For Fedora, replace the current installer (Anaconda) with the openSUSE Tumbleweed installer.

One of the aspects I love about the openSUSE TW installer is the ability to remove groups of packages for the initial install. This is particularly useful if you never use certain programs or intend to replace them with the Flatpak version.

“Blank Space” by Taylor Swift

Got a long list of ex-lovers

“Lonely Starbucks lovers”

The Thirteenth Floor (1999) depicts a better story about simulated reality than The Matrix (1999) does.

making analysis or historical commentary on film

I’ve been really enjoying the podcast Four Play on the Last Free Nation Culture channel: https://piped.video/@LastFreeNationCulture https://www.youtube.com/@LastFreeNationCulture

literally a stock Pixel phone with missing features

Does the stock Pixel operating system have a network permission toggle that can limit any app’s access to the internet pre- or post-install?

Does the stock Pixel OS have storage scopes or contact scopes, both of which give you granular control over what data an app can see/access?

have elements of disaster which is good enough here

Going by this criterion, my favorite disaster movie is Con Air (1997)

3D Pinball Space Cadet

Pokémon Blue

Season 4 of The Boys

Release of KDE Plasma 6

Inception (2010)

Mini Metro

American Gods

The first season of the TV series is a banger, but the subsequent seasons suffer from a decline in quality. Also, the series finale is just so disappointing compared to the ending of Gaiman’s novel.

I use Stremio + Torrentio and the torrents that are cached show up but can’t play anything at the moment.

I am also encountering this; “Playback error, please try again” is the error message that Stremio presents.

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (joint UK and US production, premiered first on Channel 4)

great ones that never took off in the states

This TV series fits this description to a T because I reckon that most people, when thinking of a sci-fi TV anthology series, would bring to mind Black Mirror.

I watched Electric Dreams shortly after finishing the latest season of Black Mirror; I found the former more enjoyable and poignant than the latter.

I want an android style permissions menu

Same. In addition to the prompt-based permissions that @Kusimulkku@lemm.ee brings up, I’d like to see more granular control of permissions. For example, a flatpak app’s access to webcams, controllers, etc. are all controlled through just one permission: --device=all (aka “Device Access” in KDE’s Flatpak Permission Settings).

Recently, I watched…

Batman Returns (1992): The scene of the cats congregating around Selina Kyle after Shreck threw her out of the office window (and before she’s reborn as Catwoman) is so iconic. I remember seeing that scene on television when I was a child. Danny DeVito’s performance as The Penguin is also mega.

Blade Runner (1982): My eyes got heavy while watching it because all of the scenes are visually dark, which is certainly intentional. The world-building is amazing.

12 Monkeys (1995): It was interesting to watch this movie after having seen the TV series when it originally aired. The TV series is my second favorite sci-fi show, but I thought the movie was fine.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Hades, and Portal

exposition dumps

The most egregious example that I encountered recently was in Annihilation. What specifically annoyed me was the scene in which a member of the Shimmer team who rows in the same boat as Natalie Portman’s character tells her something to the effect of, “We’re all damaged goods.”

She then proceeds to provide Portman’s character a straight up list of the internal struggles that each of the team members face.

I completely agree with the last sentiment you shared! I think of Cloud Atlas as a flawed gem and am glad to have watched it at least once.

When I feel very bored, I go to the Wikipedia page of a movie that I do not intend to watch anytime soon and just read the entire plot write-up, as well as the “Critical Response” subsection.

Cloud Atlas (2012)

I didn’t think the plot of the film was too confusing, but trying to keep track of which cast member played which character in each respective time period while watching the film was challenging.