Skip to Content

The Independent Variable

Latest Posts

White House staff warned not to place bets on prediction markets

bbc.com

The gambling platforms have grown in popularity, with some users making wagers on conflicts.

Obviously the stock trading is bad enough, but this shit is ridiculous. It’s insider trading that’s basically untraceable and the fact they even have to issue this warning only proves the corruption happening within the administration. Just another downside of crypto—I’ve yet to see an upside in real life.

White House staff warned not to place bets on prediction markets Read more

Peter Magyar’s Tisza wins Hungary election as Viktor Orban concedes

aljazeera.com

Longtime Prime Minister Viktor Orban has conceded defeat in the country's parliamentary election.

Not going to pretend like I know anything about Peter Magyar, but having Orban leave—and do so peacefully—is a huge win. I’ve seen people say things like fascism always loses, but I don’t think that’s the right mindset to have. It takes work and courage to defeat it and just because it eventually loses, doesn’t mean there aren’t real life consequences suffered by real people in the meantime who won’t get to see the fascists lose.

Peter Magyar’s Tisza wins Hungary election as Viktor Orban concedes Read more

‘The Drama’ Is Now A24’s Third-Best Box-Office Opening

vulture.com

Audiences said ‘I do’ to the rage-bait-y rom-com, making it A24’s third-highest-grossing opening to date.

I honestly did not see this coming, even with the high opinion and known quantity that Zendaya and Robert Pattinson are. The movie just didn't seem to really be connecting to its marketing. And while Dream Scenario was a fun movie, it wasn't superb, so we're not selling tickets based off the creator. It has to be a Zendaya thing, but it still surprises me a bit.

‘The Drama’ Is Now A24’s Third-Best Box-Office Opening Read more

Don’t read the book before the movie

chadcomello.com

When you save the book for after the movie, it’s like getting an extended director’s cut that includes so much more material, and lets you dive into that world even deeper with characters and details that weren’t captured on screen.

I thought I was going to strongly disagree with this, but after reading it and thinking about it more, it honestly makes sense. People who read the book are almost never happy with the movie because there's just so much context and depth in a book that you can't get in the movie. So if

Don’t read the book before the movie Read more