#IP at Work

[worldipday]

An Author Sparks Creativity Among Young Creators.

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

Advancing IP and creativity in Nigeria

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

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

[redslug]

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

[communistchilchuck]

‼️ EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS FOR GAZA ‼️

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

⬇️⬇️⬇️ Information below! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Examples of my art, sketches and colored pieces:

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

[mantoumika]

Please help my friend not be homeless!!!

He has until this weekend (currently 18/04) before he will get kicked out. I am currently working on another large commission as well as graduating soon so it may be some time before I get started. I am doing discounted commissions! Everything will go towards him. $5 = Cleaned uncoloured sketch. I will draw your silly guys. (+$5 for additional characters) $30 = Fully rendered portrait $40 = Fully rendered halfbody $50 = Fully rendered fullbody Please share this!! I will draw literally anything. Thank you for reading!!

[moiderahart]

Some old comms of some IPS-N custom mechs!

All of them are french.

[inksandpensblog]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He didn't have to miss.

--

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

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

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

[bunabi]

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

[pynkhues]

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

QuillBot's

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do I think we could go back?

Maybe, but probably not.

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

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

[black-ajah-hq]

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

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

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

[marenwithanm]

Luke why are you so good at lying??? He didn't even change sprites lol

[palin-tropos]

if they do make disco elysium into a tv show I think they should shot for shot recreate the bbc sherlock hound of baskerville mind palace scene for when harry du bois’s mangled brain reminds him of the existence of a boxer named Contact Mike

[worldipday]

Bringing Renewable Energy to Local Farmers.

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

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

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

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

[deep-sea-anemone]

You know, when I was younger I used to fantasize/look forward to marriage and the wedding we'd have and the house we'd buy together and the dogs we'd adopt and now I'm older and have had time to reflect a bit, I realize that uh, there was never another person in those fantasies. I literally just wanted to wear a pretty dress, get a pet, and find some beautiful house to call my own. And really, upon realizing that, my ace ass doesn't miss the "marriage" part at all.

What I do miss is the fact that I'll never be able to put on that special dress and I won't have a second income to afford that nice house. And that I also won't really have the time/income to support adopting a child and all of my friends will be busy with THEIR families so I'll just be alone. And I'm still working on coming to terms with that.

[elminsters]

this is the video of Swen saying no bg4 btw! I haven't seen anyone post his actual words.

[aalt-ctrl-del]

mad take, but I can't with how the "Vivzie hate club" has two brain cells:

how dare this character be absolutely vulgar, vile, sexist, toxic, and a meanie. This show is terrible, and is teaching children terrible things. I don't care if this is hell, this is wrong and I hate.

but also

how dare this character of gluttony not look like a swol fly. This is not biblically accurate character design. How dare the deadly sins not behave in a cliche way that I have come to expect after watching 50 marvel movies. This free show is terrible and I hate.

[whetstonefires]

the difficult thing about predicting the wrap-up of Glass Onion with no external hints is that the true facts are almost as stupid as the fake facts.

that is not how IP law works. that is not really how hydrogen works. that's not quite how allergies work. that's not at all how becoming spectacularly wealthy works. this also incidentally isn't how hiring private investigators generally works.

no film attempting to be seen as realistic and grounded would do the bullet-blocking notebook bit. like, technically it can happen, in the sense that it has. but it probably won't.

so the things that aren't true because they're stupid don't stand out too clearly to the audience until the characters single them out, because we have to go in willing to accept a certain amount of bullshit for the sake of the narrative if we're going to have fun. we can't calibrate our bullshit detectors reliably early enough to get ahead of the plot.

it's fine though because the point is the characters and vibes and allegories and so forth. it's internally consistent and doesn't try to abuse this power over the viewer, so there's no issue.