This is from a month ago, so I hope you’re feeling better now.

I’ve been going through a similar experience, on and off over the last couple of weeks, and I really resonate with this bit;

I don’t even really mind all this physical pain and discomfort. The thing that bothers me the most is that I’m completely useless. Unable to think properly apart from a few moments during the day

It sounds like you got much sicker than I have. But it’s still having a crippling effect on my executive functioning . I’ve accomplished almost nothing for a couple of weeks, and I’m meant to be preparing for a live concert this weekend, and then a 2-3 month trip away in a couple of weeks : /

Can’t believe nobody has mentioned Wag the Dog (1997), The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009), or Sorry to Bother You (2018).

It’s a classic, for sure. From what I’ve read, it was Sam Neill’s performance in The Quiet Earth that brought him to the attention of Hollywood casting folks, leading to his starring role in the original Jurassic Park.

So many great movies listed here, but only one kiwi movie; Once Were Warriors. Unless you count Lord of the Rings, which was indeed made here, but not really exactly a kiwi movie. Here’s a few I reckon are worth checking out, a mix of comedy, fantasy, sci-fi and biopic, with at least one film from each of the last 5 decades;

• Goodbye Pork Pie (the 1981 original, I haven’t seen the 2017 remake Pork Pie directed by his son)
• Came A Hot Friday (1985, so underrated compared to the one above)
• The Quiet Earth (1985, based on the 1981 novel of the same name)
• The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988, epically weird, in a Fisher King kind of way)
• Heavenly Creatures (1994, Peter Jackson’s first “serious” film, after his splatter comedies Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Braindead. Trivia: I’m in this for about 3 seconds …)
• Whale Rider (2002)
• The World’s Fastest Indian (2005)
• Eagle vs. Shark (2007)
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
• The Dead Lands (2014, notable for being entirely in Te Reo Māori, and featuring some mean Māori martials arts)
• The Dark Horse (2014)
• Muru (2022, loosely based on the events of the 2008 Operation 8 raids)
• Ka Whawhai Tonu (2024, also has a lot of Te Reo spoken)

today, more users just means more cost

Not if they’re setting up their own servers. This kind of horizontal growth is the healthiest way to grow a federated network, and something we can do that centralised platforms can’t.

The mod tools are really lackluster currently. And that was a big reason people wanted to leave Reddit

Fair point. The same was said of Mastodon many moons ago. A lot of people put a lot of time and energy into detailed feature requests, describing the problem to be solved, and exactly how their proposed solution would work.

Given that I’ve also seen the same complaint about apps in other federated networks like matrix, maybe what’s needed is a general solution? A website where experienced mods describe the problems they strike, and how social software developers could help them with mod features.

Labour governing alone have been weak tea. We all want a change of government. I’m just hoping enough of the people who want wealth taxes, guaranteed minimum income, and properly funded public services, turn up to vote in sufficient numbers to get the change of government we actually need. Rather than the one that wants to drag the country back to the late 1980s/ early 1990s, like the past few decades never happened…

One of my favourite quick meals is chucking a big potato in the microwave (4 mins each side, give or take), and then topping it with whatever is handy. Eg Baked beans, savoury yeast, spring onions, and unflavoured coconut yoghurt as a sour cream. I usually chuck a quick salad together on the side, but you guys could do mixed frozen veges instead.