#also baxter: constantly reminiscing

[toucansafari]

Hey, hey Mr. Baxter Ward sir, care to explain why your bedroom and living room use the same colours as your rented condo at Sunset Bird?

(I know that the bg artist for the game uses orange and blue often, but I feel this is intentional)

(also apologies if all this has already been pointed out)

His guest room is so much more in line with his monochrome colour scheme.

It makes me think he intentionally decorated his personal spaces to remind him a little of that particular summer.

[brokehorrorfan]

Blu-ray Review: Vampires

John Carpenter is an undisputed master of horror, having helmed such classics as Halloween, The Thing, The Fog, and Christine, but he always wanted to make a Western. While he explored Western themes into Assault on Precinct 13, Escape from New York, and Big Trouble in Little China, he didn't get the opportunity to fully immerse himself in the genre until 1998's Vampires. Trading cowboys and Native Americans for vampires and vampire hunters, the neo-Western concept allowed Carpenter to combine his interest in Westerns with his penchant for horror.

Set in a world in which vampires have existed for hundreds of years unbeknownst to the general public, James Woods (Videodrome) stars as Jack Crow, who was raised by the Catholic church to be the ultimate vampire mercenary. He leads a Wild Bunch-esque team that slays bloodsuckers by day and parties like rock stars come nightfall - that is until the gang is mercilessly slaughtered by a master vampire known as Jan Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith, The Karate Kid Part III), the likes of which no one has ever seen.

The only person to face Valek and survive, Crow regroups with his right-hand man, Anthony Montoya (Daniel Baldwin, Mulholland Falls), a church-appointed liaison, Father Adam Guiteau (Tim Guinee, Blade), and a would-be one-night-stand, Katrina (Sheryl Lee, Twin Peaks), who was bitten during the vampire attack. As the master shares a telepathic link with its underlings, Crow is quick to utilize Katrina to track Valek before she completes her transformation into the undead.

Based on John Steakley’s 1990 novel, Vampire$, and adapted by screenwriter Don Jakoby (Arachnophobia), the plot of Vampires is more complicated than it needs to be, but it never feels hindered by exposition. While the Western angle may have attracted Carpenter to the project, the script lends itself to several set pieces that allow him to play to his strengths in horror as well as action, from the Gothic atmosphere of the opening sequence to the vicious vampire effects by KNB EFX Group (From Dusk Till Dawn, Scream).

Woods is not the first actor to come to mind when you think of grizzled antiheroes. With a sarcastic sense of humor injected into the sparse dialogue, the role feels tailor-made for frequent Carpenter collaborator Kurt Russell, but Woods proves to wear the leather jacket well. In a time when such larger-than-life roles were dominated by muscleheads like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, the part harkens back to the days of Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, and Henry Ford. Woods reportedly ad-libbed some of his silver-tongued dialogue, which adds more personality to the character, but sadly results in some homophobic dialogue.

Lee is a captivating presence on screen, but her role is a thankless one. The only female character of note, she's treated more like a prop than an actor as she is constantly pushed around both literally and metaphorically. Baldwin has had well-publicized battles with personal demons, but he's in top form here, playing well off of Woods with his tough guy persona. Griffith has the commending presence necessary to play the ultimate vampire, able to come off as both savage and suggestive - although, as the story dictates, he often leans toward the former. The cast also includes Maximilian Schell (Judgment at Nuremberg), Mark Boone Junior (Sons of Anarchy), Gregory Sierra (Barney Miller), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat), and a cameo from filmmaker Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption).

Carpenter and his frequent director of photographer, Gary B. Kibbe (They Live, Ghosts of Mars), utilize wide, anamorphic shots that evoke the director's early work as well as Sergio Leone's classic Spaghetti Westerns. The Western aesthetic is echoed by the soundtrack, on which Carpenter collaborated with Booker T. & the M.G. guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn and former The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan guitarist Jeff Baxter. The score mixes Carpenter's traditional, sinister synthesizer cues with bluesy rock and southern-fried guitar licks.

Scream Factory has released Vampires as a Collector's Edition Blu-ray. It offers Sony's same transfer that was used for Twilight Time's sold-out 2015 limited edition release of the film, which is pristine. The sun-baked orange glow of the desert (shot on location in Santa Fe, New Mexico) is particularly striking in high definition. The release features fiery new cover art byDevon Whitehead, along with the original poster on the reverse side.

The real selling point is the new extras. A 12-minute piece edits together new interviews with Carpenter, producer (and Carpenter's wife) Sandy King, and Kibbe. They discuss the making-of the film, its themes, the cast, and even the sequel, but it really only scratches the surface. An unexpectedly lively interview with Woods offers more substance. While he admits he wasn't the action hero prototype, the 22-minute chat makes it apparent that he relished the opportunity to play one. There are also new interviews with Griffith, who reminisces about being buried alive; Guinee, who shares a humorous fart story; and special effects artist Greg Nicotero, who breaks down several of the film's impressive effects sequences.

Carpenter's DVD audio commentary is ported over. Always significantly more animated when joined by a cast member, the director’s track isn't particularly informative, but he does share a handful of anecdotes between pauses and explaining what's happening on the screen. Carpenter shines more on the isolated score track that is also included. Archival extras include the vintage, 6-minute making-of featurette, along with extended segments with Carpenter, Woods, Baldwin, and Lee, plus B-roll footage from the shoot. There's also the trailer, TV spots, and a still gallery.

Vampires will be released on Blu-ray on September 24 via Scream Factory.

[magaprima]

Part 2 Episode 1 Thoughts (Part 4 of 4)

“If demons are hunting you with any regularity, perhaps you should transfer back to Baxter High”

When Hilda asked Lilith to encourage, she was very disinclined, but seeing that a demon, and a major one at that, was willing to defy all rules and kill her, concern for Sabrina’s welfare is coming into play. Now, at this point, it’s not genuine concern (as it does become later on in the season), but entirely out of the concern that if Sabrina is killed, Lilith is the one who will be made to pay the price. Their survival and protection is intrinsically linked via the Dark Lord. 

“It would...please your Aunt Hilda and..I could keep an eye on you”

I love how Lilith uses reassurances rather than arguments to convince Sabrina to come to back to Baxter High. She already knows telling Sabrina she must do something, that she can’t protect herself and do things by herself, will just make her dig her heels in, so she’s using emotional connections; her Aunt Hilda is all worried about her and her favourite teacher wants to look after her.

Also notice the box to the side of Sabrina; it is a cardboard box filled with all of Hawthorne’s things. Lilith has literally dumped them in a box and isn’t even bothering to hide it, and the fact no one is questioning the man left without any of his stuff, shows how heavily disliked he was. People, most especially women, are too relieved he’s gone to question how and why. 

When we begin talking about Sabrina’s issues at the Academy, Lilith seems to switch from manipulative talk to genuine conversation, genuine interest, revealing some of those early stages of the attachment she is inevitably (considering their similarities and the amount of time spent together) developing towards Sabrina. And Lilith doesn’t even take a second to correctly guess how people are viewing Sabrina’s bid to be Top Boy. 

“Oh, I see, and erm, stab in the dark, the warlocks, aren’t too keen on the idea of a female Top Boy are they?”

This is a story Lilith knows well and knows personally. Her very first conflict, very first experiences, were her saying she was equal to men, that she was entitled to the same role as men, and she’s spending thousands of years trying to prove to everyone, not just Lucifer, that she is deserving and worthy of being Queen of Hell. 

“Well, with a name like that, I can only imagine he’s trouble”

Well, needless to say, from this comment alone, Lucifer has not shared with Lilith that he’s told a warlock to get close to Sabrina. This is clearly the first time Lilith is hearing about Nick, but the fact she gauges from his name-- both of which are names consistently associated with the devil in Christian mythology- that he’s going to be trouble reveals a lot of how she views Lucifer, even before she has admitted it out loud to herself. 

Lilith looks genuinely and really amused when Sabrina tries to dismiss the idea of Nick being the one behind everything and dismissing her attraction to him. We’re seeing more of Lilith’s genuine interest in Sabrina’s welfare etc, the attachment is there, even if it’s only minorly showing itself and even if Lilith is in complete denial of it, but the way she engages with Sabrina here, her interest, teasing about a new boy in her life the way a Mother might tease a daughter is extremely revealing about what Lilith’s role is truly becoming towards her (the fact in the finale Lilith literally takes Sabrina’s birth father’s place in hell kinda seals the metaphor). Even the language she uses, the words she chooses, are very much maternal. 

“Oh, Sabrina, Sabrina, Sabrina. Is someone having a rebound crush? Is some handsome, young warlock clouding your judgement?”

It’s all very familiar, affectionate, caring, and it all comes too naturally and easily for it to be entirely down to manipulation. The bond is already there between them, whether Lilith likes it or not. Even the way she refers to Nick as ‘this provocatively named’ is another maternal thing, like a Mother immediately pointing out the issues with a potential boyfriend, warning against having interest of the boy with the motorbike (metaphorically speaking).

But when Sabrina says Nick is a conjurer and both of them realise this means Nick could very well be the one summoning the demons to attack her, Lilith’s expression is so resigned and unsurprised like ‘well there we go, it took a man exactly 2 seconds to disappoint and betray. How shocking’. 

The heavy sigh when Sabrina leaves, and Lilith is sat alone, is so freaking exhausting. Like this is a woman whose job is literally never done. She is always cleaning up something, sorting out something, fixing something, and getting no reward, no credit, and this is just another item to add to the list. She’s basically like Bob in The Incredibles when he’s like ‘I feel like the maid! I just cleaned up this world, can the world not stay saved for five minutes?’

And then we come to Lilith getting read to summon Satan. The woman doesn’t feel she can just summon him, that she can just cast a spell and have a chat; she has to get ready. She dresses herself nicely, she styles her hair, she applies lipstick; like the very last thing she does before casting the spell, is her make-up. She then messes with her hair, pulling her forward, she is obviously trying to make herself look as sexually attractive as possible. Now, remember this is not how Lilith originally looked. It may be her body now, through that flesh-copy spell she cast in the first episode, but for thousands of years she’s always looked like she did when Lucifer first met her, which among many things, looked a lot younger than her new form, and Lucifer is prideful, vain, arrogant, and no doubt Lilith is more than aware how much image and appearance matter to him. 

She has been playing this role of Ms Wardwell for absolutely months and months now, constantly, 24/7 and perhaps is even starting to feel sometimes that she is losing herself in the role, that she can’t see her original self in the mirror anymore. And what if Lucifer can’t see it either? What if he looks at her and all he sees is the ‘spinster school marm’ (to quote Zelda)? Lilith is, after all, very much aware of how easily men dismiss women due to looks and age, and Lucifer is a fallen angel, yes, but he’s also a man. So she tries to make herself look as much like her old self, even in this new form. She wants him to see her and still want her, and that, considering his treatment of her, and how worthy Lilith is in her own right, so tragically revealing of the existence she has been suffering through for so long. 

She looks at herself in the mirror like she’s getting ready for battle. She swallows, nods at herself, and is clearly tense as hell about the idea of summoning him. But she does it, because Lilith has never let fear stop her before, not when things need to be done. But we are very aware that this is a far from easy task, on so many levels. 

And then when we see her sat in the chair, working on the talisman, we see how she has styled herself; her hair, her makeup, her dress, all of it is more reminiscent of her old self rather than her ‘Ms Wardwell’ self. She has a very youthful style here, proving that she is trying to ensure Lucifer sees through her new appearance to her true self, the way she has been looking past his twisted form to remember his true self (It’s interesting to note that they’re both trapped in forms that aren’t their own, but the only difference is, it simply happened to him, a cause and effect, but Lilith was convinced to do this at Lucifer’s request, for the sake of getting Sabrina to join their ranks). 

“Forgive me impudence in summoning you”

She is quick to apologise, to assure him that even though she has commanded him here (and so proving that despite everything he says, she does have the power to do that. She is extremely powerful, enough to control him, even if only for a time; which obviously happens to a greater extent in the finale, when she fools him with a glamour and grabs him by the throat) as a way to stop him from being too angry, to remind him she knows that he is charge.

She avoids his eye so much though, even as she makes her challenges, She only glances at him briefly, as if afraid too much eye contact would make him lash out. It’s only when she finally gets to the point about Sabrina, and her suspicions about his secrecy, perhaps even betrayal, that she finally looks directly at him as she says ‘than you’ve led me to believe’. And we finally get the very first glimpse of the rebellion to come. 

[okadaizoirl]

Broly is an abuse survivor and "gifted child" survivor icon and here's why.

Hey hi hate to DBZpost on main but I wanna talk about the Broly movie. Can I talk about that? I'll tag this as spoilers since I can't put a Readmore on mobile or at least... Don't know how to.

Okay, so let me preface this accordingly: Everything I know about Dragon Ball is from my fiancé. Everything I know, he taught me. He showed me the original Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan movie, and... Damn did it leave a bad taste in both of our mouths. But I'm not talking about inferior walking 18 Wheeler Broly.

I'm talking about the one with character development. 2019 Broly. Who I adore.

Firstly, on an aesthetic level? His new design is far more interesting and piques one's curiosity more. And I'm going off of base forms because transformed... Oh it's a can of worms, squiggly dirty earthworms. So base forms only.

On the left is the original, which I personally find... Generic. Okay, he's decked out in gold and glimmer and has a concerning upper body situation going on. Next.

But the one on the right? My first thoughts were, "What's that cloth around his waist? It looks like a pelt, were there huge beasts on the planet he and Paragus were on? What's that collar on his neck? What's the story on those scars?" Instantly more stimulating.

But that's not even what sold my happy ass on 2019 Broly.

Now we get into spoilers, and I apologize for such, but they're critical to my point. When Paragus found him on Vampa, he took to being unshakingly authoritarian to train Broly to keep his already astronomical power level in check. When Broly found a friend in the monster he called Bai, Paragus shot its ear off and made it hate Broly-- His only friend now hated him, which is arguably worse than just killing Bai since once its mind is made up due to its primal nature, it won't change it for any reason. What's more? Paragus did this because he believed having a friend was interfering with Broly's training, like how parents of "gifted children" believe hobbies like playing video games is just distracting them from studying. But Broly still hung onto that ear because... That was his only reminder of having friends! I can't speak for every survivor, but I also have objects or memories that remind me of happy times in my past despite the shadow of abuse that looms over the majority of it.

But Paragus isn't just a psychological abuser. The collar around Broly's neck is a shock collar, one that sends almost lethal amounts of electricity through his body-- And Paragus holds the controller for it, and uses it whenever Broly "acts out". It's not brief either. Paragus is seen holding the button down. It's also been used so many times that when he shows Frieza the remote, not even using it, Broly immediately panics and starts frantically pulling at his collar. And what do we call that?

That's right! A trigger! His trigger is a... Trigger. That was in poor taste, I admit it.

Cheelai and Lemo instantly see Broly's situation, and when Paragus openly shocks Broly in the cafeteria, Cheelai is quick to not only confront Paragus, but take away his source of power over Broly-- The remote-- And smashes it when Paragus is out of sight. Because Cheelai is FUCKING GREAT. She and Lemo even stick up for Broly beforehand when Paragus silences him! Their bond grows even more as they ensure Broly is well fed, let him drink water (which was the first time he had ever done so!! PARAGUS WHY DID YOU LEAVE YOUR SON DEHYDRATED), and most of all, let him speak about the trauma he endured! The support an abuse survivor needs is perfectly illustrated in Cheelai and Lemo, who even live with Broly back on Vampa to ensure his safety. They're even firm on guarding him from Goku, despite the guy just coming by to give them a home capsule, because they're dead set on Broly not being taken advantage of again!

Broly's attitude towards Paragus is also a detail I appreciate. When Cheelai and Lemo bring up the fact that Paragus is abusive to Broly, he still retains a sense of obligation to love his father due most likely to common emotional abuse tactics. And with Paragus? It would be multiplied. "I chose to live on this horrible, inhospitable planet with you and leave our home behind, and I raised you in this hellhole, because I am your father and you will behave!" That's what I imagine it sounding like. Not a stretch, either, since Paragus shows in a lot of times how just his words have power over Broly. No threats to use the remote, just words. "We're here to eat, not talk." And Broly is immediately quiet. Though you may be asking yourself, why does he still stick up for Paragus while the man in question isn't there to intimidate him? Well... In my experience, repeated emotional abuse is akin to brainwashing. You start to think what you're being told is the absolute truth for how many times you hear it, and how things happening is misinterpreted by either you or your abuser as "proof" of this undeniable truth. Broly is still a victim in the time that he meets Cheelai and Lemo, so he has no time to process the fact that what his father told him isn't the truth.

When Paragus is killed by Frieza (BIGGEST SPOILER, SORRY), Broly's perspective is suddenly flipped on its head. The shock collar broke, but being in the half Oozaru state made it seem like he either didn't know or didn't care. But suddenly not only was the man responsible for that repeated pain and the death of his only friend gone, but so was the one he was convinced was the only person who cared about him. This triggered him to transform further. Why? Because this mimics those abused being separated from their abusers before they themselves realize they're in a pattern. When this happened to me, I was convinced I couldn't live without the person who treated me so badly. I didn't Hulk out like Broly because I am but a mere human with a lopsided pasty form and low power level, but I was under intense emotional distress for a long time. It got... Bad, too, but I don't want to add another warning to the tags when it has enough already. But my point is, this is still an accurate portrayal of a victim of abuse.

Also!! The fact that Frieza sees Broly only as a tool is highly reminiscent of how people see "gifted children"! And the fact that Broly transformed into the Great Ape multiple times, which carries a stigma amongst Saiyans as something only to be used as a last resort? And Broly constantly used it? And was looked down upon as a result, despite not really being able to help it? This is a parallel to a developmental disorder, such as Autism or ADHD! And Frieza sees Broly as a possible tool due to his power level (his natural skill), but more of a liability due to being prone to transforming into the Great Ape (his developmental disorder)... Which sounds... Familiar, doesn't it?

I'm kind of going all over the place here so I'll sum it up in a nice, neat little summary.

TL;DR Broly is the most accurate representation of a survivor of both parental abuse and "gifted child" culture I have ever seen and I am so glad that this is our canon Broly.

Also, the animation was James Baxter levels of smooth and I adored it.

[d4rk-x-w0lf-17]

If you were able to write Randy into the episodes with Leo, how would you do it?

Well for starters, I would love to write him in from the beginning of the series. Have him start out as a lowkey rival for Leo. Kind of like how Raph and Casey in the 2012 series were, but over time they warm up to each other. But if I had him be in the episodes (have his introduction be in Mystic Mayhem), here’s what his role would be:

Donnie’s Gifts: Randy would no doubt get the exact same thing as Leo because Donnie is tired of hearing them shooting off puns and one-liners with each other. Randy would keep his instead of using it against Meat Sweats, he just wouldn’t wear it afterwards.

War and Pizza: Helping April with taking care of the party and taking down Albearto. They both get fired but eh, he’ll deal with it.

Hypno-Potamus: Helps the brothers find the missing circus animals. Thankfully doesn’t get caught in Hypno’s hypnosis and begrudgingly helps Warren to take down Hypno.

Mascot Melee: Stays in the tank with the others until Raph needs the extra help. He doesn’t dance with the brothers but he does cheer them on.

Shell in a Cell: The episode where Randy’s Gay Awakening™ for Leo comes in. The second he sees Leo in his wrestling gear, he is GONE.

Minotaur Maze: Takes Raph’s side but also understands where Leo is coming from with his self-esteem issues. He gives him a much better pep talk than Raph does and it cheers him up.

Bug Busters: Constantly takes Leo’s side because he knows what it’s like to think someone is untrustworthy despite how nice they seem. Practically has a panic attack when he sees Leo get dropped off the roof but is immensely relieved when Raph jumped to help him, but not entirely when he was left to face off against Baron Draxum. Their fight didn’t end well and Randy didn’t reunite with the others afterward.

Hypno! Part Deux: Randy doesn’t attend the dance as they aren’t really his thing (plus with not really knowing anyone other than April) but he changes his mind when April called for help. Helps Leo and Raph take down Hypno.

The Gumbus: Helps Mikey with his fear of ghosts/the unknown while also helping Leo prove that there really isn’t anything to be afraid of. He’s faced literal demons before, a ghost shouldn’t be that scary. He immediately regrets saying that when Baxter gets abducted and is turned into a turkey. But he gets incredibly furious when everything turned out to be fake. He starts swearing in Japanese and Leo covers Mikey’s ears.

Mrs. Cuddles: Doesn’t really appreciate everyone making fun of Raph’s fear. He knows what it’s like to be afraid of something ridiculous, so he consoles Raph and tries to help him by asking if he’d like to try the same method he did to embrace his own fear.

Al Be Back: Seeing the brothers forming a band makes Randy reminisce of his own band he made with Howard. He dresses up in his old band gear too, but he doesn’t ask to join them. He knows it’s their band and doesn’t want to ruin their dynamic. He knows that Leo is a good singer, same with Raph so he has high hopes that their first gig goes well. Randy takes Leo’s side when Donnie feigns ignorance over Albearto going haywire. When the gig…doesn’t exactly end well, Randy still congratulates them and joins them for the pizza afterwards.

The Evil League of Mutants: Randy helps the turtles sneak out after Splinter grounds them. Leo explains that Raph wants them to train for Randy to respond with “I’ve never really had anyone train me and I turned out fine”. Leo, Mikey and Donnie (to some extent) agree with Randy. After the turtles get the flyers for the trap in New Jersey, Randy goes with them and provides them with his own version of their weapons (only Leo takes the Odachi sword. Raph and Donnie adamantly refuse to take his Bo staff and tonfas. Randy only has nunchucks and Mikey doesn’t want his old weapons back). After the fight and the reveal from Baron Draxum, Randy helps the turtles sneak back into the lair and when the turtles explain their human DNA and Splinter’s reaction, Randy immediately puts the pieces together.

[aswithasunbeam]

Benton J. Lossing Interview with Elizabeth Hamilton, 1848

Historian Benton J. Lossing sat down with Elizabeth Hamilton at her daughter’s home in Washington, D.C. in 1848. His record of the interview follows:

“She was then in her ninety-second year of her age, and showing few symptoms in person or mind, of extreme longevity. The sunny cheerfulness of her temper and quiet humor, which shed their blessed influences around her all through life, still made her deportment genial and attractive. Her memory, faithful to the myriad impressions of her long and eventful experience was ever ready with its various reminiscences to give a peculiar charm to her conversation on subjects of the buried past. She was the last living belle of the Revolution, and possibly the last survivor of the notable women who gave a charm to the Republican Court at New York and Philadelphia during Washington’s administration. When I revealed to Mrs. Hamilton the object  of my visit, her dark eyes gleamed with pleasurable emotion. She seated herself in an easy chair near me and we talked without ceasing upon the interesting theme until invited by her daughter to the tea table at eight o’clock; where we were joined by a French lady, eight or ten years the junior of Madame Hamilton.

‘I have lately visited Judge Ford at Morristown,’ I remarked.

‘Judge Ford, Judge Ford,’ she repeated, musingly. ‘Oh, I remember now. He called upon me a few years ago and brought to my recollection many little events which occurred while I was at Morristown with my father and mother during the war and which I had forgotten. I remember him as a bright boy, much thought of by Mr. Hamilton, who was then Washington’s secretary. He brought to mama and me from Mrs. Washington, an invitation to headquarters soon after our arrival at Morristown in 1780.’

‘Had you ever seen Mrs. Washington before?’ I enquired.

‘Never,’ she said, ‘never;’ she received us so kindly kissing us both, for the general and papa were very warm friends. She was then nearly fifty years old, but was still handsome. She was quite short; a plump little woman with dark brown eyes, her hair a little frosty, and very plainly dressed for such a grand lady as I considered her. She wore a plain, brown gown of homespun stuff, a large white neckerchief, a neat cap and her plain gold wedding ring which she had worn for more than twenty years. Her graces and cheerful manner delighted us. She was always my ideal of a true woman. Her thoughts were then much on the poor soldiers who had suffered during the dreadful winter, and she expressed her joy at the approach of a milder springtime.’

‘Were you much at headquarters afterward?’ I enquired.

‘Only a short time the next winter and an occasional visit,’ she replied. ‘We went to New Windsor after we were married, and there a few weeks afterward Mr. Hamilton left the general’s military family. I made my home with my parents at Albany, while my husband remained in the army until after the surrender of Cornwallis. I visited Mrs. Washington at headquarters at Newburgh, on her invitation, in the summer of 1782, where I remember she had a beautiful flower garden planted and cultivated by her own hands. It was a lovely spot. The residence was an old stone house standing on a high bank of the river and overlooking a beautiful bay and the lofty highlands beyond. We were taken from Newburgh in a barge to the headquarters of the French army, a little beyond Peekskill, where we were cordially received by the Viscount de Noailles, a kinsman of Madame Lafayette, who was Mr. Hamilton’s warm friend. We remained there several days and were witnesses of the excellent discipline of the French troops. There was saw the brave young Irish woman called ‘Captain Molly,’ whom I had seen two or three times before. She seemed to be a sort of pet of the French.’

‘Who was Captain Molly, and for what was she famous?’ I asked.

‘Why don’t you remember reading of her exploit at the battle of Monmouth? She was the wife of a canoneer—a stout, red-haired, freckle-faced young Irish woman named Mary. While her husband was managing one of the field pieces in the action she constantly brought water from the spring near by. A shot from the British killed him at his post, and the officers in command having no one competent to take his place, ordered the piece to be withdrawn. Molly (as she was called) saw her husband fall as she came from the spring, and so heard the order. She dropped her bucket, seized the rammer, and vowed that she would fill the place of her husband and avenge his death. She performed the duty with great skill, and won the admiration of all who saw her. My husband told me that she was brought in by General Greene the next morning, her dress soiled with blood and dust, and presented to Washington as worth of regard. The General admiring her courage, gave her the commission of a sergeant, and on his recommendation her name was placed on the list of half-pay officers for life. She was living near Fort Montgomery in the Highlands at the time of our visit and came to the camp two or three times while we were there. She was dressed in a sergeant’s coat and waistcoat over the petticoats, and a cocked hat. The story of her exploit charmed the French officers and they made her many presents. She would sometimes pass along the French lines when on parade and get her hat nearly filled with crowns.’

‘You must have seen and become acquainted with very many of the most distinguished men and women in America, and also eminent foreigners, while your husband was in Washington’s cabinet.’ I remarked.

‘Oh, yes,’ she replied, ‘I had little of private life in those days. Mrs. Washington, who, like myself, had a passionate love of home and domestic life, often complained of the ‘waste of time’ she was compelled to endure. ‘They call me the first lady in the land, and I think I must be extremely happy,’ she would say almost bitterly at times, and add, ‘They might more properly call me the chief state prisoner.’ As I was younger than she I mingled more in the gayeties of the day. I was fond of dancing and usually attended the public balls that were given. I was at the inauguration ball—the most brilliant of them all, which was given early in May at the assembly rooms on Broadway, above Wall street. It was attended by the President and Vice President, the cabinet officers, a majority of the members of Congress, the French and Spanish Ministers, and military and civic officers, with their wives and daughters. Mrs. Washington had not yet arrived in New York from Mount Vernon, and did not until three weeks later. On that occasion every woman who attended the ball was presented with a fan prepared in Paris, with ivory frame, and when opened displayed the likeness of Washington in profile.’

‘Were you often at balls which Washington attended?’ I enquired.

‘Frequently.’

‘Did he usually dance on such occasions?’

‘I never saw Washington dance,’ she replied, ‘he would always choose a partner and walk through the figures correctly, but he never danced. His favorite was the minuet, a slow, graceful dance, suited to his dignity and gravity, and now little known, I believe.’

‘Mrs. Washington’s receptions were very brilliant, were they not?�� I asked.

‘Brilliant so far as beauty, fashion, and social distinction,’ she replied. ‘Otherwise they were very plain and entirely unostentatious.’

‘Did you usually attend them?’ I asked.

‘Frequently; I remember a very exciting scene in one of her earlier receptions. Ostrich plumes waving high over the head formed a part of the evening headdress of a fashionable belle of that time. Miss McEvers, sister of Mrs. Edward Livingston, who was present, had plumes unusually high. The ceiling of the drawing room of the President’s house near Franklin Square, was rather low, and Miss McEvers’ plumes were ignited by the flame of the chandelier. Major Jackson, Washington’s aide-de-camp sprang to the rescue of the young lady, and extinguished the fire by smothering it with his hands.’

‘You saw many distinguished French people, refugees from the tempest of the Revolution in France, did you not?’

‘Very many. New York became much Frenchified in speech and manners. Mr. Hamilton spoke French fluently, and as we did not sympathize with the revolutionists who drove the exiles from their homes, he was a favorite with many of the cultivated ‘emigres.’ Among them was Talleyrand, a strange creature, who stayed in America nearly two years. He was notoriously misshapen, lame in one foot, his manners far from elegant, the tone of his voice was disagreeable and in dress he was slovenly. Mr. Hamilton saw much of him, and while he admired the shrewd diplomat for his great intellectual endowments, he detested his utter lack of principle. He had no conscience. In the summer of 1794, he spent several days with us at The Grange on Harlem Heights.’

‘Did you not entertain the young son of Lafayette and his tutor at The Grange a year or two later?’ I enquired.

‘We did while they were waiting for Washington to retire from office. They came to this country when the marquis was in an Austrian prison and his wife and daughters gladly shared his fate; their son, George Washington, was sent to the protection of Lafayette’s beloved friend. The President and Mrs. Washington would gladly have received them into their family, but state policy forbade it at that critical time. The lad and his tutor passed a whole summer with us at The Grange. At length he and his tutor went to Philadelphia; lived quietly at private lodgings, and when the retired President and his family left the seat of Government for Mount Vernon, the tutor and the pupil accompanied them. When the young man and his father were in this country twenty odd years ago they very warmly greeted me, for the marquis loved Mr. Hamilton as a brother; their love was mutual.’”

Source: Benton J. Lossing’s interview with Elizabeth Hamilton, as quoted by Katherine Schuyler Baxter in “A Godchild of Washington” (1897) pp.221-225 [Full text available on google books here]

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System learning advances human-laptop interplay

New Post has been published on https://pressography.org/system-learning-advances-human-laptop-interplay/

System learning advances human-laptop interplay

Within the College of Rochester’s Robotics and Synthetic Intelligence Laboratory, a robot torso looks over a row of plastic gears and blocks, expecting commands. Next to him, Jacob Arkin ’13, a doctoral candidate in electrical and laptop engineering, gives the robot a command: “Pick out up the center equipment in the row of 5 gears at the right,” he says to the Baxter Studies robotic. The robotic, sporting a College of Rochester winter cap, pauses earlier than turning, extending its right limb within the route of the object.

Baxter, alongside other robots inside the lab, is getting to know a way to carry out human responsibilities and to engage with human beings as part of a human-robotic team. “The valuable subject thru all of those is that we use language and Machine mastering as a foundation for robot decision making,” says Thomas Howard ’04, an assistant professor of electrical and laptop engineering and director of the University’s robotics lab.

System learning, a subfield of Synthetic intelligence, started to take off in the Nineteen Fifties, after the British mathematician Alan Turing published a innovative paper approximately the opportunity of devising machines that think and analyze. His famous Turing Take a look at assesses a Device’s intelligence by using determining that if a person is unable to distinguish a System from a person, the Device has real intelligence.

Nowadays, Gadget gaining knowledge of provides computers with the capability to research from categorized examples and observations of facts—and to evolve while uncovered to new statistics—rather of getting to be explicitly programmed for each mission. Researchers are developing computer applications to build fashions that detect patterns, draw connections, and make predictions from facts to construct knowledgeable choices about what to do Next.

The effects of System studying are apparent anywhere, from Facebook’s personalization of every member’s NewsFeed, to speech reputation structures like Siri, 1ec5f5ec77c51a968271b2ca9862907d e-mail filtration, economic marketplace tools, recommendation engines along with Amazon and Netflix, and language translation offerings.

Howard and different College professors are developing new methods to apply Gadget learning to provide insights into the human thoughts and to improve the interaction between computers, robots, and people.

With Baxter, Howard, Arkin, and collaborators at MIT developed mathematical fashions for the robot to understand complicated herbal language commands. while Arkin directs Baxter to “Select up the middle tools within the row of five gears at the proper,” their models allow the robotic to quick learn the connections between audio, environmental, and video information, and adjust set of rules traits to finish the project.

What makes this especially hard is that robots need if you want to procedure instructions in a huge sort of environments and to achieve this at a pace that makes for natural human-robot dialog. The group’s Studies in this problem led to a First-rate Paper Award on the Robotics: Science and systems 2016 convention.

by means of improving the accuracy, speed, scalability, and adaptability of such fashions, Howard envisions a destiny in which human beings and robots perform responsibilities in production, agriculture, transportation, exploration, and medicine cooperatively, combining the accuracy and repeatability of robotics with the creativity and cognitive competencies of people.

“It’s far quite hard to program robots to perform obligations reliably in unstructured and dynamic environments,” Howard says. “It’s miles crucial for robots to build up enjoy and learn higher ways to perform obligations within the equal way that we do, and algorithms for Device getting to know are crucial for this.”

Using Gadget getting to know to Make Predictions A picture of a prevent signal carries visual patterns and features such as color, form, and letters that assist people perceive it as a prevent signal. With the intention to teach computer systems to identify a person or an object, the laptop desires to see those functions as particular patterns of statistics.

“For people to recognize another character, we take in their eyes, nostril, mouth,” says Jiebo Luo, a partner professor of PC Technology. “Machines do no longer necessarily ‘suppose’ like people.”

Whilst Howard creates algorithms that allow robots to recognize spoken language, Luo employs the power of Gadget studying to train computers to discover capabilities and detect configurations in social media snapshots and information.

“whilst you take a image with a digital digital camera or along with your smartphone, you’ll possibly see little squares around each person’s faces,” Luo says. “This is the form of era we use to educate computers to discover pix.”

The usage of those advanced computer vision tools, Luo and his group educate Synthetic neural networks—a era of Gadget learning—to enable computers to sort on-line images and to decide, for instance, emotions in photographs, underage drinking patterns, and traits in presidential candidates’ Twitter followers.

Artificial neural networks mimic the neural networks in the human brain in identifying photos or parsing complicated abstractions by means of dividing them into distinctive portions and making connections and locating styles. However, machines do no longer bring real pictures as a individual would see an photo; the portions are converted into facts styles and numbers, and the System learns to perceive those thru repeated exposure to records.

“Basically everything we do is Gadget mastering,” Luo says. “You want to educate the Gadget often that This is an image of a person, That is a woman, and it subsequently leads it to the ideal end.”

Cognitive models and Gadget gaining knowledge of If someone sees an object she’s in no way seen earlier than, she will be able to use her senses to decide numerous things about the object. She might look at the object, Select it up, and decide it resembles a hammer. She might then use it to pound matters.

“A lot of human cognition is primarily based on categorization and similarity to matters we’ve got already experienced thru our senses,” says Robby Jacobs, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences.

Even as Synthetic intelligence researchers recognition on constructing systems along with Baxter that engages with their environment and clears up responsibilities with human-like intelligence, cognitive scientists use statistics Science and Gadget learning to study how the human brain takes in information.

“We every have an entire life of sensory reports, that’s a great quantity of information,” Jacobs says. “However human beings also are superb at getting to know from one or two statistics items in a way that machines can not.”

Imagine a child who’s just gaining knowledge of the words for diverse objects. He may additionally factor at a table and mistakenly call it a chair, causing his dad and mom to respond, “No that isn’t a chair,” and factor to a chair to discover it as such. As the toddler continues to factor to objects, he turns into greater aware about the capabilities that vicinity them in wonderful categories. Drawing on a sequence of inferences, he learns to perceive a huge kind of items supposed for sitting, each one awesome from others in numerous methods.

This gaining knowledge of method is tons extra hard for a laptop. Device getting to know requires subjecting it to many sets of information As a way to constantly improve.

One among Jacobs’ projects includes printing novel plastic gadgets The usage of a 3-D printer and asking people to describe the gadgets visually and haptically (by way of touch). He uses this information to create PC fashions that mimic the ways humans categorize and conceptualize the sector. via these computer simulations and fashions of cognition, Jacobs studies studying, reminiscence, and choice making, especially how we absorb information through our senses to discover or categorize items. Device mastering and Speech Assistants Many humans cite glossophobia—the worry of public speaking—as their finest fear.

Ehsan Hoque and his colleagues on the University’s Human-computer interaction Lab have advanced automatic speech assistants to help combat this phobia and improve talking talents.

when we talk to a person, the various things we speak—facial expressions, gestures, eye contact—aren’t registered by way of our aware minds. A PC, But, is adept at reading this data.

“I need to learn about the social guidelines of human communication,” says Hoque, an assistant professor of PC Science and head of the Human-computer interplay Lab. “There may be this dance going on when people speak: I ask a question; you nod your head and reply. We all do the dance But we don’t always recognize the way it works.”

To be able to higher recognize this dance, Hoque developed automated assistants that can experience a speaker’s frame language and nuances in presentation and use those to help the speaker enhance her communique capabilities. those structures encompass ROCSpeak, which analyzes phrase preference, quantity, and body language; Rhema, a “clever glasses” interface that gives live, visible feedback at the speaker’s quantity and speaking rate; and, his most modern device, LISSA (“stay Interactive Social skills Assistance”), a digital man or woman reminiscent of a college-age female who can see, pay attention, and respond to users in a communique. LISSA provides stay and submit-consultation feedback about the user’s spoken and nonverbal behavior.