#may the new year bring us more bops to analyze !!

[staycgrls]

hi taylor!! what are your favorite kpop releases of 2022? 🥰💖

hi rin!!!!!! sorry this took so long 😭😭 i got busy and then i really had to sit here and think 🤔 i know a lot of ppl said this year was boring for kpop but not for me 😌

im doing top 10 albums for me like could not stop listening to for weeks and have the most replay-ability for me !! the ranking doesn’t matter i just like a numbered list lol this got long tho my bad 🤦🏾‍♀️ (also not me realizing while doing this weki meki never put out music this year jssjshsbsbsbbs )

1. 28 Reasons - Seulgi, Favorite track - Dead Man Runnin’ I don’t even need to explain, she slayed, she served, she conquered, and she left :)

2. Young Luv Dot.com - Stayc, Favorite Track - Same Same ofc my girlies are here v good and well produced ep and the video was beautiful !! this and poppy were honestly my favs and i still listen on the reg

3. newjeans - Newjeans, Favorite track - Attention Truly only stanning on a music level because they are absolutely babies to me but I really liked the album, simple and clean tracks that are just catchy but I genuinely hope they stay safe and are able to continue schooling in some capacity.

4. The Reve Festival 2022 Feel My Rhythm, Favorite Track - Bambeleo MASTERPIECE would not call it their magnum opus in any regard but I enjoyed it so thoroughly and the mv made me wish i was back in college so i could show this to my art history prof so thats amazing on its own

5. Heartburn - Sunmi, I loved both tracks and I loved the concept! I like the subtle country vibes and its easy listening; and it gave us Bass player!Sunmi so im pleased :)

6. Horn - Apink, Favorite Track - Red Carpet or Single Rider Honestly a dark horse this year, it was very good and while I usually enjoy brighter songs, I liked Dilemma was v catchy!!!

7. [Apocalypse - Save Us] - Dreamcatcher, Favorite Track - Starlight Though this title track wasn’t their strongest, I loved the showcasing of everyones solos, particularly Gahyeon and Jiu which stayed in my most replayed all year long!!

8. Undo - Heize, Favorite Track - Thief, Ft Minnie So I enjoyed the title and the collabs the most which is par for the course for Heize with me, but I enjoyed the slightly retro, 2000s feel she did with this one!!

9. the collective soul and unconscious: chapter 1 - billlie, favorite track - overlap (1/1) stunning showstopping amazing wonderful truly i liked billlie before but this album put them on the radar for me (and a lot of others) fav hype up title that energy wise was on par with Hi High for me

10. Antifragile - Le Sserafim, favorite track - Impurities I love to dance i love a track that makes me dance, same with the above but it put them on the map for me like huh yunjin is that girl 😤

honorable mentions are ofc forever 1 - girls generation, flash - rocket punch, love dive - ive, and smiley - choi yena !!!! sorry wow that got v long so if u didnt read i understand dndjsbsbbs but tysm for asking me rin!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

[youn9racha]

I Know (Part I)

Pairing: Changbin x fem!reader

Genre: suggestive

Word count: 1.9k

Warning: slight adult content, swearing, suggestive actions, elements of stalker behavior

Extra notes: characters mentioned are all above the age 21 years, a lot of hatred towards the male figure lol. Also this is my first time writing on tumblr, so please bare with me, it may not be the best, but I still hope you enjoy it :)

And baby, I know, I know whatever city you’re in, you’re still the boy that I’d pick…

part ii is up !!!

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This is no way representative of the way Stray Kids act. They’re nothing but references of character, and in no shape or form is this how they act. And I am in no way romanticizing or glamorizing any toxic behavior exhibited, they’re just stories that is meant to be read. Readers discretion is advised

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Men…

Truly the scums of the Earth, who do no good for no one, and are an absolute menace to society. But oh, do I enjoy the looks of their faces at times. The way they would look at me with full hope and infatuation, with full beliefs that I would step down and give them all they want from me.

Hmph. How cute… and pathetic. How pathetic to assume and lower my standards for them. They all are the same. All but one however.

All that men hating… and yet, only one I’d be willing to go down to his level.

Yes, its him… He whom a lot would have not sought to be with, not many would expect a bombshell like myself would be with. But I do not see that in him, not an ounce of what many insecure individuals would see. I see something striking that not many could see, an underrated dignified beauty that anyone could wish to admire. A fanciable and irresistible personality and face.

He was a man.. but a pleasant one.

It all started when I moved in into a new flat for myself. I previously left the old complex due to the cramped environment I had that left me feeling uneasy and stressed, as well as it wasn’t even my apartment, it was for my partner, well, ex-partner. It was simply wasn’t working out, due to our seeming never ending conflicts. But enough of the past, let us move on..

I found this flat that is comfortable and the rent pays well, its only downside is that my room’s window is faced to the next door’s flat, however it’s not a big detriment or big turn off for me so it was fine by me, and also it was prone to have random, yet rare, blackout, but then again what neighborhood doesn’t have that. Anyhow, I was set to take the complex, but before I did, I have noticed something about the neighbor’s window next to me. It was a man. A really good looking one too. Giving his side profile, he was laying on his bed, his black hair covered head bopping with earphones placed in ears, laptop placed in his revealing shorts adorned lap. My eyes began started to stare into his arms then onto his naked well built chest, which indicates that he likes to keep up with his health, as his ring adorned hands was tapping away in his keyboard. I quickly looked away when I saw him repositioned his laptop, and walked out of the soon-to-be my room.

Great… I’ve entered Hell.

But I didn’t let it affect my decisions and got the apartment nonetheless, here I am now, weeks after the incident, sitting in my car, outside of the building, still thinking about the man in his laptop. Has he noticed that I was staring at him? Does he know that there’s gonna be someone living next to him? I hope not. And if he has, I must apologize to him. But before that, let me unload my car. I have gradually put my stuff into the complex as the days go by, it seems dragging, but it felt like the time went by fast, so I’m glad I have done that. However, today was different, as I took stuff more than I usually did, as I desperately do not want to go back to my ex. Typically, I never had assistance, as usually my best friend would join in and help out, but at a time I needed them the most, they had to be really sick. They still were willing to help, but I insisted that they shouldn’t and should rest.

After thinking, I sighed and got out my car, ready to fight the battle that is putting my stuff into my complex. I opened the trunk, eyes meeting my stuff, and I begin to groan. ‘Dammit, (y/n), why do you have that many stuff?!’ I thought to myself. I really should’ve had at least one more visit to my ex, but alas I picked to just take all all together in one day. I picked up a box until..

“Need any help?” I heard someone behind me asking me. I turned around and looked at the source. ‘God damn, is it just me, or does this town just bring out more attractive people?’ I thought to myself, as I see a man that looked like he could be at a museum. He had a sandy brown curly hair, slightly tanned skin, really plump and a crazy jawline. He donned a tank top that barely covered his side torso, and basket ball shorts that complimented his really nice, thick… thighs… yeah… Needless to say he was really attractive.

It seems that I was ogling him, rather than responding, as he shyly smiled and waved his hand in front of my face, “hello,” he softly said as I shook my head and looked back at his face apologetically.

“I am so sorry, I am just really tired, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” I cringed at my pathetic way of justifying of me literally internally lusting over him. I really am turning into someone I dread to be. How can I forgive myself?

“That’s okay, I know how moving can get tiring, and I sense that you’re alone, so please let me and my friend help you out.” He said, sympathetically smiling a sweet smile, already grabbing a box out of my hand. God, if this man has a partner, then they’re the luckiest person ever, and if he’s single, I’ll gladly hand him a ring. What am I saying? (y/n), what the hell has gotten into you?!

“I’m Christopher, but you can call me Chris or Chan, whichever you prefer is fine, what’s your name?” The generous man’s voice interrupted my inner battle and I found myself looking at him again. “(y/n)” I smiled at him, which he nodded back.

“Nice to meet you,” Chan said, looking back and see that his friend showed up, meanwhile, I went back to my trunk and got out more stuff from my car “oh, there he is!” Chan enthusiastically announced.

“(y/n), meet my friend and roommate, Changbin.” Chris said, while I got out the box and looked at the other man, my face shifted from contentment to horrific.

Its the man with the laptop.

“Hello? Chan, are you sure she’s okay?” Changbin looked at Chris with worry. “Yeah, she’s just tired, just nudge her.”

It’s like Chris knew me too well, despite meeting for less than 10 minutes, as Chris slightly pushed me with the box, not enough to hurt me, but enough to put me out of a trance.

“huh? I did it again, did I?” I looked at Chan, worryingly, which he nodded. I looked back at Changbin and the pathetic act was brought up again.

“I am so sorry, I don’t know what has gotten into me.” I apologized once again, which Changbin only smirked. “Don’t worry about it,” He said, carrying a box. Something about that smirk and tone seems off. Not off in a menacing way, but off in a… coy way. Maybe not the best term to use, maybe I am just over analyzing, but I am for sure either winning the lottery tonight, or convinced that the sun will rise from the west tomorrow, since I have two very attractive men helping out, one of which is someone whom I may have an odd fascination for a while now.

~~

The two have been nothing but a delight to interact with, their help with the stuff had done me even more than just a solid. However, I still in a way feel a bit unsettled by Changbin. It wasn’t that he was a creep, or did anything to make me uncomfortable, its just this feeling of guilt I carry with me. Meanwhile, I didn’t attempt anything, and I just simply just admired him from afar, it still felt wrong that I was just looking at him while he was barely wearing anything, let alone while not him paying attention. Despite this, it seems that he doesn’t know that I did what I did, which is why I chose to confront him about it when the time is right, which is probably when we start getting even more comfortable. I have exchanged numbers with both men, even though I could probably just go out my window and yell out their names, but I’d rather not disturb the peace.

Two good looking men are now my neighbors… Who would have thought? Whichever entity that is in existence have decided to play with me, because to them, my humiliation would be their laughing stock, because they definitely would have seen what is to become of me.

Its been a week in since I moved, and interacted with the two Chans, and I am glad that a curtain was installed onto my room, just so I wouldn’t carry even more guilt than I already do. But the thing is, I would lie that I still haven’t thought of Changbin. While I would have thought that Chris fitting into more of my ideal type, Changbin however held a mysterious power that Chan didn’t.

Ever since the time I first laid eyes on Changbin, he has never left my mind. He has started to creep up in my fantasies and dreams in every way shape of form. I couldn’t stop thinking of how his arms would look around my waist, how his lips would feel in my skin, or how his hands would wander around, exploring places that many men often fail to find to make me feel good, or how his voice would be like when talking as he puts his mouth by my ear— God, this is getting out of hand, I would think.

What if he had a girlfriend? What if he wasn’t attracted to women in general? What if he finds you a creep?

So many more endless questions would come in to ruin me, but its not like i have a choice, he just happened to settle into my dreams and thoughts, and went with it.

I decided to take a shower to try and distract myself from these thoughts, which didn’t help at all, as the hot water cascading my skin did nothing but accelerated my lustful thoughts. I decided to get out of the shower, as it didn’t help my case.

Damn you, Changbin.

I sighed, put on some underwear and a robe while having a towel wrapped around my hair. I got out of the bathroom and back to my room. It was dark out, and in my room, the only light came out of it were my night lamp, which barely lit up the whole room. I checked the window, making sure Changbin wasn’t there, or at least not facing the window, only to see his window being covered with curtains.

Great timing, could’ve used that when I first saw you, dipshit.

But nonetheless, I was really glad at least he wasn’t visible. I laid back on my bed, and decided to look through social media, as anyone should. While in the middle of a instagram scroll, I see a caller popping through at the top of the screen…

It was Changbin.

[ygconfessions]

Hi! I am the anomino who did the bp comparison with mamamoo and twice. Where it was turned into post. I don't care. I wanted to know your opinion on the subject. I like some things that talk about bp. Sorry for my English.

Don’t worry your English is fine hun, and sure if you want to hear my opinion about it, I will gladly share it with you. 

So first of I kind of have to disagree with you, I don’t think Black Pink doesn’t have a concept. I actually think it’s quite the opposite because obviously, YG hopped on the new trend, alongside SM did with RedVelvet, and created a group with a two-sided concept.BlackPink is supposed to be the unicorn-slipper wearing girl, with flowers in their hair, sipping on a pink strawberry latte with glitter topping, while kicking ass. In other words badass but cute.

Which is Cheerful unique and actually quite a cool concept, because it should be absolutely fine to be cute and strong however the problem is, that’s not how YG promoted them. His marketing strategy was to sell them as second or new 2ne1.

It feels like they have no real concept because BP themselves sometimes feel like they’re unsure what the company wants them to be, like overwhelmed kids, pressed by their parents to be like their big siblings, but at the same time told to be their cute innocent self and stay that way forever. 

So the problem is, the two face concept can be quite a hit or miss, I mean we see it with redvelvet compared to other SM groups they have had a rather rookie rookie eh I mean rocky start. They are doing fine currently, but all because SM knows how to promote them right. 

So now about the other two mentioned groups, I’m personally not very fond of comparisons if they are just being used to bring down one side. I mean sure we all analyze things based on others, like above I compared RV and BP but once you go down the road and search for mistakes or the differences, then you will be endlessly occupied, don’t get to worked up in it because it can quickly become quite toxic. There is this very accurate saying, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” Meaning, we all have that one person we envy, we think is prettier, or wealthier, or luckier, has the perfect boy/girlfriend or wife/husband, or family. We are all guilty of it, and we all have that moment of envy, without realizing that person has its own package to carry, its own resentments, its own worries, its own things she/he is nitpicking about her/himself. Both Mamamoo and Twice have their own antis, and mismanagement to deal with, maybe not right now, just perhaps not so obvious, but nothing is all perfect and shiny. 

So now why it makes no sense to compare Twice and BlackPink,

because they come from two different companies, different image, different music and fashion style. The only similarities are that they are both girl groups and debuted relatively close to one and another (~ a year). Yet even their debut circumstances were different, let’s not forget Twice had a survival show leading to their debut. The public already knew those girls, their image, and part of their personalities. They didn’t debut to be the unknown super rookies, full of talent,  they debuted to be the next generation of a national GG. Cheerful, bubbly girls, cheerleading the public on with their charms. And I don’t see twice having much of a say in their songs or concept either or else signal wouldn’t have happened. So they are as much under their companies say, and mercy as BP is.

At the moment JYP may give them more comebacks, but Twice is at their peak and the company needs to milk that as much as possible. Because with more members there is always a risk of imbalance - one member could suddenly shoot to stardom as they probably slowly start to do solo works soon, but also fights or scandals may take place. I’m not saying that either of this has to happen, it could be a smooth run like SNSD had, but seen with AOA and also 2ne1 girl group scandals (no matter how small and harmless they may appear) can become quite immense and devasting.  And I know AOA career isn’t done yet and (OHH that’s another group I forgot to mention) I really hope they come back with another bop, but the scandal they had did make them lose some of their momentum they had.So long story short I don’t see comparison material here.

Now to BlackPink and Mamamoo,

I can see why you would compare them - 4 girls vs. 4 women. Even though Wheein and Hwasa have the same age as Jisoo with Jisoo actually being the oldest of the three Speaking of the wonders of an image. Mamamoo appears far more grown up and mature, but judging by their past recurring inappropriate actions towards poc, they are not. Now different here is Mamamoos company is smaller, obviously. Their CEO personally searched for girls with outstanding talent and vocals to perform his own written songs. So the CEO from the beginning on choose trainees he could work with, hence he values their opinion. And no matter what you personally think about Mamamoo, there is no denial that they have some of the strongest most impressive vocals, not exclusive of course they are other great vocals, but they are extremely talented and sound beautiful together. Important to note here is the CEO writes the songs for them himself, so there isn’t much of back and forth between production, songwriters, and artist.etc. It’s easier to work together and give valuable inputs when you can work on a song with all the people involved being present or in one company. It also means fewer costs for a song, because the producers don’t need to be extern hired. And yes I know, I know, YG has Teddy working under YG, but he still needs to pay him royalty fees, and song rights, since it’s a job he is doing for YG, being under the company doesn’t mean he does it for free. And Teddy is an old stager he has worked for many and with many stars and also he has quite many people he needs to work with, so naturally, he probably hasn’t as much time nor interest to train every other group YG comes up with ( who may not even debut) to work with him. I also think it has a lot to do with the way it’s cultural to respect seniors in Korea, I don’t think a newbie rookie group has much of a chance to have a lot of say in their songs, no matter how they were trained, the seniors would end up having the more say in it. So again two different situations, and relationships between producer and idols. That being said that doesn’t mean BP can’t earn teddys respect and in the future work closer together with him, and have a lot more say in what they release and what’s not or even produce themself. That is: IF YG LETS THEM OUT O THE DUNGEON

So Twice and Mamamoo image was set to be more public appealing, while BP target audience, are young adults and teenager the typical idol target audience, by trying to be a niche group but at the same time appealing with going the save cute route most girlgroups aproach because it’s morepublic friendly then just being badass. So when breaking YG thoughts down you see the buisnes behind it and that their was indeed a plan behind the group and concept.Hence we can’t really compare the popularity of each group, because first that’s a matter of luck and how much a company is willing to pay for the popularity.

 Thank you for reading

[donotthinkasasunflower]

An unnecessary deep look at the representation of women according to Disney

Hey there! Welcome to my first post ever! 

I have been thinking how to start my brand new blog for days, I had numerous different topics noted down, but I wanted one that I really like. My first thought was to write about ‘’13 reasons why’’ and why I don’t like it, however I felt that talking about Disney was better.

I love Disney, I have seen all its classics. To be honest, everybody knows about Disney and its line of princesses. Who hasn’t seen a Disney princess movie? Oh well, I know someone! My boyfriend, he has seen HSM and that’s it. Anyways, I was inspired to make this topic after I readmy first project I did in college. It was about how femininity and women's representation in Disney films have changedthroughout the years. I even made a timeline!

I enjoyed writing it so much that I wanted to share it. Obviously, it's not going to be the exact same I am going to add more information (and GIFs) that I wanted to talk about but I didn’t.

So let’s get started!

Disney has been in everybody’s houses since 1923, it has created the most famous cartoon films for decades. Disney has to thank mass media due to the fact that it has helped to spread the values and messages of the films, some of them with unmasked goals and values. The official princess line is formed by 14 different princesses (however, I am going to talk about one more) which starts with Snow White and ends with Moana. Each of them are inspired by tales or real life events. Obviously the different year which the movies were made affects the values of them, so I am going to analyze those values in chronological order.

1. Snow White

We are in 1937, a pretty normal year that started on a Friday. The 21 of December Snow White was premiered, it was the first full-length animation movie made by Walt Disney.

During the 30′s women had less job opportunities than normal, due to the market crash. Jobs were preferably given to men, and women were always seen portraying a domestic role. Women usually stayed at home cooking, cleaning and taking care of their loved ones. Doesn't it ring a bell to you? Yeah, that’s right, really similar to the life of Snow White.

So we all know how the story goes. She runs away, founds some house in the middle of the woods, which is owned by seven dwarfs who let her stay if she cleans, cooks and takes care of them. We can see how the role that women were given is represented in the movie as the behavior follow. This is not the only time we are going to see that the roles that are given to women are portrayed in a Disney movie. It’s just a way of telling women of a period of time how they should behave.

The dominant value of the movie is the role of women, as we have seen. However, this value is unmasked by the value that Disney have always promoted: ‘’Real beauty is within us’’

2. Cinderella

1950, the war is over! Well, it has been for 5 years. Society needed women to go back to their ‘’normal role’’ since they replaced man in factories, mass media popularized the role of the superfemininity of women again.

Cinderella is held captive in her own house by her step-mother, the only way is out thanks to marrying the prince. In this movie we see the immense terror that the patriarchal society had about women being powerful enough to leave their cars. We can say that the evil stepmother is the patriarchy and Cinderella the women that are forced to follow a certain role.

Also, we cansee that the Cinderella doesn’t have any characteristic or trait that makes her unique. We can describe her as nice, pure, innocent and beautiful being. We do not see what angers her, what activities she loves doing etc... We see a cookie cutter version as how women should behave to be perfect for their husbands.

3. Aurora

Fun fact about me: I’ve always hated this movie. Anyways... 1959, during the 50′s there was a conformity with gender roles. A society based on consumerism that idealized the American dream. It seemed that that dream for women was to get married and have a family to take care of. Consumer culture and domesticity were spread by mass media in entertainment, magazines etc.... Movies like ‘’The sleeping beauty’’ promoted these ideas of marriage and family. A good example, it’s the song ‘’Once upon a dream’’. Basically the song explains how she has been dreaming of her perfect prince that loves her. It’s a way of inculcating what society wants for women.

Also, can we talk about how she doesn’t do anything during all the movie? It seems as if until she doesn't have a man she can't do anything... But this is just me, I really hate this movie.

4. Ariel

I think, what can define women during the 80′s is being entitled of themselves. Events like the movie 9 to 5, the song ‘’She bop’’ and women like Sally Ride proved that women could do things that usually men did.

With Ariel we can see how she breaks all those rules that were imposed on her. She wants to start living her life. Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel said something very interesting:

Quote: “You have to take in the perspective of where we were in 1989, the previous princess was Sleeping Beauty in 1959. There’s a big leap between Sleeping Beauty and Ariel. Ariel is stubborn, she’s strong willed, she lives outside of the box, she dreams big, she believes in the impossible, she’s tenacious, and that she's saving Eric from his death, dragging him up onto the beach, being defiant of her father, not fitting in the box like her sisters, being determined, makes Ariel a jumping off point for what we expect of today's Disney princesses” 

https://www.bustle.com/p/how-ariel-in-the-little-mermaid-led-to-far-more-feminist-princesses-like-mulan-merida-according-to-voice-actor-jodi-benson-15942919

There are many questionable moments in the movie like the song ‘’Kiss the girl’’ that argues consent, or that the feminist values are the ones of the villain. However, she fights sexism, what her father rules over her is not what she wants. What she really wants is to be part of Eric’s world, part of her world, where she rules over her.

4. Belle

The 90′s, what a difficult year. Women left aside the idea of having a family and getting married as young as possible to achieve higher education, have a job or pursue an identity outside their life.

Belle is an intelligent young girl, we can see how she wants to pursue her identity outside her small provincial town. Her journey to save her dad helps her to mature and find herself. 

According to P. Bourdieau the upper class had to have a high economic status and also a high cultural development. Belle was from a village part of the old middle class we can see this in the first scene of the movie where they sing of how strange is Belle because she reads a lot. Belle is from the new middle class, stated by Bourdieau, due to her high cultural development and because of marrying the king Adam (yeah that’s the beast's name).

Belle follows a similar pattern as The little mermaid, but also shows the main character having ambitious and changing her prince instead of the prince changing her however it repeats the happily married ending.

5. Jasmine 

Still in the 90′s. While researching information for the post I’ve come across something very interesting. Some articles talk about how women from the 90′s had power over themselves and others said how everything that they wanted to achieve was gone due to the over-sexualization of their own bodies by using very revealing clothes. Yep... so that’s a thing.

What sets apart Jasmine from the other princesses is that she is the first to reject marriage and as she contextually says ‘’I am not a prize to be won’’ here we can see one of the principle things that women during the 90′s are against, the sexualization and objectification of women. In these films we have the figure of Jafar, who is wildly stereotyped as the crypto-homo villain (using traits usually find in the lgtbq and drag community to show them as a bad thing or mock them) as well as Ursula, he wants to marry Jasmine but her power overcomes him.

Jasmine has power over her body to choose what she wants to do as women on the 90′s choose what they want to wear or do.

6. Pocahontas

1995.

Pocahontas is like a river, she changes, she grows. Pocahontas chose her destiny over what her father imposes her to do. She is a former believer that her destiny is going to surprise her and for that reason he refuses to submit to a stable life of a married woman in a home that protects her from the horrors of the outside world. 

When the tribe is about to start the battle against the invading English, she exposes her life to stop the confrontation. Her father understands at that moment that the young woman spoke with great wisdom, then, through reflection, they lower their weapons and prepare to make peace. Pocahontas is the one who brings us the moral that dialogue is for human beings the most valuable tool, and that true wealth is in a fraternity and respect for nature.

She is a fighter that not only has power over her body, but over her words and thoughts.

7. Mulan

Yet another 90′s film. Wow Disney was on fire. Mulan officially breaks the barriers of the patriarchal system, a system that oppressed women, she demonstrates that traits can be arbitrary and there is nothing as what women can act or what men should act. This is very similar as the theory of J. Butler, she states that thirst any relation between gender and sex so everybody is free to act however they want. She saves china twice.

8. Kida: No need for songs

New century new me. On 2001 Disney realized the movie ‘’Atlantis: The lost empire”. Kids are the first queen of color created by Disney (first princess was Jasmine). Kids are the forgotten queen of Disney. She’s intelligent, can speak various languages, knows how to fight. Very protective of her people, but is not afraid of asking for help.

Atlantis wasn’t very popular at the box office, the reason may be the lack of songs. It was Disney first movie without the musical numbers. Kids never joined the ranking of princesses (even if some of them aren’t technically princesses)

This movie shows the importance of woman, how they are capable of ruling a country. Atlantis needs Kida, they need a powerful woman.

9. Tiana

2009. By far one of my fave princesses.

Tiana, the princess that shows talent, and yes, this talent is cooking which is always related to women, but we can see how she wants to achieve goals and her dream of building a restaurant.

At a very young age, she shows her dislike for fairy tales, where a man saves her. With her we see how the idea of marriage is not in the mind of the following princesses. When she meets Naveen her dream evolves. During all the movie she’s almost there to accomplish her dreams, but, with him she understands it was she lacked. “My dream wouldn’t be complete without you in it,”

10. Rapunzel

Wow! can we talk about that glow up? 2010 marks the first Disney movie without the traditional animation.

Rapunzel; she finds her happily married ending, but in a more casual way, as a consequence of her running away. What it’s also very interesting about her is how she uses an object related to women, the pan, and using it as a weapon.

11. Merida

The situation of Merida is very similar as Jasmine’s she is not a prize to be won in a competition and she smashes the gender barriers and starts behaving as what is associated with men.

12. Anna and Elsa

Elsa and Anna are the first princesses to show another love that it’s not a man/ woman, they show the importance of sisterhood and that true love can be in every way, shape and form.

13. Moana

Lastly Moana is a post-feminism, film, she doesn’t have to break the practical system because it doesn’t exist. A clear example is when she is coroneted the queen of her village. Moana is not presented as something that is an obstacle to the finish line, she has some insecurities but who hasn’t? And also it’s the first princess that doesn’t need a man. Something else to add it’s that she doesn’t follow the physical stereotypes of nowadays as the others do.

So yeah.... We can see how the more actual princesses behave similar to how women nowadays do, how the values of Disney princesses are changing throughout the years. As a society we change, and mass media also changes and tells us how to behave show in it on shows and movies. In the 1950 was ‘’we should be all the perfect wife’’ nowadays is ‘’we should be all feminist’’ at least that’s what we see on T-shirts.In conclusion, we can see how the goal of Disney is to entertain children around the world, but the unmasked goal is to show women how they should act according to their date so, these films, can be part of the socialization process of young girls. 

Thank you so much to make it along, it means a lot to me. I hope you found it interesting.

And remember, do not think as a sunflower!

Mic drop!

[ificouldflytotheclouds]

Ranking 5 Seconds of Summer by Album - Sounds Good Feels Good (Deluxe Edition)

Long story short, when this album first came out I was pressured by my friend not to listen or buy it. I download the 'She's Kinda Hot Extended Play.' Besides SKH I really enjoyed the songs.  At one point or another, I tried to listen to the album but could not get past the first three songs; If only I had known the shell was hiding a gem. 

Present day: I keep thinking that the content of the album would've been good for me, but maybe not. Around the time the album came out I was emerging from my state of being depressed. I was trying to figure out my own life again and One Direction's last album was distracting enough.

 I listened to the album in its entirety and fell in love with Sounds Good Feels Good this year. While I was late on the game, I believe this album knocked on my door at a time I was welcome to let it in and hear what it had to say.  I started listening to SGFG in February. I remember being more excited to go to the gym because I could zone out and listen to this beautiful masterpiece.  I can't pinpoint the date I started listening to the album, but I believe it was before Want You Back came out because it helped me see that they were coming out with a new song. But I could also be mixing that up, but I do remember seeing promo for the song and merch before the song dropped. Anyways onto my review (tl;dr: I haven't had as much time with the majority of these songs compared to other fans so the songs ranking and meaning may still shift but honestly that is the case for any album there are songs you can’t relate to at one time but may years down the line).

I love this album, deciding on an order will be difficult, and for that reason, I will be listening to this album on shuffle.

Hey Everybody!

This is one of the first three songs that I just was not impressed with upon first listen. Now I have heard it enough, I jam to this song, not my fav, but I’m not mad at it. 

If you are not listening, this song sounds like money, and I may or may not confuse it with money because they talk a lot about money lol. 

I can really relate to this song at the moment because I just graduated college. It is important to me that I pay off my loans as soon as possible and for that reason, I am taking a gap year before I go to do my masters to help reduce the financial burden. The issue is I currently do not have a job. I did a temp job the week after graduation, so I’ve only had one week not working, which I am actually very grateful to have gotten the opportunity to do because there are not many times in one's life where they are able to do so. Worse comes to worse I’ll go back to my old job but I want to look for other things first. One of the reasons I didn’t go back to my old job is because I wasn’t feeling fulfilled, I have been with this organization for 5 years, and I think I need to change it up. At the same time I know sometimes a job just needs to be a job. While I am hoping to earn money before I go back to school I am also making sure to focus on me and letting myself live. I am so excited for the 5sos concert this fall, I have a Harry concert in less than a month, and I am traveling to Chicago with my friend to see Niall on the 3 year anniversary of seeing 1d in concert for the first time. Additionally, I am hoping to go vegan and spend my free time doing things that I love such as singing, writing, doing yoga… things that I didn’t give myself enough time to do during college. 

Ranking: 1 of 1

Permanent Vacation

Sonically I am so in love with this album. WOw. This song has so many meanings (not that this post was supposed to be me analyzing the lyrics). This is 5sos. They didn’t go the typical route and now they’re on a permanent vacation. I can relate to the prechorus when you just don’t have any motivation for anything and it gets really frustrating, I can relate this to bad mental health days (in which I literally went on a vacation to 2 other countries  and I came back and I remember being so happy and content in my daily living, a feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time) but also I’ve jammed to this while doing homework, I was so over it. They have us in the system, go to school, go to some more, get a job cubical job, it’s a cycle, but I don’t want that to be my life. I want it to be something more. And I feel like that’s what the songs about. 

Ranking: 1 of 2 over Hey Everybody!

Fly Away

I always forget how hard this song goes because the chorus is softer than the verse. Just based on these three songs you can tell how the album ties away, going away from the normal, living your life to it’s fullest and not wasting your time mulling over things you don’t find fulfilling. This is a reminder that you can create your own future. It’s all up to you. 

When I think of SGFG this song doesn’t stick out to me. I think money and hey everybody makes a bigger punch. With that said...

Ranking: 2 of 3 over Hey Everybody!

Airplanes

Michael Michael. He is so underappreciated. I love all of their voices and I hope Ash gets more solos/parts in Youngblood. I feel like people don’t talk about Michael’s singing enough. Have you listened to live performances when he killed the harmonies? Focusing on when he leads: I  think his voice is sooo important to bringing together 5sos’ sound especially when it comes to new broken scene. This song is so adorable, someone coming into your life and suddenly your life has meaning. They way that they describe their life, suddenly bursting to colors. But it’s not that straightforward, the individual isn’t getting better for the new person in their life, this person brings the light, the purpose of the individual doing things for themselves.

The second verse kills me emotionally because this is many of us when we struggle with xyz, our ego gets in the way, we think we can deal with it ourselves, but at one point or another, we recognize that it is larger than ourselves and we think we should’ve sought help. But the thing is, it’s never too late to get help. Even when you’ve found someone who brings neon lights to your life, getting a little extra help from someone never hurt anybody.

Lyrically I like this song better than permanent vacation but permanent vacation is such a bop.

Ranking:  2 of 4 over Fly Away

Broken Home

This song is. So. Good. It’s heartbreaking. While I am adopted and have had some rough times at home I can’t say I can relate to the chorus. This song makes me cry none the less and I can’t imagine how much this song must mean to those who have or are currently dealing with divorce or something similar.  My heart breaks for you, my heart breaks for your family. While a dream may be lost hopefully the individuals who once made a couple can find their own happiness and be treated the way that they deserve (not saying that one person is intentionally hurting another, but even neglect, intentional or not isn’t giving the other partner what they may need). Sending you all the love. 

Ranking: 1 of 5 over Permanent Vacation

Invisible 

This song is so pretty and it’s a song totally up my alley. But when it comes to ranking I know it’s going to be towards the bottom. It’s not a standout song, sonically or lyrically. For me personally, I think that this has to do with life stages, it’s not to say that I don’t have times that I feel invisible at 22, but I think this relates to my time in middle school and high school where was forming my identity. It’s funny going through time and going through friends because sometimes you feel like you aren’t understood, you blend into the background. When you find your people when you truly find your people you burst into light similar to airplanes. That’s not to say that with amazing people surrounding you that you don’t feel invisible, misunderstood....

I don’t know. I find this song difficult to relate to when I don’t currently feel this way. And the times of feeling invisible don’t stand out, in my life as much as it may for other, such that my state of being depressed was persistent for around 2 years. (This song can easily relate to depression/states of being depressed, but I don’t personally feel the connection)

I don’t question that this and the last song are things that 5sos has dealt with but these are also songs that are specifically dedicated to the fans.

Ranking: 5 of 6 over Hey Everybody!

Jet Black Heart

This is 5sos’ anthem. This. Song. Is. Everything. While the last song I couldn’t relate to my own state of being depressed (I say this rather than depression because I was not clinically diagnosed but it was the emotional state of being depressed). There are no words. I want to scream these words on a rooftop for everyone to hear. This song is so vulnerable, which they do an excellent job of conveying in the music video, and just them as artists. We don’t need to know their life stories, but they have given us a glimpse at some of the most difficult things that they have had to deal with in their life. 

‘As we burst into color, returning to life’ recently is one of my favorite line because I can relate it from going to dark days to living in a consistent state of grey to having a period in my life where I found AMAZING people and I was So. So. SO. happy every single day. 

Ranking: 1 of 7 over Broken Home

San Francisco

Aka the cutest song ever. This is happiness in a song. It is a sand out because it’s lightness and emotional state. “We don’t gotta say anything, don’t say anything at all” sums up the song. It’s about those magical moments that you don’t want to end and you want to last forever.

This is when the ranking is going to get difficult bc broken home was my number one at one point, it no longer is, but that just shows how amazing this album is.

Ranking: 2 of 8 over Broken Home

Waste the Night

I have less and less to say about my favs because I have no words. Also because this song doesn’t have too many lyrics, it’s fairly straightforward, it’s the music that tells the story in this song.

This is one of those songs that makes you so emo in concert because youre standing there living your best life feeling love all around you. (Also when I went to the concert I should’ve been writing in a paper due the next day, ended up turning it a day late. I think it would’ve been crap even if I didn’t go to the concert bc I would've been distracted by the fact that it was going on, it’s not till the next day did inspiration and motivation hit me. I got lucky got a very small reduction and an A in the class) 

Ranking: 1 of 9 over Jet Black Heart

Money

So this is the song I had to jump over to properly enjoy this album but this is a BOP. I was so turned off on my first listen it took a while to appreciate the song. Hey Everybody! makes me think of Money but whenever I listen to money it stands out on its own. It another one of those lets fall in love and run away from this town songs. It’s surprisingly cute. 

Ranking: 7 of 10 over fly away (this might win over airplanes but I’m going to let it fly)

Outerspace/Carry On

I can’t separate this beauty. 

ugh. The feels. They hit hard. This is...a masterpiece and will be on the top of 5sos accolades. “Nothing like the rain when youre in outerspace.” I have no words. And then Carry On ending the album I want to cry. It’s like life can beat you up, you’ll go all over the place, but all you need to know is it’ll get better. 

I feel like this song transcends everything else on the album, but at the same time it’s not my #1 you feel? 

ugh now I’m questioning all of my rankings should jet black heart go bf san fran and outer space after jet black heart?? I think I am going to go with

Ranking: 2 of 11 over San Fransisco.

Catch Fire 

A certified BOP. This makes me think of the line in JBH (but from a bright and beautiful viewpoint). I love when an artist makes references to their others songs within songs. The big thing while listening to Catch Fire is, will it rank above or below castaway bc those are both WOWWOW.

Ranking 6 of 12 over Permanent Vacation

Castaway

This song goes hard it’s so goood. But I’m feeling 

right now. So catch fire wins over castaway. Ugh this is the point where the ranking gets hard.

Ranking: 7 of 13 over Permanent Vacation

The Girl Who Cried Wolf

This and saftey pin are second tier songs to me. Like you have top songs that you will die over, second tier is your good, your amazing, but I wouldn’tdie over you. It could be because I’ve been with these two songs longer than other songs on the album. For both songs, the chorus is the best. This is a good song to cry to in the rain (it’s an experience) while walking down an empty street. 

Ranking: 8 of 14 over Permanent Vacation

She’s Kinda Hot

I was not a huge fan of this song when it first came out, I viewed it as a bit sexist and just ehh. Over time I realized I was missing the point. Especially by the end of the song, it feels like a different song. There is a reason why they chose this song as their lead single, they were introducing the new broken scene. The title is a bit misleading but I also think that brings a different intrigue to the song. The message of the song empowering...

Ranking: 8 of 15 over The Girl Who Cried Wolf

Saftey Pin

The bridge of this song is everything. I don’t have much to say about the song. It’s solid. This is another one of those songs where you are like this. this. is a 5sos song. Michael said the new album would still have the feeling of running away and being free in the new album and I am excited to hear it on Friday. 

Ranking: 8 of 16 over She’s Kinda Hot 

Vapor

When we end with the best song. I could see some people seeing this song as nothing special as it is a song that is repeative. Also I do not promote vaping. Don’t do drugs boys and girls. This song is just so pretty and the repeative nature of the song feeds into the softness of the song. Contrasted with the more agressive singing in the chorus, showing how much this individual means to them. Or at least how they dream it to be. I feel like it’s a good compliment to Lie to Me. Vapor = falling for the girl before they’re together, even though she’s not into him.  Lie to Me =  Heart Break over a girl who destroyed him and he cant get her out of his body.

Ranking: 1 of 17 over Waste the Night

Sounds Good Feels Good Ranking 

Vapor 

Waste the Night

 Outerspace/Carry On

 San Fransico

Jet Black Heart

Broken Home

 Catch Fire

Castaway 

Saftey Pin 

She’s Kinda Hot

Girl Who Cried Wolf

Permanent Vacation

Airplanes

Money

Fly Away

Invisible

Hey Everybody

Album Review/Ranking Masterlist

[douglasacogan]

New Compassionate Release Clearinghouse to match lawyers with prisoners seeking release after FIRST STEP Act

This new press release, titled "FAMM, Washington Lawyers’ Committee, NACDL Launch Compassionate Release Clearinghouse," reports on an exciting new resource for helping to better implement a part of the FIRST STEP Act. Here are the details:

Thousands of sick, dying, and elderly federal prisoners who are eligible for early release will now have access to free legal representation in court through the newly established Compassionate Release Clearinghouse. The clearinghouse, a collaborative pro bono effort between FAMM, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), is designed to match qualified prisoners with legal counsel should they need to fight a compassionate release denial or unanswered request in court.

“People who can barely make it out of their beds in the morning should not have to go into court alone against the largest law firm in the nation,” said Kevin Ring, president of FAMM. “Congress was clear that it wanted fundamental changes in compassionate release, yet we’ve seen prosecutors continue to fight requests from clearly deserving people, including individuals with terminal illnesses. It’s gratifying to know we will be able to help people in a tangible and meaningful way.”

The Compassionate Release Clearinghouse recruits, trains, and provides resources to participating lawyers. The Clearinghouse’s design and implementation is being assisted by the Washington, D.C., law firm of Zuckerman Spaeder LLP through its partner Steve Salky.

“Sick and dying prisoners for years were unjustly denied release on compassionate release grounds by the Bureau of Prisons,” said Jonathan Smith, Executive Director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. “Now, prisoners will be assisted by dedicated and high-quality lawyers in seeking relief from the courts, evening the playing field, and allowing many of these prisoners to return home.”

The effort was made possible by the passage of the First Step Act, which addresses a well-documented, three-decades-long issue in which sick, elderly, and dying prisoners have been routinely denied early release by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Until December 2018, there was no mechanism to challenge or appeal those decisions. Now, prisoners are allowed to appeal directly to a sentencing judge if their petitions are denied or unanswered.

Since the passage of the First Step Act, prisoners have been filing motions for release, and some have been challenged by federal prosecutors. The Compassionate Release Clearinghouse will make sure those prisoners have an attorney to fight for them in court.

“NACDL is proud to participate in this critically important effort,” said NACDL Executive Director Norman L. Reimer. “To make the promise of the First Step Act a reality for qualified sick, elderly, and dying prisoners, the nation’s criminal defense bar is committed to recruiting pro bono attorneys to be champions for those in need. Additionally, NACDL’s First Step Implementation Task Force will aggregate resources to support attorneys who undertake this important work.”

The Clearinghouse started matching attorneys with prisoners in need in February, and has matched more than 70 cases with pro bono attorneys. The Clearinghouse is actively recruiting additional attorneys and law firms to join in the effort.

As regular readers may recall (and as I have stressed in a number of prior posts), because  18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), the provision of federal law often known as "compassionate release," allows a court to reduce a prison sentence based on any and all "extraordinary and compelling reasons," it should not only be the "sick, dying, and elderly federal prisoners" who are potentially eligible for early release.  But, as this press release highlights, because there is already a history of extreme resistance toward releasing even the most deserving under this provision, it is heartening to see these groups work to make sure prisoners can get needed legal help to benefit from the reforms Congress is surely eager to see given full effect.

A few prior related posts on § 3582(c)(1)(A) after FIRST STEP Act:

Compassionate release after FIRST STEP: Should many thousands of ill and elderly federal inmates now be seeking reduced imprisonment in court? 

Sad start to what should become happier compassionate release tales after passage of FIRST STEP Act 

Encouraging new reports about encouraging new compassionate release realities thanks to FIRST STEP Act

Highlighting how judges can now bring needed compassion to compassionate release after FIRST STEP Act 

Federal judge pens extraordinary and compelling order requesting US Attorney to vacate old stacked 924(c) conviction in extraordinary and compelling case 

Is anyone collecting and analyzing sentence reduction orders under § 3582(c)(1) since passage of the FIRST STEP Act?

Good day for thinking hard about sentencing second looks and second chances

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247011 https://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2019/06/new-compassionate-release-clearinghouse-to-match-lawyers-with-prisoners-seeking-release-after-first-.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[barbosaasouza]

Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project Card Analysis Lab (Part 2)

Card reveals have begun for Hearthstone's next big expansion. The Boomsday Project will dive deep into science and technology, as part of the next set for the Year of the Raven.

This expansion features the new keyword Magnetic, new Omega Projects, and Legendary Spells. And as is the case with each new Hearthstone expansion, Shacknews is stepping into the lab to analyze each of the Boomsday Project's new cards. Before we get started, here's everything you might have missed:

Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project - The Dr. Boom, Mad Genius Design Interview Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project - Analyzing Dr. Boom, Mad Genius

Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project Analysis Lab (Part 1)

And now, let's continue with the next batch of cards.

(4) Whizbang the Wonderful (4/5) Type: Minion Class: Neutral Rarity: Legendary You start the game with one of Whizbang's Wonderful Decks. Source: Hearthside Chat: Welcome to Boom Labs

So this isn't a buildaround card, exactly. No, Whizbang is for the beginner player would doesn't quite have an extensive card collection or is looking to learn the latest meta decks. When Whizbang is equipped, he'll become the Hero for that game and the player will be given a random deck recipe, two for each of the game's classes. You won't need to own those cards, you'll just have them at the ready.

So then what are those 4/5 stats for? Well, there's always a chance to pull Whizbang from a random effect. And if you do, those 4/5 stats aren't too shabby. Look into crafting this guy if you're more of a beginner Hearthstone player, because those deck recipes can often be very good.

(5) Supercollider (1/3) Type: Weapon Class: Warrior Rarity: Epic After you attack a minion, force it to attack one of its neighbors. Source: Hearthside Chat: Welcome to Boom Labs

Analysis: The Supercollider is a nice outside-the-box weapon, especially for the Control Warrior. The 1-Attack value on its own won't do much, but when there's an opposing board full of minions, sending one slamming into its partner is a handy tool. The Hearthside Chat video gives a nice illustration of how this card will function and it looks pretty neat.

The Warrior will, of course, need to be heavily armored to absorb some of the damage he's bound to take with this weapon. Maybe have a Bring It On! spell at the ready.

(4) Flobbidinous Floop (3/4) Type: Minion Class: Druid Rarity: Legendary While this is in your hand, this is a 3/4 copy of the last minion you played. Source: Hearthside Chat: Welcome to Boom Labs

Analysis: Oh, dear. Meet the first truly broken Legendary of this set.

Floop is completely unstoppable in the hands of a Malygos Druid. With its effect, no matter how a first Malygos is removed, whether it's through Polymorph or Psychic Scream, Floop's effect will still allow it to transform into Malygos. It can then be combined with Faceless Manipulator to create double Malygos, allowing the Druid to bop the opposing player for 22 damage off double Moonfires.

There is almost no stopping this and Malygos Druid may very well become a plague in the coming meta. Better start armoring up for this.

(2) Dendrologist (2/3) Type: Minion Class: Druid Rarity: Rare Battlecry: If you control a Treant, Discover a spell. Source: PCGamer

(3) Landscaping Type: Spell Class: Druid Rarity: Common Summon two 2/2 Treants. Source: PCGamer

(10) Mulchmuncher (8/8) Type: Minion - Mech Class: Druid Rarity: Rare Rush: Costs (1) less for each friendly Treant that died this game. Source: PCGamer

Analysis: Here's a little gift for the Token Druid player. In The Witchwood, the Druid got a handful of cards that made Wisps a lot more dangerous just by sheer numbers. A big part of that was by combining those new cards with Soul of the Forest, which replaces those dead 1/1 Wisps with 2/2 Treants.

Now say hello to these three new cards with Treant synergy. Mulchmuncher can definitely be used as a control tool in the mid-game. Landscaping can pour on the Treant pressure in the early turns. And then there's Dendrologist, which might not necessarily find a home in these decks, but if he can find an extra Savage Roar, why not go nuts?

Token Druid is about to get much stronger and will also be a big part of the Hearthstone meta going forward.

(1) Autodefense Matrix Type: Spell Class: Paladin Rarity: Common Secret: When one of your minions is attacked, give it Divine Shield. Source: The Boomsday Project: Lab Logs Part 2

Analysis: This is a tough choice for the Paladin player who's either running Secrets or Hydrologist. Do they go with this, which acts as a soft Taunt against any Paladin minion? Or do they opt for Noble Sacrifice, which protects face, but is also a much weaker 2/1?

Both cards have their merits, but what might give the Autodefense Matrix an edge is in the potentially larger minions it could protect in the late game. It might find a special home in Arena decks, where it's a major help against pesky Gilnean Royal Guards. Ultimately, pick whatever best fits the situation at hand and whatever works best for your deck.

(7) Kangor's Endless Army Type: Spell Class: Paladin Rarity: Legendary Resurrect 3 friendly Mechs. They keep any Magnetic upgrades. Source: The Boomsday Project Card Reveal Livestream

Analysis: Now this has the potential to be a killer spell, but it ultimately depends on the Mechs that the Paladin player has available to them. Even in Wild, Paladin Mechs don't exactly light the world on fire. (Cobalt Guardian is not rocking anybody's world and a 7-Mana play to get back a Shielded Minibot is quite inefficient.)

But the wild card is Zilliax, which can boost any Mech in the game with Magnetic. And since this brings back any Magnetic-boosted Mechs, that makes this spell nothing to sneeze at. If the Paladin gets better Mechs down the road, this could be awesome in Standard. If not, it's still a pretty good tool in Wild.

(2) Dead Ringer (2/1) Type: Minion - Mech Class: Priest Rarity: Common Deathrattle: Draw a Deathrattle minion from your deck. Source: The Boomsday Project Card Reveal Livestream

Analysis: Mind if I roll a very specific kind of need?

Yes, this is a concentrated Loot Hoarder, one that works nicely with Quest Priests in the early game and ensures that they don't draw unnecessary cards in the late game. It's a handy tool for the early game and a good card to keep tempo with the opposition in the early turns.

(5) Reckless Experimenter (4/6) Type: Minion Class: Priest Rarity: Epic Deathrattle minions you play cost (3) less, but die at the end of the turn. Source: The Boomsday Project Card Reveal Livestream

Analysis: This one's a bit of a thinker. What good are Deathrattle minions if they die at the end of the turn they're played? At first glance, one would imagine that they had better be some amazing Deathrattle effects. And they can be, as long as you don't mind dropping an Obsidian Statue on the next turn, only to see it die immediately.

The Wild player may want to give this a closer look, though. Only minions that are played die at the end of the turn, not ones that are summoned. Remember, language is key in these cards, so any minions that are resurrected through effects, like... I don't know... N'Zoth, the Corruptor, can stay on the board.

Think very hard about adding this card to any deck, because in the right hands, it could be very good. But more often than not, it could backfire spectacularly.

(1) Faithful Lumi (1/1) Type: Minion - Mech Class: Neutral Rarity: Common Battlecry: Give a friendly Mech +1/+1. Source: The Boomsday Project Card Reveal Livestream

Analysis: An adorable support Mech that could be a decent boost for any Mech, particularly a Magnetic one. But aside from that, there isn't much to say here. It's hard to see players putting in any Constructed or Arena deck and unless it's a Mech-heavy deck, it won't be particularly useful as a Discover effect.

(5) Omega Agent (4/5) Type: Minion Class: Warlock Rarity: Epic Battlecry: If you have 10 Mana Crystals, summon 2 copies of this minion. Source: The Boomsday Project Card Reveal Livestream

Anaylsis: Omega Agent isn't something I expect to see a lot of in constructed, but this has the potential to be a champion in Arena. A 4/5 body on Turn 5 is decent and can be played on curve. But in the later turns, as both players trade turns with waning resources, suddenly dropping three 4/5 minions could turn the tide of the game for good.

It's a much more powerful Doppelgangster, with each copy more than able to stand on its own. This is a fantastic pickup for the Warlock player in Arena and one that will likely pop up there a lot.

(2) Lab Recruiter (3/2) Type: Minion Class: Rogue Rarity: Common Battlecry: Shuffle 3 copies of a friendly minion into your deck. Source: The Boomsday Project Card Reveal Livestream

Analysis: This has the potential to be killer in Miracle Rogue decks, especially ones running Fal'dorei Strider. This ensures that the spider train keeps right on going. How about using it on Vilespine Slayer for more minion kills? Bring more bug spray, because Lab Recruiter is almost a certain addition to the Miracle Rogue lineup and that means players are about to see a whole lot more spiders.

This also isn't a terrible pickup in Arena, especially if this is paired up with any Echo minion. Try combining Lab Recruiter with Face Collector, for loads of fun.

(4) Weaponized Pinata (4/3) Type: Minion - Mech Class: Neutral Rarity: Epic Deathrattle: Add a random Legendary minion to your hand. Source: The Boomsday Project Card Reveal Livestream

Analysis: Okay, who on Team 5 has been playing too much Fortnite?

This is a fascinating pickup for both Quest Priests and also for the coming Mech Warriors. Even if those Warrior players don't pack this guy in their deck outright, remember that Dr. Boom, Mad Genius has a Hero Power that allows him to Discover a Mech. Getting a Weaponized Pinata off a Discover effect and Rushing it into an enemy for a free Legendary is pretty sweet.

Weaponized Pinata will also have Wild players feeling a bit conflicted. Do they replace Piloted Shredder with this guy? Do they want to random 2-drop now or a random Legendary for later? Wild Mech players have some thinking to do here.

(2) Demonic Project Type: Spell Class: Warlock Rarity: Common Each player transforms a random minion in their hand into a Demon. Source: The Boomsday Project Card Reveal Livestream

Analysis: I understand the intention here. If played at just the right moment, this ruins any Shudderwock Shaman deck, any Malygos Druid deck, or any Taunt Druid deck. The problem here is that it relies on a lot of luck.

In order for Demonic Project to hit for maximum value, the opposing player must have their win condition minion in their hand. The player must then hope that it hits that win condition minion and not any other minion in their hand. And of course, they must also hope that the win condition card is not replaced with another killer Demon, like Lord Jaraxxus. On top of all of this, the player must then hope that their own top minions are not hit with the whammy.

It takes a lot to make this work and it's hard to imagine any Warlock players taking this big risk.

(4) Unexpected Results Type: Spell Class: Mage Rarity: Epic Summon two random 2-Cost minions (improved by Spell Damage). Source: The Boomsday Project Card Reveal Livestream

Analysis: It's hard to imagine Mage players rolling with this spell in any of their decks, but it is likely that they'll generate it off a random effect. If that's the case, following this up with an 8-damage Fireball or clearing the board with a 4-damage Blizzard doesn't seem too bad.

Other than getting a Spell Damage Doomsayer, there are few downsides to this spell. Just don't expect to see Mage players actually pack one of these in. Think of it as a pleasant bonus off something like Ruby Spellstone.

That's all for now! Keep an eye on Shacknews over the next few weeks for more card breakdowns for The Boomsday Project, leading all the way up to the expansion's release on August 7.

Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project Card Analysis Lab (Part 2) published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/

[kayawagner]

Live: Jensen Huang Keynotes NVIDIA’s 2018 GPU Technology Conference

9:37 – Jensen says there are 400 games made every year, it’s one of the largest industries in the world. They use ray tracing to render entire game in advance. As a result you get wonderful shadows and details and whole world comes to life. The film industry uses this in 500 movies each year – every frame is rendered multiple times. Imagine if one CPU takes hours for a frame just how long this would take. Additionally there are 12M designers and 150,000 architects, many of whom aren’t making square buildings but round ones.

Now there are 1 billion images rendered every year, and that could go up 10x as more real-time rendering is reduced by Quadro to one-fifth the cost, one-seventh the space, one-17th the power

Virtually everyone is adopting RTX Technology – he presents a slide with three dozen key partners, gaming, design, film, architecture. This technology is the single most important advance in computer graphics in 15 years.

9:32 – Quadro GV100 is the world’s first workstation GPU based on Volta architecture. It also has a new interconnect called NVLink 2 that extends the programming and memory model out of our GPU to a second one. They essentially function as one GPU. These two combined have 10,000 CUDA cores, 236 teraflops of Tensor Cores, all used to revolutionize modern computer graphics, with 64GB of memory

9:30 – Steve Parker, an NVIDIA ray-tracing expert, talks through how ray tracing is able to show light striking a  surface, bouncing off the surfacing, and then striking additional surfaces. Recreating this follows billions of rays.

Doing so, Jensen says, takes supercomputers than can calculate these rays. The more reflections, the more refractions, the harder it is. Everything that’s being seen visually is in real time.

This complete demo is running on just one DGX Station – not a supercomputer running one frame in hours, but one DGX-Station that costs $68K, with four Voltas, doing this in real time.

So, Jensen announced NVIDIA RTX technology that runs on a Quadro GV100 processor. It’s a big deal, he says, because for now we can bring real-time ray tracing to the market. The technology has been encapsulated into multiple layers. You’re also seeing deep learning in action, without that we couldn’t trace all the rays. It predicts rays.

9:24 – Then, Jensen shows a scene that looks like it was from the Last Jedi with chatting storm troopers, but Jensen said it was actually rendered in real time with ray tracing.

9:21 – Jensen moves right into fourth gear. He’s talking about graphics being the driving force of GPUs.

Computer scientists have been recreating photo-realistic images for decades, he notes. Ray tracing follows every photon as it bounces through a scene, based on the materials that it strikes. This is how the film industry does it, it requires thousands of CPUs. One CPU would take hours to compute one frame and there’s hundreds of thousands of frames in movie. For four decades we’ve been trying to close the gap to create a full movie.

He says we use all kinds of different tricks to improve visuals – like ambient occlusion, light baking – so long as things don’t move very much, the light conditions are well produced. Global illumination – where light moves from ever possible source and bounces accurately — helps bring a scene to life with extra-sharp detail.

But ray tracing is the most beautiful way of doing it. This is tough, especially with curved transparent surfaces like a drinking cup (regardless of what you’re drinking).

Some objects absorb light and then release some, things like jade or gummy bears, or car paint, or our skin – light goes through, picks up shades and then re-emits.

9:14 – And with that, Jensen takes the stage. He breaks out a new leather jacket ever year and he looks in this new one a bit like a superhero.

GTC is the GPU developers conference, which we do for all of you, whose work is impossible without a supercharged computer, he says.

We’re going to talk about amazing graphics, amazing science, amazing AI and amazing robots. So let’s get going, he says.

9:11 – And now an updated version of our I AM AI video swells up on the screen.

It depicts how AI can support humans in a broad field of endeavors, with a voice over that professes to be AI. And it comes with a sound track itself that’s composed by AI and played by a true-life orchestra.

“I am a protector,” says the narrator. And there’s a scene of sweeping work by the NASA FDL/Seti Institute’s project to better predict comets that might have Earth’s number. Also, some amazing work by Wildbook, which is able to identify individual members of a species that might otherwise look the same – like the zebras here. It has lots of use for tracking and helping to sustain the diversity of species.

“I am a healer,” is next. It shows how Image biopsy uses deep learning to quickly analyze the shape of the knee, with some snazzy color-coded keys for measurements.

“I am a guardian,” and then “I am a helper” which has some cool scenes. There’s an IAmRobotics autonomously navigating through warehouses, identifying objects and plucking them off shelves – at a rate of 200 picks an hour. That’s faster than a water pick. And back on the keyboard is jazz pianist Jason Barnes, who lost an arm in a work accident, is shown using Georgia Tech’s prosthetic tech that detects individual finger movement. And there’s a full autonomous selfie Skydio drone with 13 onboard cameras tracking a jogger.

It’s all brought to us, the video says, by NVIDIA and brilliant minds everywhere.

9:08 – A list of sponsors, topped by IBM and Facebook, comes up. The soundtrack pumps up. You could just about bop your head to it. The NVIDIA logo comes up again, and then the sponsors, following by the ever-connecting synapses of the visualized neural network.

9:05 – Okay, the music is beginning to shift. The blasphemously named Voice of God comes up and tells everyone in the nicest possible way to sit up and behave.  The event is about to begin.

9:01 – NVIDIA starts planning for GTC virtually before the previous one wraps up. It’s an all-on challenge that Jensen leads. A ton of the work falls on the Creative department who have created a mini-Netflix full of videos for the show. The first one, the opening one, is always a highlight of the show and helps set the tone for the next couple hours. I can tell you in full confidence that this year’s is terrific.

8:56 – The stage itself is pretty cool. It’s broad, running about two-thirds the length of the wall, with the screen a deep, inky black. It’s flanked by large NVIDIA-green airplane-wing like triangles that are interconnected. Triangles, of course, are the building block of computer graphics and, by the time, they’re the theme of our iconic new headquarters building in Santa Clara, comprised of two five-acre-sized triangular floorplates, covered with an undulating roof of interlocking triangles, with the occasional triangular skylight peeking through.

8:55 – More time than you’d think goes into picking out the walk-in track for GTC, which is reliably warm, soulful and upbeat.

Among the tunes we’re hearing, there’s “Crazy,” by the Lost Frequencies and “Glorious,” by Macklemore. Also we’ll wrap up with a couple tracks from The Greatest Showman soundtrack — “This is Me” and the eponymous  “The Greatest Showman.”

There are some fabulous graphics coming up against the deep black screen. They’re green synapses, like those in the brain, that connect to other points of light. They suggest the workings of a neural network, which underpins how deep learning works, with connections being made that might otherwise not be apparent, ultimately sorting out data in an image that enables the network to recognize an apple from an appliance, a banana from a bandana, a carrot from a carob. Well, you get the point.

8:50 – Folks are beginning to come into the hall at the Convention Center. There’s a rub. It seats 4,000 or so, but there are twice as many attendees. Good thing there are spillover rooms. The biggest fans among GTC attendees got in line early. First guy showed up at 6:45. By 8:30, there was a line that ran the full length of the center and ultimately out the door, onto the sidewalk.

You may have a more comfortable seat watching the webcast, which will have tens of thousands tuning in.

8:40 – Well, we’re back at GTC, 10 months after last year’s. But, yikes, a lot’s changed, with huge progress in AI, which is changing just about every service that’s delivered. The way just about any company with data operates.

The first one of these was held down the street here in San Jose at the Fairmont Hotel, where we had about 800 attendees. This year there are 8,500. That’ growth of about 30 percent a year each year. And that’s just in Silicon Valley, our seven GTCs around the world last year drew in a total of 22,000 – from Beijing and Tokyo to Tel Aviv and Washington, DC.

Monday 11 am – Less than 24 hours until NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang delivers the keynote at our ninth annual GPU Technology Conference in Silicon Valley, and the action’s already begun.

The crowd more more than 8,000 surging into the McEnery Convention Center — which includes researchers, press, technologists, analysts and partners from all over the globe — is our largest yet.

The 600+ talks on the docket may be the best testament to the spread of GPUs into every aspect of human endeavor.

Attendees are already crowding into conference rooms to hear about how GPUs can be used to model the formation of galaxies, generate dazzling special effects for blockbuster movies, and even analyze scans of the human heart.

Their mood: happy. At least, that’s what the Emotions Demo, set up on the convention’s main concourse, tells us. The demo uses deep learning to instantly read the facial expressions of people nearby in real time – whether they’re happy, neutral, afraid, or disgusted.

Also on the show floor: a pop up store selling NVIDIA Gear. The best sellers? The NVIDIA “I Am AI” t-shirt, and our much sought after NVIDIA Ruler, according the store’s staff.

We’ll be buttonholing speakers from a broad cross-section of these talks and interviewing them for AI Podcast, where we’re recording in a sleek glass booth positioned on the show floor.

If all this makes your heartbeat a little faster, check back for live updates from our keynote Tuesday. And keep an eye on our blog throughout the week for the latest news from the show.

And if you’re feeling nostalgic, check out last year’s live GTC keynote blog.

The post Live: Jensen Huang Keynotes NVIDIA’s 2018 GPU Technology Conference appeared first on The Official NVIDIA Blog.

Live: Jensen Huang Keynotes NVIDIA’s 2018 GPU Technology Conference published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

[tragicbooks]

19 big and small ways to show you're all in for Zero Discrimination Day.

March 1 is a day to stand out.

<br>

March 1 is Zero Discrimination Day, a worldwide event to celebrate humanity and appreciate all the things that make us different.

The United States is in a pivotal moment in history — one that will be analyzed for generations to come. It will define how this society is remembered and what it stood for. And, frankly, right now is the perfect time to actually show what it is the majority of the country stands for: love and acceptance.

Here's a good place to start.

March 1 is a day to unite around everyone’s right to live a life of dignity. No matter a person's gender, nationality, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic orientation — you name it — everyone should be accepted for who they are.

There are a million ways to contribute to a world without discrimination. Here are 19 ideas to get you going:

1. Print out this sign and put it in your window or buy one to add some welcoming flair to your front yard!

These signs were first created and posted by the Immanuel Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia. They were such a hit that they've been spreading all across the internet and the country. Let's keep it up!

Image via Immanuel Mennonite Church.

2. Go to a Human Library and check out people instead of books!

At a Human Library, people volunteer to become "books" and make their experiences open and available, usually on issues that people tend to struggle discussing. "Readers" are encouraged to ask questions freely, and they'll get honest answers in return. Find out if there are any in your area — or how to start one of your own!

Image via the Human Library Organization, used with permission.

3. Pledge to volunteer for a cause you care about in your community — even if it's just one hour a month.

Volunteer Match makes it fast and easy.

4. Brighten up your social media accounts with this Zero Discrimination Day graphic from the YWCA.

Image via YWCA.

5. Sign up for the American Neighbors Pen Pal Project!

This pen pal program is bridging the rural-urban divide one letter at a time. The initiative brings together school-age kids and pairs them with a different culture in a different part of the country. Great for classrooms, but anyone can join!

6. Maybe decorate your neighborhood with welcoming signs like this one?

Image via Morgan Shoaff/Upworthy.

7. Check out one of these 20 children's books that are amazing at celebrating diversity and social justice.

Image via Michael Calcagno/Upworthy.

8. Follow the #365DaysWithDisability photo project.

The Instagram-based project is just one part of the Disability Visibility Project's work in building an online community dedicated to recording, amplifying, and sharing disability stories and culture.

9. Language matters. Some words are up to no good, even if they may seem harmless.  

"You Don't Say" is a campaign at Duke University to encourage people to think before they speak. It's something we could all benefit from.

Image via You Don't Say Duke.

Image via You Don't Say Duke.

10. We can help break the stigma on certain issues if we know how to properly talk about them. Take HIV and AIDS, for example:

Image via The Stigma Project.

11. Paint for a more inclusive world!

A fresh coat of paint can make a big statement.

Image via Bethany Johnson/Facebook.

12. Brush up on your history with the new miniseries "When We Rise."

Go back in time to see the struggles, setbacks, and triumphs of LGBT men and women, who helped to pioneer one of the last legs of the U.S. civil rights movement. We wouldn't be where we are today without them.

13. Use this how-to guide to help people who are being bullied by people with anti-Muslim sentiments.

Image via Maeril/Tumblr, used with permission.

14. Know what's happening in Congress and easily call on your elected officials to do what's right with the simple the click of a button.

Thanks, Countable.us!

15. Declare your support for gender equality. Say it loud, post it proud.

Image via The Girl Effect.

16. Are you white and unsure what your role is in fighting for racial justice?

This simple guide is so helpful.

17.  Gender can be confusing to talk about. Here are some great tips for how to talk about it with kids.

Image via iStock.

18. Take time to really hear the songs you can't stop bopping your head to. What are they saying?

Something to think about. h/t Girls' Globe

Posted by Morgan Shoaff on Thursday, February 13, 2014

19. REGISTER TO VOTE! It takes literally two minutes.

You can help direct the future you want. Make sure your representatives represent YOU.

Zero Discrimination Day might only be one day on the calendar. But let's be real: It should really be every day.

Right now, only 4 in 10 countries have equal numbers of boys and girls going to secondary school, according to the World Health Organization.  It also reports that 75 countries still have laws that criminalize same-sex relations. And this year alone, 15 million girls will have married before turning 18. None of that moves our world forward — it only holds it back.

Whether it's at home, in school, at work, in the doctor's office, or in any public space, we all play a part in showing that this country and world are for everyone. It's time to speak up.

Watch the full trailer for ABC's "When We Rise," which begins Feb. 27 at 9 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Central.

<br>

[douglasacogan]

Good day for thinking hard about sentencing second looks and second chances

I am greatly enjoying day two of the great "Rewriting the Sentence" conference at Columbia Law School (previously noted here and here and here and being live streamed here).  This afternoon, I have the honor of moderating a panel titled "Sentencing Second Chances: Addressing Excessive Sentencing With Escape Valves," and then will get to attend another later panel on "The Role of Mercy and Dignity in Criminal Justice: From Restoration to Clemency."   I am so excited this conference has two panels addressing, in varied ways, issues surrounding the correction or adjustment of problematic sentences.  As regular readers know, I have been thinking and writing about these issues a lot in recent years, making the case that they are particularly critical issues in an era of mass incarceration.  So I am so very glad this afternoon will be filled with robust discussions of sentencing second looks and second chances.

Excitingly, on the same day I am talking about these issues, Shon Hopwood has just published some important new writings on these topics.  Specifically, over at Prison Professors, Shon has this new important post titled "A Second Look at a Second Chance: Seeking a Sentence Reduction under the Compassionate Release Statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), as Amended by the First Step Act."  This post, which should be read in full and includes important links, overviews a set of new writings by Shon on second looks and second chances.  I plan to blog more about Shon's work in this space, and here I will start with the start of his posting:

There is a viable argument for why federal district court judges can use the compassionate release statute, as amended by the First Step Act, as a second look provision to reduce a sentence for people in federal prison if “extraordinary and compelling reasons” are present.  Over the weekend, I posted both a law review article (entitled Second Looks & Second chances that will be published by Cardozo Law Review) and a sample brief (that will form the basis of challenging Adam Clausen’s ridiculous 213-year federal sentence).  Both discuss the reasons why federal judges can and should give sentence reductions in cases where people in federal prison have a demonstrated record of rehabilitation in addition to compelling reasons why they were sentenced too harshly. See 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A).

In my article, I explain that there is a long history of second look provisions in American law, and why second look provisions are normatively desirable.  More importantly, the text and history of Section 3582(c) supports the view that, when Congress first enacted the compassionate release statute in 1984, it intended compassionate release to act as a second look provision to take the place of federal parole, which Congress was abolishing.  The problem was that Congress gave the power to trigger a sentence reduction under the compassionate release statute to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”).

Leaving the BOP Director with ultimate authority to trigger and set the criteria for compassionate release sentence reductions created several problems.  The Office of the Inspector General found that, among many other problems, the BOP failed to provide adequate guidance to staff regarding the criteria for compassionate release and that BOP had no timeliness standards for reviewing such requests.  As a result of these problems and others, the OIG concluded that: “BOP does not properly manage the compassionate release program, resulting in inmates who may be eligible candidates for release not being considered.”

Congress heard the complaints. Congress passed, and President Trump signed, the First Step Act of 2018, which, among other things, changed the procedures and ultimately the criteria for when a person in federal prison can seek a sentence reduction under the compassionate release statute in 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i).  After the changes made by First Step, federal prisoners can file a motion for a sentence reduction, and federal district courts are authorized to reduce a sentence even if the BOP fails to respond or even in the face of BOP opposition to a sentence reduction.

Under the First Step Act, Congress took the power that previously resided with the BOP Director to trigger and set the criteria for sentence reductions and transferred it to Article III courts — where it should be.

A few prior related posts on § 3582(c)(1)(A) after FIRST STEP Act:

Compassionate release after FIRST STEP: Should many thousands of ill and elderly federal inmates now be seeking reduced imprisonment in court? 

Sad start to what should become happier compassionate release tales after passage of FIRST STEP Act 

Encouraging new reports about encouraging new compassionate release realities thanks to FIRST STEP Act

Highlighting how judges can now bring needed compassion to compassionate release after FIRST STEP Act 

Federal judge pens extraordinary and compelling order requesting US Attorney to vacate old stacked 924(c) conviction in extraordinary and compelling case 

Is anyone collecting and analyzing sentence reduction orders under § 3582(c)(1) since passage of the FIRST STEP Act?

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247011 https://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2019/06/good-day-for-thinking-hard-about-sentencing-second-looks-and-second-chances.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[kayawagner]

Live: Jensen Huang Keynotes NVIDIA’s 2018 GPU Technology Conference

9:37 – Jensen says there are 400 games made every year, it’s one of the largest industries in the world. They use ray tracing to render entire game in advance. As a result you get wonderful shadows and details and whole world comes to life. The film industry uses this in 500 movies each year – every frame is rendered multiple times. Imagine if one CPU takes hours for a frame just how long this would take. Additionally there are 12M designers and 150,000 architects, many of whom aren’t making square buildings but round ones.

Now there are 1 billion images rendered every year, and that could go up 10x as more real-time rendering is reduced by Quadro to one-fifth the cost, one-seventh the space, one-17th the power

Virtually everyone is adopting RTX Technology – he presents a slide with three dozen key partners, gaming, design, film, architecture. This technology is the single most important advance in computer graphics in 15 years.

9:32 – Quadro GV100 is the world’s first workstation GPU based on Volta architecture. It also has a new interconnect called NVLink 2 that extends the programming and memory model out of our GPU to a second one. They essentially function as one GPU. These two combined have 10,000 CUDA cores, 236 teraflops of Tensor Cores, all used to revolutionize modern computer graphics, with 64GB of memory

9:30 – Steve Parker, an NVIDIA ray-tracing expert, talks through how ray tracing is able to show light striking a  surface, bouncing off the surfacing, and then striking additional surfaces. Recreating this follows billions of rays.

Doing so, Jensen says, takes supercomputers than can calculate these rays. The more reflections, the more refractions, the harder it is. Everything that’s being seen visually is in real time.

This complete demo is running on just one DGX Station – not a supercomputer running one frame in hours, but one DGX-Station that costs $68K, with four Voltas, doing this in real time.

So, Jensen announced NVIDIA RTX technology that runs on a Quadro GV100 processor. It’s a big deal, he says, because for now we can bring real-time ray tracing to the market. The technology has been encapsulated into multiple layers. You’re also seeing deep learning in action, without that we couldn’t trace all the rays. It predicts rays.

9:24 – Then, Jensen shows a scene that looks like it was from the Last Jedi with chatting storm troopers, but Jensen said it was actually rendered in real time with ray tracing.

9:21 – Jensen moves right into fourth gear. He’s talking about graphics being the driving force of GPUs.

Computer scientists have been recreating photo-realistic images for decades, he notes. Ray tracing follows every photon as it bounces through a scene, based on the materials that it strikes. This is how the film industry does it, it requires thousands of CPUs. One CPU would take hours to compute one frame and there’s hundreds of thousands of frames in movie. For four decades we’ve been trying to close the gap to create a full movie.

He says we use all kinds of different tricks to improve visuals – like ambient occlusion, light baking – so long as things don’t move very much, the light conditions are well produced. Global illumination – where light moves from ever possible source and bounces accurately — helps bring a scene to life with extra-sharp detail.

But ray tracing is the most beautiful way of doing it. This is tough, especially with curved transparent surfaces like a drinking cup (regardless of what you’re drinking).

Some objects absorb light and then release some, things like jade or gummy bears, or car paint, or our skin – light goes through, picks up shades and then re-emits.

9:14 – And with that, Jensen takes the stage. He breaks out a new leather jacket ever year and he looks in this new one a bit like a superhero.

GTC is the GPU developers conference, which we do for all of you, whose work is impossible without a supercharged computer, he says.

We’re going to talk about amazing graphics, amazing science, amazing AI and amazing robots. So let’s get going, he says.

9:11 – And now an updated version of our I AM AI video swells up on the screen.

It depicts how AI can support humans in a broad field of endeavors, with a voice over that professes to be AI. And it comes with a sound track itself that’s composed by AI and played by a true-life orchestra.

“I am a protector,” says the narrator. And there’s a scene of sweeping work by the NASA FDL/Seti Institute’s project to better predict comets that might have Earth’s number. Also, some amazing work by Wildbook, which is able to identify individual members of a species that might otherwise look the same – like the zebras here. It has lots of use for tracking and helping to sustain the diversity of species.

“I am a healer,” is next. It shows how Image biopsy uses deep learning to quickly analyze the shape of the knee, with some snazzy color-coded keys for measurements.

“I am a guardian,” and then “I am a helper” which has some cool scenes. There’s an IAmRobotics autonomously navigating through warehouses, identifying objects and plucking them off shelves – at a rate of 200 picks an hour. That’s faster than a water pick. And back on the keyboard is jazz pianist Jason Barnes, who lost an arm in a work accident, is shown using Georgia Tech’s prosthetic tech that detects individual finger movement. And there’s a full autonomous selfie Skydio drone with 13 onboard cameras tracking a jogger.

It’s all brought to us, the video says, by NVIDIA and brilliant minds everywhere.

9:08 – A list of sponsors, topped by IBM and Facebook, comes up. The soundtrack pumps up. You could just about bop your head to it. The NVIDIA logo comes up again, and then the sponsors, following by the ever-connecting synapses of the visualized neural network.

9:05 – Okay, the music is beginning to shift. The blasphemously named Voice of God comes up and tells everyone in the nicest possible way to sit up and behave.  The event is about to begin.

9:01 – NVIDIA starts planning for GTC virtually before the previous one wraps up. It’s an all-on challenge that Jensen leads. A ton of the work falls on the Creative department who have created a mini-Netflix full of videos for the show. The first one, the opening one, is always a highlight of the show and helps set the tone for the next couple hours. I can tell you in full confidence that this year’s is terrific.

8:56 – The stage itself is pretty cool. It’s broad, running about two-thirds the length of the wall, with the screen a deep, inky black. It’s flanked by large NVIDIA-green airplane-wing like triangles that are interconnected. Triangles, of course, are the building block of computer graphics and, by the time, they’re the theme of our iconic new headquarters building in Santa Clara, comprised of two five-acre-sized triangular floorplates, covered with an undulating roof of interlocking triangles, with the occasional triangular skylight peeking through.

8:55 – More time than you’d think goes into picking out the walk-in track for GTC, which is reliably warm, soulful and upbeat.

Among the tunes we’re hearing, there’s “Crazy,” by the Lost Frequencies and “Glorious,” by Macklemore. Also we’ll wrap up with a couple tracks from The Greatest Showman soundtrack — “This is Me” and the eponymous  “The Greatest Showman.”

There are some fabulous graphics coming up against the deep black screen. They’re green synapses, like those in the brain, that connect to other points of light. They suggest the workings of a neural network, which underpins how deep learning works, with connections being made that might otherwise not be apparent, ultimately sorting out data in an image that enables the network to recognize an apple from an appliance, a banana from a bandana, a carrot from a carob. Well, you get the point.

8:50 – Folks are beginning to come into the hall at the Convention Center. There’s a rub. It seats 4,000 or so, but there are twice as many attendees. Good thing there are spillover rooms. The biggest fans among GTC attendees got in line early. First guy showed up at 6:45. By 8:30, there was a line that ran the full length of the center and ultimately out the door, onto the sidewalk.

You may have a more comfortable seat watching the webcast, which will have tens of thousands tuning in.

8:40 – Well, we’re back at GTC, 10 months after last year’s. But, yikes, a lot’s changed, with huge progress in AI, which is changing just about every service that’s delivered. The way just about any company with data operates.

The first one of these was held down the street here in San Jose at the Fairmont Hotel, where we had about 800 attendees. This year there are 8,500. That’ growth of about 30 percent a year each year. And that’s just in Silicon Valley, our seven GTCs around the world last year drew in a total of 22,000 – from Beijing and Tokyo to Tel Aviv and Washington, DC.

Monday 11 am – Less than 24 hours until NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang delivers the keynote at our ninth annual GPU Technology Conference in Silicon Valley, and the action’s already begun.

The crowd more more than 8,000 surging into the McEnery Convention Center — which includes researchers, press, technologists, analysts and partners from all over the globe — is our largest yet.

The 600+ talks on the docket may be the best testament to the spread of GPUs into every aspect of human endeavor.

Attendees are already crowding into conference rooms to hear about how GPUs can be used to model the formation of galaxies, generate dazzling special effects for blockbuster movies, and even analyze scans of the human heart.

Their mood: happy. At least, that’s what the Emotions Demo, set up on the convention’s main concourse, tells us. The demo uses deep learning to instantly read the facial expressions of people nearby in real time – whether they’re happy, neutral, afraid, or disgusted.

Also on the show floor: a pop up store selling NVIDIA Gear. The best sellers? The NVIDIA “I Am AI” t-shirt, and our much sought after NVIDIA Ruler, according the store’s staff.

We’ll be buttonholing speakers from a broad cross-section of these talks and interviewing them for AI Podcast, where we’re recording in a sleek glass booth positioned on the show floor.

If all this makes your heartbeat a little faster, check back for live updates from our keynote Tuesday. And keep an eye on our blog throughout the week for the latest news from the show.

And if you’re feeling nostalgic, check out last year’s live GTC keynote blog.

The post Live: Jensen Huang Keynotes NVIDIA’s 2018 GPU Technology Conference appeared first on The Official NVIDIA Blog.

Live: Jensen Huang Keynotes NVIDIA’s 2018 GPU Technology Conference published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

[barbosaasouza]

Hearthstone: The Witchwood Card Analyses (Part 1)

Hearthstone players are ready to tune in on Monday, March 26. This is where the card reveals for the game's next expansion, The Witchwood, are set to begin in earnest. The Witchwood marks Hearthstone's eighth expansion and the first one for the Year of the Raven.

However, Blizzard has already begun revealing a couple of cards prior to this. And as usual, Shacknews is stepping into the murky forest to break these cards down by the handful. So before the Twitch stream begins on Monday, let's go ahead and analyze what's already been revealed.

(6) Genn Greymane (6/5) Type: Minion Class: Neutral Rarity: Legendary Start of Game: If your deck has only even-Cost cards, your starting Hero Power costs (1). Source: The Witchwood Announcement Video

(9) Baku the Mooneater (7/8) Type: Minion - Beast Class: Neutral Rarity: Legendary Start of Game: If your deck has only odd-Cost cards, upgrade your Hero Power. Source: The Witchwood Announcement Video

Analysis: I hate to immediately kick this feature off with a cop out, but the jury is out on both of these guys. While Blizzard has already noted that there will be no further odd and even synergy cards, who knows what else this expansion could contain that could make these decks great? So until I see the rest of the expansion, I'm holding off on any deep dives on Baku or Greymane.

I will say one thing, though. Beast synergy for Baku is subtly hinting at the return of Face Hunter. In fact, Hearthstone designer Dean Ayala already mentioned this idea in a previous video.

Aside from that quick note, let's table the conversation on these two Legendaries for another day.

(7) Azalina Soulthief (3/3) Type: Minion Class: Neutral Rarity: Legendary Battlecry: Replace your hand with a copy of your opponent's. Source: The Witchwood Announcement Video

Analysis: Those are some seriously weak 3/3 stats for a 7-cost minion. In fact, that high cost makes Azalina a huge gamble in the late game. But there are a couple of interesting uses for this card.

What if you're a Mage or Paladin that has already exhausted all cards in-hand? Play Azalina and maybe get a boost from your opponent. Let's make the possibilities a little more interesting. What if it's Turn 7 and your opponent has a Death Knight in their hand? That could be quite the advantage for the later turns.

The most fun scenario, though, involves Azari, the Devourer. If the opponent has completed the process of playing the various Seals and has an Azari sitting in-hand, maybe just pluck Azari yourself and play him on the next turn.

Again, the 7-cost is a bit of a killer, but it should be exciting to see what the Hearthstone pros come out of the lab with for this Legendary.

(3) Phantom Militia (2/4) Type: Minion Class: Neutral Rarity: Rare Echo. Taunt Source: The Witchwood Announcement Video

Analysis: It's the first of the new Echo cards. It's important to note the inherent ceilings involved with cards like Phantom Militia. Even if he's discounted by an effect like Emperor Thaurissan, the "echo" copy that returns to the player's hand will come at full cost. So don't try and be slick and try to play infinite copies of this guy. That's not possible. (At least for now.)

So with that said, this is a solid 2/4 Taunt for Turn 3, but also a quick wall of three 2/4s in the later game. Those playing constructed will want to stick with the higher value Saronite Chain Gang. However, Phantom Militia may strike gold in Arena for potential late game protection. Just watch out for pesky area-of-effect spells like Flamestrike, because they'll end this ragtag army quickly.

(3) Pumpkin Peasant (2/4) Type: Minion Class: Neutral Rarity: Common Lifesteal: Each turn this is in your hand, swap its Attack and Health. Source: The Witchwood Announcement Video

Analysis: Here's the first of the Worgen cards, which swap stats each turn it's in-hand. The Pumpkin Peasant doesn't quite fit in with a lot of decks at the moment, neither as a 2/4 or a 4/2. Lifesteal doesn't really matter in the early game, except for Warlock players.

So maybe a Keleseth Zoolock will find a home for this guy. After all, these Warlocks like to Life Tap like crazy and a 3-cost 3/5 with Lifesteal doesn't sound quite as bad.

(4) Militia Commander (2/5) Type: Minion Class: Warrior Rarity: Rare Rush. Battlecry: Gain +3 Attack this turn. Source: The Witchwood Announcement Video

Analysis: Whether the Militia Commander sees play depends on what kind of Warrior is seeing play. The aggro Warrior won't want anything to do with this and opt for Kor'kron Elite instead. Control Warriors may want to give this a second look, because a 4-cost 5/5 drop that can clear out most minions doesn't sound too bad.

Think of this card as a cheaper Spiked Hogrider, which turns into a Stormwind Knight at the end of the first turn. That should make Militia Commander a great choice in Arena, where control is a major key to success.

(3) Black Cat (3/3) Type: Minion - Beast Class: Mage Rarity: Common Spell Damage +1. Battlecry: If your deck has only odd-Cost cards, draw a card. Source: Hearthside Chat with Dean Ayala: Even & Odd

Analysis: Black Cat is interesting for several reasons, some of which don't have anything to do with the odd-cost synergy at all.

First off, even if Mage players don't opt for the odd-cost synergy, the Black Cat is a solid minion in itself. Its Spell Damage increase and 3/3 stats mean it's basically Soot Spewer from the old days. But this isn't a Mech, it's a Beast. Mages don't have too many Beasts, outside of the Raven Familiar. That's going to be one heck of a random pull for Hunter cards like Jeweled Macaw or Ram Wrangler in Wild. Black Cat won't define any metas on its own, but it's certainly not a terrible card by any means.

(5) Gloom Stag (2/6) Type: Minion - Beast Class: Druid Rarity: Epic Taunt. Battlecry: If your deck has only odd-Cost cards, gain +2/+2. Source: Hearthside Chat with Dean Ayala: Even & Odd

Analysis: Here's another Beast that's poised to get a big boost from odd-Cost decks. This one could see a lot more play, though. Getting a 4/8 Taunt for odd-Cost decks makes Gloom Stag a solid choice, even moreso than Druid of the Claw.

The question for Druid players, however, is whether this is really a better choice than the reliable Oaken Summons/Ironwood Golem combo. That's a tough question to answer, because there's no replacing that Armor boost, even with a beefed-up Hero Power. This is a card to keep an eye on for the moment, but it's hard to see it replacing what's been a good Druid combo.

(2) Murkspark Eel (2/3) Type: Minion - Beast Class: Shaman Rarity: Rare Battlecry: If your deck has only even-Cost cards, deal 2 damage. Source: Hearthside Chat with Dean Ayala: Even & Odd

Analysis:

That's right! For eel!

(I am... so sorry!)

Ahem... as a 2-drop the Murkspark Eel has some solid vanilla stats. Its 2/3 line puts it in line with most of the game's other two drops, while the 2 damage effect makes it a slightly less effective version of Medivh's Valet, having an even-cost deck means that effect can kick in immediately.

The Eel is a good 2-drop just for the stat line alone, but whether it'll be a truly great 2-drop depends on what else the Shaman will have to support this even-cost deck synergy. It's certainly not too bad at the moment, since having an even-cost deck means Shamans should more often than not being playing a Turn 1 Hero Power totem.

(5) Glitter Moth (4/4) Type: Minion - Beast Class: Priest Rarity: Epic Battlecry: If your deck has only odd-Cost cards, double the Health of your other minions. Source: Hearthside Chat with Dean Ayala: Even & Odd

Analysis: With Drakonid Operative about to rotate out, the Priest is in sore need of a new Turn 5 drop. Glitter Moth might be it. At worst, it's a vanilla 4/4, which is just below average. It's certainly a steep drop from that 5/6 Dragon that's going away.

But if there's any kind of minion presence, the Glitter Moth offers an instant Divine Spirit. That could be wildly powerful, especially if a Twilight Drake went down the turn prior. Combo Priests who love to bop their opponents with Inner Fire just got another tool in their arsenal... which sort of evens out the fact that odd-cost decks can't have Divine Spirit in their decks to begin with.

This odd-cost synergy thing is harder than it looks.

(3) Face Collector (2/2) Type: Minion Class: Rogue Rarity: Legendary Echo. Battlecry: Add a random Legendary minion to your hand. Source: Hearthside Chat with Peter Whalen: Echo

Analysis: This is one crazy new toy for the Rogue. Serious Rogue players aren't normally seeking out RNG effects on their road to victory, but it's hard not to be enticed by the Face Collector. Getting an army of Legendaries for the late game sounds pretty sweet.

On top of that, the Rogue has numerous tools to help exploit the Echo keyword. The big one is Shadowstep, which will bring the Face Collector back for more turns. This has a chance to be a lot of fun in constructed, though I can't see this overtaking Miracle Rogue or any of the other more reliable Rogue decks.

This is going to be a killer in Arena, though. As resources start to wane in the late game, having multiple Legendaries can easily decidde a game.

(2) Warpath Type: Spell Class: Warrior Rarity: Common Echo: Deal 1 damage to all minions. Source: Hearthside Chat with Peter Whalen: Echo

Analysis This is another great tool for Warriors looking to Enrage their minions or summon multiple Legendaries from Rotface.

The Echo effect means this can be used as a simple Revenge play or it can be used in the late game as a last ditch effort to clear the board. The fact that it maxes out at 5 damage means it might not be enough if the opponent has assembled a board of large minions. Unless something comes along to replace the departing Sleep with the Fishes, it's tough to recommend playing this over Brawl.

And that's it for now! We'll be back after Monday's stream to break down those cards. We'll then follow the other reveals for the Witchwood, leading all the way up to the expansion's release in mid-April.

Hearthstone: The Witchwood Card Analyses (Part 1) published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/