Mick F

Dans une planche d'Idées noires, Franquin montre une foule compacte, joyeuse et bruyante, qui avance en se poussant les uns les autres, portée par l’enthousiasme collectif ; les cris d’encouragement se mêlent aux injonctions contradictoires, personne ne regarde vraiment devant, et l’on découvre soudain qu’ils progressent droit vers un précipice, d’où ils tombent en cascade, les suivants continuant pourtant à pousser comme si de rien n’était — une image à la fois absurde et cruellement lucide du suivisme.

Avec mon rôle de développeur logiciel, j’ai parfois l’impression de faire partie de cette foule. D’une part, coder avec un agent est devenu une obligation professionnelle, sinon c’est la porte ouverte vers la reconversion. D’autre part, la tentation d’aller plus vite, de produire davantage, est bien sûr alléchante. Pourtant, on ne sait pas encore quel sera le prix à payer de ces bouleversements. Il sera environnemental, social, sociétal, et peut-être financier.

Un article de Paul Ford, dans le New York Times, n’a cessé d’apparaître dans mes flux RSS et tourne autour du même paradoxe :

All of the people I love hate this stuff, and all the people I hate love it. And yet, likely because of the same personality flaws that drew me to technology in the first place, I am annoyingly excited.

L’article complet est recommandé, mais c’est cette citation qui a été le plus reprise (par Daring Fireball et Kottke notamment).

Donc allons-y, mais allons-y mollo. Avec raison et modération. Ça ressemble à un open bar, mais attention à la gueule de bois.

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The technical achievement is impressive. However, beyond the gimmick, it feels like an unoriginal biopic that failed to engage my interest in Robbie Williams. 🍿

I got overly excited about my recent rediscovery of the Naked Gun series, so I added all the Leslie Nielsen movies I had never seen to my watchlist. This one was awful. Apparently, it is even famous for being one of the worst movies in history, and I agree.

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This is a good animated adaptation of the classic. The kids watched it on repeat for a couple of days, and I enjoyed it as well. Movies with a big heart always have a place in our lives.

Cool images. But the story is too slow and predictable to be engaging.

Note pour l'audience francophone. Dans ce film, Tilda Swinton raconte l'histoire drôle dite de l'Ours Bleu. Je suis retourné voir sa célèbre interprétation par José Garcia dans Rire et Châtiment. Là tous, les commentaires pointent vers une version a priori meilleure d'un certain Renaud Rutten. Quoique bon client du genre, l'histoire drôle n'est pas le plus prestigieux de la gamme de l'acteur. Voir Tilda Swinton jouer sur ce terrain avait quelque chose de déconcertant.

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Outre les compiles trimestrielles, voici la compile des titres qui ont fait mon année 2025. Mon voyage à Manchester pour la reformation d’Oasis y pose son empreinte. Les explorations musicales de mes enfants également.

J’ai aussi pu retrouver les joies des collages numériques. Les outils de 2025 aident à faire ça bien plus rapidement que les outils de détourage du temps jadis.

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Was Stranger Things Season 5 up to the hype? Some people say it was not. I disagree. I found it spectacular and genuinely fun—not because it tried to outdo itself, but because of the way it handled hope and closure.

The hope and joy that a growing team brings. Stranger Things centers on characters who must convince others that a terrible threat is approaching. This is never easy. People resist the idea of danger for many reasons, ranging from self-interest to a simple fear of disrupting a comfortable life. Yet as the team grows, so does the hope for a positive outcome. Each new ally makes success feel more plausible. The show is often linked to Steven Spielberg’s influence: E.T. or The Goonies. This time again, this narrative dynamic echoes a familiar Jaws pattern: the threat is real long before the community accepts it. It is hard not to see a parallel with climate change—where the danger is clear, but collective belief arrives late.

An extended epilogue. Season 4 already took its time to wind down, and Season 5 goes even further. It was really nice to take the time to say goodbye to Hawkins after being connected to it on and off for the last ten years. That patience felt earned. It is the opposite of The Karate Kid, which I still remember for having one of the most abrupt endings imaginable.

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Nous y voilà. Après 10 mois d’effort et autant de compiles publiées, mon ami Joe Gantdelaine et moi avons rattrapé notre retard. Voici Un Automne 2025, une compile de fans de rock qui vieillissent, plus mellow que d’habitude, et ce n’est pas forcément une mauvaise nouvelle. Vous aurez échappé au Kpop Demon Hunters ou Taylor Swift, pas passées loin à la sélection.

Rob Reiner est sur la pochette.

Savourez la compile, la prochaine sera dans 3 mois.

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Not amazing. Subpar compared to Ocean's Eleven or The Nice Guys. 🍿

Best way to start the year. First time with the kids. I think they enjoyed it. 🍿

Il y a 15 ans, je sortais avec mes camarades de The Livingstones I Presume un EP 4-titres, The Stanley EP.

Les outils pour diffuser ce genre d’œuvres amateur se sont bien développés depuis, et j’ai le plaisir de vous informer que cet EP — enrichi d’un 5e titre démo que nous offrions comme titre bonus sur Bandcamp en cas d’achat complet de l’EP — est désormais disponible sur les plateformes de streaming. En l’occurrence, je suis passé par CDBaby.

Voici par exemple le lien pour écouter The Stanley EP sur Spotify.

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Watched on Tuesday December 23, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday December 3, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday December 24, 2025.

The opening — parodying _The Untouchables_ — and the final — with the fake movies scenes for the Oscars — are the highlights. 🍿

Not as good as the first one. But still very solid. 🍿

Pure joy. Laughed out loud many many times. My first watch in about 30 years maybe, and first time as an adult and in English. Loved it. 🍿

Last Monday, I finished watching Breaking Bad. It was excellent (duh), and I can only recommend it.

I had watched the pilot back in the day but I hadn’t pursued further. When the show became really popular, I read the Wikipedia page to get the gist of it, but I didn’t want to commit to 60 hours of viewing. So I knew the story and how it ended.

Fast forward to November 2025. The show keeps appearing on lists of the best TV shows ever — alongside The Sopranos, Mad Men, The Wire, etc. while Games of Thrones seems to have faded — and I started to fall in love with Hal, Bryan Cranston’s character in Malcolm in the Middle. So, I gave Breaking Bad another shot because I was curious about how Bryan Cranston could act in a drama. This time, I was sold.

Much has already been said about the show, so I’ll keep it brief with a few thoughts:

• An excellent TV Show does not get spoiled. Yes, I knew how Breaking Bad would end when I started watching it. I knew who would die and who would survive. Yet, I loved every minute of it. Spoilers are overrated. I can think of only a handful of genuine surprises that weren’t gimmicks in all the shows I’ve watched. Questions like, “Will Rachel and Ross end up together?” or “Will AFC Richmond win the Premier League?” are mostly irrelevant.
• I think the TV show characters who spend the most time in white underwear are: 1. Hal, 2. Walter, 3. Homer Simpson. The similarities don’t stop there: Hal’s dad’s name is Walter. Both Francis and Jesse (who is not technically Walter’s son but, come on, he calls his own son Jesse once, their relationship is ambiguous) aspire to go to Alaska.
• One of the best jokes I read about the show is that if Walter White were married to Lois, she would find out and make him stop by the end of the pilot episode.
• Also, this what if Breaking Bad was just Hal’s bad dream alternate ending.

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