I agree, the important part is definitely someone who teaches you how it works without going too in depth (for the beginning) and who encourages you to experiment.

But, do you think that your feeling of intimidation stemmed from the cameras being relatively new/espensive? Like, would it have been less intimidated if the camera was 15-20 years old and accordingly cheap?

Because today, you can get a 15-20 year old DSLR that’s still very useable and costs less than 50€, while in ~2010, there essentially were no 15-20 year old digital cameras.

I‘d strongly argue against a point n shoot or phone camera.

A ‘proper’ camera can be just as easy to use (just put it in program/auto mode) and isn’t much more expensive either, if you go for something older and used, which is all a 12 year old beginner needs anyways.

The versatility also allows and encourages experimentation, and having an actual camera in your hand gets you in a very different mind set than just snapping away on your phone.

Not to speak of the quality difference even an older DSLR has, compared to the tiny sensor of most cheaper point n shoots and even most modern phones.

Definitely her own one. And definitely a proper one. Allows her to take it home, if she likes it, and keep on shooting. And also allows her to grow with the camera.

If you’re willing to look around a bit, you can find good deals on working cameras, that of course won’t be the bee‘s knees but perfectly suitable for a beginner.

For example, on my way to my vocational school, there’s a photo shop with a sold-as-is bin, where I got a working Sony a58 20MP DSLM with kit lens and battery for only 15€. Added a cheap charger from ebay and it’s a very decent camera for less than 25€ that‘s perfectly beginner friendly but isn’t limited to that.

Of course, you won’t necessarily find a similar deal, but there are definitely very good deals out there, especially in the 8-20 MP range (although I wouldn’t go below 12 if you want it to at least compare to phones, resolution wise). An older cheap Canon, Sony, Nikon, etc. DSLR or similar.

For books, library genesis would be a better place to look than piratebay though.

I just looked it up: Apparently there was a scene where the actresses butt was visible, which got covered by CGI hair extensions.

However, the movie has since gotten a 4K remaster on D+, which does not censor da booty.

Yep. Look at something like the PinePhone. It has hardware switches that can disable camera, microphone and all types of wireless communication, respectively. And no need to degoogle, since it’s not googled in the first place (runs either Manjaro, PostmarketOS, Mobian or whatever you put on there yourself). Only drawbacks: it’s not really cheap for the specs and a little hard to find these days. But there are probably comparable devices out there.

Yes absolutely. In a serious film that‘d be very much out of place. But also, actually serious films usually don’t have „epic“ twists and encourage cheering on the protagonist. And I can absolutely excuse an audibly sobbing seat neighbour, if the film was sufficiently impactful or laughter if I’m watching a comedy. Which all does happen. Unless either director or audience were utterly tone deaf, most movies make the audience react in a way that’s appropriate for the kind of film it is.

When I watched Avengers Infinity War and Endgame in the cinema on launch day, the audience was very reactive. There was cheering, applause, laughter, etc.

Was a great experience you rarely get in this extent, elsewhere. Every one in those theatre rooms was a big enough fan though, to go see the non dubbed version in a non English speaking country on launch day.

Stuff like that is great and ads to the cinema experience. However, I very much believe the „brainrotification“ of cinema, as described by oop, would infinitely detract from the experience for everyone but the most late stage adhd brainrot gen z and gen alpha ppl. I would not go to a cinema like that.

Very much not common everywhere. Where I live, if you want subtitles, you need to find a cinema that has a showing with subtitles. Usually that’s also paired with the non dubbed original audio.

A personal subtitle screen like those translucent mirrors you‘re describing sounds like a great solution though. I don’t really like subtitles unless I’m watching in a language I don’t understand very well but I know a lot of people who prefer having them on regardless.

Glühwürmchen definitely refers to the flying variant. Might also refer to non flying species but I’ve never seen or heard anyone talk about any of those. The term is probably just used for any type of glowing insect, no matter if worm or bug.

Old games being open sourced is a trend I can get behind.

Not having to pay for hardware transcoding/tonemapping is the biggest „selling“point for Jellyfin. I used to have plex before. It worked well but I didn’t want to pay 100€ for transcoding. Never tried emby for the very same reason.

Exactly. $100 is a lot of money, however games are cheaper than ever these days (adjusted for inflation) and $100 for no micro transactions sounds fair.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t buy it at that price either. I‘d wait for a sale…

Well, no one‘s saying Spotifys implementation is any good. But the theory that true randomness doesn’t always feel random still stands true. Most music player/streaming apps implement this in some way. Some better, some worse.

Similar with Bavarian. I know a few people who are incapable of speaking high German. The ISO and UNESCO even classify Bavarian as its own language (although that is debatable).

High German and Bavarian are actually more different than for example Danish and Norwegian and Czech and Slovak.

Well, they haven’t so far removed denuvo from a single game, even those that have been cracked already. Ubisoft is big enough, that they might have their very own deal with Denuvo

On hiatus, apparently. Hasn’t cracked anything since July 2023. Not sure why.

Thanks to denuvo and there currently not being any active group capable of cracking denuvo, it’s not a guarantee the game will be cracked. Assassin‘s creed mirage took until last month, over a year after release, for a pirated copy to be available and it uses a debug executable, which may not become available for any other games or at least not in a timely manner. It might not be possible to play those games without the BS. Or on Linux, if it doesn’t run without kernel access for RAM monitoring

I mean, that at least didn’t look like a student film production. But the contact lens work in that show is so godawful, not just Geralt.

I believe licking asbestos is fairly unproblematic. You just really shouldn’t breathe in asbestos dust.