Replied to Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem (dbushell.com)
The one where I get very annoyed with my email provider

I had a similar thing from Dominos. They sent me an email that explicitly described itself as a “service message” from survey@feedback.dominosmarketing.co.uk

So, I emailed their DPO and they, obviously, just waved it away. How is anything that directly encourages me to engage with a business for the business’s benefit not direct marketing? 🀷

Where does your customer feedback function sit? Under marketing. So, gathering customer feedback is a marketing activity? No.

Is there maybe space for another ballroom? Or some other sort of redecorating project? Can’t be THAT hard to find something to distract him.

Managers so quick to dimiss complaints about workplace software until they actually have to use it.

“Why do we have to do it that way?”

Watched Brokeback Mountain (2005) by an author from letterboxd.com
In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.

I cried so much at the end of this movie that we stayed so long the cleaners came in. Absolutely heartbroken, I was.

I could never watch it again.

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My review

Watched Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018) by an author from letterboxd.com
All the major DC superheroes are starring in their own films, all but the Teen Titans, so Robin is determined to remedy this situation by getting over his role as a sidekick and becoming a movie star. Thus, with a few madcap ideas and an inspirational song in their hearts, the Teen Titans head to Hollywood to fulfill their dreams.

I’m not exactly a fan of the TV show but this is clever, funny and short. Other superhero movies could take note…

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My review

We have a dedicated Discord server for our little hobby group. It’s been going six years now. It’s a wonderful safe space.

Today, though, this happened:

A warning from Discord advising that an image/gif "May contain sensitive content"

The Online Safety Act has struck. Some of my server buddies are a little outraged but I’m not too fussed. I’m absolutely onboard with the intention. The internet is full of horrible shit that I’d never want my children to see. Or my Dad, for that matter; not unless he REALLY wanted to.

But, as we all know, the implementation is useless. Not least because it’s completely avoidable.

Case in point: I asked the member if he’d been asked to complete the age verification process before he posted the gif. He had not.

So, we can all browse this sensitive content (on Tenor?), via Discord, without verifying our age, just as long as we’re looking at it in the “add a gif” dialogue?

OK. We’ve now established (work intrudes) that it was a gif of the chestburster scene in Alien. I’ve checked and I can, indeed, browse exactly these gifs via the dialogue without having verified my age.

I just… I’m speechless.

Watched Hellboy (2004) by an author from letterboxd.com
In the final days of World War II, the Nazis attempt to use black magic to aid their dying cause. The Allies raid the camp where the ceremony is taking place, but not before they summon a baby demon who is rescued by Allied forces and dubbed "Hellboy". Sixty years later, Hellboy serves the cause of good rather than evil as an agent in the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense, along with Abe Sapien - a merman with psychic powers, and Liz Sherman - a woman with pyrokinesis, protecting America against dark forces.

As comic book movies go, it’s pretty great, but while I hate to pick on one actor, whenever Selma Blair is on the screen she literally sucks all the fun out of it. I don’t really know the character and maybe she’s playing it exactly as intended/directed but, stone me, it’s jarringly depressive.

And, while I do have a soft spot for practical effects, Samael looks a little too much like a guy on all fours in a rubber suit. I’m not saying that can’t work, it worked pretty well in Attack the Block, but here…

Other than that, the post-Matrix super-human leaping and environmental destruction are ace. Some (literally) smashing stunt work too!

Lastly, I think Pearlman makes a great Hellboy.

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My review

Watched Zootopia 2 (2025) by an author from letterboxd.com
After cracking the biggest case in Zootopia's history, rookie cops Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde find themselves on the twisting trail of a great mystery when Gary De’Snake arrives and turns the animal metropolis upside down. To crack the case, Judy and Nick must go undercover to unexpected new parts of town, where their growing partnership is tested like never before.

Tiny bit baggy in places (I wonder if they have tech in audience screenings that detects when people get their phones out?) but it mostly whizzed by. Gave me a lot of good laughs, especially some great movie references, and I just love the details of a world for all shapes and sizes. We take the quality of the animation for granted these days but it’s amazing.

On a more personal note, I am so glad this was the choice because I couldn’t face 3+ hours of Avatar in the cinema…

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My review

Watched Down Cemetery Road review – Emma Thompson is magnificent in this thriller from Slow Horses’ creator by Lucy Mangan from The Guardian

Unless this REALLY picks up in the final two episodes, I’m baffled by this review. I can’t wait to get it over with. The plot is “Spooks” levels of “espionage” nonsense.

Thompson’s character, while likeable and against type, is hardly transformational. Whereas, Ruth Wilson playing an extremely ordinary woman seems a much greater departure from her usual roles.

The entire review seems back-to-front.