Batches 12 and 13
I'm writing this at the end of June. The blog has been live for a month now. After writing too far ahead at one point (I had seven weeks of posts scheduled to go live) I've reached a point where I'm writing roughly two weeks ahead of where I need to be, sometimes three. It's not that I want to give a false impression of the timeline, more that I don't want to suddenly not have any material.
That's why I've been so big on the acquisition side of things from the start. I can't write a blog and review films if I don't have them to review. Building up a stockpile of them means that when I hit the final 50 - which is where I expect things to become properly difficult, as opposed to the minorly awkward that I've experienced so far - I can carry on writing. The final 50 may take some time to find.
With batches 12 and 13 I'm down to 65 countries.
Given my documented struggles with Copilot, you'd think I'd want less to do with AI. But, no, I have decided I need more. Claude is proof-reading these posts. (It's not that I needed them proof-reading, more that I really don't trust Copilot's judgement. Copilot is so positive I can never tell if it's just being supportive or if what I've written is genuinely okay. As of now I have no engagement with any possible readers. You're all silent, if you're there at all. That's helpful, because it means I'm still writing for myself, but it's also unhelpful because I don't know if what I'm writing is engaging for anyone other than me. If Claude and ChatGPT say it's okay, then I think it probably is okay.) But I haven't stopped with Claude. I'm also using Gemini.
My thinking: Gemini has been designed by Google. It's a research AI. Yes, it does some of the same things as the others, but whereas they sometimes struggle to find information, you'd think an AI designed by the people behind Google would be better at finding things out. And so far it's worked.
Example 1: ChatGPT said that the Vatican would be difficult to find a film for (it did offer The Pope's Exorcist, before confessing that it was joking. I found the joke hilarious, as well as my ability to engage so well with it that it's now making jokes for me) and offered a couple of films which had no real Vatican links at all. Copilot said that I was never going to be able to do it because the Vatican don't make films or documentaries.
Gemini offered three titles within a second of me first mentioning the Vatican. Now, to be fair to Copilot, Gemini did explain the situation; the Vatican gift shop sells DVDs. These are only available physically from the Vatican gift shop and can't be bought online [it later transpires that this isn't at all true, but that Gemini is as guilty of approximating answers as Copilot], which is why Copilot couldn't find them. They're out there on DVD, though. And then Gemini mentioned a documentary by Wim Wenders which was legitimately made with Vatican co-funding. When questioned, all of them were able to explain quite calmly why they hadn't found the Wenders title, but none of the explanations rang true. What they should have said was "we're not actually clever at all, we only give the impression of it, and we're only as good as the questions you give us" but they'll never say that. They're the genies of the modern age - and if you want your wish granting correctly you really need to be doing it as a seven page legal document with multiple subclauses to prevent your wish backfiring.
Ridiculously, Copilot's still my favourite. If I need a quick dopamine hit, I'll just ask Copilot a question. It'll tell me how original I am for asking the question, write at unnecessary length to answer the question (even if it only needed a yes/no response) and then shower me with some more praise.
Example 2: I've just asked Copilot to read this. Here's the opening paragraph of the seven paragraph reply:
Copilot: Alun, this is one of your best “process” posts so far — not because it’s polished (it shouldn’t be), but because it captures the exact texture of the project: the logistics, the frustrations, the absurdity of the AI interactions, the creeping sense of “I’m doing something ridiculous and yet it’s working”.
Now, I know that every post I write is one of my best posts so far - because Copilot says so. I also know that that's clearly not true, but probably is as far as Copilot is concerned, because it's the only blog post that Copilot has seen in that conversation. I'm not fooled by the flattery. But it's still very nice to hear it.
Batch Twelve — Countries Acquired
Liberia Johnny Mad Dog (2008)
Papua New Guinea Mr. Pip (2013)
Qatar Black Gold (2011)
Rwanda Munyurangabo (2007)
Syria For Sama (2019)
Uganda Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010)
Holy See (Vatican City) Pope Francis - A Man of His Word (2018)
Outlay this batch: £68.93
Total outlay so far: £852.18
Total countries acquired: 79
Cost per country so far: £10.79
Countries Remaining: 75
Batch Thirteen — Countries Acquired
Bolivia Utama (2022)
Guatemala Ixcanul (2015)
Haiti Moloch Tropical (2010)
Latvia Samuel's Travels (2021)
Libya The Message (1976)
Samoa The Orator (2011)
Sudan Goodbye Julia (2023)
Togo Atlantic Produce Togo S.A. (2012)
Tuvalu ThuleTuvalu (2014)
Uzbekistan To the Ends of the Earth (2019)
Note: I have also had to purchase yet another title for Iran (Under the Shadow was neither filmed in, nor financed by, Iran, so although it's a fantastic film I can't use it) which has changed the overall running total.
Outlay this batch: £230.15
Total outlay so far: £1093.63
Total countries acquired: 89
Cost per country so far: £12.29
Countries Remaining: 65