#the grailed dynamics explored basically

[writer-and-artist27]

Summer 7 in FGO NA had the author think about a lot. Especially when one of the culprits is shown to be the author's Grailed Caster.

Emotional exploration, past memories of sensory overload and anxiety (coincidentally caused by author's own parents in a growing bit, actually), and many many days of work stress and writing on the trolley resulted in this. Almost 14k words for a Summer Event chapter.

(Let it be said that when bad apple 3 who was pregnant left, author with work team found a bad apple number 4 and it sucks. What is it with healthcare jobs finding the most devious of masked people who say they can do the work, only to slack on the details when others need it most? Fuck off.)

An honorable mention to @partialdignity. It's thanks to you beta-reading a lot of the scenes and initial ideas that helped me finish this. I love you friend.

AO3 link here. OST playlist here, with all the new songs included.

[atellierstudioofficial]

Exploring the Evolution of 3D Product Rendering Technology

3D Product Rendering Services has come a long way since its inception, evolving into a sophisticated and transformative technology that has revolutionized how businesses showcase their products. From basic wireframe models to photorealistic representations, the evolution of 3D product rendering has been marked by technological advancements and innovations that continue to shape the marketing and e-commerce landscapes. In this article, we will explore the key milestones in the evolution of 3D product rendering technology.

1. Early Beginnings: Wireframes and Basic Rendering

The roots of 3D product rendering can be traced back to the 1960s and 1970s when computer graphics were in their infancy. During this period, 3D models were simple wireframes, consisting of lines and points that defined the shape of objects. Basic rendering techniques were used to display these wireframes, providing a rough representation of the product's geometry and structure.

2. Advancements in 3D Modeling and Shading

In the 1980s and 1990s, 3D modeling and shading technologies saw significant improvements. The introduction of more powerful computers and graphics processing units (GPUs) allowed for more complex 3D models with smoother surfaces. Shading techniques were refined, enabling the application of textures and materials to the 3D models, giving them a more realistic appearance.

3. Ray Tracing and Global Illumination

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the rise of ray tracing and global illumination techniques in 3D product rendering. Ray tracing simulates the behavior of light rays as they interact with surfaces, producing more accurate reflections, shadows, and lighting effects. Global illumination further enhanced the realism by considering the indirect lighting that bounces off surfaces, creating a more natural and immersive environment for the 3D product.

4. Photorealism and Real-Time Rendering

The 2010s witnessed a significant leap in 3D product rendering with the advent of photorealistic rendering and real-time rendering capabilities. Photorealism became the holy grail of 3D rendering, aiming to create images that were indistinguishable from photographs. Advancements in rendering algorithms, GPU technology, and software tools allowed for more complex scenes and detailed textures, achieving unprecedented levels of realism.

Real-time rendering, on the other hand, enabled the interactive manipulation and visualization of 3D product models in real-time. This breakthrough allowed businesses to showcase their products dynamically on websites and applications, providing customers with an engaging and interactive experience.

5. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)

The integration of 3D product rendering with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies further expanded its impact. AR enables customers to visualize products in their real-world environment using mobile devices or smart glasses. VR, on the other hand, immerses customers in a virtual environment, allowing them to interact with products as if they were physically present.

6. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has also influenced the evolution of 3D product rendering. AI-powered algorithms can automate certain aspects of the rendering process, such as lighting optimization, texture mapping, and post-processing, making it more efficient and accessible to a broader audience.

Conclusion

The evolution of 3D product rendering technology has been marked by a series of remarkable advancements. From basic wireframes to photorealistic representations, and from slow rendering times to real-time interactivity, the journey of 3D product rendering has transformed the marketing and sales landscape. With ongoing technological innovations and the integration of AI, AR, and VR, the future of 3D product rendering looks even more promising. As businesses continue to embrace this powerful technology, it is clear that 3D product rendering will remain a pivotal tool in capturing customer attention, enhancing product presentation, and driving sales in the digital age.

[talesofafangirlwithadvr]

**SPOILERS** Featuring Netflix’s Cursed

SPOILER FREE REVIEW:

When I first heard about this show coming to Netflix I was excited. As someone who loves watching King Arthur inspired shows/movies, I was interested to see how the story would change by following Nimue aka the Lady of the Lake. I was surprised at how few Arthurian references were made. Mainly just focusing on characters names (like Arthur) and re-inventing them. This is more inspired by Arthurian legend than a full re-telling (or at least for this first season). From what I’m familiar with, there isn’t a whole lot of similarities with the King Arthur legend. When I first heard about the focus on Nimue, I thought the story would have followed a time long before Uther. Instead it’s more like an alternative story. 

There are a lots of characters and plots that can feel info dumpy at times, but you kind of roll with it and see how important they are as you go. Due to having SO many characters, it makes it easier to watch and doesn’t make me want to read the book. I think fans of Game of Thrones will like it because it feels like it’s trying to bank on filling the fantasy void that GOT left. (Especially with all of the characters involved and mini story-lines.) Disclaimer: There is A LOT of blood and gore. Sometimes it feels unnecessary and that they had a blood quota. So watch out for that if you’re squeamish or don’t like gory things. (There were a few parts I had to look away from.) 

Despite all of this negativity, once I understood this was a show that’s loosely based in the lore, I actually grew to like it. Of course, there’s things I would be okay without, but overall if/when a season 2 comes out I would watch it. 

SPOILER REVIEW:

Two things that I think made this watch even more enjoyable/fun was 1) Watching it with someone 2) Watching it with the captions on. [Mystical Twinkling]--Every time the sword made a noise. 

Like I said before, there were A LOT of characters and for some of them I really didn’t care. As the show went on, it made more sense, but still had a lot going on. At times, I wished I could see more of the characters I liked (ie: The Weeping Monk) compared to the Raiders.  

I definitely made a lot of Game of Thrones references and surprisingly The 100 too. Also, naming people other names. When the Widow showed up to Merlin we were joking around that it was his Mom. Also, thought Squirrel was Nimue’s brother for the longest time. 

Villains: 

SISTER IRIS!!! She needs to stop and I hate that she survived at the end of the show. For a small moment it looked like she might have changed her mind about killing the Fey Queen, but after that creepy scene of psyching herself into it, I knew she was a lost cause. Her and the paladins were very creepy and eerie. All the red just felt uncomfortable. So, that made them a chilling villain. I’m just frustrated that won’t be the last time we see Iris as now she’s been truly welcomed into the fold. 

“Born in the Dawn to walk in the Twilight”

MERLIN!!! I really enjoyed this incarnation of him and the direction they decided to take. Basically every scene he was in I enjoyed. The idea of him losing his powers to the sword and then the SWORD BEING INSIDE OF HIM!! AND THAT ENDING!! Such an epic scene when he used the sword. (I kept making Thor references with all the lightning.)

1x06 was probably my favorite episode because of his backstory/flashbacks with Lenore. They easily are one of my top ships of the show (very close to Pym and Dof). I GUESSED he was Nimue’s Dad (because it made a lot of sense) and was SO HAPPY when he was revealed as her dad. I really loved their dynamic. Gustaf did a fantastic acting job showing how much Merlin cares for Nimue. His watery eyes in so many scenes! And that the last one when she called him father and he couldn’t hold onto her! No wonder why he decided to use the sword again. I’m very excited to see what happens to him in season 2 (if/when there is one). I’m also interested to see what happens with him and Morgana. In Arthurian legend they are adversaries, but can have a very complicated relationship. Despite all of the changes in the show, I’m sure they’ll keep that in (or something close). 

Speaking of Morgana.... I really loved her character from when we first met her. I thought it was an interesting choice that she went under the name Igraine as she was Arthur’s sister and that’s his mother’s name. And then when the reveal happened with her actual name I got excited. When she was talking to Celia (when she was dead) I kept shouting NOOO and wanted to run into the TV. I like that they are going to explore her sorceress side. Now that she became the widow it should be interesting to see how powerful she will be. (We don’t know much about that character.) So happy she stayed loyal to Nimue at the end. 

I’m a HUGE fan of Daniel Sharman and after watching Medici earlier this year, I was very excited to see him back on Netflix with another show. Even though he was a villain in the show I kept holding out hope that he could be turned. (Probably because of my love for the actor.) Very early on I felt he was Fey. This was mainly due to the fact he could smell them out. This isn’t a trait that any other man blood had. There was also the fact he didn’t harm kids that sent a red flag to me that something probably happened in his childhood. I was pretty accurate when his backstory (or some of it) was revealed in 1x10. My one major complaint about this season is that we didn’t get more of him/more of his story sooner. Because if there isn’t a second season than we won’t be able to see this transformation happen. That is one of my favorite tropes in TV shows and books. 

While the Weeping Monk’s relationship with Squirrel was only a little part of this season, I really enjoyed them together. So I was very excited that they ended up together at the end, which will probably have them together for a good amount of another season. Their dynamics will be interesting to see. Definitely get an Arya and The Hound vibe. 

AND THAT NAME REVEAL! I can’t believe I didn’t piece it together!! Squirrel as Perceval makes so much sense! I read the romance of Perceval and the Story of the Holy Grail when I was studying in college and Preceval starts out as this young kid who longs to be a knight and is very hot-tempered and innocent. He will jump into anything without thinking about it first. That’s squirrel! So when Gawain named him before knighting him a knight of the Fey it was just perfect! I am very excited to see how his character develops. I just hope he doesn’t age too much before the next season. AND LANCELOT! I can’t believe I didn’t see that one coming! But it also makes sense as Lancelot is a skilled fighter and so is the Weeping Monk. With a name like Lancelot, he has a lot to live up to. I am very ready to witness this transformation. 

While watching the show I was doing my best to avoid all spoilers, yet in my YouTube feed I came across a few videos shipping the Weeping Monk and Nimue. This made me believe the two would have a true scene together, but no. I was very shocked that they did not and that the fandom already loves them so much. I can understand it because there are a lot of similarities between the two characters. From both in a way being cursed and the parallels with them having scars (specifically on their backs). He’s fire and she’s water and we know the connection there. Plus, the whole enemies to lovers trope feels strong. I also know about the lore of Lancelot and the Lady of the Lake which they have to explore. So, I can definitely see myself getting aboard this ship. 

For me Arthur’s character started out very wishy washy. I’m not a big fan of love at first sight ships just because I feel they’re not realistic. (I guess that’s the unromantic in me.) And then the fact that he backstabbed Nimue by stealing the sword all to try and restore his honor (which he failed). Now I know this was all within the first few episodes but when he tells her he doesn’t want to be saved yet they still love each other...idk. It felt like it was contradicted the female queen power being showcased. For me their relationship overall just felt rushed. Perhaps if it wasn’t so fast then maybe I could have gotten on board with it. I think time apart will help me like Arthur’s character more.

..

.....

Definitely watch Cursed on Netflix if you’re a fan of medieval fantasy and don’t mind keeping up with a ton of characters and gore. Then you’ll hope for a second season as much as me!    

[thankskenpenders]

So there’s this little cartoon you may have heard of...

As I’ve said on this blog before, I’d never watched all of SatAM. This might be shocking to hear from someone who runs a blog dedicated to Archie Sonic and one of the top twenty Bunnie Rabbot fangirls in the world. But it’s true.

SatAM was very difficult to track down compared to other Sonic cartoons when I was a kid, and I just never got around to watching it as an adult. So for the longest time, I had only ever seen the first episode, which I found uploaded in parts on YouTube in 2007. As the one cartoon featuring the characters I liked from the comics, it became sort of this holy grail of Sonic media for me as a kid, especially with people online always talking it up as the best thing ever and petitioning for a revival. Hell, to this day, a lot of people hold it up as this masterpiece and act like the Archie comics were a complete mockery of it

Anyway so I finally got around to watching the whole series with my boyfriend these past couple weeks, and it was pretty good. So instead of covering a comic today, here are some thoughts on the cartoon that started it all

General Thoughts

SatAM is a pretty good show. It isn’t the greatest piece of Sonic media ever, unlike what some older fans will tell you. It might not even be the best Sonic cartoon (you could easily make a case for the Japanese version of Sonic X, or Sonic Boom if you’re looking for something more comedic). It hasn’t aged the most gracefully, in some ways. The animation’s cheap, the stories sometimes bland. But for a DiC-produced video game cartoon from the early ‘90s, it’s really solid

I think that in many ways, SatAM is carried by the strength of its ideas over its actual execution. The darker, more serious tone is a really cool idea, even if at times it can get a little dull, and even if the show actually gets silly as hell pretty often. (This is a show where Snively literally tortures a captive Antoine by preparing French cuisine improperly.) That opening scene of Robotropolis in the first episode actually sets the mood really well and feels like it came straight out of some cyberpunk anime from the ‘80s or ‘90s. The concept of Robotnik turning people into robot slaves is really cool, even if surprisingly little was done with this aside from Uncle Chuck’s storyline. And I think the Freedom Fighters make a great supporting cast for Sonic, even if the writers didn’t use them to their full potential

Interestingly, I’d often heard from fans that season one was the stronger of the two, when I’d say that the opposite is true. Season one episodes were pretty samey, usually involving low stakes missions to Robotropolis with no real continuity, and Sally ended up being a damsel in distress more than I’d like--hell, so did Bunnie in a few episodes. It wasn’t bad, but it was highly repetitive, and I got a little bored at times. Season two had a few real stinkers (the Antoine episodes) and Dulcy was an unwelcome addition, but I thought the heavier focus on continuity gave the season some real momentum and more emotional weight, which made it way more enjoyable overall

Things I Liked

Sonic. I quite liked this version of Sonic, actually! Jaleel White is a great Sonic, and he was written pretty well. At times the extremely tubular ‘90s lingo was grating (I never wanna hear “Gotta juice!” again), but I was surprised to see that this version of Sonic had a lot of heart. He really cared about the well-being of his friends and Uncle Chuck, and they even let him cry a couple times. I thought they struck a good balance between snark and sincerity with him

Sally. I don’t think SatAM Sally was perfect, but I liked her. I’m still of the opinion that she should have been given more ways to defend herself physically (maybe some kind of power of her own) so that Sonic didn’t have to save her as much, but I liked the banter she and Sonic had. Unlike the early Archie comics, Sally doesn’t come off as the bossy girlfriend who ruins Sonic’s fun. Maybe it’s Jaleel White and Kath Soucie’s performances doing most of the work, but they had a fun back and forth dynamic, with Sally’s sarcasm keeping Sonic’s ego in check, but there still being clear chemistry between the two of them

I also liked the greatly reduced emphasis on her being a princess compared to much of Archie’s material. Like yeah, it’s there. Her dad’s the king, and left her some classified info via Nicole. But her status doesn’t really affect things much. They don’t talk about her having this grand destiny and being the next in line to rule. It’s clear that she’s in charge of the Freedom Fighters not because of her status, but because she’s smart, brave, and gets shit done. That’s the Sally I like.

Plus! In the finale, Sally insisted upon going with Sonic for the final confrontation, and was a crucial part of the climax. Her powering up with Sonic and matching his speed and strength ruled. Compare that to the climactic defeat of Robotnik in Archie, where she was fucking dead

Robotnik. I don’t think much needs to be said here. Jim Cummings rules as Robotnik, like everyone has always said. He’s just so evil and so much fun to watch

Snively??? I’ve never cared for Snively as a character, but Charlie Adler rules and his over-the-top performance made the character way funnier than he should’ve been. Just something about all the little noises he makes, and the way he almost shifts into the Red Guy voice at times

Nicole. It was fun to see Nicole start to get more of a personality in season two, having some banter with Sonic and also picking up some slang from him. It makes the later decision to turn Sally’s computer into a full character (which would have happened in season three, and obviously eventually became a big subplot in the comics) make a lot of sense

King Acorn. While he was only around briefly, I liked that he wasn’t a huge dick, unlike Archie’s King Max

Things I Didn’t Like

The misuse of the other Freedom Fighters. This is, by far, the show’s greatest crime.

I already write approximately 100k words a week on this blog about how I think Bunnie Rabbot is amazing and criminally underused, so I’ll keep this brief, but I was shocked to see how little she was used in this show. People tend to say Dulcy stole her screentime in season two, but she didn’t have much to do in the first season either! We somehow never got a single episode focusing on her. The one where she got temporarily deroboticized focused much more on Uncle Chuck. We never got to learn the story behind her roboticization, or delved into her feelings on the matter much. She mostly just served as a positive, lighthearted supporting member of the team who acts cute and gets some funny lines, but usually stays home

Antoine might have been even worse, honestly. Like, they used him so much! They had multiple episodes focusing entirely on him! And yet I’m not sure he ever really helped. Sonic and Sally kept taking him along, but every single time it felt like it would’ve been a wiser decision to bring Bunnie instead. The jokes about his broken English were just dumb, and god, the way he constantly hits on Sally and starts kissing her hand at the most inappropriate times is just SO fucking creepy. SatAM Antoine is just a horrible, one-dimensional stereotype. There’s a reason why readers of the Archie comics wanted him out of the series until later writers majorly rehabilitated him

Rotor also didn’t get much use, which was a shame, but it at least felt like he was used efficiently. I got the vibe that Rotor was much more bitter about the war with Robotnik than his friends, and it would’ve been interesting to see this explored more. At least we got that one fun episode where he went to space with Sonic

Dulcy. Oh my fucking god. I wanted to like Dulcy! I really did! But most of the time she was just a clutz used for comic relief, and they kept reusing the same joke where she crashed, bumped her head, got dizzy, and thought she was talking to her mom. This happened in almost every episode she was in.

The other miscellaneous Freedom Fighters. Like in the early Archie comics, none of the other miscellaneous Mobians they meet were as interesting as the core cast. They just always felt very bland and I was never as invested in them as the writers wanted me to be. Ari was boring, and that episode where they found the underground city and this other dude started hitting on Sally was a drag. Lupe’s cute though

Rings. This is a common problem in Sonic adaptations, but the fact that rings always serve as Sonic’s instant win button kind of sucks. Basically any time Sonic’s in a pinch, he pulls a ring out of his backpack, powers up, and wins. Not exactly a recipe for suspenseful action

Oh, also, I did kinda find it weird how much Sonic and Sally kissed? Like, all the time? Often while their friends just stand there and stare at them? Not something I’d expect from a Sonic cartoon

Things Archie Did Better

I’ll limit this to the first 50 issues or so, since I don’t think it would be fair to compare two short seasons of SatAM to the highlights of nearly 500 issues of comics

Tails. Tails is okay in SatAM, Archie just used him as Sonic’s sidekick way more. He was barely even in the show. Poor little guy only gets to play dirt hockey all day

Bunnie. Again, Bunnie was underutilized in both series, but the Archie comics did her better. They actually showed the story of how she got roboticized (even if it was a silly story), and they got to flesh her out a bit more. Gallagher showing that she was a carrot farmer before her roboticization and saying she wanted to be a hairdresser was at least something. And as I keep harping on, Rich Koslowski’s backup story in #37 where we find out Bunnie has recurring nightmares about her robot parts taking over and making her a threat to her friends? This single backup story did more to flesh her out than all 26 episodes of SatAM combined

Antoine. Not hard to do better than SatAM here, really. He was really bad early on, serving as little more than Sonic’s punching bag, but eventually they started to set up a romance between him and Bunnie and explored his past a bit, saying that Antoine’s father (his personal role model) was a member of the royal guard who was roboticized in the war. While he still had a long way to go, these were important first steps towards him being a decent character. Hell, these days, being Bunnie’s love interest is one of Antoine’s defining characteristics! And it doesn’t come from the cartoon at all

Roboticization in general. I was surprised how little this came up in the cartoon! In the comics, it’s such a central element. We see more of the heroes’ loved ones turned into robots, and we even got some fun stories where characters like Sonic and Sally were roboticized temporarily. The Freedom Fighters’ efforts to reverse the process was a major part of the plot for quite a while. Bunnie’s fear of losing control is a pretty important part of her character (even if it was only touched on briefly), and after they’re rescued, the rest of the Mobians fear that the “Robians” (including Sonic’s entire family) will turn evil again. It comes up a lot! There are interesting things to discuss here! But SatAM only really talks about Uncle Chuck. We never even see what happened to everyone else

Closing Thoughts

SatAM is not the best show in the world, but it is a solid and enjoyable one. It’s easy to see why people who grew up with it are fond of it, even if I think that it’s long past time certain fans quit acting like it’s the only valid take on the Sonic source material and petitioning for a third season. At the very least, the concepts and characters introduced here are strong ones, and it’s easy to see how they spawned over 20 years of comics exploring said ideas in greater detail. While I’m not sure I could recommend it to non-fans, I think it’s definitely worth checking out for Sonic fans who missed out on it (especially fans of the Archie comics)

Anyway I got to see Bunnie dropkick some Swatbots twice her height so I had fun

[dewbond-blog]

Fatevember: Fate/kalied liner Prisma Illya 2wei

Alright, I've put this part off for long enough.

Many people who are fans of Fate may not be aware that the Fate Stay Night visual novel was originally a piece of erotic literature, in that it had several scenes where the characters would engage in sexual activities either for pleasure or to restore their mana. When the first 2006 anime, and later the PS2 port of the visual novel hit shelves, all of the erotic aspects were removed and replaced with new scenes that depicted the events without any of the sexual themes. This has continued throughout all of the adaptations of Fate Stay Night and the spin-offs.

Such a change is understandable, considering the massive success of the Fate franchise, especially with a younger audience, and it feels like the creators made the decision themselves that the sex and sex scenes weren't doing anything to help with the plot. I myself don't really care that they aren't there, and I've enjoyed Fate Stay Night without them, but different strokes I suppose.

Either way, I bring this up because as we enter into the second season of Fate/Illya, we also are coming into what is probably the most fanservice-heavy out of all the Fate animes, and also the one that is the most...interesting to discuss. So after the cut let's take a dive into the second season of Fate/Illya: Fate/kalied liner Prisma Illya 2wei!

Fate/Illya 2wei is important for the sole reason that it introduces the third main character to the cast, and over half of the 12 episode season is dedicated to exploring and integrating her among Illya and the rest of her friends and family. Conceptually, the idea of Kuro being the cast off emotions and powers of the Illya that never fought in the holy grail war is a great idea and helps link Fate/Illya to the rest of the universe that makes sense. It addresses the idea that just abandoning the war and Illya's reason for being had drawback effects, and it helps with Kuro's place in Fate/Illya's version of the Kirk/Spock/McCoy paradigm.

In fact, that paradigm is pretty much how you can sum up the interactions and relationship of the three main characters of Fate/Illya. You have Miyu who represents logic, reason and thought.  Kuro is passion, emotion, and action, and then you have Illyasviel who represents a balance of both. I'm serious when I say that Kuro is emotion and passion because when she is first introduced in the story, she engages in a fierce battle with both Miyu and Illya, and then..well this happens.

Now look, the ideas of Yuri and Girl-love is so ingrained in the DNA of the magical girl genre, and while it comes in varying degrees, denying that it's part of it is just fooling yourself. Even Cardcaptor Sakura, while low key and restrained in its depiction of such things is still laced top to bottom with LGBTQ themes and ideas. Fate Illya 2wei however, throws itself completely into the idea of girl/girl love and doesn't hesitate to show it. To the credit of the show, it isn't just there solely for fanservice, Kuro needs to do this to replenish her mana and sustain her existence, and she claims it is the most "tame" way she can do it, a callback to the erotic nature of the Fate Stay Night visual novel, but still...it's something.

I don't shame people for what they want to watch (within the confines of the law of course) and any anime fan who has been around a few years knows that they have to check some of their western sensibilities at the door when you go into this fandom. As a famous anime youtuber once said: It's the part that anime fans have to squint and look past in order to enjoy the shows we love. If you can get past this part of the anime, then that's great, but if this is where you draw the line of what you think is sensible and right, then I don't blame you in the slightest. I admit I was a put off by the sheer commitment this show takes with the Kuro character, and I might have dropped it if I wasn't committed to watching every piece of Fate anime to its conclusion.

Aside from all of that though, how is Fate/Illya 2wei? Well if you don't mind everything that happens, it is a solid expansion to the world. Yuri tendencies aside, Kuro's entry to the cast brings in more development for both Miyu and Illya, and having all three play off each other in that Star Trek dynamic I mentioned above is only a positive overall. The further introduction of Bazett Fraga McRemitz, the original master of Lancer from Fate Stay Night and star of sequel Fate/hollow ataraxia leads to great action and another character for Illya to interact and conflict with. Bazett takes up most of the plot of the second half of episodes and helps lay down some groundwork for events in the next two seasons.

However, the real meat of the series is in the introduction of Kuro and for how significant it is to the world of Fate/Illya, I can say that it is paced well, written strongly and is emotional, touching, though with that 'basic' nature that seems to be the curse of everything Fate-related. You will either love Kuro or you won't, but I can't deny that she brought great comedy, an excellent take on the Archer servant, and helps fill in the corners of Illya's character, which again is only a positive in my books.

Fate/kalied liner Prisma Illya 2wei! is the season in which you have to decide if you are in or out. You either accept the direction the series takes, or you call it quits and take your leave. I stuck around because I wanted to see it through, and I found that 2wei! continues to make Fate/Illya a great spin-off that maintains all the good things I mentioned in my previous entry. This will only continue as we head into seasons three and four, and I look forward to getting into them next time.

[aion-rsa]

The Da Vinci Code: A Better, Smarter Blockbuster Than You Remember

https://ift.tt/3spUWqg

I didn’t get it. When Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code took the world by storm in 2006, I was far from being a professional critic, but I could still be highly critical of something like this. It was an adaptation of the biggest literary phenomenon of the decade not starring Harry Potter, and it was arriving in cinemas with the kind of media frenzy usually reserved for Star Wars. All the while, its rollout suggested it had aspirations to be an awards contender. How could something that high-handed live up to that kind of hype?

As a splashy Hollywood version of Dan Brown’s most popular potboiler, The Da Vinci Code premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was the subject of countless faux-examinations about early Christianity on the cable news circuit—as well as the object of ire for some modern Christians’ growing need for perpetual outrage. Protests occurred at theaters throughout the U.S., while other international markets banned it outright. And all of that cacophonous noise was over… a pretty middle-of-the-road adventure movie. One that features Tom Hanks earnestly looking into the camera to declare “I need to get to a library!” as the music swells. Really?!

So, yes, I missed the appeal. And judging by the infamous catcalls the movie received at Cannes, which were followed by a tepid critical drubbing in the international press, I wasn’t alone in thinking the movie amounted to a lot of overinflated hoopla.

But a funny thing happened when I sat down to watch it on Netflix the other day, about 15 years after its release: I realized what a big goofy delight the movie could be with the right mindset, and what I as a teenager—and so much of the contemporary film press during its time—missed out on.

To be sure, The Da Vinci Code is still a ludicrous story that both benefited from and was weighed down by the sensationalism of its conceit. Written on the page by Brown like any other airplane-ready page-turner, with nearly each short chapter ending to the implicit musical sting of “dun-dun-DUN!,” the book is a pleasantly conceived time-filler. It’s about secret societies, dastardly supervillains, and a matinee idol for the academia set named Robert Langdon. Essentially Indiana Jones if Harrison Ford never took off the tweed jacket, Langdon is an expert in the real world field of art history and the fictional one of symbology, and his monologues give the proceedings a nice bit of pseudo-intellectual window-dressing. It’s all no more challenging to the viewer (or their storyteller) than the background details provided by M in James Bond flicks.

This formula turned Brown’s first Robert Langdon novel, Angels & Demons, into a literary hit, but what made The Da Vinci Code an international phenomenon—and thereby grabbed Hollywood’s attention—was the kernel of a brilliantly explosive idea: What if the MacGuffin in the next story wasn’t some abstract relic from antiquity but something that would challenge our very idea of Christianity today? What if the story of the “Grail Quest” turned out to be evidence that Jesus Christ was married? And what if Christ had children by that marriage?

And, finally, what if the evil “Illuminati” baddies here were an offshoot of the Catholic Church wanting to cover it all up?

Brown derived this twist from the research of Lynnn Picknett and Clive Prince in The Templar Revelation, a highly speculative text which posits the relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene has been downplayed for millennia by the Catholic Church, beginning with the Council of Nicaea—the ecumenical Roman council in 325 C.E. that essentially decided which early Christian texts would comprise the New Testament and which would not—and continued through Leonardo da Vinci secretly placing Mary Magdalene in his “The Last Supper” mural by putting her at the right hand of Christ. In an era with a growing interest in conspiracy theories, this one was the mother lode.

Brown took these fringe theological ideas  and gave them an erudite sheen in The Da Vinci Code while still essentially writing a piece of fluff. It’s an international escapade where the MacGuffin is the most interesting element.

This made for an addictive beach read, but in Howard and Sony Pictures’ pricey movie adaptation, the pretenses were heightened to operatic levels. Consider the way Howard and cinematographer Salvatore Totino bask in the oppressive shadows entombing the frame whenever Paul Bettany’s murderous Brother Silas appears on screen. As a homicidal albino monk, Silas wouldn’t look out of place battling Roger Moore over nuclear codes. But Howard’s film plays it completely straight by coveting each shot of Silas’ self-mutilations and prayers, and by suggesting the character has something profound to say about the zealotry of religion (or perhaps just the Catholic sect of Opus Dei).

Similarly, Hans Zimmer writes a lush ecclestial score throughout the film, seeming to imply this is some mighty exploration of religion, and a study in the conflict between faith and skepticism. After all, the doubting Langdon is forced to revisit his Catholic School youth when he discovers his new friend is the direct descendent of Jesus Christ.

That all these elements ultimately act as scaffolding for a popcorn movie in which adults can indulge in entertaining a little heresy, or at least give lip service to religious introspection while also cheering the car chases and convoluted plot twists, turned off plenty of critics. Yet it’s fair to now wonder if such middlebrow pleasures simply went over some heads?

As a film, The Da Vinci Code is a lot more basic than its presentation suggests. Nevertheless, there is an intriguing premise at its heart that made it an international watercooler discussion in the first place, and the perfect culture war lightning rod of the Bush years.

While I wish Brown did more with the megaton-potential of his setup, he nevertheless provided an unusually brainy foundation for his potboiler. One in which subjects like medieval history, early Christian theology, and the treasures of the Louvre were put front in center in pop culture, as opposed to superheroes and space wizards.

Read more

Movies

How the Passion of Hannibal Lecter Inspired a New Opera About Dante

By David Crow

Movies

Inferno – Ron Howard Talks About Changing the Ending

By Ryan Lambie

It’s still a frustration that The Da Vinci Code and its sequels abandoned his pearl of a MacGuffin right when its intrigue was at its highest. Genuinely, what would you do if you discovered you’re the last living descendent of Christ and can change the world religions with a single DNA test? Even so, rather than relying on ultimately meaningless plot devices like magical space stones, or cursed pirate treasure, Brown’s story caused audiences to examine the foundations of their world, and the origins of the tenets that might guide their lives.

Whether or not the Templar Order really found the remains of Mary Magdalene and realized she was the bride of Christ, the origins of what is and is not Christianity, or Christlike, being decided by a bunch of acrimonious bishops at Nicaea challenges viewers to more seriously interrogate what they accept as handed down gospel. And the millennia-long persecution of women touched upon in The Da Vinci Code ferrets out the enduring realities of modern gender dynamics, even if Brown and Howard tack a wacky and amusing conspiracy theory on top of it.

The Da Vinci Code is popcorn soaked in bombastic media hype, but it still leaves you with more to digest than the type of mainstream blockbuster spectacles that have replaced it in the last 15 years—often while receiving far less rigorous criticism from the modern film press.

Consider how in the pivotal scene on which The Da Vinci Code turns, Ian McKellen makes a meal out of the reams of exposition he’s handed. It’s left to McKellen’s mischievous smile to sell and explain the vast historical background that informs the film’s thesis. In most modern blockbusters, these scenes have been reduced to the perfunctory—bare bone obligations that must be met as quickly and unexceptionally as possible. But the narrative mystique that occurs when such exposition is handled with awe is at the very heart of The Da Vinci Code, and the movie sparks to life within the twinkle of McKellen’s eye.

“She was no such thing,” McKellen’s Sir Leigh Teabing bellows when the misconception of Mary Magdalene being a prostitute is mentioned. “Smeared by the Church in 591 Anno Domini, the poor dear. Magdalene was Jesus’ wife.” The anger in McKellen’s voice perhaps betrays an all too personal knowledge of the mistruths spread in the name of religious orthodoxy. And when he asks other characters to “imagine then that Christ’s throne might live on in a female child,” audiences are likewise invited to conspire–dreaming of the potential real world implications of an otherwise wild fantasy.

It may not be great art or history, but The Da Vinci Code uses both to offer a great time—or at least a pretty good one where Paul Bettany is depicting obsession with God instead of cosmic cubes. And 15 years later, after its era of star-led spectacles has passed, the picture still works as a blockbuster meant to entertain adults with at least a passing interest in issues more mature than what they used to talk about on playgrounds. Given the state of modern Hollywood tentpoles, that sounds blasphemous, indeed.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post The Da Vinci Code: A Better, Smarter Blockbuster Than You Remember appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3uxzMIJ

[joshnekuu]

Thoughts and opinions on Last Encore Epiosde 5 below! Cut for spoilers, a lil bit of theorizing, and some slight Nero distaste.

I really enjoyed episode 5 of Last Encore. It was really great to see Robin Hood and Dan, and I really loved what they did with Dan? When Ep 4 came out I remember feeling skeptical because Dan seemed pretty out of character, but then 5 explained it all and it was really pretty tragic. Seeing him go from this chivalrous man who wanted to fight fairly after being a sniper to just being obsessed with winning and moving to the next floor. The whole concept of what is essentially someone surviving due to a glitch in the system, thinking they’ve been giving a second chance, but then being trapped in this limbo, unaware that they'll never be able to move forward, is incredibly tragic and even if I wish it could have been explored more it was still really good and I enjoyed it.

The art/world design continues to be gorgeous. It's clear a lot of effort went into designing the scenery and I think it really pays off and is very beautiful and memorable. I also noticed that the stained glass window in the tower Dan was fighting from appears to be an image of Robin Hood and Maid Marian? Which I think was a really nice touch, that's the sort of thing I love in Fate and it definitely made me happy.

One thing I definitely wish could have happened was like. More exploration of Robin as a character? And Dan too, though I think his motivations got more exploration than Rob which is why I'm more focused on that. I felt like we didn't get that much from him outside of his relationship with Dan (which was definitely my favorite part of the episode). It was really, really touching to see Robin's loyalty to Dan? How he's continued to fight without complaint because he sees Dan as this good, honorable man, and he can't even imagine telling him that what he's doing is for nothing or that he's lost and should just give up and die. It wasn't overwrought, but it wasn't too subtle either, and seeing Robin fade away by Dan's grave was just so touching and I really wish we could have seen them interact more ;-; But that did give some really nice insight to his character.

I just feel like... unless you already know him from Extra and FGO there's a lot that you might not pick up on or know about his character? Which is kind of a shame.

I also felt like the second battle between Robin and Nero was largely underwhelming. There were just... no stakes. Even if you don't know the plot of Extra, you know Nero is going to win, and the actual battle wasn't visually interesting enough to keep me excited while watching it. Nero basically gave away her plan by telling Robin to use his Noble Phantasm so she could use hers and kill him, but did revealing this plan effect the course of the battle in any way? Robin Hood says he's taking this battle seriously, but in saying it allowed he keys Nero in that he's about to shoot an arrow, giving away the direction he's shooting from. I know battle banter is expected in these kinds of shows but it felt like stuff that should have affected the course of the battle more (or stuff that the characters wouldn't say if they were really being serious) and yet had no actual impact.

And lastly I think the thing that gets to me is that, as touching a Dan and Robin's story was to me as a viewer, it didn't mean anything to the protagonists? Rani gave them a rundown but for Nero and Hakuno, Dan and Roin were nothing more than obstacles they needed to mow down to progress. There was no meaningful interaction between them at any point. I highly doubt anything that happened between them is going to have a lasting impact on Nero or Hakuno as the story progresses. What is the point of having these characters, with their interesting backstories and dynamics, if they're just... not going to amount to anything more than replaceable cannon fodder?

It was nice for me as a viewer and fan of the characters to see them, but I don't feel like they made any impact on the plot. Yeah, Dan's situation allowed us to get some more insight on the state of the Moon Cell and the other Masters, but literally anyone could have been in that situation in order to give us that information. Dan is literally just a faceless boss battle for Hakuno in the end, his actions are what winds up driving him to action but again, it feels like anyone could have been in Dan's spot and the outcome would have been the same.

Same with Robin Hood. You have Emperor Nero going up against a guy who spent his life going against people like her, two people from completely opposite classes and walks of life, whose battle styles are vastly different as well, but the most we get is 'he's a coward because he fights from the shadows!' and ‘ha, Robin Hood who stole from the rich, is about to get killed by the once rich!'. Those lines of dialogue don't really go anywhere. Calling Robin a coward doesn't feel as effective here because we don't really get to go into his whole ‘i always wanted to fight chivalrously but instead I fought from the shadows like a coward’, it just feels like Nero';s calling him a coward for using what is a very effective battle strategy for someone with his weapons. And the whole Robin hood getting killed by the rich thing is like ouch, but again, that dialogue doesn't open up for any sort of conversation about their differing lifestyles or views and why they would oppose each other, it's just a throw away line.

I get that this adaptation has to condense a lot of stuff to fit in a lo of characters and plot, but it feels like the characters who aren't protagonists are just getting lined up with little build up so they can be blasted away as cannon fodder...

I really don't think Rani needed to die. I feel like she could have easily come with them, and her being saved only for Hakuno to be forced to abandon her just felt pointless? Maybe it will come back into play later, since there's mostly likely something weird going on with time and different lives/NPCs, but if this is all we get to see of Rani then I'm really disappointed by how they chose to kill her off.

Hakuno's Rage is definitely interesting to me though. I really like what they seem to be going for here, with Hakuno being the latest in a line of other Masters/NPCs all being unceremoniously killed in the Grail War and taking on their vengeful and hateful desire to move forward at any cost. Him shooting Dan in the back of the head while in that glitchy state was pretty brutal, and despite my complaints about Dan's role not seeming to have much weight, in general that was a great moment for Hakuno.

Overall, I enjoyed the episode. The dialogue was kind of ehh, the animation was beautiful even with the awkward between frames during the battles, the progression of the plot was good I thought and they continued with the main thing keeping me interested (Hakuno's Rage Glitch thing). I'm not sure if I'm gonna be as invested now that Robin is dead and gone, but I am genuinely interested to see where the story goes, even if I'm not particularly interested in Nero or the romance aspects of the story. Obviously I had some issues with the use of characters, but unfortunately a lot of that can be contributed to the fact that it's an anime adaptation and stuff has to get glossed over sometimes. Hopefully it will get a little better, but only time will tell.

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/virtual-product-placement-is-coming-for-tv-and-movies-and-ryff-has-raised-cash-to-put-it-there/

Virtual product placement is coming for TV and movies and Ryff has raised cash to put it there

In a world where ad rates are declining for traditional broadcast media, the corporations responsible for making the fictions that millions devour daily need to find a new business model.

Subscription services are on the rise — with every major broadcaster launching an on-demand service — and so are ad-supported video streaming services to replace the traditional networks.

But there’s another Holy Grail of the advertising industry, long thought to be too technologically difficult to achieve, that may finally be within reach. It’s the on-demand product placement of branded goods in a video, and it’s the technology that Ryff has been developing since it was founded in early 2018.

Product placement is an increasingly big business in the U.S., raking in some $11.44 billion in 2019, according to data collected by Statista. That figure is up from $4.75 billion in 2012. The same report indicated that roughly 49% of Americans took action after seeing product placement in media.

The effectiveness of product placement has even been proven by researchers from Indiana University and Emory University. They found that “prominent product placement embedded in television programming does have a net positive impact on online conversations and web traffic for the brand.”

And while streaming services enjoy the dollars their subscribers are throwing at them, they’re also looking at ways to diversify their revenue streams. Netflix and Hulu are both expanding their product marketing divisions and analysts like those from Forrester Research predict that product placement will be a huge moneymaker for the company as traditional ad rates decline.

There are companies that handle product placement already. Startups like Branded Entertainment Network, which works with brands and producers to place real brands into contextually relevant scenes in movies and television, and Mirriad, which adds branded billboards to scenes, are working to bring more money to platforms and producers.

Ryff takes the technology to the next level, using computer vision, machine learning and rendering technologies to identify objects in a scene and replace them with branded products that can be tailored based on customer data.

“The infusion of SVOD/streaming platforms into the market, combined with platforms like Netflix that are unsuccessfully trying to grow their subscriber base will force those same platforms to explore and embrace alternative revenue streams,” said Marlon Nichols, managing general partner at MaC Venture Capital, and a new director on the Ryff board. “In addition, consumers on paid platforms do not want their content consumption interrupted by ads. As such, product placement will be an important growth channel and Ryff’s new marketplace and unique technology set it up to be the unequivocal growth market leader.” 

[embedded content]

To continue its technology development and ramp up sales and marketing, the company has raised $5 million in financing. According to Crunchbase, Ryff had previously raised $3.6 million from investors, including a subsidiary of the Mahindra Group and undisclosed investors. The new financing came from Valor Siren Ventures, MaC Venture Capital, Moneta Ventures and Vulcan Capital.

“Ryff’s offering is well-timed with the rapidly increasing demand for solutions that extend the reach of a brand’s content and drive business results,” said Uday Ghare, vice president for media and entertainment at Tech Mahindra, in a statement at the time of the company’s investment. “We believe the market will continue to see a shift of brand dollars to both content marketing and programmatic advertising as brands increase their reliance on content-centric programs and look to scale those efforts.”

Ryff’s ads can be tailored to the viewer’s taste, the platform on which video is being distributed, the geography of the broadcast, the date and time of the broadcast and a broader demographic profile, according to the company. Basically it’s like AdWords for videos.

In a blog post writing about the rationale behind his investment firm’s capital commitment to the company, Marlon Nichols of MaC Ventures wrote:

Imagine a future where an IP owner can maximize the value of its content by putting it on the Ryff marketplace, where that content will be mapped for dozens if not hundreds of product placement opportunities and be layered with restrictions that comply with creative needs. Those opportunities will be ranked and priced by their effectiveness to drive marketing goals for brands. Brands can bid on in-video placement opportunities that fit their marketing strategies and budgets. 3D brand assets can be uploaded and inserted dynamically into content right before the moment of video delivery.

Ryff’s first disclosed partnership is with the “reality” television producer Endemol Shine. 

“Ryff successfully takes the concept of product placement, the only advertising format that can’t be skipped by the viewer, and delivers a scalable and adaptable advertising solution that can be applied to any content, at any time and in any market,” said Roy Taylor, founder and CEO of Ryff, in a statement. “The result benefits all — content free from annoying distractions, audience-specific brand placement and delivering a new means towards monetizing video assets.” 

[kurozu501]

I've noticed you mention it in your tags before, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on Sakura/Saber as a pairing (either as regular or dark/alter versions)

Its a pairing with tons of potential that sadly isn’t really explored all that deeply by the end of HF, which just makes me all the more interested in it.

In the early parts of HF, Shirou, Saber, and Sakura form something of a trio. Since Shirou doesn’t team up with Rin, we get lots of scenes with just these three together. All three eating together, Saber and Sakura being pissed at Shirou together when he comes home after sneaking out, Saber talking about Sakura’s self hate issues and clearly relating to them really hard, etc. Just generally lots of sweet wholesome interactions that really sell me on the idea that these two ladies have bonded. I’d love to see more fics with this pairing bc tbh, Saber would probably have the easiest time saving Sakura out of the entire cast. Her Avalon healing would make dealing with like 80% of what Zouken has done to Sakura’s body much simpler. So yeah they are super cute and i love their relationship.

Now, on the darker side of things…

(under a cut bc this got long)

Saber being Sakura Alter’s main servant is such an interesting part of the story to me, but we never get to see much of their dynamic bc theres so much other stuff going on and thats a shame. The game set up parallels between them both early on but then this is basically all we get of their interactions when both are “alter”:

Saber Alter’s motivations are also somewhat vaguely defined. It’s clear that she and Berserker are obedient to Sakura’s will, but what does Saber think of all this? How did she react when she found out that her new master, the source behind the shadow that defeated her, was Sakura? What motivates her to keep going now other then obedience to her Master?

Again we don’t get much but what we do get appeals to me:

This bit from Saber to Shirou, seems to make it clear that Saber Alter’s personal motivation is to see Sakura saved, no matter what it takes. We see that also in sparks liner high, where she encourages Shirou to go all out against her because if he takes her out here, Rin has a higher chance of saving Sakura. Its pretty twisted, but thats to be expected of an alter. Medusa actually says something similar earlier in the route, that she would consider killing Sakura if it would end her pain and was what Sakura wanted. 

It makes me all the more interested in their potential dynamic, that after everything that happened to her, Saber doesn’t blame Sakura and just supports her and wants to see her saved. It forms an interesting parallel to Shirou in this route, who also wants more then anything for Sakura to be saved. It’s also a potentially interesting look into Saber’s character, with her being the loyal knight to a dark queen instead of being the ruler like she was in her life.

So yeah, im equally invested in shipping these two as their alter selves, bc theres a ton of potential there. Endgame villain smooches.

One thing i would do if i were in charge of the hf movies is add a quick scene between the two of them. In the forest, after Shirou defeats Berserker, Saber lets him go because she says Sakura is calling for her. Meanwhile on Sakura’s end we see that the pain of absorbing Berserker’s soul leaves her wracked with pain and collapsed. So it would be easy to add a scene showing Saber finding her like that. 

Show Saber just pick her up bridal style and then start carrying her to the greater grail’s cavern. You could have a quick bit of dialogue between the two, with Sakura asking what happened to Shirou, Saber telling her he released the shroud, Sakura musing sadly that now they are both dying, and Saber saying that she intends to save Sakura even if that means the rest of the world will burn under Angra Mainyu. Quick and easy way of showing how Saber is supporting Sakura and making her motivations more clear to the audience. 

plus i would just. really like saber alter bridal carrying sakura alter lmao. You cant set up all that loyal knight/queen dynamic without doing that at least once.

So yeah, those are all my thoughts! Sakura/Saber is a great pairing with a lot of potential that sadly canon doesnt do much with. Hopefully the hf movies or a future fgo heaven’s feel event will give us more with them.

[howtomakeagingersnap-blog]

Zork, 1977

Zork was released in 1977 by the MIT Dynamic Modeling group. It was closely related to Adventure both in the format of the gameplay and in the treasure hunt style of plot. Zork’s storyline is primarily driven by the desire to explore and a vast array of puzzles to be solved.

The map brings to mind the Greek myth of Daedalus in terms of how convoluted and labyrinthian the underground network is of passages and rooms is. If the player inadvertently loses their way, it can be mind numbingly frustrating to get back to a familiar location. Simply turning around and returning the same you came is not always enough to get back to where you need to be. If you entered the forest by traveling north, there’s no guarantee that going south will be enough to get you back to the house. The maze in particular is comparable to the Cretan labyrinth featured in the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Indeed it does seem likely to the adventurer that a monster might be lurking within those twisty passages, especially when distant voices can be heard at locations you were only just at.

As soon as the player climbs down that trap door and into the cellar, it’s as if they’ve been transported to a forgotten world. From Egyptian sarcophagi to medieval grails, the story has every hallmark of adventure. I felt a little like Indiana Jones while venturing deep into the caves, retrieving priceless artifacts and returning them to safety behind glass. Fantasy and whimsy are at the very foundation of the underground world.

Ultimately, players must collaborate in order to succeed in the caves. It’s impossible to solve every puzzle or even to succeed at basic navigation without comparing notes and maps. There isn’t just a single way to have a successful play through, though, and many players have different methods that they recommend to one another to get through the story. Some advise a single drop point for all unwanted inventory items, while others suggest to only pick up what’s necessary at the moment and then come back for the rest later as needed.

I’ve found that I prefer to write out each successful move that I make in a notebook as I play, but if any details of how you entered a location or what you do while you’re there are altered, it becomes disorienting and following previous moves simply won’t work. An accompanying map that shows which cardinal direction each entrance and exit is at and where it leads is helpful, but because passages aren’t necessarily straight, it can become very difficult to map out exactly where each one leads. They often interconnect in strange ways that don’t always make the most sense, and it’s important to stay extremely organized while attempting to map anything out to avoid confusion.

Finally, a quick correction- during the second screen cast I said that I had been playing for about an hour- I checked my clock later, and it turns out it was closer to two and a half hours. As frustrating as these games can be, they inevitably pull me in and I end up playing almost twice as long as I had initially intended to.

[tastydregs]

Army scientists develop computational model to predict human behavior

Army researchers have developed for the first time an analytic model to show how groups of people influence individual behavior.

Technically speaking, this had never been done before: No one had taken the computational information from a collective model (numerical solutions of, say, thousands of equations) and used it to exactly determine an individual's behavior (reduced to one equation). Scientists from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory report their findings ("Fractional Dynamics of Individuals in Complex Networks") in the October edition of Frontiers in Physics.

This discovery was the product of ongoing research to model how an individual adapts to group behavior. ARL's program in network science seeks to determine collective group behavior emerging from the dynamic behavior of individuals. In the past, the collaborative work of Drs. Bruce West a senior scientist at the Army Research Office, and Malgorzata Turalska, a post-doctoral researcher at ARL, focused on constructing and interpreting the output of large-scale computer models of complex dynamic networks from which collective properties such as swarming, collective intelligence and decision making could be determined.

"Dr. Turalska and I had developed and explored a network model of decision-making for a number of years," West said. "But recently it occurred to us to change the question from 'How does the individual change group behavior?' to 'How does the group change individual behavior?' Turning the question on its head allowed us to pursue the holy grail of social science for the Army, which has been to find a way to predict the sensitivity of individuals to persuasion, propaganda and outright deception. Models developed for this purpose have evolved to the point that they require large-scale calculations that are as complex and as difficult to interpret as the results of psychological experiments involving humans. Consequently, the present study suggests a way to bypass these time-consuming calculations and represent the sought-for sensitivity in a single parameter."

Psychologists and sociologists have intensely studied and debated how individuals' values and attitudes change when they join an organization, West said. Likewise, the Army is interested in this dynamic how it might be at play in terrorist organizations, and conversely how individuals become transformed during Army Basic Training. The more deeply that leaders understand the process of learning and adaptation within a group setting, the more effective they will be in the training process, thereby increasing the recruit's ownership of her/his newly developing capabilities, which is the true measure of success of the training.

In their article, Turalska and West derive and successfully test a new kind of dynamic model of individual behavior that quantitatively incorporates the dynamic behavior of the group. The test shows that the analytic solution to this new kind of equation coincides with the predictions of the large-scale computer simulation of the group dynamics.

The model consists of many interacting individuals that have a yes/no decision to make e.g., it is Election Day, and they must vote either R or D. Suppose when alone the individuals cannot make up their minds, they quickly switch back and forth between the two options, so they begin talking with their neighbors. Because of this information exchange, the numerical calculation using the computer model finds that people now hold their opinions for a significantly longer time.

To model the group dynamics, the test used a new kind of equation, with a non-integer (fractional), rather than an integer, derivative, to represent fluctuating opinions. In a group of 10,000 people, the influence of 9,999 people to disrupt an individual is condensed into a single parameter, which is the index for the fractional derivative. West said that whatever the behavior of the individual before joining the group, the change in behavior is dramatic after joining. The strength of the influence of the group on an individual's behavior is compressed into a single number, the non-integer derivative.

Consequently, an individual's simple random behavior in deciding how to vote, or in making any other decision, when isolated, is replaced with behavior that might serve a more adaptive role in social networks. The authors conjecture that this behavior may be generic, but it remains to determine just how robust the behavior of the individual is relative to control signals that might be driving the network.

The fractional calculus has, only in the past decade, been applied to complex physical problems such as turbulence, the behavior of non-Newtonian fluids, and the relaxation of disturbances in viscoelastic materials; however, no one had previously applied fractional operators to the description and interpretation of social/psychological dynamic phenomena. The idea of collapsing the effect of the interactions between members of a social group into a single parameter that determines the level of influence of the collective on the individual has never previously been accomplished mathematically.

West said this research opens the door to a new area of study dovetailing network science and fractional calculus, where the large-scale numerical calculations of the dynamics of complex networks can be represented through the non-integer indices of derivatives. This may even suggest a new approach to artificial intelligence in which memory is incorporated into the dynamic structure of neural networks.

[s-c-i-guy]

Physicists Uncover Geometric ‘Theory Space’

A decades-old method called the “bootstrap” is enabling new discoveries about the geometry underlying all quantum theories.

In the 1960s, the charismatic physicist Geoffrey Chew espoused a radical vision of the universe, and with it, a new way of doing physics. Theorists of the era were struggling to find order in an unruly zoo of newfound particles. They wanted to know which ones were the fundamental building blocks of nature and which were composites. But Chew, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, argued against such a distinction. “Nature is as it is because this is the only possible nature consistent with itself,” he wrote at the time. He believed he could deduce nature’s laws solely from the demand that they be self-consistent.

Scientists since Democritus had taken a reductionist approach to understanding the universe, viewing everything in it as being built from some kind of fundamental stuff that cannot be further explained. But Chew’s vision of a self-determining universe required that all particles be equally composite and fundamental. He conjectured that each particle is composed of other particles, and those others are held together by exchanging the first particle in a process that conveys a force. Thus, particles’ properties are generated by self-consistent feedback loops. Particles, Chew said, “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.”

Chew’s approach, known as the bootstrap philosophy, the bootstrap method, or simply “the bootstrap,” came without an operating manual. The point was to apply whatever general principles and consistency conditions were at hand to infer what the properties of particles (and therefore all of nature) simply had to be. An early triumph in which Chew’s students used the bootstrap to predict the mass of the rho meson — a particle made of pions that are held together by exchanging rho mesons — won many converts.

But the rho meson turned out to be something of a special case, and the bootstrap method soon lost momentum. A competing theory cast particles such as protons and neutrons as composites of fundamental particles called quarks. This theory of quark interactions, called quantum chromodynamics, better matched experimental data and soon became one of the three pillars of the reigning Standard Model of particle physics.

But the properties of individual quarks seemed arbitrary, and in another universe they might have been different. Physicists were forced to recognize that the set of particles that happen to populate the universe do not reflect the only possible consistent theory of nature. Rather, an endless variety of possible particles can be imagined interacting in any number of spatial dimensions, each situation described by its own “quantum field theory.”

The bootstrap languished for decades at the bottom of the physics toolkit. But recently the field has been re-energized as physicists have discovered novel bootstrap techniques that appear to solve many problems. While consistency conditions still aren’t much help for sorting out complicated nuclear particle dynamics, the bootstrap is proving to be a powerful tool for understanding more symmetric, perfect theories that, according to experts, serve as “signposts” or “building blocks” in the space of all possible quantum field theories.

As the new generation of bootstrappers explores this abstract theory space, they seem to be verifying the vision that Chew, now 92 and long retired, laid out half a century ago — but they’re doing it in an unexpected way. Their findings indicate that the set of all quantum field theories forms a unique mathematical structure, one that does indeed pull itself up by its own bootstraps, which means it can be understood on its own terms.

As physicists use the bootstrap to explore the geometry of this theory space, they are pinpointing the roots of “universality,” a remarkable phenomenon in which identical behaviors emerge in materials as different as magnets and water. They are also discovering general features of quantum gravity theories, with apparent implications for the quantum origin of gravity in our own universe and the origin of space-time itself. As leading practitioners David Poland of Yale University and David Simmons-Duffin of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, wrote in a recent article, “It is an exciting time to be bootstrapping.”

Bespoke Bootstrap

The bootstrap is technically a method for computing “correlation functions” — formulas that encode the relationships between the particles described by a quantum field theory. Consider a chunk of iron. The correlation functions of this system express the likelihood that iron atoms will be magnetically oriented in the same direction, as a function of the distances between them. The two-point correlation function gives you the likelihood that any two atoms will be aligned, the three-point correlation function encodes correlations between any three atoms, and so on. These functions tell you essentially everything about the iron chunk. But they involve infinitely many terms riddled with unknown exponents and coefficients. They are, in general, onerous to compute. The bootstrap approach is to try to constrain what the terms of the functions can possibly be in hopes of solving for the unknown variables. Most of the time, this doesn’t get you far. But in special cases, as the theoretical physicist Alexander Polyakov began to figure out in 1970, the bootstrap takes you all the way.

Polyakov, then at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Russia, was drawn to these special cases by the mystery of universality. As condensed matter physicists were just discovering, when materials that are completely different at the microscopic level are tuned to the critical points at which they undergo phase transitions, they suddenly exhibit the same behaviors and can be described by the exact same handful of numbers. Heat iron to the critical temperature where it becomes magnetized, for instance, and the correlations between its atoms are defined by the same “critical exponents” that characterize water at the critical point where its liquid and vapor phases meet. These critical exponents are clearly independent of either material’s microscopic details, arising instead from something that both systems, and others in their “universality class,” have in common. Polyakov and other researchers wanted to find the universal laws connecting these systems. “And the goal, the holy grail of all that, was these numbers,” he said: Researchers wished to be able to calculate the critical exponents from scratch.

What materials at critical points have in common, Polyakov realized, is their symmetries: the set of geometric transformations that leave these systems unchanged. He conjectured that critical materials respect a group of symmetries called “conformal symmetries,” including, most importantly, scale symmetry. Zoom in or out on, say, iron at its critical point, and you always see the same pattern: Patches of atoms oriented with north pointing up are surrounded by patches of atoms pointing downward; these in turn are inside larger patches of up-facing atoms, and so on at all scales of magnification. Scale symmetry means there are no absolute notions of “near” and “far” in conformal systems; if you flip one of the iron atoms, the effect is felt everywhere. “The whole thing organizes as some very strongly correlated medium,” Polyakov explained.

The world at large is obviously not conformal. The existence of quarks and other elementary particles “breaks” scale symmetry by introducing fundamental mass and distance scales into nature, against which other masses and lengths can be measured. Consequently, planets, composed of hordes of particles, are much heavier and bigger than we are, and we are much larger than atoms, which are giants next to quarks. Symmetry-breaking makes nature hierarchical and injects arbitrary variables into its correlation functions — the qualities that sapped Chew’s bootstrap method of its power.

But conformal systems, described by “conformal field theories” (CFTs), are uniform all the way up and down, and this, Polyakov discovered, makes them highly amenable to a bootstrap approach. In a magnet at its critical point, for instance, scale symmetry constrains the two-point correlation function by requiring that it must stay the same when you rescale the distance between the two points. Another conformal symmetry says the three-point function must not change when you invert the three distances involved. In a landmark 1983 paper known simply as “BPZ,” Alexander Belavin, Polyakov and Alexander Zamolodchikov showed that there are an infinite number of conformal symmetries in two spatial dimensions that could be used to constrain the correlation functions of two-dimensional conformal field theories. The authors exploited these symmetries to solve for the critical exponents of a famous CFT called the 2-D Ising model — essentially the theory of a flat magnet. The “conformal bootstrap,” BPZ’s bespoke procedure for exploiting conformal symmetries, shot to fame.

Far fewer conformal symmetries exist in three dimensions or higher, however. Polyakov could write down a “bootstrap equation” for 3-D CFTs — essentially, an equation saying that one way of writing the four-correlation function of, say, a real magnet must equal another — but the equation was too difficult to solve.

“I basically started doing other things,” said Polyakov, who went on to make seminal contributions to string theory and is now a professor at Princeton University. The conformal bootstrap, like the original bootstrap more than a decade earlier, fell into disuse. The lull lasted until 2008, when a group of researchers discovered a powerful trick for approximating solutions to Polyakov’s bootstrap equation for CFTs with three or more dimensions. “Frankly, I didn’t expect this, and I thought originally that there is some mistake there,” Polyakov said. “It seemed to me that the information put into the equations is too little to get such results.”

Surprise Kinks

In 2008, the Large Hadron Collider was about to begin searching for the Higgs boson, an elementary particle whose associated field imbues other particles with mass. Theorists Riccardo Rattazzi in Switzerland, Vyacheslav Rychkov in Italy and their collaborators wanted to see whether there might be a conformal field theory that is responsible for the mass-giving instead of the Higgs. They wrote down a bootstrap equation that such a theory would have to satisfy. Because this was a four-dimensional conformal field theory, describing a hypothetical quantum field in a universe with four space-time dimensions, the bootstrap equation was too complex to solve. But the researchers found a way to put bounds on the possible properties of that theory. In the end, they concluded that no such CFT existed (and indeed, the LHC found the Higgs boson in 2012). But their new bootstrap trick opened up a gold mine.

Their trick was to translate the constraints on the bootstrap equation into a geometry problem. Imagine the four points of the four-point correlation function (which encodes virtually everything about a CFT) as corners of a rectangle; the bootstrap equation says that if you perturb a conformal system at corners one and two and measure the effects at corners three and four, or you tickle the system at one and three and measure at two and four, the same correlation function holds in both cases. Both ways of writing the function involve infinite series of terms; their equivalence means that the first infinite series minus the second equals zero. To find out which terms satisfy this constraint, Rattazzi, Rychkov and company called upon another consistency condition called “unitarity,” which demands that all the terms in the equation must have positive coefficients. This enabled them to treat the terms as vectors, or little arrows that extend in an infinite number of directions from a central point. And if a plane could be found such that, in a finite subset of dimensions, all the vectors point to one side of the plane, then there’s an imbalance; this particular set of terms cannot sum to zero, and does not represent a solution to the bootstrap equation.

Physicists developed algorithms that allowed them to search for such planes and bound the space of viable CFTs to extremely high accuracy. The simplest version of the procedure generates “exclusion plots” where two curves meet at a point known as a “kink.” The plots rule out CFTs with critical exponents that lie outside the area bounded by the curves.

Surprising features of these plots have emerged. In 2012, researchers used Rattazzi and Rychkov’s trick to home in on the values of the critical exponents of the 3-D Ising model, a notoriously complex CFT that is in the same universality class as real magnets, water, liquid mixtures and many other materials at their critical points. By 2016, Poland and Simmons-Duffin had calculated the two main critical exponents of the theory out to their millionth decimal places. But even more striking than this level of precision is where the 3-D Ising model lands in the space of all possible 3-D CFTs. Its critical exponents could have landed anywhere in the allowed region on the 3-D CFT exclusion plot, but unexpectedly, the values land exactly at the kink in the plot. Critical exponents corresponding to other well-known universality classes lie at kinks in other exclusion plots. Somehow, generic calculations were pinpointing important theories that show up in the real world.

The discovery was so unexpected that Polyakov initially didn’t believe it. His suspicion, shared by others, was that “maybe this happens because there is some hidden symmetry that we didn’t find yet.”

“Everyone is excited because these kinks are unexpected and interesting, and they tell you where interesting theories live,” said Nima Arkani-Hamed, a professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study. “It could be reflecting a polyhedral structure of the space of allowed conformal field theories, with interesting theories living not in the interior or some random place, but living at the corners.” Other researchers agreed that this is what the plots suggest. Arkani-Hamed speculates that the polyhedron is related to, or might even encompass, the “amplituhedron,” a geometric object that he and a collaborator discovered in 2013 that encodes the probabilities of different particle collision outcomes — specific examples of correlation functions.

Researchers are pushing in all directions. Some are applying the bootstrap to get a handle on an especially symmetric “superconformal” field theory known as the (2,0) theory, which plays a role in string theory and is conjectured to exist in six dimensions. But Simmons-Duffin explained that the effort to explore CFTs will take physicists beyond these special theories. More general quantum field theories like quantum chromodynamics can be derived by starting with a CFT and “flowing” its properties using a mathematical procedure called the renormalization group. “CFTs are kind of like signposts in the landscape of quantum field theories, and renormalization-group flows are like the roads,” Simmons-Duffin said. “So you’ve got to first understand the signposts, and then you can try to describe the roads between them, and in that way you can kind of make a map of the space of theories.”

Tom Hartman, a bootstrapper at Cornell University, said mapping out the space of quantum field theories is the “grand goal of the bootstrap program.” The CFT plots, he said, “are some very fuzzy version of that ultimate map.”

Uncovering the polyhedral structure representing all possible quantum field theories would, in a sense, unify quark interactions, magnets and all observed and imagined phenomena in a single, inevitable structure — a sort of 21st-century version of Geoffrey Chew’s “only possible nature consistent with itself.” But as Hartman, Simmons-Duffin and scores of other researchers around the world pursue this abstraction, they are also using the bootstrap to exploit a direct connection between CFTs and the theories many physicists care about most. “Exploring possible conformal field theories is also exploring possible theories of quantum gravity,” Hartman said.

Bootstrapping Quantum Gravity

The conformal bootstrap is turning out to be a power tool for quantum gravity research. In a 1997 paper that is now one of the most highly cited in physics history, the Argentinian-American theorist Juan Maldacena demonstrated a mathematical equivalence between a CFT and a gravitational space-time environment with at least one extra spatial dimension. Maldacena’s duality, called the “AdS/CFT correspondence,” tied the CFT to a corresponding “anti-de Sitter space,” which, with its extra dimension, pops out of the conformal system like a hologram. AdS space has a fish-eye geometry different from the geometry of space-time in our own universe, and yet gravity there works in much the same way as it does here. Both geometries, for instance, give rise to black holes — paradoxical objects that are so dense that nothing inside them can escape their gravity.

Existing theories do not apply inside black holes; if you try to combine quantum theory there with Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity (which casts gravity as curves in the space-time fabric), paradoxes arise. One major question is how black holes manage to preserve quantum information, even as Einstein’s theory says they evaporate. Solving this paradox requires physicists to find a quantum theory of gravity — a more fundamental conceptualization from which the space-time picture emerges at low energies, such as outside black holes. “The amazing thing about AdS/CFT is, it gives a working example of quantum gravity where everything is well-defined and all we have to do is study it and find answers to these paradoxes,” Simmons-Duffin said.

If the AdS/CFT correspondence provides theoretical physicists with a microscope onto quantum gravity theories, the conformal bootstrap has allowed them to switch on the microscope light. In 2009, theorists used the bootstrap to find evidence that every CFT meeting certain conditions has an approximate dual gravitational theory in AdS space. They’ve since been working out a precise dictionary to translate between critical exponents and other properties of CFTs and equivalent features of the AdS-space hologram.

Over the past year, bootstrappers like Hartman and Jared Kaplan of Johns Hopkins University have made quick progress in understanding how black holes work in these fish-eye universes, and in particular, how information gets preserved during black hole evaporation. This could significantly impact the understanding of the quantum nature of gravity and space-time in our own universe. “If I have some small black hole, it doesn’t care whether it’s in AdS space; it’s small compared to the size of the curvature,” Kaplan explained. “So if you can resolve these conceptual issues in AdS space, then it seems very plausible that the same resolution applies in cosmology.”

It’s far from clear whether our own universe holographically emerges from a conformal field theory in the way that AdS universes do, or if this is even the right way to think about it. The hope is that, by bootstrapping their way around the unifying geometric structure of possible physical realities, physicists will get a better sense of where our universe fits in the grand scheme of things — and what that grand scheme is. Polyakov is buoyed by the recent discoveries about the geometry of the theory space. “There are a lot of miracles happening,” he said. “And probably, we will know why.”

Image: davidope

[motherfuckingpriestessofhecate]

Ship that you have as an OTP: 🌹Ship that you're indifferent to: 😑Ship that makes you sad: 💔Ship that you find disgusting: 💩Ship that you find cute but don't ship: ✌Ship that you secretly like: 💚Ship that you used to have as an OTP: 💙Ship that you find most sexy: 👅Ship that you can never see happening: 👎Ship that is canon but you don't ship: 💤Ship that is unpopular but you still like: 💘Ship that is taboo: 💦Ship that pisses you off: 💣Ship you're curious about:

Controversial shipping asks

(( Judging by what you sent me over Discord, I’m guessing you didn’t mean to have the last few cut out so I’ll do those as well ovo/ ))

Ship that you have as an OTP: 🌹

(( Medea x Kuzuki tbh. At first I was kind of wary of it because the basis of her falling in love was just that he was one of the first men to be nice to her, but as I’ve read more and more of their stuff it’s just grown on me. They’re horribly mismatched, but at the same time they’re in love with each other to an extent that they’re willing to make things work. They’re not soulmates, they’re not perfect for each other, but they still love each other and are willing to do what it takes to make it work even if it’s not natural. I just really like that about them. ))

Ship that you’re indifferent to: 😑

(( Kirei x Kiritsugu, actually.A lot of people don’t like it and I get it, but I also get how people could ship it seeing as they both spent like half of Fate/Zero obsessing over the other. I guess I’m not entirely indifferent so much as I have slightly conflicting emotions that balance out to say “whatever, ship what you want to ship” ))

Ship that makes you sad: 💔

(( Julius x Mordred. Actually not really, I just wanted to make two of my friends suffer at least once with this ask. If I were to serious though, Kotomine x Claudia. At that point, Kirei was just trying his best and Claudia believed in him even though, in the end, there was nothing to believe in. And then Caren got completely screwed over gg disease mom. ))

Ship that you find disgusting: 💩

(( Pretty much all Avenger ships honestly. Avenger Angra Mainyu, that is. I like the dynamics that he shares with Bazett and Caren, but considering the things he talks about doing to Bazett and does do to Caren… Even if I don’t see that scene as canon, I just can’t ship him with either of them in good conscience. Friends, sure. But romantic partners? No thanks. ))

Ship that you find cute but don’t ship: ✌

(( Medea x Kojiro. I guess I ship it a tiny bit and would be willing to RP it someday, but for the most part I just like art of them. ))

Ship that you secretly like: 💚

(( I’m not so sure it’s ‘secret’ but Jeanne Alter and Saber Alter. Those two are just constantly antagonistic towards eachother and I love it. Another ship that I’ve basically never talked about is Saber Lily x Jeanne Alter, mostly because every interaction I’ve had between my Jalter and Saber Lily’s has been good shit… well besides for one with an AU Jalter but we don’t talk about that one when we’re also talking about shipping. ))

Ship that you used to have as an OTP: 💙

(( Medea x Julius. With my main verse for Medea, she sees him as a younger brother so it’s kind of hard for me to seriously ship them. I still think they’d make a kickass team in a Grail War together, but I don’t particularly desire romance between the two of them. ))

Ship that you find most sexy: 👅

(( I don’t really ship stuff for sex, so anything with Medb I guess. ))

Ship that you can never see happening: 👎

(( EMIYA x Saber, but in the sense of “they’ll never be a happy couple together” and not in the sense of “they’ll never have feelings for one another.” I can see them liking each other but actually getting together? lmao, good fucking luck you angst nuggets. ))

Ship that is canon but you don’t ship: 💤

(( Uhh… Rama x Sita I guess? I’m not saying I dislike the ship, just that all I’ve ever really heard about either of their personalities is how madly in love they are with one another. I’m just not capable of having interest in characters, or their relationship, when all I know about is that they love eachother a lot. It feels like I’m shipping Romeo and Juliet or some shit. I know they both have more to their personalities, but I haven’t heard enough about it in Fate to be interested enough to even try and find that more. Seriously, all I’ve heard about is their love for eachother. I know more about the first two Earthbenders’ personalities than I do these two smh ))

Ship that is unpopular but you still like: 💘

(( Unpopular in the sense that I’ve rarely seen anyone talk about it? Jeanne x Karna. They’re both fucking saints in their own right, let’s be honest here. Also both of them died horrible and unfair deaths but don’t show much anger over it, and in general their interactions from what I’ve seen are just… Nice. ))

Ship that is taboo: 💦

(( Medea x Jason in any way, shape, or form. Disgusting. Gross. Foul. Rotten. Though I wouldn’t mind RPing a Medea that’s still enchanted to be in love with Jason at some point. But actual Jason x Medea stuff? Dude couldn’t even thank her for chopping her little brother up into pieces, screw him. ))

Ship that pisses you off: 💣

(( Any incest ship, really. Illya x Shirou, Hakuno x Hakuno, Jeanne x Jeanne Alter, Mashu x Lancelot… I don’t care if they’re actually blood related or not, if they’re described as brothers/sisters or parents/children then please do Not…. selfcest is also kind of eh to me, but not to the same extent, so to each their own. ))

Ship you’re curious about: 👀

(( Caren x Saber Alter. On one hand there’s no way they’d be able to stay in the same room for more than five minutes without Caren being cut in two, but on the other hand I feel like they’d make a really good master-servant pair and possibly develop something other than mutual tolerance for eachother, even if it’s just respect. ))

Ship that needs more love: 💖

(( Jeanne Alter x the female FGO protagonist. I only ever see ship art of her and Gudao, none of her with Gudako. Well, very little of her with Gudako. Let them be gay, it’s not gonna be the first thing to cause either one of them angst considering they’re fighting to save humanity’s existence. ))

Ship that is most misunderstood: 💢

(( Sakura x Shirou, I think. I don’t want to go at length about it, but basically it’s more of Shirou’s character being misunderstood when it comes to this ship, due to the Heaven’s Feel route.I think they’d make a very cute couple and agree that Shirou would walk through all nine layers of hell for Sakura… But he wouldn’t betray his ideal, at least not like he does in Heaven’s Feel. Him deciding to prioritize Sakura over the hundreds of lives she was taking each night AND possibly all of humanity just feels like a slap in the face after Fate and UBW explore him trying to figure out how to stay true to his ideal without becoming a complete fucking mess. For him to throw away his ideal I can understand, but under those circumstances? Are we really sure that Sakura was the only character to go ‘Dark’ in Heaven’s Feel because jesus christ boy.

TL;DR: Mind of Steel is my personal ‘canon’ end to Heaven’s Feel, but I still think Shirou x Sakura is a great ship when it doesn’t endanger a shitton of other people. ))

[brandonfullers]

CCI Hidden Divergence Forex Trading Strategy

CCI Hidden Divergence Forex Trading Strategy

The Commodity Channel Index (CCI) developed by Donald Lambert is one of the tools available to traders for free yet isn’t utilized often. This is probably because it is less popular compared to its counterparts such as the RSI, MACD, stochastics, etc. But if you’d look at it closely, it does have a lot of value to offer if used correctly.

The CCI, like its cousins, is also an oscillating indicator. But it also has characteristics and features that is unique only to it. Contrary to common belief, the CCI is an unbounded oscillator. This means that it should be free to oscillate up to whatever number as opposed to being bound by a fixed range. Yes, it does have markers, but it is not limited up to those numbers. It is also somewhat similar to the RSI because of its jagged oscillation, which allows it to shadow price action better.

The CCI has multiple uses. It allows traders to determine strength in a move, determine probable overextended market conditions, and more. But one of its uses that is not usually utilized is in finding divergences, which we would be exploring in this strategy.

Hidden Divergences – A Higher Probability Entry Point

Divergences are basically discrepancies with regards to the depth of the oscillation of an indicator and price. Price gyrates up and down the graph on a boundless space whereas oscillating indicators gyrate on a much tighter space. This causes the discrepancy between price and an oscillating indicator, even though indicators typically shadow price action.

Divergences usually hint of an impending reversal. This entry on a probable reversal usually means bigger returns if you catch a reversal right from the start.

However, different types of divergences differ in the type of reversals where they usually occur. Regular divergences often occur on a bigger picture reversal at the end of an extended trend. Hidden divergences on the other hand typically occur on a retracement. This means that regular divergences could allow traders to rake in big money if it catches the whole new trend after the reversal, but hidden divergences have higher probabilities of success when taken near the start of a fresh trend.

Below is a chart of the different types of divergences. Notice how the hidden divergence is characteristic of a retracement on a trending environment, while regular divergences look more of a full-blown reversal.

Trading Strategy Concept

This strategy is a trend following strategy that has entries on probable retracements based on hidden divergences.

To ensure that we are trading with the trend, we will be using a 50-period Exponential Moving Average (EMA). We will define trend based on where price is in relation to the 50 EMA and on whether it is sloped or flat. A sloppy EMA will usually occur on a trending market environment.

To find our hidden divergences, we will be using a 20-period CCI. This will be our main indicator which we will use to find our entry points.

Take note that retracement entries usually have higher probability near the start of a trend. Entries that surface at an extended trend should be taken with caution.

Indicators:

50-period EMA (Gold)

20-period CCI

Timeframe: any

Currency Pair: any

Trading Session: any

Buy (Long) Trade Setup

Entry

Price should be above the 50 EMA

The 50 EMA should be sloping up

A hidden bullish divergence should be clearly noticeable

Multiple hidden divergences on one entry point would be better

A reversal candlestick pattern (pin bars, engulfing patterns, etc.) would yield higher probabilities

Enter a buy market order on the confluence of the above rules

Stop Loss

Set the stop loss at the fractal below the entry candle

Exit/Take Profit

Option 1: Close the trade on the cross of the CCI below 50

Option 2: Set the take profit target at 2x the risk

Sell (Short) Trade Setup

Entry

Price should be below the 50 EMA

The 50 EMA should be sloping down

A hidden bearish divergence should be clearly noticeable

Multiple hidden divergences on one entry point would be better

A reversal candlestick pattern (pin bars, engulfing patterns, etc.) would yield higher probabilities

Enter a sell market order on the confluence of the above rules

Stop Loss

Set the stop loss at the fractal above the entry candle

Exit/Take Profit

Option 1: Close the trade on the cross of the CCI above 50

Option 2: Set the take profit target at 2x the risk

Conclusion

This strategy is a great trend continuation strategy or one which could be used in combination with other trend continuation strategies.

The key to this strategy is to have a feel on whether the trend is already overextended or not. Divergences that occur near the start of the trend have greater chances of success. The odds diminish the longer the trend is or the more the retraces are.

If you are able to catch one at the start of a trend, try to ride it all the way down. Aside from the exit strategies above, you could also employ some form of trailing stop to allow you to catch a big chunk of the wave.

This strategy is not the Holy Grail but if practiced and mastered it could yield good results.

Forex Trading Systems Installation Instructions

CCI Hidden Divergence Forex Trading Strategy is a combination of Metatrader 4 (MT4) indicator(s) and template.

The essence of this forex system is to transform the accumulated history data and trading signals.

CCI Hidden Divergence Forex Trading Strategy provides an opportunity to detect various peculiarities and patterns in price dynamics which are invisible to the naked eye.

Based on this information, traders can assume further price movement and adjust this system accordingly.

Forex Metatrader 4 Trading Platform

Free $30 To Start Trading Instantly

No Deposit Required

Automatically Credited To Your Account

No Hidden Terms

How to install CCI Hidden Divergence Forex Trading Strategy?

  Download CCI Hidden Divergence Forex Trading Strategy.zip

Copy mq4 and ex4 files to your Metatrader Directory / experts / indicators /

Copy tpl file (Template) to your Metatrader Directory / templates /

Start or restart your Metatrader Client

Select Chart and Timeframe where you want to test your forex system

Right click on your trading chart and hover on “Template”

Move right to select CCI Hidden Divergence Forex Trading Strategy

You will see CCI Hidden Divergence Forex Trading Strategy is available on your Chart

Click here below to download:

Save

Save

cci-hidden-divergence-forex-trading-strategy

La entrada CCI Hidden Divergence Forex Trading Strategy se publicó primero en Forex MT4 Indicators.

CCI Hidden Divergence Forex Trading Strategy published first on https://alphaex-capital.blogspot.com/

[theinvinciblenoob]

For over 50 years, Disneyland and its sister parks have been a showcase for increasingly technically proficient versions of its “animatronic” characters. First pneumatic and hydraulic and more recently fully electronic — these figures create a feeling of life and emotion inside rides and attractions, in shows and, increasingly, in interactive ways throughout the parks.

The machines they’re creating are becoming more active and mobile in order to better represent the wildly physical nature of the characters they portray within the expanding Disney universe. And a recent addition to the pantheon could change the way that characters move throughout the parks and influence how we think about mobile robots at large.

I wrote recently about the new tack Disney was taking with self-contained characters that felt more flexible, interactive and, well, alive than ‘static’, pre-programmed animatronics. That has done a lot to add to the convincing nature of what is essentially a very limited robot.

Traditionally, most animatronic figures cannot move from where they sit or stand, and are pre-built to exacting show specifications. The design and programming phases of the show are closely related, so that the hero characters are efficient and durable enough to run hundreds of times a day, every day, for years.

The Na’avi Shaman from Pandora: The World of Avatar, at Walt Disney World, represents the state of the art of this kind of figure.

However, with the expanded universe of Disney properties including more and more dynamic and heroic figures by the year, it makes sense that they’d want to explore ways of making the robots that represent those properties in the parks more believable and active.

That’s where the Stuntronics project comes in. Built out of a research experiment called Stickman, which we covered a few months ago, Stuntronics are autonomous, self-correcting aerial performers that make on-the-go corrections to nail high-flying stunts every time. Basically robotic stuntpeople, hence the name.

I spoke to Tony Dohi, Principle R&D Imagineer and Morgan Pope, Associate Research Scientist at Disney, about the project.

“So what this is about is the realization we came to after seeing where our characters are going on screen,” says Dohi, “whether they be Star Wars characters, or Pixar characters, or Marvel characters or our own animation characters, is that they’re doing all these things that are really, really active. And so that becomes the expectation our park guests have that our characters are doing all these things on screen — but when it comes to our attractions, what are our animatronic figures doing? We realized we have kind of a disconnect here.”

So they came up with the concept of a stunt double for the ‘hero’ animatronic figures that could take their place within a show or scene to perform more aggressive maneuvering, much in the same way a double replaces a valuable and delicate actor in a dangerous scene.

The Stuntronics robot features on-board accelerometer and gyroscope arrays supported by laser range finding. In its current form, it’s humanoid, taking on the size and shape of a performer that could easily be imagined clothed in the costume of, say, one of The Incredibles, or someone on the Marvel roster. The bot is able to be slung from the end of a wire to fly through the air, controlling its pose, rotation and center of mass to not only land aerial tricks correctly but to do them on target while holding heroic poses in midair.

One use of this could be mid-show in an attraction. For relatively static shots, hero animatronics like the Shaman or new figures Imagineering is constantly working on could provide nuanced performances of face and figure. Then, a transition to a scene that requires dramatic, un-fettered action and boom, a Stuntronics double could fly across the space on its own, calculating trajectories and striking poses with its on-board hardware, hitting a target dead on every time. Queue re-set for the next audience.

This focus on creating scenarios where animatronics feel more ‘real’ and dynamic is at work in other areas of Imagineering as well, with autonomous rolling robots and — some day — the holy grail of bipedal walking robots. But Stuntronics fills one specific gap in the repertoire of a standard Animatronic figure — the ability to convince you it can be a being of action and dynamism.

“So often our robots are in the uncanny valley where you got a lot of function, but it still doesn’t look quite right. And I think here the opposite is true,” says Pope. “When you’re flying through the air, you can have a little bit of function and you can produce a lot of stuff that looks pretty good, because of this really neat physics opportunity — you’ve got these beautiful kinds of parabolas and sine waves that just kind of fall out of rotating and spinning through the air in ways that are hard for people to predict, but that look fantastic.”

The original BRICK

Like many of the solutions Imagineering comes up with for its problems, Stuntronics started out as a research project without a real purpose. In this case, it was called BRICK (Binary Robotic Inertially Controlled bricK). Basically, a metal brick with sensors and the ability to change its center of mass to control its spin to hit a precise orientation at a precise height – to ‘stick the landing’ every time.

From the initial BRICK, Disney moved on to Stickman, an articulated version of the device that could now more aggressively control the rotation and orientation of the device. Combined with some laser rangefinders you had the bones of something that, if you squint, could emulate a ‘human’ acrobat.

“Morgan, I got together and said, maybe there’s something here, we’re not really be sure. But let’s poke at it in a bunch of different directions and see what comes out of it,” says Dohi.

But the Stickman didn’t stick for long.

“When we did the BRICK, I thought that was pretty cool,” says Pope. “And then by the time I was presenting the BRICK at a conference, Tony [Dohi] had helped us make stick man. And I was like, well, this isn’t cool anymore. The Stickman is what’s really cool. And then I was down in Australia presenting Stickman and I knew we were doing the full Stuntronic back at R&D. And I was like, well, this isn’t cool anymore,” he jokes.

“But it has been so much fun. Every step of the way I think oh, this is blowing my mind. but,they just keep pushing…so it’s nice to have that challenge.”

This process has always been one of the fascinating things to me about the way that Imagineering works as a whole. You have people that are enabled by management and internal structure to spool out the threads of a problem, even though you’re not really sure what’s going to come out of it. The biggest companies on the planet have similar R&D departments in place — though the ones that make a habit of disconnecting them from a balance sheet, like Apple, are few and far in between, in my experience. Typically, so much of R&D is tied to a profit/loss spreadsheet so tightly that it’s really, really difficult to sussurate something enough to see what comes of it.

The ability to kind of have vastly different specialities like math, physics, art and design to be able to put ideas on the table and sift through them and say hey, we have this storytelling problem on one hand and this research project on the other. If we drill down on this a bit more — would this serve the purpose? As long as the storytelling always remains the North Star then you end up having a a guiding light to serve drag you through the pile and you come out the other end, holding a couple of things that could be coupled to solve a problem.

“We’re set up to do the really high risk stuff that you don’t know is going to be successful or not, because you don’t know if there’s going to be a direct application of what you’re doing,” says Dohi. “But you just have a hunch that there might be something there, and they give us a long leash, and they let us explore the possibilities and the space around just an idea, which is really quite a privilege. It’s one of the reasons why I love this place.”

This process of play and iteration and pursuit of a goal of storytelling pops up again and again with Imagineering. It’s really a cluster of very smart people across a broad spectrum of disciplines that are governed by a central nervous system of leaders like Jon Snoddy, the head of R&D at the studios, who help to connect the dots between the research side and the other areas of Imagineering that deal with the Parks or interactive projects or the digital division.

There’s an economy and lack of ego to the organization that enables exploration without wastefulness and organically curtails the pursuit of things not in service to the story. In my time exploring the workings of Imagineering I’ve often found that there is a significant disconnect between how fascinating the process is and how well the organization communicates the cleverness of its solutions.

The Disney Research white papers are certainly infinitely fascinating to people interested in emerging tech, but the points of integration between the research and the practical applications in the parks often remain unexplored. Still, they’re getting better at understanding when they’ve really got something they feel is killer and thinking about better ways to communicate that to the world.

Indeed, near the end of our conversation, Dohi says he’s come up with a solid sound byte and I have him give me his best pitch.

“One of our goals of Stuntronics is to see if we can leap across the uncanny valley.”

Not bad.

via TechCrunch

[jothehighermix]

Righting the Wrongs of Employer Branding    

Workforces across the globe are changing rapidly.  Scarcity of skilled workers continues to impact on economies and is reshaping the worlds of talent and usiness.   This blog is about Righting the Wrongs of Employer Branding.  

Dramatic shifts are occurring in the way people interact at work, how talent is being sourced and recruited, in work environment itself.  Radical technological and social change is having most profound effect upon businesses and on employer brands.    

Global Human Capital Trends report surveyed over 10,000 HR and business leaders, across 140 countries, on perceived challenges ahead for business/HR leaders.  No surprises, organisational culture, engagement, employee value proposition (EVP) were top priorities in 2017, according to the report. 

Continuing into 2018, all things employee experience ranks even higher from previous year.   

Heads Up People!   Disruptive change is coming, in the way organisations will secure, manage and keep workers. 

No-brainer that companies have to offer (*and deliver) positive experiences for candidates and internal teams.   

So ability to adapt quickly, to meet new talent demands will be the defining characteristic of successful companies into the future. 

Founder of The Higher Mix,  Jo Woodfield wrote a comprehensive Blog in January 2018 on A-Z of Employer Branding Best Practice.   Fascinating deep dive into basics of developing strategic employer brand and well worth a read.    But our blog today explores some of the pitfalls, and provides advice to brand owners on the best way forward.

Sameness Everywhere.  Lack of Impact and Differentiation

Content any business creates defines its brand to the public.   Each and every organisation has its very own distinctive culture (unique community of people)

Why then do organisations settle for a generic online presence?  Esp. when their business can have easily tapped the essence of its own brand personality - who knows?

We're talking ready-made potential, for an EVP that is fresh, different and dynamic (one that can consistently evolve to engage.) 

Still, we continuously see bland execution of employer brands.

Probably since too many employer brands are built in boardrooms or left up to creative design agencies to interpret (who, for most part, probably weren't present during the employer brand strategy build) and therefore can't easily grasp the nature, extent or ambitions behind your brand.

And oh boy, aren't they failing spectacularly at being able to execute brand vision and compelling EVP for brand owners.   

Sure, it’s big job to create any type of brand positioning (esp. for a global employer brand) we get that, its a formidable task.  But honestly, some brands we see around these days, only make us want to race out and start cutting up the grass with scissors!

Modern, Multi-Generational Workforces

Modern workforces are more multi-generational than ever; people from different cultures, languages, different attitudes etc.

Employer brands need to be far more than just "appealing".   Requires real structure built-in, to the benefits, remuneration, development and messaging.  Companies being responsive; and flexible enough to fit in with multi-generational diverse workforces. 

While offering up a superb end-to-end candidate and employee experience.

Employer Brand Positioning   

To us, as Employer brand experts, pretty obvious where and why companies are not managing to differentiate.   Sometimes message confusion, lack of creativity, or just noise that did not get the strategic marketing thinking to be able to truly penetrate markets.

Global brands must work locally too; but the world is such a diverse place now; how can you be sure you are going to get it right? 

Attracting and targeting talent for specialised roles is so much more, over just having candidates look into your Ad, at the careers site or interact with social channels.   You want them to feel as though your company really does want him/her, that you understand what motivates them and makes them happy.  And at same time, the company should be sending powerful messaging back.   So the candidate feels essentially you're recruiting for the one special person, them.

Employer branding processes must be incredibly individualized.  

Why organisations still think ONE message can be published nationally/ globally is beyond us.

Employer Brands Must Flex  

Injecting flexibility during EVP Strategy build is key.   

Ability to dial it up or down, in line with your company's culture, position requirements, diversity considerations, areas/ countries and much more.   On attraction piece for a minute - about achieving balance and consistency.  Striking right tone, appropriate language, captivating with beautiful, relevant visuals, truly coherent, authentic messaging that in the long run, will not create disjoint - what's promised (candidate and internal team expectations) compared to what is delivered (company culture, reward, development etc )

Employer branding also pairs to company values (these alone comprise very intimate characteristics that underpin any EVP.)   Communicating key messages to sets of individuals, across locations to persuade them, seizing on their mind-share, swaying talent to apply and come on-board.  Structural independence and fuller understanding (and working with) segments from research yet still aligning to the global message.

Not such an easy ask, hey!?

Tailored employer branding strategy, targeted recruitment engagement and communication/s, wider social listening, and regular engagement of the internal teams. 

Employer brand 24-7:  Always On  

Many organisations struggle to differentiate, to promote the brand effectively (be this employer or company brand).  To find short term value and longer term efficiencies.   And like most things in life, the worth and presence of your employer brand will change over time.  

Companies taste real success earlier if they can capitalise on dynamic, technologically-driven environments and still apply strategic approach and methodology in agile way.   Mixing EVP concepts with range of tools to shape, build and measure/optimse their employer brands.    

Taking Too Long!   Agile Turns It Around Faster   

Employer branding strategy has gotten all complex, competitive but dare we say it, more necessary.  Companies spend vast amounts of time trying to build their brands.  Evaluating, interviewing, endeavouring to determine EVP, and then reach internal consensus, before eventually executing (usually the see-sawing begins to agree on the visuals) by which time, research and thinking is out-dated, so too employee comms and other important materials.

Remember, current thinking on your brand is better than thinking or planning which is couple of years old *read: redundant.    Agile methods + a strategic approach combined - is the best way forward.

Trying To Be Everything to Everyone.   Zero in  

Holy grail for organisations involves finding and holding onto the best talent, people who maximize innovation and improve productivity in a business.

Sure as, nobody wants vague, uninspired or non-committed candidates…   That makes personalisation throughout life-cycles absolutely vital to modern candidate journey.    Equally so for tapping into gig economy, to access great numbers of temporary, freelance and contract workers also.

Never try to appeal to everyone.   Chances are, it will only isolate very type of person/people the company does need and want; or you end up with huge pool of wrong style of candidates for hire.

Akin to talking to everyone but engaging nobody.

Pilot the EVP.  Pressure-Testing

Your very own people speak volumes about what's to be communicated out there;  whether it is valid, real and relevant?

Claims-testing EVP is a part of employer brand communications strategy (sound thinking and delivery.)  Also top rate engagement opportunity with our own talent because they get to ensure EVP delivered is actually perceived as credible, well-defined - and feel they helped to build it.

Followed up with strategic campaigns; designed and delivered to smaller specific audiences.  Content reflecting the company values and deeply resonating with target audiences.

Mammoth Job - Not For Just One Person 

Teams are led through Employer Brand Development.

ITraditional model of employer brand has changed, to far more collaborative exercise between departments and teams.   Involving direct contributions from some of the smartest people in your business:  Marketing, OD, HR, Research, Digital, Comms and Executives.

Companies now employ groups of smart people to project-manage this widespread convergence and more agile collaboration on their employer brand (or at least they should be!)

Process involves management of multiple complexities, constituent inputs and perspectives through nine build phases.

So only sets the business or project up to fail, if you leave all that, management of a brand nationally or globally, up to just one poor person to try and tackle by themselves.

Too Much Control.   Not Enough Faith   

Employer brand is about how your company wants to represent itself as a coalition of actual people.   

Still, there are organisations who feel they don't have any choice but to set rigid rules (" but it makes it easier for us to "manage, control, maintain" what's published").   Regrettably, that only hamstrings sort of creativity needed to showcase what the company is really like.... 

Creativity shouldn't die a slow death, in the arms of rigid brand guidelines.

Manage Employer Brand Conversations.   Show Hard Evidence   

As vital commercial, strategic imperative for businesses worldwide; thankfully demonstrating a business case for employer branding has become far easier these days.

Latest research from LinkedIn even correlates with it.  Strong employer brands see 50% lower cost/hire and with retention nearly at a third higher.

Below is our snapshot of Employer brand benefits from The Higher Mix.  We hope you find the diagram useful for talking through your own business case concersation and for investment decisions.    

Talent execs and managers carefully guide conversations with business owners and CEOs.  They show hard evidence in existence.  Demonstrate the gaps, or on flip-side how degrees of engagement are positively contributing to a bottom line through greater performance, lower turnover, increased level of engagement.   Help your snr execs relate to the Brand Health  aspects too.  Mighty impact achieved from EB process = better reputation, profile and positioning, more success for your business.

Everyone On The Same Page With Employer Branding    

Consensus is often a tough thing to achieve.  Esp. taking into account all the different seniority, functions, thoughts, motivations and perceptions of people; which alter and vary immeasurably.

Employer branding is an exercise which requires strong, conceptual abilities across multi-discipline group environment.   Does your steering team have necessary skills to apply a raft of ideas, perspectives, knowledge and context of just how your company is actually being viewed as an employer and service provider?

Developing unimpeachable, compelling EVP involves the team's innate ability to validate, apply certain skills, brand and marketing knowledge to truly comprehend just what & where the real value resides?

Employer Branding ROI     

Probably an area where most HR and marketers will already have a good grasp - evaluating their efforts.

This extends to the ability to measure effectiveness of company’s employer brand prevalence and practices.   But let's face it.  Often brand is a business concept difficult to define - much less measure.

Mentor it – Manage it – Measure It   

Not so many resources out there that share just how to measure the financial impact of employer branding activities.  Personally, we like Phil Strazzulla’s Blog.  Quick take on ROI, an easy read, and he walks the talk as founder of NextWave Hire.

Investigate and understand measuring EVP further here:     

Time To Rethink / Reposition The Brand?   

In closing out,  understanding of employer branding value and savings it can offer has exponentially increased. 

To this end, companies are in redirect mode.  Focused on and investing into EB, as an absolute critical branding effort.   

Whether that is to be increasingly competitive in “talent wars”,  ‘stand out’ from the competition, drive efficiencies in recruitment and acquisition, or reap savings through process of drawing in all kinds of diverse, great candidates.  Establishing a consistent, attractive employer brand will differentiate your company faster, reduce recruitment and human capital cost, and most importantly, attract quality talent with unique skills, and awesome personalities (cultural fit.)

That said, will involve entire people-process-practices agenda if you want to get this right and have it squarely aimed at driving engagement and retention of key internal talent.   In other words, a strategic approach, that moves beyond attraction (recruitment.)

Employer brand applies to everything a company does not only to HR.

Start Point On Employer Branding    

Straight talkers and best practice approach to cut through the noise is anybody's best starting point.  Enlisting helpful, careful guidance from employer branding experts,  who will guide you to communicate unique aspects of the brand with confidence.   Humanise the company, highlight actual people who share their valued opinion/s on all sorts of aspects of the business (on-boarding/off-boarding, company values, culture, leadership and more.)

Make sure these are employer brand strategists who can directly address and improve limiting touchpoints that are hindering a more positive candidate / employee experience - otherwise, they are just not the real deal. 

  Good Luck on your Employer Brand journey.

The above blog post Righting the Wrongs of Employer Branding     was published on The Higher Mix