The first ten on today’s playlist:

Oh, I love this quote.

“I love movies so much that I’m even happy the bad ones get made.”

Me too. Making any film is really hard. It requires — at minimum — coordinating the work of dozens of people who all have to perform well for the film to get completed at all. Many films require bringing together and syncretizing hundreds of people. And some, thousands. It’s amazing they get done at all with some form of coherent product at the end.

Even the bad works of cinema are incredible acts of creation that people put a lot of love and time into. The good ones are magic in a bottle. And if the bad ones did not exist, we’d never get those good ones.

What’s the most annoying phrase you often hear from clients?

“Can I call you?”

I mean, at least they ask. But most often it’s after they receive some very clear, simple, meticulously-written instructions on exactly how to do something. And then they expect me to walk them through it on the phone like they are seven years old.

I used to just assent, but these days I push back with: “Please try following the attached instructions first and then if you are not able to complete the process, I will schedule a call where we can work on this together.” Over 90% of the time the client or user is able to do what they need to do without any help at all. I hate tying up people’s time and I only want someone babysitting me on the phone if I absolutely cannot do something after 5-10 times of trying it, so I cannot understand why so many people want to take up mine.

I know, I know, it’s because IT people are seen as “computer janitors,” even when you’re at my level — but I just do not play along with that bullshit anymore.

So, no, you can’t call me. At least not as the first thing you do.

Such a lovely, real film. I like how it shows without telling that Sandie is disassociating from all the being used and abused, and that the scene brackets that with the puerile, platitudinous insincerities from men who do not at all care about her as a person.

And because I’ve watched the behind-the-scenes footage, I know at 2:13 when Sandie looks down and starts to move a little awkwardly, it’s because she (rather, the actor Anya Taylor-Joy) has been told not to run into the ornate horizontal ring-light that she’s standing in the middle of. This works in the context of the film as Sandie’s mental state is deteriorating — but it’s also fun having that deeper knowledge of the constraints the actual actor is working under to make the scene.

It’s just such a good film. Love all the color — very unlike most modern films. Highly recommended.

Chick fil a price increases over the years.

From $6.55 to $9.75 in a bit under 4.5 years. That’s a 67% higher price in that time, averaging out to 15% inflation per year. That more closely resembles the inflation rate as most people experience it rather than the nearly-fictional numbers economists tell us are true. They’re not, but rather a convenient and semi-plausible lie (if you don’t look to closely) created and propagandized to shore up the ruling class’s dominance.