Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What are your non-tech hobbies?

news.ycombinator.com

71–80 of 87 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are your non-tech hobbies?

#71
I'm enjoying story analysis a lot now. I've gone beyond watching movies and reading books to know the plot. My hobby now is finding all the possible plots based on the introduced characters and situations.

What makes it fun is that multiple people have invented a lot of rules around what a good story should be. Aristotle has written what's closest to the Newton Laws. It's badass that Newton's Laws still hold up with astrophysics and it's badass that something someone wrote in ancient Greece still holds up in the modern era of cinema. It's flawed, but it says things straight, instead of lots of maybes, so it's easy to prove true or false.

Megamind is an interesting beginner's analysis. It's very formulaic but doesn't look anything like that. It's subtle too, his cloak changes color according to his progress as a character.

Toy Story is probably the most interesting because it doesn't really fit in any major format. It's a Comedy, there's a misunderstanding, and things go from high to low to high again where enemies are friends. But that's about it. There's a lot of little highs and lows, as opposed to the usual where it's all ascends to one really big high (e.g. Guardians of the Galaxy). In Toy Story, he's about to get home, then things get worse. He makes another plan, it fails. It just gets progressively worse. There's no fixed mentor character too. Buzz and Woody are both protagonists, antagonists, and mentors to each other, except the story is told through Woody's perspective. The most interesting part is that they hatched a formula from it that works, which is used in all other Toy Story movies and a little in other movies. It seems they didn't follow the classical literature analysis and made up their own formulas and it works.

Re: Ask HN: What are your non-tech hobbies?

#72
Some of mine:

- Baking: needed some way to still create things that can be immediately enjoyed. I like how most of it is just following a process and learning to gauge the outcome by senses. I also like that you need to practice to fit the recipe to your environment and tools.

- Calorie counting: weird hobby, but it helps me discover which foods give the best bang for my buck. Also helps sharpen my estimation skills, which I know we all need to be better at.

- Summarizing books and articles: I recently got into reading again and now thouroughly enjoy it more because I create something out of it: notes and sharable content.

- Mentorship: more ad hoc these days, but I enjoy helping juniors with their problems.

Re: Ask HN: What are your non-tech hobbies?

#73
post #71

I'm enjoying story analysis a lot now. I've gone beyond watching movies and reading books to know the plot. My hobby now is finding all the possible plots based on the introduced characters and situations. What makes it fun is that multiple people have invented a lot of rules around what a good story should be. Aristotle has written what's closest to the Newton Laws. It's badass that Newton's Laws still hold up with…

I'd argue that Toy Story, like most Disney movies, is Hero's Journey at its core.

Re: Ask HN: What are your non-tech hobbies?

#74
post #71

I'm enjoying story analysis a lot now. I've gone beyond watching movies and reading books to know the plot. My hobby now is finding all the possible plots based on the introduced characters and situations. What makes it fun is that multiple people have invented a lot of rules around what a good story should be. Aristotle has written what's closest to the Newton Laws. It's badass that Newton's Laws still hold up with…

> Toy Story is probably the most interesting because it doesn't really fit in any major format.

What? It’s clearly Hero’s Journey. I haven't broken the beats down by time, but I’d bet its a reasonable approximation of the Save the Cat ideal times for each part of the plot, as well. The main unusual thing is that it has basically two intertwined Hero’s Journey's, but even that (and the twin protagonists each being antagonist-mentor shapeshifters to each other with, at least initially, diametrically opposed world views) is a not-uncommon paired-lead setup.

> There's a lot of little highs and lows

That's a fairly typical 2nd act pattern, which makes the arrival of the intense crisis more jarring.

> as opposed to the usual where it's all ascends to one really big high (e.g. Guardians of the Galaxy).

That's also a common, especially action-movie, pattern, where the idea is for the central crisis to be an expected payoff. But its not so overwhelming as to be “the usual”.

> Buzz and Woody are both protagonists, antagonists, and mentors to each other, except the story is told through Woody's perspective

Mentor-antagonist (or antagonist-mentor) shapeshifters are a common hero’s journey variation, though.

Re: Ask HN: What are your non-tech hobbies?

#75
post #71

I'm enjoying story analysis a lot now. I've gone beyond watching movies and reading books to know the plot. My hobby now is finding all the possible plots based on the introduced characters and situations. What makes it fun is that multiple people have invented a lot of rules around what a good story should be. Aristotle has written what's closest to the Newton Laws. It's badass that Newton's Laws still hold up with…

> Toy Story is probably the most interesting because it doesn't really fit in any major format. What? It’s clearly Hero’s Journey. I haven't broken the beats down by time, but I’d bet its a reasonable approximation of the Save the Cat ideal times for each part of the plot, as well. The main unusual thing is that it has basically two intertwined Hero’s Journey's, but even that (and the twin protagonists each being ant…

I wrote a rant on why it's not, but you might be right. It's just that most analyses on it are straight up wrong.

Woody's made to be special, he's got the writing on the foot. He is the Chosen One. Same with Buzz. So that's an interesting setup.

The call to adventure is a bit iffy and the part I had trouble with.

The part of there being a bigger world is even more iffy, but it makes sense. Woody lives in the toy world. Buzz mentally lives in space. Woody and Buzz are made aware of the big physical world, Buzz is made aware of the toy world.

There's the second part, the journey, this is played straight.

The third part, where they refuse to come home are different for both Woody and Buzz. Buzz goes through this first at Sid's house, and later Woody. I think there's a bit of a play here in that they both give up but the other deuteragonist forces them to keep going.

Re: Ask HN: What are your non-tech hobbies?

#76

Pickleball is amazing! Give it a try. Everything you didn’t like about tennis is gone and it’s got a smooth learning curve so you can start having fun right away while still taking years to master. In a lot of areas you can probably find a beginners night and get some quick instruction and play some games. Also 3d printing is really fun.

> Everything you didn’t like about tennis is gone

Can you elaborate? The physical toll tennis takes on you?

Re: Ask HN: What are your non-tech hobbies?

#77
I am trying to learn French through the usual apps, it seems to be going okay.

I am also trying to get into deeper reading where I spend a lot more time on reading literature deliberately with focus (I don't know if that is the right way to describe it).

I think there was a link submitted here a while ago which triggered it, and I realised I read in a very shallow but fast manner just to finish books. So I've been trying to read more consciously. Reading The Brothers Karamazov at the moment.

Re: Ask HN: What are your non-tech hobbies?

#80

Pickleball is amazing! Give it a try. Everything you didn’t like about tennis is gone and it’s got a smooth learning curve so you can start having fun right away while still taking years to master. In a lot of areas you can probably find a beginners night and get some quick instruction and play some games. Also 3d printing is really fun.

> Everything you didn’t like about tennis is gone Can you elaborate? The physical toll tennis takes on you?

Yes, it’s a lot less court to cover but you still do get exercise. In fact even if you have limited movement there are some shots you can let your partner get.

But being fast is still an advantage.

A big thing I didn’t like about tennis was having to find athletic friends to play with who had some tennis skills and manage the scheduling.

The best thing about pickleball is in most areas there are scheduled open play times where you just show up and play with everyone.

Post reply on HN