#IP at Work

[worldipday]

An Author Sparks Creativity Among Young Creators.

From immersing herself in the world of literature to crafting her own stories, Chidera Okolie has been nurturing her creative interests since she was a child. The Nigerian lawyer and writer is the author of two novels, When Silence Becomes Too Loud (2014) and Not Forgiven (2017). Beyond her passion for writing, Okolie is actively encouraging young writers in Nigeria to fulfil their writing dreams through her Idios Creatives initiative, which she launched in 2018. This is her story. Chidera Okolie set up Idios Creatives, a platform for young people to explore and express their creativity. “Through the Idios Creatives project, I wanted to provide a platform for a new generation of writers to embrace their creative power. It is my way of contributing to the development of young peopleʼs writing and other creative skills,” Okolie explains. To capture the attention of young people across Nigeria, in 2018, Okolie created the Idios Prize for Flash Fiction and Poetry. Over 300 schoolchildren took part in the competition. “We visited schools across Nigeria, collecting short stories from young writers. Eventually, we had about 300 stories, which we narrowed down to the best 100 for publication. This has helped showcase the abundance of creative talent in Nigeria,” Okolie notes. In setting up Idios Creatives, her strongest hope is that “young people are encouraged to read more and to explore their own creativity.”

Advancing IP and creativity in Nigeria

The author is also a champion of intellectual property rights, highlighting their crucial importance in recognizing, rewarding and supporting creators for their work. “IP allows you to protect your creative work from exploitation, illegal reproduction and misuse. It also ensures the preservation of your economic rights, in other words, your ability to earn income from your work, and your moral rights, including the right to be credited as the creator, and the right to protect the integrity of your work,” Okolie explains. While Nigeria has made progress in this regard, Okolie believes there is still more to be done to enhance the countryʼs copyright landscape. “Nigeria has long suffered from piracy, but the landscape is graduallyimproving. I strongly believe that IP rights play a critical role in emboldening artists to safeguard their work and use it for economic benefits. This becomes particularly significant when building a career based on oneʼs creativity,” she says. Okolie started writing her first novel, When Silence Becomes Too Loud, in 2014, without any intention of sharing it outside her personal sphere. “It was purely a personal endeavor,” she notes. But her father insisted that she have her book published. “I was hesitant to reveal myself so intimately and to allow others to delve into my innermost creative thoughts," she says. Despite her initial fears, Okolie started looking for a publisher and the bookʼs release, in 2014, exceeded all her expectations. “The book was widely acclaimed in my country and gained a lot of attention. It caught the eye of my countryʼs former president, who expressed his pride in associating with young people who strive to keep creativity alive in the country,” Okolie explains.

Her outstanding novel earned her three awards, including the 2016 Nigerian Writers Award for Best Fiction Writer of the Year and a nomination for the African Achieverʼs award. Building on her success, Okolieʼs second publication, Not Forgiven, is a collection of short psychological thrillers and also won accolades, paving the way for her to receive Most Outstanding Fiction Writer of the Year in 2017. In January 2019, Okolie was listed among the 100 Most Influential Young Nigerians by Avance Media.

[redslug]

So this was done in one day. Will explain the frankenstein of a workflow that led to this in a separate post.

[synchodai]

People who are criticizing GRRM for being unprofessional for not airing out his grievances privately should kill the Brand Management Team in their heads. His public criticism wasn't even that scathing. Some people are acting as if he scheduled a press conference so he can bash the show when all he did was have a mild take on what's basically the equivalent of his personal livejournal (his not-a-blog where he posts the most mundane of thoughts and the most miscellaneous goings-on of his septegenerian life). The way some people micromanage celebrities and artists and don't allow them to express even the most milquetoast of takes because they're more concerned how it'll reflect on the Brand™️ is wild. The way some people empathize more with a company's PR and legal team than the actual creator is wiiiiiild.

[lonniemachin]

‼️ EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS FOR GAZA ‼️

I’m starting a commission donation drive to help raise money for Gazan evacuation and support fundraisers. Money will be distributed between multiple different vetted fundraisers to help as many as possible.

⬇️⬇️⬇️ Information below! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Examples of my art, sketches and colored pieces:

Alternatively, donate an amount no less than $10/in equivalent currencies to any of the fundraisers in my #gaza tag, send me the proof, and I will draw you anything off the menu!

[thedevillionaire]

Chosen

Much shorter than it has any right to be, given how long it's taken me to actually finish. Plot? Uh, no, not really. But anyhow... She's been away. He's been unwell.

---

He looks at her like she’s the most welcome hallucination he’s ever had.

Kia closes the door slowly behind her as she takes in this chaos of a makeshift apothecary, the loungeroom in an utter state of disarray and her beloved not faring much better, red-nosed and unshaven and dressed in a black silken pyjama and robe ensemble which, while inarguably stylish, was very definitely not his usual late afternoon wear.

And not at all what she had been expecting to come home to.

A miscellany of potions and concoctions and gods-know-what-elses lie scattered across the coffee table. A teacup, mostly empty. Two tissue boxes, one apparently even emptier than the teacup. Some sort of book...no, manual. Looks instructional. A wilderness of failed curatives.

Oh my god.

She walks further into the room. The air smells of menthol and embers.

“Babe, what are… Are you… What have you even been doing h…?”

You absolute beautiful total disaster.

“Trying not to… hh-HH …let thi…this-damn-cold…” Cerberus turns from her as his sentence dissolves, the syllables collapsing against one another in a desperate rush to give way to greater need and deep breath of purpose, and he raises a finger in urgent, undeniable pause. "Huh-TSSCH-uu!" Hurriedly claiming a series of tissues in a brief, expectant hiatus, he surrenders completely and sneezes again. "Hh-AATSCHH-uu! *snff-FF!*" A quiet groan in the aftermath. He excuses himself, adds another tissue to the set, blows his nose and immolates the lot. "Pardon me." He sighs. "Trying not to let this godsdamned cold win,” he manages, with an accompanying sharp sniffle. Neither heavy congestion nor the way his voice cracks slightly lessens any of the seething distaste in his tone.

“Oh, honey.” Kia brushes some errant hair back from his face. :Bless you.: She touches a tender kiss to his temple. “You’re getting your ass kicked.”

She offers him a soft smile to hopefully lessen a little bit of truth's sting. "C'mon, shift over," she says gently as she joins her beloved on the couch, nestling up beside him, resolutely ignoring every caution he tries to give her advising against doing so. Notably half-hearted as those cautions are.

Because while it’s true that he very much doesn’t want her to catch this, he’s also well aware it’s more than likely already too late for such concerns. The entire house is probably some sort of incubation epicentre. And, sincerity of expressed warnings aside, the entire sorry vista surely constitutes warning enough. He's fairly certain he couldn't look more biohazardous if he tried.

Cerberus sighs again, sniffling again immediately afterwards, and gives his bonded a look of resignation.

Further elaboration hardly seems necessary.

But also he doesn’t press the issue because in truth the last thing he wants is to send her away. He’s not even sure he has the energy to insist on it, anyway; he’d be infuriated about this entire ridiculous circumstance if he wasn’t so damn exhausted. So, small obligatory protests done, with another damp sniffle Cerberus shifts some disarrayed blanketry out of the way and wraps an arm around Kia’s waist, drawing her close.

Her soft perfume of violet, strawberry and vanilla is lost on him anywhere outside of memory right now, but her presence is more than enough and he closes his eyes for a moment, just appreciating the simple fact of her being here beside him at last; he's missed her immensely, constantly.

“You know, you could’ve just asked me to come back, if you wanted me here,” Kia muses as she nestles further into his heat, adding, “It wouldn't have been a big deal,” without accusation. She leans her head against his shoulder and looks up at him with gentle azure gaze, her unspoken thoughts of I’d always choose you. How do you still not know that? readable despite her not voicing them.

And he does, of course, know that – in fact, it’s the very reason he wouldn’t ask. Cerberus sniffles thickly, wiping his nose. “Ah, love. I'd hardly ask you to put yourself anywhere near this—" He gestures around the room in a general presentation of contempt for the whole situation. "—vortex of infectious absurdity,” he concludes, thick congestion lacing his words. He clears his throat but it doesn’t make any notable impact against the wreckery his voice has become. "And it's about your... *SNFF!* ...your autodoby."

Kia peers at him. “My…what?”

“Your au…” Cerberus, all too aware that several critical consonants are unequivocally not working for him, rolls his eyes at himself. Honestly. Taking another fresh succession of tissues from a very rapidly depleting supply, he blows his nose forcefully but completely ineffectively.

He excuses himself once more and tries again; it goes equally badly.

Kia, baffled, raises her hands in a friendly but very clear nope sorry babe no idea expression, accompanied by a gentle little laugh that she just can’t help.

A long-suffering and immensely frustrated look comes her way, followed by a resigned, defeated sigh as her beloved entirely gives up. “Free will.”

For a moment, this makes even less sense to Kia. “Why would…” she begins, but cuts herself off in triumphant realisation. “Oh, autonomy!” She laughs. "Oh, sweetheart."

“That’s what I s… hh-hh! I...” And even this is hijacked, and the Demon king capitulates entirely, doubling over desperate into crooked elbow, “Huh-TSCHH-uu! Ah-HEHTSCHuu!” 

He takes some moments of bleary recovery, Kia's heartrate spiking alongside the :Gods, forgive me: Cerberus Mindsends her.

"Oh, bless you, babe." Kia doesn't try to fight the thrill that flashes through her and she wraps herself around her bonded to kiss him again; a kiss deeper, more needful, than is probably wise. But wisdom isn't what she's craving right now.

“You know what? You’re going to stop talking and let me make my own choices.” She brushes a stray lock of hair from his eyes, touches the softest of lingering kisses to his forehead and meets his gaze. :Talking really isn't working out for you anyway.: "And besides—" Another kiss, deeper again, and she presses her arousal against his, salacious, wanton.

:—you know we both want the same thing.:

---

[pinkmoondoll9shihtzu]

Woked an 8 hour shift

[carbon8tion]

Edited the wind up rubber strap of GO!Kidou because they got lazy and just reused MUJI!Kidou's hairline despite them being completely different and it pissed me off

[moiderahart]

Some old comms of some IPS-N custom mechs!

All of them are french.

[extasiswings]

The thing is, I very much do consider myself a progressive, but I’m a pragmatic progressive, which to me means (among other things) that I have a meaningful understanding of how government actually works, including being honest about what can and can’t be done through executive order and agency action, SCOTUS ratfuckery, and which party is responsible for congressional gridlock. As a policy matter, it also means I recognize that slogans are not policy and that the vast majority of policy goals can be reached in many ways (and that insisting your preferred method must be used to reach a goal while refusing to accept alternatives that are more feasible to implement and will accomplish the ultimate goal is the height of selfishness). And relatedly, I don’t demonize incremental change because in my view if you can help some people you should even if you aren’t able to help absolutely everyone you wanted to, you have a moral obligation to at a minimum help those you can and continue the fight for everyone else the next day. These things are not incompatible with progressive policy goals or values, and yet to the online left, those views make me an evil neoliberal etc etc. It never ceases to amaze me.

[worldipday]

Bringing Renewable Energy to Local Farmers.

Eco-innovative farming solutions are vital to ensuring the global reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to agriculture. Biodôme du Maroc, a small, fast-growing Moroccan company, provides local farmers with a technology that gives them access to renewable energy for on-farm use. Founded in 2013 by Dr. Fatima Zahra Beraich, Biodôme du Maroc is the first Moroccan company to specialize in the recovery of organic waste through natural treatment and environmentally friendly processes. This is to enable farmers in rural areas to produce biogas and fertilizer.

For the environment, biogas helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from abandoned organic waste and minimizes the risk of polluting waterways. This “clean” method of energy production also reduces reliance on wood as a fuel source. Biodôme du Maroc offers a range of small-scale agricultural anaerobic digesters. These digesters use a simple and innovative system to produce biogas and recover organic matter. Inside underground concrete enclosures, farmers can deposit different kinds of organic waste, such as household, plant and animal waste, which is fermented in a biological accelerator. In this process, gas is produced through methanization or anaerobic bio-digestion, where bacteria naturally break down organic matter within weeks.

By providing a technology that produces gas from organic waste, Biodôme du Maroc gives local farmers access to renewable energy for agricultural production.

Dr. Beraich currently holds six patents covering innovations that improve the efficiency and performance of Biodômeʼs bio-digesters. “The process of securing a patent means that our technology is evaluated by experts and allows us to understand just how different our inventions are from other competing technologies. This allows us to protect the inventive characteristics of our outputs,” explains Dr. Beraich. “With these patents in hand, we hope to be able to license our more recent patented innovations.” The support of the Moroccan Association for Research and Development (R&D Maroc) – part of the network of Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs) in Morocco – has played a critical role in the success of Biodôme du Maroc. “I learned about the TISC network at an outreach event at the University organized by the Moroccan Industrial and Commercial Property Office,” Dr. Beraich explains. R&D Maroc helped Dr. Beraich secure seed funding and also ensured she had the help she needed to draft her patent applications, and license and access the technology she required to create and commercialize her bio-digesters. Biodôme is currently marketing its patent-protected bio-digesters in Morocco and across Africa.

[foggyfanfic]

Did you guys hear Disneyland Cast Members voted to strike?

It was nearly unanimous too, 99% of the unionized cast members voted in favor of the strike. This doesn't necessarily mean they will strike, more that when the union rep shows up to the negotiation table on Monday they'll have that extra bit of leverage. Hopefully that'll be enough to win them living wages and such. I don't have anything intelligent to say, I just feel a kind of way about this subject, I'm going to put my opinions under the cut.

Ok, look, I love Disneyland. Love it with a passion. You know what reminded me this was happening and prompted me to look up the story? I was thinking of updating this card I made for one of the many games I've come up with to play in Disneyland because I have a weird variety of hyper-fixation when it comes to that park specifically.

So I am not speaking an ounce of hyperbole when I say Disneyland is my favorite place in the world.

But! Whoever the hell is making the big decisions around there needs to get their head out of their ass. I don't know if I should be blaming Bob Iger or Josh D'Amaro for the way the parks have been since the pandemic, but I'm going to blame both. I can deal with them experimenting with Genie Plus (I hate it but I'm used to capitalism), and I can sort of deal with the prices (I can't afford them easily but I'm saving up), but Disneyland has very clearly been trying to cut labor costs for a while now and it's incredibly baffling to watch. It feels like the parks are being run by somebody with a business degree from a sketchy "college" and zero experience with the real world.

They're cutting back on shows, overworking their existing staff, and skipping regular maintenance so they can operate the park with a smaller maintenance team. Overall it results in a worse experience for the customer, making it less likely that they'll convert new guests into returning fans like myself. While Disney World is a major tourist attraction that most people consider a once in a life time experience, Disneyland has always had a steady revenue from local Californians that return again and again. If you frequent forums about the parks you hear all about folks who live in SoCal that buy their annual pass (I know that's not what it's currently called, but that's what it is) and use it to get into the parks just to have dinner or rove around and maybe grab a churro. They might not be paying for Iger's next yacht, but those folks are providing a reliable revenue stream, and they go back again and again because for decades Disneyland has maintained a "magical" atmosphere.

And I feel like it's fairly obvious that the front line workers are the ones that make Disneyland what it is. Right? Like I'm not crazy, we all agree Disneyland would be nothing without the hard work of these cast members, right?

Why are they-? You need front line workers, why wouldn't you-? Do they not have years of research and experience backing up how beneficial a well paid staff is? I love the Incredicoaster but if all I wanted was thrill rides, Six Flags is an hour closer and a whole lot cheaper. I'm going for the complicated rides that require their own pit crew like Mickey's Runaway Railroad. Why are we even still having this conversation? I get that people like Bob Iger are a bit insulated from the rest of us, but the relationship between a happy staff and profit is well documented. Why wouldn't they just...? In the Disneyland subreddit a retired cast member post the Benefits Binder he got back when he worked for Disneyland and this thing was thick, it included health, retirement, and stock options. Somebody somewhere must have known that whittling down benefits while stagnating pay was not sustainable. Right?!

Like I said, I don't have anything intelligent to add to this conversation, but to be honest, I think everything intelligent to add has already been added. I'm just annoyed for my own sake and downright pissed for the sake of the cast members. I hope they get everything they ask for on Monday, and if they don't, I hope the strike knocks some sense into everybody it needs to.

[inksandpensblog]

Sorry but I'm still thinking about this: if Chosen really "wasn’t holding back" then Glasses would be dead. He’d either die from the cold or from lack of air or from electrocution.

By the time this moment happens, Chosen's lightning has already shorted out the other three jetskis (and I reiterate, his lightning seems to have only struck the jetskis, not their riders), leaving the other three mercs incapable of reaching him. With that one strike, he turned this encounter from a 4v1 into a 1v1.

Glasses has no backup, here. He's lost the advantage of numbers, the biggest advantage his team had, and he's taking on Chosen alone.

Why do I say that numbers were the team's biggest advantage, when Glasses still has his jetski with its glitch-shots?

Because those aren't much of an advantage if Chosen decides to just tank every single shot and power through the aftereffects regardless.

Whether this was a...smart decision on Chosen's part is up for debate, but the end result is that Chosen has nullified both of Glasses' advantages against him. Glasses never pulls out his toolbar until after he's landed on the ground and disembarked from his ride, most likely because he can't wield it effectively up in midair.

The only reason I can think of for Chosen to do something as foolhardy as not dodging the glitch-shots is because he wanted his landing to be as accurate as possible, so he didn't do anything that would alter his fall-path.

With how big his glacier ends up, he could've aimed in Glasses' general direction and it still would've worked. He didn't have to be accurate.

But no, Chosen gets close enough for a point-blank attack.

So again, if he wasn’t holding back, tell me how Glasses is still alive right now??

He and Glasses are practically nose-to-nose, when Chosen strikes.

He didn't have to miss.

--

I still have to analyze Chosen's behavior in this episode as a whole, and I still have to compare it with his behavior in past episodes; but in this opening scene I am absolutely certain that he was going out of his way to avoid hurting his pursuers. To his own detriment, even.

Just because he “went all-out with his powers” doesn’t mean he wasn’t holding back. I’d even argue that he wouldn’t have had to go all-out with his powers if he’d decided that killing or crippling the mercs was okay.

Because, like I said, he could've ended Glasses right there.

[carrotsnake]

people will get mad at you for calling a character from a large ip boring because they have no backstory or established personality beyond 2 dimensional tropes, so you ask them to tell you why they're complex and they list their own headcanons.

my brother in christ you are showcasing your own boundless creativity and passion for a source material that did the bare minimum, give yourself more credit.

[bunabi]

It’s true: Bioware commissioned me — and 31 other nice artists everyone knows and loves — to paint a portrait for DA Day. I was lucky enough to grab Alistair near the end. ( ° ͜ つ ͡͡°)

[pynkhues]

I recently read an article in which Quentin Tarantino stated that fewer movie stars exist as a result of "Marvel movies in Hollywood." I think Jennifer Aniston made a similar argument before saying that there are no longer any movie stars. I'm not sure what that means. I can think of a lot of movie stars right now, such as Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet, and Zoey Deutch etc. what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and Quentin's comments.

QuillBot's

Months ago, when you sent me this ask, anon, I wrote out a really long reply and as soon as I hit post, my laptop crashed and ate the answer, and I was so annoyed at myself for not saving my reply, that I couldn't bring myself to try and re-write an answer. I'm really sorry for that, especially because I think this is such an interesting ask (or well, two asks, because I think the death of the movie star and the impact Marvel's had on the broader concept of a movie star, are kinda two different things).

I've been thinking about it a bit again recently though, particularly as the Oscar race gears up, and Jacob Elordi and Charles Melton''s respective stars are rising in an industry currently desperate to find the new young Hollywood male 'talent', and I've been thinking about it again because honestly?

I agree with Jennifer Aniston, I think the movie star is dead.

We are a long, long way from Golden Age Hollywood where actors like Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe could captivate a public imagination in a way that translated to big box office effect, after all. Hell, we're even out of New Hollywood, an era dominated by names like Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and Jane Fonda, and the Blockbuster era with Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford.

My original reply went into a lot of the different reasoning as to why this is (like with many things, I don't think there's any one reason for it), in particular how the advent of streaming has changed our relationship with films and TV shows, how the saturation of the market has diluted the staying power of celebrities, how social media and the perceived accessibility of celebrities removes personal mystique which in turn removes intrigue and increases a sense of entitlement, and the fact that so many people having stopped going to the cinema means that the experiential element of seeing a film in a setting larger than life has been diminished.

I think call out culture plays a role too, with any actor on the rise being torn down by tweets they made eight, nine or ten years ago impacting how their star rises, I think the dismantling of the studio system (which is a good thing!) also harmed actors in the long run as studios stopped investing the same resources into making and training stars (they used to be able to sing, dance and act! Now some can barely even act!), and I think, of course, the rise of prestige TV changed the industry substantially (after all, movie stars were movie stars - they traditionally did not, and would not, do TV, which created a clear class structure in terms of screen-based storytelling).

And yeah, I think the language shift from film and TV to content has done irrepairable damage to the artistry of filmmaking and the consideration of a movie star as an actor at the top of their field instead of an actor with the most Insta followers or YouTube subscribers (after all, if everything's content, isn't it the same thing? [no lol]).

Which I guess is kind of where Quentin Tarantino's argument comes in, right? What he's saying is that Marvel's made it so that the IP - the content itself - is the star, not the actor, and I'd say he's probably right with that.

Think of it this way - back in the New Hollywood/Blockbuster era, Harrison Ford was the movie star - he was leading new franchises left-right-and-centre between Star Wars and Indiana Jones, sci fi epics like Blade Runner, leading action thrillers like Patriot Games, The Fugitive and Clear and Present Danger and getting nominated for Oscars for Witness.

He was a movie star in every sense of the word because you could hinge a film - one with a new concept, not just remakes or sequels - on him and be virtually guaranteed a success. He was what sold the tickets, the director just hopefully had to make something good enough people would leave the cinema glad they saw.

Tarantino's argument is the Marvel model - - hell, even the new Star Wars properties, turned the franchise into the star, for better or worse, which means original films can't compete because nobody knows the IP. Back when Harrison Ford was at the top of his game, his name was what helped original films including smaller, standalone works like Witness find an audience, but the studios have changed that. Capitalism has changed that.

Properties with existing audiences and deep pockets for merch were prioritised, only now those franchises are faltering and you've got a generation trained that 'cinematic events' are reserved for blockbusters in established universes, instead of taking a risk on a new film because you know you love an actor who's in it.

Do I think we could go back?

Maybe, but probably not.

I think the place we are now in the history of cinema / TV / 'content' means you can't make a movie star anymore because I think the industry is simply so different that no actor can break through in the same way that even Leonardo DiCaprio could 30 years ago. That industry doesn't exist anymore, actors aren't guaranteed draws (Bones and All proved that for Timothee Chalamet, and Wonka I think could go a similar way), or they have to heavily rely on other industries to become household names which I think dilutes them as a pure 'movie star' (Zendaya's a great example of this - I like her a lot, but how many movies has she even been in? They built her career up in peripheral industries long before they tried to sell her as a movie star, and frankly, I'd question her even as a leading actress yet given she's typically only either been in ensemble casts or clear supporting).

It's a whole new world, and yeah, I think the movie star is dead.

[black-ajah-hq]

So if there's anything that's become more apparent to me this season, it's that the show needs at least 10 episodes/season. Screw "new industry standards/bingeability metrics", Wheel of Time would genuinely be better if the writers were able to just give us more of this world, delve deeper into the story, and give the characters time to breathe.

Perhaps the 8 episode model works for some shows (especially non-adapted works like Stranger Things for instance), but for an IP that's a 14-book-long epic being adapted to 8 seasons of 8 episodes...serious squashing has to be done. Though I enjoy the show, I'm still really feeling the effects of that squashing. Characters (such as Rand above) literally don't have enough time in-universe or from the viewer's perspective to train. Hell, when is Rand going to even have the time to train with Lan this season? Maybe for one scene next episode? (blah blah book spoilers...but Rand is going to need either sword or channeling skills a few times in upcoming episodes both of which he has had not nearly enough training in)

Companies like Amazon don't really care that not every show will work under the same model. They just care about $$$--whatever costs the least and earns them the most money. It's just sad to that this is what's holding back the show. :(