story" feels a little much... it totally reminds me of Wolf of Wall Street and a million other movies like it. I guess they just threw that in there to grab a bigger audience.
Video games are just... magnetic, I guess. They give you this clear-cut goal in a deterministic virtual world where everything—every element, every move—is finite. Sure, some games have uncertainty, but players usually figure out the patterns pretty fast—like, they know exactly what kind of mess is waiting behind that unpredictability. Over the last decade or so, that randomness spiked because of online gaming—you're playing against actual people now, who, unlike some scripted AI, are way more erratic. Still, at the end of the day, the objective is always right there in front of you, which is why everyone's so obsessed with competing.
Real life? There are zero limits—well, we like to pretend there are, anyway. Things just happen, things you never planned for, and half the time we don't even know where our time is vanishing. There’s no final boss or endgame. The only things we really compete over are stuff like bank accounts, social standing, family, health, or how much we know—whatever. But honestly, not everyone cares about winning the same race. Though, let's be real—we all compare ourselves to others, which basically means we're all competing, whether we admit it or not. And it's hard to actually tell who's winning—except maybe with money, obviously. In games, it's easy—you just look at the score or whatever metric they use.
It kinda reminds me of that show The Wire, where the Baltimore police are trying to crack down on drug dealers. What was wild about that show was how everyone viewed the whole dynamic—cops, dealers, addicts—as just one big game. To them, it was all a game, and even when people had a chance to walk away from that lifestyle, they didn't want to—because they couldn't see any point to life outside of the game itself.
Everything's a bit hazy, but I remember this movie... pretty sure it gave off major The Lincoln Lawyer vibes—you know, that one where M. McConaughey plays the lawyer.
Jack Murphy5 said:Am I losing my mind, or did CBS really broadcast a scene last night featuring three people showering together? He’s there bringing them their clothes while they're all under the water... and then the very next shot is just him waking up the following morning? 🤦
Some people claim this whole movie was just an excuse to get some shots of a naked Anne Hathaway. Honestly, Keanu Reeves is pretty hopeless here—it’s like he physically can't act like he actually gives a damn about anything. The plot and the dialogue? Total nonsense. I guess the only decent part is when the girls first start messing with Keanu Reeves. It felt real, you know? Like how some women might push buttons if a guy is being way too polite—just trying to provoke a reaction. Though, obviously, nobody does that just to bait him into hitting them so they can sue for assault.
So, Einstein called time the 4th dimension just to make his theory of relativity make sense—but that doesn't mean time is actually a dimension, or even that it exists at all on a fundamental level. This video breaks it down pretty well: Is Time Real? Anyway, enough with the physics talk... even if we pretend time *is* a dimension, when people sit down to watch a movie, they already know the plot is unfolding over time. I mean, that’s literally what a movie is. So, I guess you could say the whole concept of time is basically baked into the word "movie" itself.
Growing up, I pretty much dodged TV series—unless something happened to catch my eye while flipping channels. I mean, back when CBS was running those 90s sitcoms, I’d occasionally stumble upon something like *Two and a Half Men* or maybe a random episode of *Dr. House*, *CSI*, *FBI*, *NCIS*, or *The Mentalist*. Nothing ever really stuck, though—just bits and pieces here and there.
By high school in the early 2010s, I started getting actually serious about movies. At first, I was all about the big blockbusters, but they got old fast, I guess. So, I shifted to hunting for stuff with decent scores on IMDb. My whole criteria back then was basically just finding something relatively recent, rated above a 7, and—crucially—not a romance. Some of the first ones I dove into were *Inception*, *Shutter Island*, *Oblivion*, *No Country for Old Men*, *Django Unchained*, *Memento*, *The Prestige*, and *Crank*...
Since I didn't know much about what made a "good show," I was totally floored when I caught *Homeland* on PBS (yeah, on PBS) for the first time. It was the first time a plot actually felt connected from one episode to the next while I was watching. After that, I had a similar "wow" moment with *Game of Thrones*—which I knew nothing about until I accidentally saw it airing on PBS (p.s. they were already filming season 4 by then). Then, finally during college, I heard about *Breaking Bad* for the first time. From that point on, I went through this phase where I only watched series. *Fargo*, *True Detective*, *The Leftovers*, *Band of Brothers*, *Pacific*, *The Wire*, *Black Mirror*, *Twin Peaks*, and *Westworld*—those are the ones that actually blew me away. Sadly, I started noticing the quality dip in some of their later seasons pretty quickly. Like, *Game of Thrones*? Massive disappointment. And honestly, I've started noticing how shows lately—especially on Netflix's—tend to drag things out with so-called "filler." Sure, they look gorgeous visually, but half the time they’re just painfully slow and the plots are full of holes. That's actually why I gave up on *The Reasons Why*. *Sex Education* was alright, I guess. Right now, I'm working through season two of *American Gods*.
So, after that long stint, I've kind of drifted back into the world of movies. I watched *Apocalypse Now* recently and it hit me—even if you can connect more deeply with characters over ten episodes of a series, a movie still feels superior because, for it to work, every single scene has to actually matter and push the story forward. A few other things I've watched lately: *Mulholland Drive*, *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*, *Jojo Rabbit*, *Knives Out*, *The Lighthouse*, *Parasite*, *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*, and *Good Will Hunting*.
I guess my experience says it all. Every few years, we just go looking for something else. Whether it's a new genre or a different format, luckily there's so much out there now that it's hard to stay bored for long.
Got a couple of things I'm wondering about: 1.) I've got some 1996 series $100 bills lying around. Can I actually swap these out for the newer versions at a bank—ideally without getting hit by some crazy fee? I heard they did a total redesign of the dollar a few years back, so I figured I might want the new ones just for peace of mind. Also, am I being paranoid here? Like, can I keep holding onto these old bills without worrying they'll eventually be useless if I try to spend them here in the States? 2.) I also have a few €500 and €200 notes from back in 2002. They're pretty beat up, too—kind of torn down the middle and patched together with Scotch tape. Is there any way to trade them in for fresh ones without paying some insane commission?