Ben Sweeney
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hippoeki.bsky.social
Ben Sweeney
@hippoeki.bsky.social
77 followers 270 following 170 posts
I'm just this guy, you know?
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Reposted by Ben Sweeney
hypercubexl.bsky.social
GDT's reddit AMA spitting fire

www.reddit.com/r/movies/com...
reddit comment: Hello! Did you intend the ending of Pan’s labyrinth to be real or in Ofelia’s mind? Guillermo Del Toro's reply: My interpretation, and it's exclusively mine, is that it's real. Because there's two things. One is what people call “The Shining Question.” The Shining Question is, Who opens the door for Jack to get out of the fridge? And Ofelia is in an attic with a guard outside her door, and she draws the door with the magic chalk, and she shows up in the labyrinth. So, the only way she could have gone into the labyrinth is the magic chalk. And the flower is real at the end. The flower that blooms in the dead tree. And the reason I think it’s real is because—and this is why I'm in favor of the human factor in art—I think that art does transform the world. You know? Think about it for a second. One of the goals, with all this movement, is to make you believe that art is vulgar. That art is nothing special, and anybody can do art. That is like me telling you that I'm faster at running than Usain Bolt but I “run” in my motorcycle. Well, that's not the same. That’s not the same at all. Art is important, and they want you to believe it isn't. It's part of the idea of control. The goal is not to have artificial intelligence. The goal is to foster natural stupidity. The goal is to foster you not looking for answers, and to trust yourself entirely to an engine. Look at the way we are dipping our toes into these things. We are starting to ask the machine, Is this true? For now, there's a correlation between reality and what the answers of the machine are. For now. But soon, we won't even investigate further. We will be told it's true. And if the machine is in the hands of somebody who should not be trusted, then your reality has been completely and utterly fucked. Because your intelligence ends at the question. You don't seek the answer. It's given to you. Q: You recently mentioned that AI creates 'semi-compelling screensavers' and that you'd 'rather die' than use it. As a filmmaker who relies heavily on practical effects and creature design, what do you think is the biggest thing lost when a computer generates an image instead of a human hand? GDT: The three quarters of the process that gave you the chance to think of the idea that people don't think about without that process. Meaning, AI can get you to the middle really fast, but there's a dialectic with the process that gets you to that top 10%. I'll give you an example with the Pale Man. We sculpted it as an old man, with a face. And then I said, Let's take out the face. This happened because I saw a photo of a manta ray and the poster for Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm. That combination, which happened at two different times during a week or a month, are not permutations that are chemically part of an equation. They are alchemy. And then I said, Take out the face, and then I said, Let's put the eyes on the hands. This triangulation happens because I spent a month or two months living with the idea of this creature. And it's not linear. AI is like a super-fast engine that makes semi-sentient permutations of things that are already done. Creation is things that have never been done. Coming to exist. And the second thing is the loss of the apprenticeship that one has as an artist. You're never a master; you're always an apprentice. This is a kinship I have with, for example, Chris Nolan. When he showed me The Odyssey, there’s a scene when Matt Damon is floating in the stormy ocean and I asked him—because we were talking about practical effects, and how great it is and that we both always use a maquette or a model—and I asked him, How did you do it? He said, “We put him in a storm in the ocean.” And you're gonna find that 30% of a great image occurs accidentally. You know, either a drop of water hits the lens, or the camera shakes. I remember when in 1993, '94, Jim…
September 9, 2026 at 10:32 PM
hippoeki.bsky.social
I love him so much
andylevy.net andy™ @andylevy.net · 9d
werner herzog on AI filmmaking (from here www.indiewire.com/features/int...)
Q: A couple years ago at IDFA, I saw this movie "About a Hero," which is this partly Al-generated hybrid documentary that tries to recreate the atmosphere of your films. A: The intention of this young filmmaker was never to remake any [of my films], but making something in the spirit. And I immediately said, "You will fail. It is such a stupid idea. It's phenomenally, abysmally stupid. I will not take part in it." He wanted me to explain things and have my voice in it. I said, "You are alone. There's such a thing as free speech, which I respect. So go ahead and fail." And it is a failure, period. It's so standardized that Al can step in because there's not real storytelling. It's mimicry of something that has happened before. And I welcome Al to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating, repeating, repeating until it's ad nauseam. When it's ad nauseam, please, please, please let Al step in and do the job.
September 9, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
theverge.com
As a new Harry Potter trailer makes the rounds, it bears repeating that there’s no way to watch this show without supporting J.K. Rowling’s bigotry and the structural violence she’s inflicting on the trans community.
There is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series
You can’t without supporting Rowling’s transphobic bigotry.
www.theverge.com
September 2, 2026 at 3:38 PM
hippoeki.bsky.social
Sincerely think this is the viewpoint of a generation of parents who have handed their kids over to devices and do not interact with them at all.
tomharrison.bsky.social Tom the Anime Sicko 🔜 Hell @tomharrison.bsky.social · 18d
Like literally when and how would a current six-year-old have seen a coyote cartoon unless they have an exceptionally weird parent who has curated a custom cultural curriculum for them
August 31, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
aspartame.bsky.social
They should change the name of Antiques Roadshow to Grandma Was a Liar.
August 30, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
devincf.bsky.social
We are gathered here today to acknowledge that it is time for STAR TREK to once again die.

www.patreon.com/cinemasangha...
It Is Time For STAR TREK To Die | Cinema Sangha
Every now and again, Star Trek dies. This cycle began with the original series, which was canceled after three seasons. It came back in anim
www.patreon.com
August 24, 2026 at 10:43 PM
hippoeki.bsky.social
A protester in a Spider-Man costume, probably Spidey himself, holds a sign that reads "smash white supremacy. racists out of MPLS!"
August 23, 2026 at 11:06 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
russfischer.bsky.social
In 1993, David Lynch narrated a little story as an unlisted bonus track on the Warner/Reprise label sampler Trademark of Quality. He explains the origin of "Pinky's Bubble Egg," a song in the middle of INDUSTRIAL SYMPHONY No. 1.
May 5, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
pattymo.com
This is a masterpiece. Simply excellent
www.instagram.com/reel/DMVGMIC...
August 14, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
priscillapage.bsky.social
that's right, Bruce Campbell www.mensjournal.com/entertainmen...
When asked how it’s been for him to see the series transform since its indie beginnings way back in 1981 with director Sam Raimi, Campbell revealed his one issue with the recent installments.  “I’d like more humor back in. The three features have been mostly humorless, and I personally have a problem with that,” he said, echoing a sentiment shared among some of the franchise’s fans. “There’s no point for these to get too grim. You can be scary without being grim.” “A little more humor wouldn’t kill you,” he added. “And one hero that you really can root for. Ash is an idiot, but you want him to survive.” “Modern filmmakers love to color their movies like a David Fincher movie, like a hospital room, you know?” Campbell continued. “Gray-green, like a garage. Garage lighting. And so, okay, it’s a choice. It’s not mine. I think even a horror movie can look pretty. Why not throw them off? Make it all look pretty and wonderful, and then let them have it.”
August 14, 2026 at 5:06 AM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
timprice.bsky.social
July 29, 2026 at 9:22 PM
hippoeki.bsky.social
Sunburned from the water park. Tale as old as time.
July 27, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
wutangforchildren.bsky.social
Happy 4th of July….
July 4, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
brianwcollins.bsky.social
That guaranteed at least two competent crew members who cared enough about their craft to learn it. Not the case with dopes who decide to shoot a movie on their phones one day.

With all this AI shit, we're entering the next stage of incompetence. Now they can't even mess around and 'kinda' learn.
June 3, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
brianwcollins.bsky.social
A while back I realized that the reason bad movies from pre-digital eras were better than the bad movies of today is because no matter how incompetent the director, writer, actors, etc. were, they still needed someone who knew how to load/shoot a camera and someone who could edit on a flatbed.
June 3, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
chinajoeflynn.bsky.social
Fuck yea, I love reading the news.
IG account headline: "Everyone Thought Capybara Was Blind, But Vet Revealed He Was Just Ignoring Them"
June 1, 2026 at 7:26 PM
hippoeki.bsky.social
May 18, 2026 at 1:55 PM
hippoeki.bsky.social
sweet jesus
gethill.bsky.social Matt Hill @gethill.bsky.social · May 6
Prime with ads. Just how Kubrick intended.
May 6, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
cooperlund.online
Did you know: There's HD video of Here Comes The Pizza?
April 14, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
rvbdrm.com
This is Pulitzer shit right here.
March 31, 2026 at 1:12 AM
hippoeki.bsky.social
Does this mean we could get Amy Sedaris as Goldberry and Paul Dinello as Tom Bombadil?
March 25, 2026 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
zeddary.bsky.social
oh shit oh fuck I don't have nearly enough Robux to bribe these ICE agents.
ICE agents in tac vests who look like they should be in after school detention for masturbating in the library
March 24, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
hypercubexl.bsky.social
a kid style crayon drawing of cyclops from x-men and his eye blast beam, looking upset, with a poem scrawled around it: roses are red violets are red everything is RED
November 14, 2025 at 4:45 AM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
lukeknox.me
February 12, 2026 at 3:02 AM
Reposted by Ben Sweeney
tristanl.ee
People on Reddit are getting Amazon to refund their Ring products because of their partnership with Flock and that creepy Super Bowl ad
www.reddit.com/r/FlockSurve...
Screenshot of Amazon customer support chat getting refund for a Ring Floodlight Cam https://www.reddit.com/r/FlockSurveillance/comments/1r0m509/comment/o4jc9xz/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button Screenshot of chat with Amazon customer support getting refund for a Ring product bought in October 2020 https://www.reddit.com/r/FlockSurveillance/comments/1r0m509/comment/o4k6nqk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button Infographic telling Ring customers they can get refunds for their purchases through Amazon
February 10, 2026 at 9:55 AM