>This is exactly what Apple has been going through in the last year, exacting a level of polish that is on par if not above what they released last year, but still leaving nagging doubts in the hearts of the faithful. The one thing that would silence critics and quell fears would be that something twice as revolutionary as the original iPhone be straight up imagined, developed, and hoisted by the post-Jobs Apple--just to claim par.
I guess they decided to stop trying. My 2017 MBP is hands-down the worst computing device I've ever owned. It has nothing to do with my perception of Steve Jobs because I didn't start using Apple laptops until 2014. Performance seems barely better than my 2013, the super-awkward keyboard is just as bad as everyone says it is, and I started having hardware issues after just a few months.
I loved Jiro Dreams of Sushi. It was very interesting, but I agree there's a dark side to that level of perfectionism. His non-relative employee had to wash dishes for years before they would even let him try to make sushi, and then he gets to spend several more years making the same kind of sushi. Being told that he sucks at his job the entire time.
I can believe that Jiro makes really good sushi. I can't believe that all of the stupid, obsessive little things he does makes a significant difference in the quality. If you perform an objective analysis of his restaurant operation, instead of buying into the philosophy that he's some kind of sushi wizard, he's just a guy thats good at a making sushi but is also a toxic asshole with zero leadership ability.
Don't get me wrong, many of the things he does in an attempt to master his craft are admirable. However, in some cases he's an extremist to the detriment of himself and everyone else in his life. You don't have to be a psycho to be the best at something.
People seem to think that _Jiro_ is good because it is about food. It's not. It is good because it's about Jiro. Chef's Table might get the people who salivate over a upward pan over a pan, but it doesn't have the same secret sauce in my opinion.
Somm and The Imposter. Somm delves into the lives of a few guys as they study for their sommelier exam. You get to see how intense this niche of the world is. I won’t spoil anything about The Imposter, but definitely check out a trailer. It’s about a boy that goes missing and is found much later.
Netflix: "The Farthest: Voyager in Space" (2017) - "This documentary chronicles NASA's 1977 launch of twin space probes, sent to capture images of remote planets and bear messages from Earth."
It's a BBC series that chronicles the second world war. It was made in the 1970s and features interviews with the people who were actually there. I really recommend everybody watch it at least once in their life.
Definitely second this, That was one stunningly good documentary series.. Saw it on a lark but ended up with plenty of emotional reactions. The director received criticism from both left and right, virtually all of it undeserved IMHO.
I'm also a big fan of BBC Horizon's episodes, they cover a wide range of topics and generally are quite excellent and well researched.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mgxf
Wild Wild Country completely blew my mind. It didn't happen that long ago, seems like it would have been major national news on a number of occasions, and yet I had never heard anything about it before watching the doc.
Totally agree. Also, can you imagine the response by both the local armed residence + local law enforcement would be today if a group of foreigners took over a town and armed themselves? Total Bloodbath.
I'm a big documentary fan, and I was excited for this one because of strong recommendations from friends, but I guess the pacing rubbed me the wrong way. It felt like each individual part dragged.
Restrepo is a 2010 American documentary film about the Afghanistan war.
The 2nd Platoon is depicted defending the outpost (OP) named after a platoon medic who was killed earlier in the campaign.
The huge success of this film and what separates it from the hundreds of other war pictures is that Junger puts us right in the middle of the action without any political agenda. He simply decides to film these groups of soldiers who have been deployed to one of the most dangerous locations in Afghanistan and lets us experience their day to day lives without making any pro or anti war comments. We are allowed to see a small glimpse of what the American soldiers have to go through and how they live amongst the villagers. In a way Junger allows the soldiers being filmed to tell their own story. We experience what they are going through in this dangerous war zone and how they interact with the local people. The cinematography is actually quite astonishing and I really felt like I was there with the soldiers.
The movie isn`t pro or anti war; it simply places the camera in the middle of the action and lets us experience what is going on. No one`s opinion about War is going to change: those who favor Americans involvement in Afghanistan will still do so after watching this documentary and those who don`t will still feel the same because the directors don't try to manipulate us into thinking the way they do. There aren`t any personal opinions about politics or war; it's all about experiencing what these soldiers have to go through every day whether or not they actually understand what they are fighting for.
It is only 90 minutes long so it is really worth your time.
The sister film is Armadillo (2010) [0] which follows a group of Danish soldiers from pre-deployment shenanigans, to the FOB in Afghanistan, IED attacks, possible war crimes (found to be baseless), and then the return home.
To me, the most striking scenes were the ones where the Danish and UK soldiers would play FPS games, don very high tech gear, bounce about in armour, etc. and then contrast that to the rusty, bent rifles and leftovers from the soviets, the sandals, the dust, the mud, of the afghan fighters. The war has never been close in any way and the Junger quote comes screaming into your head:
“Each Javelin round costs $80,000, and the idea that it's fired by a guy who doesn't make that in a year at a guy who doesn't make that in a lifetime is somehow so outrageous it almost makes the war seem winnable.”
>“Each Javelin round costs $80,000, and the idea that it's fired by a guy who doesn't make that in a year at a guy who doesn't make that in a lifetime is somehow so outrageous it almost makes the war seem winnable.”
Do you know how useful a Javelin is? I think it's worth that much if it will save the life of the soldier firing it. I'd sure pay that much for it if I had the money and I thought it would save my life, or the lives of my comrades.
lol. why not just take that 80k and give 40 to the Afghani and 40 to the US kid. that go much further towards saving both their lives (and the lives of their families/friends/neighbors)
I should have been more clear. The quote comes from Sebastian Junger, one of two filmers of Restrepo, the comment I was replying to. My take on his quote was that he was explaining that the cost differentials are insane and a general waste of money for both sides; that the war is not worth fighting in a very real sense of blood and treasure, not that lives are not worth saving.
One that had a huge impact on me as a kid was "QED - A Guide to Armageddon" - which is a very factual analysis of the effects of a nuclear weapon on a modern city.
It's available on YouTube.
The director went on to make Threads.
Also - "Behind the Lines" about the training done by the Arctic and Mountain Warfare Cadre of the Royal Marines:
244 comments
[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 256 ms ] threadhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772925/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4462539
Spoiler: there's a dark side to levels of devotion such as this.
>This is exactly what Apple has been going through in the last year, exacting a level of polish that is on par if not above what they released last year, but still leaving nagging doubts in the hearts of the faithful. The one thing that would silence critics and quell fears would be that something twice as revolutionary as the original iPhone be straight up imagined, developed, and hoisted by the post-Jobs Apple--just to claim par.
I guess they decided to stop trying. My 2017 MBP is hands-down the worst computing device I've ever owned. It has nothing to do with my perception of Steve Jobs because I didn't start using Apple laptops until 2014. Performance seems barely better than my 2013, the super-awkward keyboard is just as bad as everyone says it is, and I started having hardware issues after just a few months.
I loved Jiro Dreams of Sushi. It was very interesting, but I agree there's a dark side to that level of perfectionism. His non-relative employee had to wash dishes for years before they would even let him try to make sushi, and then he gets to spend several more years making the same kind of sushi. Being told that he sucks at his job the entire time.
I can believe that Jiro makes really good sushi. I can't believe that all of the stupid, obsessive little things he does makes a significant difference in the quality. If you perform an objective analysis of his restaurant operation, instead of buying into the philosophy that he's some kind of sushi wizard, he's just a guy thats good at a making sushi but is also a toxic asshole with zero leadership ability.
Don't get me wrong, many of the things he does in an attempt to master his craft are admirable. However, in some cases he's an extremist to the detriment of himself and everyone else in his life. You don't have to be a psycho to be the best at something.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Mallmann
Review by Roger Ebert when it was first released: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-shoah-1985
" The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it.
They responded to Gröning 16 years later to say they were willing to permit him to shoot the movie if he was still interested. "
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/into_great_silence/
101 Rent Boys about prostitutes on the Sunset strip.
Unknown Knowns was amazing.
also two old documentaries from Frontline on credit cards: “ The secret history of the credit card“ and “the card game“
https://www.netflix.com/title/80204377
The Mystery of the Gnome Homes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLoBWpiOczQ
The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2xz5fs
I think all of Adam Curtis' documentaries are worth a watch:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL617BE1DB723DB1D6
Some others favourites off the top of my head:
808 (about the drum machine): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2268622/
Scratch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0143861/
Hoop Dreams: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/
Startup.com (a classic!) : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/
The Fog of War: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/
I also found The Brain with David Eagleman a series that gave me revelations about all sorts of things.
https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/civil-war/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(miniseries)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War
It's a BBC series that chronicles the second world war. It was made in the 1970s and features interviews with the people who were actually there. I really recommend everybody watch it at least once in their life.
I think you can find it on YouTube.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ascent_of_Man
My father made me watch this even though I was only 8 or so!
French Resistance veteran: "You had to be a little bit crazy to join the Resistance."
French SS volunteer: "We were raised on stories of the Spanish Civil War: priests being murdered, nuns raped."
I watch it on Netflix. It is an even handed look of the war from both sides. It was so good. Be prepared to get angry and to cry.
1. Vietnam series by Ken Burns 2. Icarus 3. Barca Dreams
If you want to do long dives anything by Ken Burns, baseball is a classic: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
A documentary about Napster directed by not Keanu of Bill and Ted's Excellent adventure, Downloaded: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2033981/
I'm also a big fan of BBC Horizon's episodes, they cover a wide range of topics and generally are quite excellent and well researched. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mgxf
Pt 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCDsXU15USI
Pt 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxKFeQF6_zc
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_Naked_Army_Mar...
Grizzly Man: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_Man
Burden of Dreams: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083702/
Boatman: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106445/
For wild-life I'll pick any Cousteau or BBC documentary
---Below are French movies (but worth trying to find in English)---
Depardon's Profils Paysans trilogy : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284409/
L'Inde fantôme : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063914/
1. Stalin's Daughter : https://www.amazon.com/Stalins-Daughter-Svetlana-Alliluyeva/...
2. Last emperor of China Puyi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KnlcJk2w4E
Crazy ups and downs.
The 2nd Platoon is depicted defending the outpost (OP) named after a platoon medic who was killed earlier in the campaign.
The huge success of this film and what separates it from the hundreds of other war pictures is that Junger puts us right in the middle of the action without any political agenda. He simply decides to film these groups of soldiers who have been deployed to one of the most dangerous locations in Afghanistan and lets us experience their day to day lives without making any pro or anti war comments. We are allowed to see a small glimpse of what the American soldiers have to go through and how they live amongst the villagers. In a way Junger allows the soldiers being filmed to tell their own story. We experience what they are going through in this dangerous war zone and how they interact with the local people. The cinematography is actually quite astonishing and I really felt like I was there with the soldiers.
The movie isn`t pro or anti war; it simply places the camera in the middle of the action and lets us experience what is going on. No one`s opinion about War is going to change: those who favor Americans involvement in Afghanistan will still do so after watching this documentary and those who don`t will still feel the same because the directors don't try to manipulate us into thinking the way they do. There aren`t any personal opinions about politics or war; it's all about experiencing what these soldiers have to go through every day whether or not they actually understand what they are fighting for.
It is only 90 minutes long so it is really worth your time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrepo_(film)
To me, the most striking scenes were the ones where the Danish and UK soldiers would play FPS games, don very high tech gear, bounce about in armour, etc. and then contrast that to the rusty, bent rifles and leftovers from the soviets, the sandals, the dust, the mud, of the afghan fighters. The war has never been close in any way and the Junger quote comes screaming into your head:
“Each Javelin round costs $80,000, and the idea that it's fired by a guy who doesn't make that in a year at a guy who doesn't make that in a lifetime is somehow so outrageous it almost makes the war seem winnable.”
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillo_(2010_film)
Do you know how useful a Javelin is? I think it's worth that much if it will save the life of the soldier firing it. I'd sure pay that much for it if I had the money and I thought it would save my life, or the lives of my comrades.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/275699-each-javelin-round-c...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korengal
It's available on YouTube.
The director went on to make Threads.
Also - "Behind the Lines" about the training done by the Arctic and Mountain Warfare Cadre of the Royal Marines:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00j9v8j
The Fog of War: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/ -- whoa. Just: whoa.
The Thin Blue Line: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_(1988_film) -- when a conviction goes wrong.
I guess I really like Errol Morris and Herzog? Probably.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145046