Vorahk1Panrahk2

Not checking this site as frequently as I used to so your recent blog posts escaped the radar. Sad the essays stopped, but happy to see that you made it into the industry and are enjoying your professional work!

I am so ready for spooky season and autumn weather that comes with it.

Unfortunately in my neck of CA we don't really get autumn...
 

Okay that pineapple actually looks pretty dope with the way the light comes through the skin.

I got that shirt, or one like it. I don't remember what was on it- knew I was never going to wear it so I gave it someone else. Some corporate rah rah "we're all in this together" stuff with a dragon on it. That was our mascot. A dragon. Wasn't uncommon to see someone wandering around in a dragon costume with their six foot pool noodle trying to keep people separated.

For a short time, maybe three months, I worked in a sort facility. Mostly scanning and water spider. Favorite job was inbound because I got to just mindlessly toss boxes onto a conveyer. Least favorite was outbound because I am terrrrrrible at stacking those trucks.

Contrary to what I read online, I too found that there was a huge emphasis on safety, they were definitely trying to avoid any and all lawsuits, and I felt like they were moooostly taking the pandemic seriously? If anything I took more issue with other workers who would refuse to wear their masks properly, and Amazon didn't do much about it. They didn't do much about people getting within six feet, but honestly, given the nature of the job, that's just impossible to avoid. We had one trial lane that tried to establish one way paths to pallets but it was kind of a mess.

My bigger issue with Amazon is how tone deaf they are. They shove the message of teamwork and camaraderie down your throats with T shirts and facility mascots, and offer "fun" things like raffles and free food. But we all know how much they crack the whip- there's pretty much no room for anything they try to promote. And those raffles? Never got a ticket. Criteria for getting them seemed totally arbitrary. Other than that, can't argue with your negatives or positives.

The one good thing about the job is that it kept me physically active. I lost more weight in those three months than in three years of trying. And of course gained it all back as soon as I left for a desk job. I absolutely get why people work for Amazon. It's not a bad deal. And if I needed to I'd go back. But I wasn't happy working there at all.

Yeah I've been seeing how bad its getting up there- I really should have mentioned you all in my post. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a little bit of luck shines through and the fire crews can get these things under control. Big shout out to all the personnel involved with fighting them.

I think I might make some baked goods and drop them off at the local station. It's the least I can do to show gratitude. 

On 8/12/2020 at 2:08 PM, Bionicle Guru said:

I'm sure you did your research beforehand, but what is this company's reputation? When you do a Google search, what kinds of reviews and comments come up from past employees or other competitors? If the word is not good, you definitely don't want to spend too long there as the harm done to your resume will affect you almost as much as being unemployed with no benefits.

This was the very first red flag, believe it or not, raised even before the interview. There is barely a web presence online with them. Their website is barebones, filled with out of date information and broken links. There are no reviews or comments from past employees or competitors that I could find, barring a workers comp legal matter they were involved with 21 years ago. They are mentioned a few times in local articles, but that's pretty much it. They are very small. Your last sentence there is a good point, but for now I do not believe having the company on my resume will harm me more than the experience will help me. I've been turned down several times for not having paid experience (always emphasis on "paid"), so that is what I need to get under my belt, and believe me once I do I'll start applying again. I'd be surprised if anyone outside the industry has heard of them, much less has an idea of their reputation. And future jobs I'd look for would be outside that industry. (I'm in more of a technical support role. The skills I'm learning are transferable and applicable elsewhere.) 

I realize this is all very vague- I'd rather not give away too many details. Your advice is certainly sound. I was thinking I'd start applying again when I hit the 4-6 month mark. Any sooner and I think that would be a red flag for potential employers. Because if the work then is like the work now.... yikes. You wrote "bored or wondering what was going on" and that pretty much sums up the past month.

Thank you for your response, and I wish you luck with your own endeavors. 

Ahhh, sweet summer rain.

Unless it's not summer where you live of course....

But man nothing beats that all too brief, sweet respite from the heat. I missing living somewhere where it rains in summer.

Right now its Sunday, because it is my day off.

Whenever I get a new job, my new day off will probably be my new favorite day.

For two years I lived in a small town where I just couldn't get premade stuff. It was a stressful time so I took up baking as a way to make me feel better (and make friends by sharing delicious food), and all of it had to be from scratch. (Mostly desserts, because, not gonna lie, I have a sweet tooth.) I learned a lot and continue baking homemade to this day. I feel a lot of pride when I could give someone a slice of double layer cake with buttercream frosting and tell them, yup, I made it all myself. And then they want the recipe and that makes me feel good.

I'm not an expert. Not everything I make turns out well, but I always have a blast.

I hope that one day you are able to break out of that grocery store and share your bakes and love of baking with more people.

Very cool! I went to China a few years ago but did not keep any currency from the trip. Not sure why since I usually do. I have Euros from a trip to Europe a decade ago (floating around somewhere), and every denomination of Guarani from living in Paraguay.

My family went to England for a trip when I was a small child and I'm sure I have some pounds floating around somewhere too. If my goal is to hold on to foreign currency for posterity I should probably be taking better care of it...

Tekulo!

Glad you found a job you think is good. Hopefully it's something you can come to enjoy!

Being sick is the worst. Here's hoping you have a swift recovery!

Oh, not much. Still sending my resume out into black holes and getting rejections from the few who manage to glimpse it.

But, hey, I'm still alive too so I guess that's a good thing.

Waiting for your next rant essay in the meantime.

I'm glad the site is back, but I am hoping there are some eventual cosmetic changes. Maybe it's a case of "I don't like new things," but some of it is rather hard on the eyes.

Weirdly enough, I prefer Bo Peep's look from the first two. She looked like a ceramic doll in those, which I assume she's supposed to be. In this one, not so much.

I'm not sure how I feel about the movie. Still forming an opinion.

I also feel that Heath Ledger's performance is lauded solely on it being his last major film.

Yeah I don't know about this. Dying prematurely didn't help Carrie Fisher, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anton Yelchin, or Paul Walker receive acclaim for their final roles. Ledger received acclaim because he took an iconic villain role (already made famous on film by Jack Nicholson no less) and made it entirely his own. He was terrifying, mesmerizing, very darkly comedic, everything that role needed to be for that movie. In my opinion, he did a fantastic job. Well deserving of the the praise he got for the role and I'm not just saying that because he died. (Or because I liked the movie, because outside of his performance I think its very problematic.)

It's fine that his take on the Joker didn't do it for you. But to say people only laud his performance because he died, well, I just don't see how you can get to that conclusion. I think it legitimately struck a strong chord with many viewers, myself included.

I've always taken my shoes off when entering the house.

 

Me too. We always remove our shoes when we visited someone, and at home got yelled at if our shoes got anywhere near the carpet. In the circles I grew up in, seeing someone wearing shoes indoors was rare and frowned upon (and still is). But I've also noticed that some home owners will, out of deference to their guest, permit them to leave shoes on regardless of how they feel about shoes indoors. This, and the amount of times I've cringed seeing someone wear shoes indoors, tells me that despite my circles, we tend not to think about it too much here.

A distinction I've noticed, and I can't speak for everyone or all cultures here, is that we tend to leave our shoes on if we enter temporary shelters like hotels or classrooms. Or if we have an apartment where our entrance is on the inside of a structure, we wear our shoes inside until we get to our door. But when I went to Japan, the rules where very clear: you leave your shoes at the threshold to the outside. Doesn't matter if it takes you ten minutes to walk up the stairs to your hotel/apartment, you're doing it in your socks or indoor shoes. In America it's unheard of to take your shoes off at that point.

I don't think our experiences in American homes detract from anything TMD is saying, though. It's not a detail you'd normally see included in American movies (at least I can't think of any examples). The significance is obvious.

(Enjoyed that other essay you linked to, somehow missed it when/if you posted it here. Horrible story about casting, though, and glad the author stuck to her guns.)

This feeling. I know it well.

I wish you all the luck, especially if you are venturing out to learn programming. I've tried, one of things that would certainly help me, but I just can't wrap my head around it.

Popping in to recommend that you sit yourself down and watch Blade Runner 2049. Very worthy sequel to the original, I'd say its better.

Also, man, the Alien timeline is a mess if we try to make AVP fit in there. For the sake of a sensible continuity I think they should be ignored.

I neither like nor dislike Gladiator, but there a handful of Best Picture winners since 2000 that are easily worse than it. "Worst since Gladiator" is just a bizarre statement to me.

But, hey, opinions.

Also, maybe I'm just not internet savvy, or just completely forgot everything about Rises since my one viewing, but I can't think of any memes that movie inspired. At least compared to Dark Knight which spawned several obvious ones.

...and did well enough at the box office that Michael Bay is never going to be allowed to touch the brand again. Yes, Paramount executives are friggin' morons that will probably find a way to screw their new golden goose - but that's par for the course in Hollywood.

It's the lowest grossing of the franchise so far in both domestic and international box office. I think Bay's admitted disinterest in directing any more (low returns from Last Knight don't help) is a more important factor here than Bumblebee's unimpressive box office numbers. It didn't bomb, but "golden goose" might be a bit of a strong term here.

(Also he is producer so he's still very much touching the brand.)

It was better than the first three films, I'll give you that. Probably better than the last two but I never bothered seeing them and can't compare.

Well, when I went to Goodwill for ties a few weeks ago I didn't find those either. I hope that hunt went equally well for you.

Oh I know you wouldn't have, sorry if my post came off a bit aggressive (I realize rereading it that it is a bit). But there definitely are members of the industry who would have sadly enough  (there was one quote that said Oscar night was a "bullet dodged" or something to that effect), and regardless of where you stand I think complaining about a Netflix Oscar is completely missing the spirit of the award.
 
 

They're quite specifically an ode to the theatrical experience, and always have been, especially since home media wasn't invented when they first institutionalized the awards.  When new technology opened up new means of entertainment, they created a new ceremony for that, called the Emmy Awards.

​I completely get this, but man, I dunno. Back in the day the division was so much more obvious than it is now. TV movies are TV movies, and some streaming movies are definitely meant for streaming (Bandersnatch, everything Disney has planned, probably), but then there's those movies that were meant for the theater and then got picked up by a streaming service (Roma, Wolfwalkers) I just think it'd set an unfortunate precedent if a movie wasn't allowed to be recognized because it ended up on a streaming service, and for me that's where the rub lies.

Your points are fare, and I think I can be open to the idea of recognizing streaming separately as long as there's a solid distinction between the Romas and the Bandersnatches (which I keep using as an example because as rare as that type of movie is, its a really easy example). Although how to make such a distinction.... I don't know, Kraagh. I just don't know.

I think the academy will be taking a hard look at their eligibility rules this year and I just hope that industry pettiness is kept in check. And that Netflix caves in and starts allowing their films a decent theatrical release, which would really end the whole issue, wouldn't it? Maybe everyone just needs to meet half way. Film is a wonderful medium however its watched and the squabbling over what is what gets depressing.

(I don't think Spielberg has made any official comments on the matter, right? I've just heard second hand reports. I'd be interested to hear his actual words.)

Its an interesting line to be sure. The thing about Roma is that its not a made for TV movie. It's not even a made for streaming movie. It was intended for the big screen but only Netflix was willing to distribute it. So here's a movie that was intended to be seen on the big screen, limited to the small screen because that's the only way the artists could share their work.

And let's be honest here: academy members watch many of the films through DVD screeners, not in the theater. So, to be blunt, who cares if something has a theatrical release if the thing isn't even going to be watched that way? I have no evidence of any industry people against streaming films at the Oscars who also watch nominated movies via screeners, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. I certainly don't see Spielberg advocating that academy members must see movies in theaters (a sentiment which I would get behind, to be honest).

At the end of the day, a film is a film, and the line between 'TV' (and 'streaming') and 'Cinema' is getting more blurry every day. I don't buy that streaming is its own unique medium. Something like Bandersnatch is, but a movie like that is so rare it shouldn't even factor into the equation. Just look at Roma. Which is it? TV movie or movie movie? Why should where it gets watched make a difference? So maybe its time the academy change their eligibility rules. The best movie is the best movie regardless of where it comes from.

I don't agree with Spielberg's vehemence here, but I know where he's coming from. He's worried about losing the theatrical experience and wants to preserve that. That's admirable, and from that perspective I'm absolutely on his side. But I think he's going after the wrong thing here. Rather than attack streaming he should be encouraging streaming services to give their movies theatrical releases. Amazon does this, and no one complained when Manchester by the Sea won Oscars two years ago. I would have loved to have watched Roma and Ballad of Buster Scruggs in the theater.

EDIT: And yes, I am aware that Roma and Ballad both received a theatrical release in order to qualify them for the Oscars, but a bare, pathetic, minimal release just for awards qualifying is not the same as giving a movie a real run in the theater.