Ryan George (Pitch Meetings)

Technically true, but goddamn the movie's caste system is so stupid at its core that assigning any kind of a message to the movie is kinda impossible.

I'm guessing the books were a bit more sensical in that there's the bones for a message like "anyone who defines themselves by how smart they think they are is probably doing something wrong" but I might be meeting it more than halfway.

WHOO LET's GO JUMP ON A TRAIN BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT BRAVERY IS.

I suspect that Divergent was half the reason that YA dystopias have such a poor reputation.

The other half rhymes with "Raze Munner".

How hold music was invented.

Now you'll know which evil genius to thank/blame for it.

Why is hold music so distorted? Like... I get it being repetitive. I get it being annoying. But how on earth is the quality so uniformly bad? Is there some reason for this?

It's likely a combination of the relatively poor bitrate of POTS (plain old telephone system) audio and the "free" nature of the music in question. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the tracks were originally recorded and played on actual audio tape, which wasn't renowned for its sound quality.

Edited by Fighteer on Mar 25th 2024 at 11:56:51 AM

If Cashiers Behaved Like Self-Checkouts

I generally like self-checkout as long as I don't have a lot of items. They can be finicky, though, because (a) they're using basic algorithms to substitute for human judgment, (b) they don't trust you at all.

...Do self checkouts show you videos of yourself?

I live in the same city Ryan is, i kinda wanna know where he goes to get his groceries.

Honeslty I love self checkout. Old office was next to a grocery store and the neighborhood was filled with elderly people who love to pay in exact change or handle coupons, so going to get stuff for your lunch break was a pain in the ass. Then they added self checkout and old people flee those like antivaxxers avoid science, and man, that improved my experience a thousand fold.

Edited by Ghilz on Mar 27th 2024 at 11:24:57 AM

Must be lucky with the self-checkout at the grocery store near where I live. I haven't had problems with it, it doesn't panic when I put in a bag in the bagging area and it hasn't filmed me to my knowledge.

Or at least it didn't show me my stupid face while doing it.

Ohey, fellow Montrealer.

Edited by Resileafs on Mar 27th 2024 at 11:25:25 AM

The one at both my grocery store have their scales to detect weight in the bag area disabled. Presumably it kept causing problems.

Works like a charm now.

Bonjour.

Edited by Ghilz on Mar 27th 2024 at 11:26:43 AM

I have never seen a self-checkout kiosk with a facecam, but I suppose they might deter shoplifting by ensuring that people know they're being recorded.

I know many/most have a camera built in (they are often quite visible). I've just never seen one who shows the footage.

Yes, that's what I mean.

I know Target has pretty visible checkout cameras in some stores that also shows you walking up to the self checkout, and the angle that Ryan uses is entirely accurate.

Edited by ITNW1989 on Mar 27th 2024 at 8:32:58 AM

Yeah, they certainly exist and the Target and Walmarts in my area definitely have them.

One thing I've noticed is that the grocery store and the Target near me just recently started to put a limit on the number of items for self-checkout at roughly the same time. I found that interesting... and since I'm rarely discussing self-checkouts with people, I don't have much opportunity to discuss this.

At least one of my local grocery store chains has added full lanes for self-checkout to accommodate large loads, in addition to the kiosks for small numbers of items. It also offers hand scanners that you can use to record your purchases as you shop, letting you pay at the end.

I don't know how this affects shoplifting rates. I've heard that statistics generally show higher rates of employee theft than customer theft.

Edited by Fighteer on Mar 27th 2024 at 3:26:37 PM

To meet TV Tropes policy I will explain why this is here below, but by explaining why it ruins the gag and makes the video less funny.

Ryan appears in the HISHE and gets chided by the Smart Scientist who appears in all of the HISHE Spider Man parodies.

You gotta love a nice crossover punchline.

This guy is trying to dishonestly get other people's money in various manners no one's ever done that before.

The field of dishonestly getting other people's money certainly got easier when being able to communicate with other people without being in the same room was invented.

Identity theft is remarkably easy in the Ryanverse.

Barely an inconvenience.

If Presidents Had Court Jesters

You know, I'm not entirely convinced that many countries aren't run this way. Also, I suspect Blimpo is a plant. (The metaphorical kind of plant, not the literal one.)

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 10th 2024 at 11:59:03 AM

the secretary of defense joke was great.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire definitely raises some questions. Like why does this Trapper guy have the perfect equipment always lying right next to him? Why is there a podcaster and a child on this trip? How detailed were those hierogylphics?

I had Pilot Guy pegged to die almost from the beginning, and I was rewarded for my genre savviness by being exactly right. It wasn't even subtle.

It's true, though. Kong using a baby Kong as an improvised weapon and Godzilla suplexing Kong are absolutely enough to get people to watch this film. They were for me.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 11th 2024 at 5:13:43 AM

king kong and scar king riding their reptile ally as they jump at each other is also pretty awesome