OT: The OT Thread | The Thread of Destiny

[MarkusNaslund19]

7th day of Covid folks and it's still kicking my ass.

I say this as a pretty fit and healthy 40 year old guy. So please be careful out there.

 

[F A N]

Alien: Romulus finally hit the theater up here in my corner of “middle of nowhere”. My teenaged son and I went to see it and had a great time. A couple of moments that didn’t land, but still the best movie in the series since Aliens in 1986, IMO. Would recommend.

Better than Prometheus?

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Better than Prometheus?

I enjoyed it a lot more. I’ll definitely watch this again, can’t say that about any other movie in the franchise since 1986. I didn’t hate Prometheus - thought it would have done better as a stand alone movie and not lumped into the Alien franchise - but it’s a solid movie, albeit with really stupid characters.

There’s some little references in Romulus for any Prometheus fans out there, too. Again, you don’t have to have seen it to understand anything, but there is a connective thread.

 

[DFAC]

I enjoyed it a lot more. I’ll definitely watch this again, can’t say that about any other movie in the franchise since 1986. I didn’t hate Prometheus - thought it would have done better as a stand alone movie and not lumped into the Alien franchise - but it’s a solid movie, albeit with really stupid characters.

There’s some little references in Romulus for any Prometheus fans out there, too. Again, you don’t have to have seen it to understand anything, but there is a connective thread.

Went to see it with my dad (who is a huge fan of the original Alien movies) and loved it.

Really thought they brought it back what Alien moves are all about - highly recommend.

 

[Kryten]

Good to hear this about the new Alien movie, guys. Ill blind buy it on 4k then. Ive been pretty bummed lately with the newest Ghostbusters Frozen Empire and A Quiet Place 3 and The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Furiosa being f***in terrible

 

[F A N]

Did anyone watch Chestnut and Kobayashi's hot dot eating contest? Oddly, 10 minutes seem like a much longer time when the camera is focused on just 2 people.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Went to see it with my dad (who is a huge fan of the original Alien movies) and loved it.

Really thought they brought it back what Alien moves are all about - highly recommend.

What are Alien movies all about, anyway? As far as I can tell, some rather hormonal scorpions plop some eggs in ya belly, they kinda explode out ya chest, and then Susan Sarandon does her thang.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

What are Alien movies all about, anyway? As far as I can tell, some rather hormonal scorpions plop some eggs in ya belly, they kinda explode out ya chest, and then Susan Sarandon does her thang.

If you’ve never seen any of them, you could waste time in a lot worse ways than giving Alien and Aliens a watch. One of the best 1-2 punches of movies plus sequels in existence, up there with A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, or Terminator and T2.

Alien is more of a pure horror movie, but also just a spectacularly crafted film - script, performances, cinematography, sound - it’s amazing and well ahead of it’s time, which was 1979.

Aliens is more of an action-horror movie, but no less spectacularly well made. Features a powerhouse, Oscar nominated performance from Sigourney Weaver and some iconic (and endlessly parodied) lines and moments.

From there it’s not so hot. Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant…they range from terrible to kind of okay.

Alien: Romulus is a lot of fun that lands somewhere between the first two movies in terms of style.

I’m being intentionally vague about the story of the first two in particular because I think it would be a crime to rob someone who’s never seen them of some of the unexpected twists and turns it takes. But man, would I ever highly recommend watching the first two.

 

[DFAC]

For a supposedly "world class city", why don't we have an underground subway?

Would solve a lot of the congestion/traffic issues

 

[Vector]

What are Alien movies all about, anyway? As far as I can tell, some rather hormonal scorpions plop some eggs in ya belly, they kinda explode out ya chest, and then Susan Sarandon does her thang.

STOP REMINDING ME YOU ARE BUT A CHILD

 

[Jerry the great]

For a supposedly "world class city", why don't we have an underground subway?

Would solve a lot of the congestion/traffic issues

i would way rather have an above ground Jersey Mikes or Jimmy John's. Subway is absolute garbage regardless of where it's located, but you have to think putting one below grade isn't going to improve the experience.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

STOP REMINDING ME YOU ARE BUT A CHILD

I actually typed that out, caught it, and left it in anyways because I thought it was funny.

And I also like Rocky Horror Picture Show.

 

[Peen]

Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal are all similarly adequate and are typically ranked close to one another in consulting reports. NY (by a wide margin), Chicago, and SF are all better. Washington DC and Boston are probably comparable from a US perspective.

The big thing that bugs me about Vancouver isn’t the transit, it’s the lack of a highway or 3+ lane road through the city. Makes driving a slog.

Not just bikes youtube channel. You may see things differently

 

[F A N]

NA mindset is also to vote down infrastructure funding and then complain about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, then deciding to believe that this is because government is inherently bad an incompetent, which leads to voting down infrastructure funding and then complaining about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, then deciding to believe that this is because government is inherently bad an incompetent, which leads to voting down infrastructure funding and then complaining about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, then deciding to believe that this is because government is inherently bad an incompetent, which leads to voting down infrastructure funding and then complaining about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, then deciding to believe that this is because government is inherently bad an incompetent, which leads to voting down infrastructure funding and then complaining about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, then deciding to believe that this is because government is inherently bad an incompetent, which leads to voting down infrastructure funding and then complaining about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, then deciding to believe that this is because government is inherently bad an incompetent, which leads to voting down infrastructure funding and then complaining about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, then deciding to believe that this is because government is inherently bad an incompetent, which leads to voting down infrastructure funding and then complaining about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, then deciding to believe that this is because government is inherently bad an incompetent, which leads to voting down infrastructure funding and then complaining about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, then deciding to believe that this is because government is inherently bad an incompetent, which leads to voting down infrastructure funding and then complaining about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, then deciding to believe that this is because government is inherently bad an incompetent, which leads to voting down infrastructure funding and then complaining about how infrastructure has somehow inexplicably not been expanded to meet their desires, and then the heat death of the universe occurs.

There is a lot of incompetence and mismanagement though. There's also maximum disruption. Take even paving of roads. Places in Washington State often do that after hours. We do that during most people's working hours.

 

[VanJack]

Might come as a shock to some people, but the absence of a six lane highway through the middle of Vancouver is what makes the city so livable. In fact planners from around NA have been coming to Vancouver for years to figure how they did it.

If the City planners in Seattle had a 'do-over' the last thing they'd do is have a freeway megaproject like the I-5 cutting the city in half. They've regretted it for decades.

And people complaining about roadwork being done during the day, haven't been on Highway One recently. They're six laning the freeway all way out to Chilliwack eventually......and they're doing a lions share of the work at night. In fact it's 24-7 with the exception of Sundays and holidays.

 

[JT Milker]

Not just bikes youtube channel. You may see things differently

The Netherlands has a country-wide train system and Amsterdam’s metro area is half the size of Vancouver’s metro area. I would love for NA cities to have been designed like Euro cities, but cars are integral as our cities are currently designed unfortunately. And getting around say, Toronto or Montreal downtown and out to the suburbs is much simpler than Vancouver, traffic nothwithstanding.

 

[RandV]

The Netherlands has a country-wide train system and Amsterdam’s metro area is half the size of Vancouver’s metro area. I would love for NA cities to have been designed like Euro cities, but cars are integral as our cities are currently designed unfortunately. And getting around say, Toronto or Montreal downtown and out to the suburbs is much simpler than Vancouver, traffic nothwithstanding.

I find this urbanization stuff fascinating ever since discovering it, especially since I've taken my first 2 trips to Europe (Italy and Italy/Croatia) in recent years. The argument about lack of population density and how it wouldn't work in North America doesn't really fly in my opinion. If you're talking about alternative modes of transportation to get from Vancouver to say Hope or Kamloops, then sure that's a bit of a pipe dream to have a great rail system. But for our dense population centers like Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal? Not quite the same.

From what I understand with the Netherlands which is held up with the standard, they made a conscious effort backed by a very narrow vote to move away from car-first transportation in the 80's or something. Doing a quick search here's a picture example:

Cutting through the finer details what it basically comes down to is personalized vehicles are the least efficient way to transport lots of people. From the picture above, you can probably take from the left every person in a car and put them in the trolley on the right.

The idea is that you can add another lane of car traffic to the highway but that just induces more traffic and in a year or so you're back to the same rush hour gridlock you had before. The way to go rather is to build higher capacity alternative's to driving and making it attractive/efficient/convenient/etc enough that people actually use it. The latter tends to be a sticking point in North America.

 

[Kryten]

Beetlejuice 2 was pretty fun

 

[JT Milker]

FWIW, IIRC, Amsterdam's metro area also has a roughly similar population, and part of the reason it is smaller area-wise is that less car-centric focus, which was at least in part a conscious choice made after, I believe, the 70s.

Yes, North American cities have certain very unfortunate decisions laid into their structure, but the assumption that this car-centricity is some kind of force of nature rather than a collective choice we have all made and continue to make every day is kind of sad, and just kind of boring.



The bigger issue here is the commodification of every element of life, where our egos become inseparable from our belongings. A simple, practical, utilitarian vehicle stands no chance in the market against an F250 Diamond Cowboy Navy Seal Tuff Guy Edition or the Land Cruiser Luxury Jumbo Jet model or whatever.

Oh I completely agree it’s absolutely a choice. We like to live far apart on huge lots and then drive on huge roads that don’t even have sidewalks half the time let alone bike lanes. It’s a NA thing.

 

[valkynax]

Oh I completely agree it’s absolutely a choice. We like to live far apart on huge lots and then drive on huge roads that don’t even have sidewalks half the time let alone bike lanes. It’s a NA thing.

And again, I am totally cool with people who needs a pickup truck, for work, or if they have to haul stuff a lot. Just like cargo trucks or plumbers utility vans, people gotta work, and that's awesome.

I guess I'm exaggerating because my experience with pickup trucks on the road has been less than pleasant. After all it is but one of the many contributors to the city's traffic being so shit.

 

[Diversification]

As someone who drives a PHEV, it's clear that the infrastructure for vehicle charging is still in its infancy. Until there's more ports with standardized methods for payment and posted frequently updated rates, knowing which ones are open to the public versus keycode-protected, it's going to be an absolute mess for everyone to switch over.

 

[Jerry the great]

As someone who drives a PHEV, it's clear that the infrastructure for vehicle charging is still in its infancy. Until there's more ports with standardized methods for payment and posted frequently updated rates, knowing which ones are open to the public versus keycode-protected, it's going to be an absolute mess for everyone to switch over.

Any BEV owner who relies on public infrastructure for more than about 2% of the kWh they consume is a lunatic. if you drive a PHEV....who cares about public infrastructure?

 

[Diversification]

Any BEV owner who relies on public infrastructure for more than about 2% of the kWh they consume is a lunatic. if you drive a PHEV....who cares about public infrastructure?

I don't rely on it. It only factors in when I drive outside my range, which is a common occurrence on the weekends. When I arrive at my destination, I sometimes try to find a place to re-charge during the day and often come up empty. It's happened often enough that I'm glad I don't have to rely upon existing infrastructure to help me out of a jam should I fail to plan appropriately.

 

[MS]

I find this urbanization stuff fascinating ever since discovering it, especially since I've taken my first 2 trips to Europe (Italy and Italy/Croatia) in recent years. The argument about lack of population density and how it wouldn't work in North America doesn't really fly in my opinion. If you're talking about alternative modes of transportation to get from Vancouver to say Hope or Kamloops, then sure that's a bit of a pipe dream to have a great rail system. But for our dense population centers like Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal? Not quite the same.

From what I understand with the Netherlands which is held up with the standard, they made a conscious effort backed by a very narrow vote to move away from car-first transportation in the 80's or something. Doing a quick search here's a picture example:

Cutting through the finer details what it basically comes down to is personalized vehicles are the least efficient way to transport lots of people. From the picture above, you can probably take from the left every person in a car and put them in the trolley on the right.

The idea is that you can add another lane of car traffic to the highway but that just induces more traffic and in a year or so you're back to the same rush hour gridlock you had before. The way to go rather is to build higher capacity alternative's to driving and making it attractive/efficient/convenient/etc enough that people actually use it. The latter tends to be a sticking point in North America.

The central problem we have in Canada with this stuff as that living in a major city vs. smaller towns/rural is SO different and it's virtually impossible to impose different rules on different groups of people based on where they live.

Heavy incentivization for bikes/EV/public transport makes sense in Vancouver. It doesn't make since in, like, Quesnel. Or most of the rest of BC. Those people need cars for everything and if you start punishing them for using a gas car ... pitchforks will be coming out pretty quickly.

In the Netherlands, even the most rural areas are still like living in the Fraser Valley or something and it's easy to hook everything together with a great public transit system.

 

[Jerry the great]

I don't rely on it. It only factors in when I drive outside my range, which is a common occurrence on the weekends. When I arrive at my destination, I sometimes try to find a place to re-charge during the day and often come up empty. It's happened often enough that I'm glad I don't have to rely upon existing infrastructure to help me out of a jam should I fail to plan appropriately.

Sure, when i said "rely' i was specifically referring to BEV...not PHEV. I have heard of people owning BEVs who don't have exclusive use of L2 charging (at home) and rely on public infrastructure (presumably L3) and it just seems insane to me.