#it's a well-established and oft-returned-to plot point and all

[galacticlamps]

if i was edwin payne and a giant inter-dimensional ghost-eating mushroom was about to consume me and my bff of 30+ years on the same day i went out of my way to dress up nice because i literally just figured out i was deeply and completely in love with him and despite my 100+ years of edwardian-era repression i already decided i needed to share this information with him as soon as possible because we are indeed that close, and said best friend/love of my life decided to take his hand off the branch/root thing we were clinging to trying not to get swallowed just so he could put his hand over mine for comfort in what even the evil witch attempting to obliterate us felt the need to comment on for being a sweet final moment, i would simply pass away. again.

[flamingtunapictures]

AA Spirit of Justice - Game Review

Tl:dr - A visual and symphonic triumph, this title delivers on striking visuals, a beautiful score, and a wacky, colorful cast innate to the AA DNA. Though there is absence of robust worldbuilding, the story is engaging, ending with an epic finale episode. 

Spirit of Justice is one of the longest titles in mainline Ace Attorney games, clocking in at an average of 25-30 hours of gameplay. It features a cross oceanic adventure that takes up courtroom calls in the familiar “Japanafornia,” but also in the new Asianic/Tibetan-inspired Kingdom of Khura’in. 

Visually and symphonically this game is an absolute triumph. The game falls in line with the latest generation of Ace Attorney games, defined by immaculate employ of 3D graphics and animations. State-side character designs and animations are some of the brightest, wackiest, and most memorable of the entire series. I have found over the years the AA witness designs I reminisce over the most tend to come from this game. The main eastern counterparts are equally visually striking, albeit not as compelling or memorable as they could have been (more on that later). 

The music, per usual, metered and complimented the world and narrative beautifully. From sentimental originals like Reminiscence: Inherited Hopes, to new cultural sounds of Defendant’s Lobby and reorchestrations of classics Allegro, Pursuit, and Troupe Gramarye, there was never a reason to turn the volume down.

Gameplay wise, the game functions virtually the same as all the previous titles with the addition of “Seance Divinations.” This new mechanic allows you to behold the final memories of the deceased…in order to point out contradictions in classic AA fashion. A neat thought, however not entirely memorable or largely contributive to the gameplay as a whole. If anything, it just provides another venue for player frustration at “obscure logic” to manifest (I’m looking at you “man’s voice”).

Most importantly however, as it comes to AA games, how is the story? As I mentioned before, this game is an average of 7 hours longer than your typical AA game. It features 5 episodes instead of the usual 4, bouncing between East and West to give all protagonists equal facetime. 

The first episode acts to establish the new Kingdom of Khura’in and the Divination Seance. It is quick, orientational, and full of excellent characters. My main criticism would be the generally insufferable characterization of Nick as the worst kind of tourist.* 

The second case brings you back “home” and treats fans to classic Apollo/Trucy shenanigans and more Troupe Gramarye lore. 

The (infamous) third episode returns you to the land of Khura’in to solve an unfortunately drawn-out and convoluted tale of death supported by a cast of uninspiring, vanilla characters. Its purpose was to establish plot points for the final episode. However, I’m not totally convinced they were necessary for the final episode to land as well as it did. For that reason, the main purpose of episode three was actually to celebrate the return of Maya Fey in the most Maya way possible: Maya getting accused of murder…again! 

The fourth episode brings you back stateside for a quick one day cross-examination of kooky rakugo school students helmed by Athena and special guest Simon Blackquill. It’s a rather inconsequential episode in terms of overall plot, but I found it delightful nonetheless. 

The game finally wraps up with its piece de resistance final act —Turnabout Revolution. This episode was a diligent convergence of East and West, giving both settings equal presence and relevance to the final arc. Not only did it lean into AA legacy locations/references like Kurain Village, but, much like Luke Atmey’s larceny case from Trials and Tribulations, the courtroom battle deviates from the typical murder-trial cadence. In the first act of Turnabout Revolution, Apollo and Phoenix go head to head in a civil dispute case. Gone are the too-oft’ drawn out rebuttals, ad-hominem attacks, and tangents on incompetency from the prosecution. In its place, a steady, well paced, respectful exchange is had between attorneys. The first case concludes on an ambiguously sinister note that forces the characters to deadhead east to Khura’in. It is in this new setting the final compelling plot twists, hard-hitting sentimentality, and absolutely stunning character designs are revealed.

MAIN CRITICISM

For as compelling and inspiring the final act was, there was much left wanting in this title as a whole. I think this is largely due to the Kingdom of Khura'in’s lamentable lack of depth and cultural development. Visually and musically it is executed beautifully, but nevertheless remains skin-deep. There is little for world-building fans to sink their teeth into. Consequently, characterization and story intrigue are sacrificed. 

While I could comment on the gimmicky religion that is too often treated with the reverence of parody, I would prefer to focus on what I perceive to be the largest under-miner to what could have been a robust Khura’in.

There was a notable lack of consideration taken towards the use of the Khur’ainese language. Sure, there is a word or two, the suggestion of a written language, and Sahdmadhi had that one VA line (that didn’t even sound like a convincing language), but nothing sociologically compelling. The names are some of the laziest puns in the entire series, opting to just drop letters and add apostrophes to existing English words. They are entertaining, but forfeit opportunities for a believable culture in lieu of a quick laugh.

Imagine the intrigue that could be infused if two Khura’inese characters (Dhurke and Datz for example) converse in <Khura’inese> in front of Nick. It would enforce the feeling of Nick being a foreigner in a foreign land and that the Kingdom of Khura’in is its own legitimate ecosystem. *Having characters converse in their native language in front of Nick would also help abate the irritating characterization of him as the “self-righteous,” boisterous, and meddling foreigner. The lack of basic tourist etiquette killed me during this game. I understand Phoenix is the main character, but sometimes taking a third person perspective to a country sorting out their own problems makes for a much stronger narrative.

Now let’s take a look at Apollo as another example of how the use of a <foreign language> could add more character depth. The man grew up in a foreign country and doesn’t talk about it — that is fascinating. Now imagine if the use of foreign language was mixed into how that story was revealed. What if, instead of just his father showing up after 10+ years in the Wright Anything Agency office saying, “Hi Son! Long time no see,” he said, “<Hi Son! Long time no see>,” and then Apollo responds in (rusty) Khura’inese, “<What are you doing here?>”  We would all become Trucy Wright in that moment, and the question wouldn’t just be, “How do you know this man?” It would bloom into, “How did you understand what this man said?”, “Wait, Apollo speaks a foreign language?” Then it would become “How do you know this man?” etc. The intrigue and layers this interaction alone could add to Apollo as a character are there for the taking…if only a second longer was taken to incorporate the use of <Khura'inese>.

Finally, the choice to not employ accents in the voice acting of the Khura'inese characters (Dhurke, Rayfa, Datz, Ahlbi, Guards etc) feels nothing short of lazy. The use of accents would have added a nice touch of texture to the already visually striking characters. If a game like Dragon Quest VIII can cast a variety of generically “foreign” accents to even its minor characters, there’s no legitimate reason the citizens of Khura’in should be depicted with the flattest American accents imaginable.

In conclusion, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice is a solid title to the main series. Though it suffers from weak world-building, its story is still largely compelling and enjoyable to play!

[sbooksbowm]

The ‘Does this make sense?’ check: Chapter 3, Part 3, reading experience and community boundaries

Part 3 puts the two together, looking at how the reading experience unfolds with these two textual features and how reading fic maintains the boundaries of a fandom

Part 3: reading experience and community boundaries

Intertextuality contributes to the aggregation of fanon, and including fanon in fic contributes to its enjoyment. The reader is thus situated in within the context of intertextuality (e.g. meta-analysis), generated in the response zone of the community model, which is upheld by the community infrastructure (e.g. tag wranglers). Juli Parrish suggests the collective Brownian motion model to describe fic writing, departing from Henry Jenkin’s oft-cited textual poacher. On a micro level, the textual poacher is a good analogy to describe how a reader or writer selects the elements she enjoys and expands upon them in her own work. On a macro level, the repetition of this selection process moves the fandom in one direction or another: Harry is South Asian, Percy is Afro-Latino, Zuko and Sokka end up together [1]. As a mathematical model, Brownian motion describes how the aggregate random motion of particles shifts an object in a given direction overtime. In fandom, the particles are fanworks (fic, text posts, and meta-analysis); the motion is interpretation; the movement is solidification of fanon. Brownian motion models how the aggregation of commentary, analysis, and interpretation collectively contributes to a framework through which readers or reading groups interpret and create fanfiction. The fic thereby becomes context dependent, accruing meaning through this ongoing process [2].

In established interpretive fan communities, this aggregate motion is underwritten by ‘share[d] central readings and values; this allows [fans] to create particular reading norms and practices as well as core analyses and stories, all of which affect consequent interpretations’ [3]. Brownian motion does not suggest universal agreement within fandom (Goodman already noted the improbability of that). Rather, this motion describes how pockets of fans develop interpretive communities with agreed-upon interpretations, often grafting in identifiers like race or sexuality, or exploring alternate characterizations, such as dark or morally grey characters. As I learned from first-hand experience, generalizing about interpretations is fraught; in a weekly wrap-up post, I referred obliquely to Albus Dumbledore Critical discourse as an example of how an interpretive community has solidified in the Harry Potter fandom. It was immediately challenged by a pro-Albus Dumbledore fan. There are exceptions to all rules.

Goodman argues that a fic’s intertextuality and paratexts create a mutual mythopoeia from which fic writers draw and to which they contribute. She writes ‘variant retellings of common legends accumulate to build a shared repertoire from which classical authors borrowed characters, events, and plots, each giving it his own twist, often while referring to each other’ [4]. This referential mythopoeia, which is another term for intertextuality, is part of the pleasure of fandom for reader, and the collective rewriting of a source text often skews readers’ perception such that they can no longer read the source text as the original author dictated. Melissa Gray notes that this shirking of original intentions is exactly why

‘fandom is so rewarding: the vast sharing of points of view and creativity that makes it our universe, belonging to the fans as well as the creators of the canon, with our own characters and settings and situations. I can no longer watch episodes the way TPTB [The Powers That Be] likely intended. I bring not only my unique experiences to my viewing, but also the wealth of fanon background material that I've absorbed over the years’ [5, emphasis mine].  

This mythopoeia, a depot of references that are fun for a reader to unravel, fits cleanly into Goodman’s expansion of the principle of minimal departure, which suggests that ‘because a finite text is always necessarily incomplete, it is a standard part of any normative reading practice to imaginatively supply necessary information’ [6]. Goodman argues that this principle operates in production of fic, which often adds, substitutes, or intervenes in missing information with imaginative works. For example, gedsparrowhawk’s ‘Hogwarts, to welcome you home’ responds to the unanswered question of what happens after the war with an alternative universe where Harry. This interpretation returns the readers to Hogwarts, reorienting reader perception of the epilogue such that it is more difficult to imagine the original ending.

Available data agrees that intertextuality is among the most fun and favored part of fic, suggesting that the referential-ness of a fic is what makes it pleasurable to read and possibly to write: citing in-jokes, niche knowledge, and crossovers include the reader in an unraveling process as they read. Fansplaining, a podcast about fandom, ran a survey on fic tropes that received 7,610 responses and found that the most favored tropes ‘are absolutely intertextual, requiring the reader to understand the original story before they can fully appreciate the fanfic’ [7]. I return to the resonance of dirge’s concluding line in ‘the last son’, which nods to the reader’s knowledge of an alternate universe where events work out differently. Or, to return to an example from Chapter 2, the reveal in ‘The Changeling’ of a subtly developed secondary character, Tori, as the future wife of Draco Malfoy was a payoff that spoke to Annerb’s facility with the source text. As Busse points out, fic ‘also engages with a host of other texts—be they clearly stated requests, shared interpretive characterizations, or even particular instantiations of the universes that the fan writer chooses to expand upon’, as dirge executes with reader-submitted prompts or ideasofmarch accomplishes by expanding on the universe posed by couldnt’s post [8]. Intertextuality with the source text is like an inside joke; and intertextuality with conventions of fic itself (e.g. waspabi’s use of various tropes) that play with readers’ knowledge of how fic works situate reading in the broader genre.

The consequence of this intertextuality, as Melissa Gray wrote, is an interpretive web that makes it difficult to sort out the fannish interpretation from the nonfan interpretation, original characters in fic from canon characters [9]. Paratexts indicating the central characters of a fic can lead to very different stories contained within the same fictional world. Fanon, which results from the repetition and affirmation of these interpretations, helps maintain the boundaries of the fictional universe; paratexts are one expression of how a fic fits into that universe.

Harry Potter from Harry Potter, Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Zuko and Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Kristina Busse, Framing fan fiction pp.100, 141; Juli Parrish, ‘Metaphors we read by: People, process, and fan fiction’, 5.5.

Busse, p.100.

Lesley Goodman, ‘Disappointing Fans: Fandom, Fictional Theory, and the Death of the Author’, p.668.

Bethan Jones, ‘Fifty shades of exploitation: Fan labor and “Fifty Shades of Grey”’, 2.2.

Goodman, p.665.

Flourish Klink, ‘Five Tropes Fanfic Readers Love’. The top tropes include canon-divergent alternate universes, fix-it fic, missing scenes, minor character focus, and point of view shift, all of which require the readers to know what was in order to appreciate the magnitude of the changes.

Busse, p.131.

Goodman, p.666.

[mrnerdteacher]

5 Spoiler-Filled Ways “Rise of Skywalker” is the Last Jedi Remake Neck-beards Demanded

“The goal is to not make one half of the fandom happy over the other, it is to make a film that the fandom in general as a whole enjoys. “

These words were taken from the manifesto posted on Remakethelastjedi.com (which somehow never managed to produce a film despite getting over $417 MILLION dollars “pledged” towards the effort (lol).

It is very telling that nowhere on the site does it mention anything about artistic integrity. Or communicating a theme. Or even quality movie making (cinematography, acting, dialogue, etc). Because the Last Jedi meets all those criteria, actually.  The entire crux of the argument against the previous film is “Star Wars belongs to the fans, and you didn’t give all the fans what they wanted, so we’re upset.”

It is therefore pretty deflating to watch “Rise of Skywalker” make so many efforts to undo the brave and controversial changes Rion Johnson made to the “Star Wars formula.” If ever there was a movie to prove Martin Scorcese right, this is it. Not only does this movie refuse to “Let the past die” (as Kylo Ren so eloquently put it), it figuratively and literally resurrects every tired old trope that has made Star Wars such a predictable franchise over the last dozens or so films. Here, submitted for your disapproval, are the “fixes” JJ Abrams made to “The Last Jedi”, despite never actually being broken in the first place.

1) This movie needs a Vader, dammit I love the moment in The Last Jedi when Kylo Ren smashes his stupid dollar-store-knockoff Vader cosplay helmet in a fit of rage. That was the precise moment in which I could tell this film was going to do something different. The villain in this story was going to have a face. And a personality. And be an actual character. But no, said JJ. Make the bad guys literally glue it back together. We need to sell some Halloween costumes, dammit.

2) The Universe Shouldn’t Feel Too Large

Perhaps my favorite plot twist of TLJ was in regards to Rey’s parents: they weren’t anyone special. They were not a Skywalker. Or a Sith lord. Or Jar-Jar Binks’ babysitters. They were just selfish jerks who abandoned their child. But in that pain lies a powerful message: you are more than your heredity. And you determine your own destiny. But no, said JJ. Make her a long lost child of Palpatine. And literally call the previous script a lie. Because a story that takes place across an entire galaxy should really only focus on the same five people. 3) Mysticism is Really, Really Important. Like, SO Important. I loved the moment in TLJ when Yoda burns the “sacred texts” that Luke had been protecting for decades. It was such a fun reminder that belief and spirituality matter very little if they are not followed up by action; particularly, brave and altruistic action. But in case you were one of the few who were actually upset by Yoda disrespecting a relic you never knew existed 20 minutes prior, Rise of Skywalker gives you plenty fancy magic items and abilities to read about on Wookieepedia. Treasure maps in the shape of conveniently found cutlery. Weird diamonds that point the way toward evil, like Captain Jack’s compass. Strange underground rituals that have apparently been destined for a millennia but that can ALSO be changed on the fly to fit the needs of the movie’s laborious run-time. It all comes across like an Indiana Jones movie, and not one of the good ones.

4) Characters Should be Simple and Easy to Predict

Luke tossing his own lightsaber into the ocean. A polarizing moment, but one I adored. It showed me that in this version of Star Wars, people change. They’re flawed. And they don’t take EVERYTHING seriously ALL THE TIME. They are, to put it simply, people. But in Rise of Skywalker, the galaxy far, far away is returned to simpler times. The villain is an evil wizard who wants to do evil because he’s evil. The hero is a symbol of unwavering good who never, ever makes the wrong or selfish choice. The mentor characters are wise and chaste, and the lovable scoundrels have ex-girlfriends on distant planets who are so salty he broke their hearts. It’s classic Star Wars, alright. (aka, kinda boring)

5) Cram in as Many References as Possible

Perhaps the biggest misstep of the Star Wars franchise is the oft-repeated mistake of thinking that establishing connections to beloved narratives is more important than being memorable or original. So we got characters like Jango Fett (totally devoid of personality) and ridiculous explanations for how Han Solo got his name. The Last Jedi was a deeply weird but wholly fresh story, with a strange animal-rights sub-plot and a final battle that didn’t actually take place. But if that was too unfamiliar for you, JJ Abrams is here to throw so many winks and knowing nods at the fandom that they couldn’t POSSIBLY find something to complain about. The number of inside jokes clouding the script are almost too many to count.

6) Be Woke, but not Too Woke

Just to make sure JJ Abrams didn’t lose the new Star Wars fans who were actually excited to see the series defy gender norms, RoS makes a lot of strange attempts at being progressive, but never in the forefront. Half the Stormtroopers have female voices. A new planet of peaceful allies has decidedly Muslim influences. And then there’s that lesbian kiss.But none of these elements are ever important, and are kept just enough on the sidelines that the far right audience can choose to ignore it. Like “Beauty and the Beast” and “Avengers: Endgame,” this movie wants you to think it’s forward-thinking, but its not brave enough to prove it.

And in case you are now feeling the need to “strike me down,” let me end by saying this: I actually enjoyed Rise of Skywalker. Once I realized it was going to be a pretty dumb movie (about five minutes in), I was able to sit back and enjoy the big, loud, occasionally funny, often emotional spectacle. I just wish the good movie that could have been hadn’t been force choked to death by the collective clammy fist of the Star Wars subreddit. 

Oh well. At least there’s one more episode of The Mandalorian...

[aion-rsa]

Do Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s Stay Puft Marshmallow Men Confirm Gozer’s Return?

https://ift.tt/3mvPVuK

“I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us: Mr. Stay Puft!”

Ghostbusters: Afterlife just revealed how it will make those words from Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz more prescient—and poetically meta—than ever. The line, from the 1984 original movie, was a contrite explanation for his impulsive decision to choose the now-iconic, pillowy “destroyer” form of ancient evil entity Gozer for its attack on the Big Apple. Now, the 32-years-awaited follow-up to the franchise’s original iteration (last seen with 1989’s Ghostbusters II,) is bringing back Mr. Stay Puft—miniaturized and multiplied. Thusly, speculation on Gozer’s prospective return is potent.

Paul Rudd’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife character, summer school teacher Mr. Grooberson, will collide with the original team’s spectral legacy, as indicated in a new teaser clip (seen below). Indeed, some grocery shopping—rife with forensically-framed Baskin Robbins product placement—goes sideways quickly when the search for toppings leads Grooberson to a moving bag of marshmallows—Stay Puft Marshmallows, which apparently survived its monumental PR nightmare—after which a single puff escapes, revealing its resemblance to the pancake-cap-modeling mascot himself, all to the needle drop of Elmer Bernstein’s haunting original movie score. However, the pint-sized snack’s brief display of Baby Yoda vibes abruptly ends when it gnashes its teeth and bites his finger. What follows is an orgy of macabre marshmallow mischief with a runaway Roomba and barbecue grill. While the small town Oklahoma location makes the Gozer connection seem puzzling, it’s actually not.

The 2019-dropped first trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife provided some Gozer-implicit material, notably with the shot of an abandoned property called Shandor Mining Co., which—barring an unnecessary coincidence in Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan’s script—explicitly points to the name of Ivor Shandor. Still not with us? Well, that name was mentioned in key expositional dialogue in the 1984 original movie from Harold Ramis’s Egon Spengler, who explained that Shandor—a wealthy architect and physician—was a cult leader who had Dana Barrett’s fateful apartment building constructed in the 1920s to secretly serve as a doorway for Gozer to enter our world, making it the hub for New York’s wave of supernatural activity. The endeavor—motivated by disillusionment from the First World War—would come to fruition in the events of the first film, decades after Shandor’s death, relegating his presence in the film canon only to Egon’s dialogue. Yet, non-canon offerings such as the 2009 Ghostbusters video game and the recent IDW comic book series utilized Shandor more effectively.

Sony Pictures

However, the mine and newly-revealed army of mini Stay Pufts aren’t the only things in Afterlife pointing to Gozer. The aforementioned trailer also contains a blink-and-you-miss-it shot of Rudd’s Grooberson in a car, seemingly in the midst of a frantic escape, when something lands on the hood. While the creature is mostly out of the frame, a familiar-looking clawed, canine-esque foot does make the shot, implying the film’s presence of Terror Dogs. One of the most iconic creatures from the original Ghostbusters (save for Stay Puft himself), the Terror Dogs were the frightening forms of Gozer’s demigod lackies, Zuul, a.k.a. The Gatekeeper, and Vinz Clortho, a.k.a. The Keymaster. Of course, the former ended up possessing Dana Barrett and the latter would take over her awkward floor neighbor, Louis Tully; a necessary step to create the coupling that unlocks Shandor’s interdimensional doorway. The result was a liberated Gozer, who initially took the form of a demonic-looking woman sporting a Sheena Easton haircut and pink jumpsuit before becoming a kaiju-sized manifestation of the fictional marshmallow brand’s mascot made from Ray’s happy childhood memory. Consequently, the apparent presence of Terror Dogs in the new movie seems to point to another Gatekeeper/Keymaster conundrum.

Read more

Books

Ghostbusters: Afterlife – Who is Ivo Shandor?

By Gavin Jasper

Movies

Ghostbusters: Afterlife – First Trailer Lands

By Kirsten Howard

The film will nevertheless serve as a generational handoff of the franchise from returning classic players in Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz, Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman, Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore, Annie Potts’s Janine Melnitz and Sigourney Weaver’s Dana Barrett. The plot kicks off with the ordeal of single mother Callie (Carrie Coon), who’s forced to move to a rural Oklahoma farm owned by her family. However, her inquisitive two kids, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace) discover that said farm was built for a purpose, one connected to the supernatural activity that now stirs within the Shandor Mine. While the film’s early character details remain ambiguous, the trailer shows the children at home finding the Ecto-1 and Ghostbuster uniform of the late Harold Ramis’s Egon Spengler, thus implying that they are his grandchildren. The apparent familial connection further solidifies the notion of a Gozer-centric plot, presumably with the idea that Egon purchased the farm to watch over things based on his research on Shandor.

Regardless, it’s clear that Afterlife is a legacy movie, and its usage of nostalgic concepts was always inevitable. Yet, while the name Gozer may be iconic to us geeky movie buffs, the creature itself is not widely renowned, at least not to the casual moviegoers who may have only seen the film once or just maintain passing knowledge due to the franchise’s pop culture presence. After all, even Activision’s infamous original Ghostbusters video game—most widely played via the 1988 NES version—mistakenly labels Gozer as “Zuul,” a famous botch (uncorrected across all of its ports) likely attributed to the film’s oft-quoted “There is no Dana, there is only Zuul” line and the Japanese development team’s equally infamous lack of competent English translators. Thus, we’re not quite ready to put Gozer on a Darth Vader-type pedestal of veneration.

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

It will be interesting to see if director Jason Reitman builds upon the legacy established by his father, Ivan Reitman, on the classic first two films, or if he ends up going the trope-mimicking, member-berries-bountiful unironic parody route that has become so commonplace with modern film reboots. We will certainly find out when the frequently-delayed Ghostbusters: Afterlife presumably makes its long-awaited premiere at theaters on Thursday, November 11.

The post Do Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s Stay Puft Marshmallow Men Confirm Gozer’s Return? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[writers-hq]

Any tips for writing a musical?

Oh man, we wish. It’s not something either of us have masses of experience in, besides being massive fans. From a purely storytelling/structural perspective, here’s what we’d suggest (though please feel free to reblog with more info if anyone has more specific advice): 

Find a strong concept - Are you fitting your story to a specific style of music or vice versa? Do you work better by throwing yourself into songwriting or do you need a story outline first? Maybe you have a theme or a spark of an idea or a fully fleshed scene/song in your head. Start with that, brainstorm, and expand it out until you have a more thorough understanding of what you’re trying to create. 

Plot out your story arc and major turning points - Treat it like any other narrative and map out your story’s most essential points. These turning points (eg: the inciting incident, the midpoint, the climax, and other major plot points) are likely to end up as the central musical numbers. Start with those - think about how each song represents a ‘point of no return’ for the characters (eg: One Day More from Les Mis) and then start connecting up the dots in between the big numbers.

Follow the holy trifecta of storytelling: You need a CHARACTER who has a GOAL they want to achieve, and then you need to throw a whole load of CONFLICT standing in their way. Each scene/song needs to contain all three things, even if they change throughout the story - for example, your protag’s goal might veer off into a subplot half way through, or they might have to cope with three different aspects of conflict at a moment of peak crisis. But if your scene feels flat, it’s probably lacking one or more of those essential ingredients.

Connect your characterisation with music - What style/instrument/atmosphere of music suits each character? Your main characters will probably develop their own ‘theme’ that needs to be established and interweaved with others during the course of the show. Look at Eliza’s string-based motif in Hamilton - it crops up again and again, as well as those oft-repeated lines “look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now...” sung by different characters in different situations. 

Dialogue scenes or singing only? (Can’t remember the term for this off the top of our heads, sorry.) Will your musical contain scenes that involve ‘straight speech’ (ie: dialogue that isn’t sung/accompanied) or will the entire thing be in song? If the former, how are you going to lead into the songs in a seamless way? If the latter, how are you going to deal with those tricky little linking scenes? 

Keep production in mind: Where are you pitching this? Are you planning an amateur production? Think about cast sizes and logistics and practicalities and BUDGET. If your musical doesn’t work without elaborate set pieces and special effects then maybe you need to focus on the actual content so that it stands on its own two feet.

Beta test and collaborate: Get a bunch of your favourite theatre/music nerds and put your script on its feet. Experiment with the music and draw on the talents of your collaborators to strengthen them. A song might sound perfect in your head but when you hear it live something just doesn’t work. Don’t horde your idea and lock yourself away - go to scratch nights, put out an ad for musical test dummies, play mixtapes to your loved ones until they beg you to stop. 

Good luck!

[robedisimo]

The Last Jedi: six observations and four questions [MAJOR SPOILERS]

[WARNING: the following contains HUGE PLOT SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Please proceed at your own discretion.]

It has been a strange, busy year for franchise sequels. Between Alien: Covenant, Blade Runner 2049, Thor: Ragnarok and now The Last Jedi, a lot of what has graced our screens has been saddled with a lot of different expectations, and with more than a little anxiety concerning its relationship to vast pre-established canon. In my opinion, all four films handled that task well; however, each of them approached the matter in a very different way.

Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner sequel embraced and expanded its predecessor’s style and themes, for example, while Ragnarok upended pretty much everything in its franchise so far with maniacal glee and an irrevent attitude bordering on outright mockery. Covenant also played fast and loose with established lore, but unlike the third Thor it did so without acknowledging it, “pretending” – thanks to original creator Ridley Scott being at its helm – to perfectly fit into everything that preceded it.

At its heart, The Last Jedi has more than a little in common with the latter two. It – literally, in certain cases – sets fire to certain aspects of the Star Wars canon to make room for a newer iteration of the franchise, but it does so with respect and love, pruning selected parts of the property to allow it to flourish. Its mockery seems instead aimed at its direct predecessor, The Force Awakens, which director Rian Johnson appears to retroactively adjust in order to steer the saga towards his own vision.

That attitude is nowhere more apparent than in the outright derision of Kylo Ren’s mask, which “makes him look like an idiot”. The meta-textual jab at J.J. Abrams’s aesthetic sensibilities betrays a ballsiness bordering on arrogance, as does the U-turn on Snoke’s characterisation, going from grave, sombre Palpatine wannabe to sneering, opulent Bond villain.

Whatever the reasoning behind The Last Jedi’s changes to the franchise, in my eyes the overwhelming majority of them was for the best. But did Johnson’s film really change everything, or was it more of a balanced mix of old and new? Following is a brief list of things that didn’t go as we might have expected and things that most certainly did, as well as some that still may or may not in the near future.

1. Subverted expectations

Leia’s death Given historic Star Wars precedent, it was very reasonable to expect Leia to not survive Episode VIII’s events: Kylo Ren was on a stated mission to forcibly (har har) eradicate his family ties, “mentor”-like characters have a track record of not surviving long into a new trilogy and, well, Carrie Fisher won’t be around for Episode IX. And indeed, The Last Jedi does give Leia a swift and dramatic death scene... only to reverse it immediately by virtue of a plot twist hinging on the character’s previously-undisclosed Jedi training, in a textbook example of a trope which I’m sure must be already defined somewhere on the Internet but which I’m personally more than willing to dub “Secretly Jesus”. It’s a stunning sequence and one that’s proving quite controversial with fans, setting the scene for the no-holds-barred approach to storytelling showcased throughout the movie.

Finn’s sacrifice I’ve written at length about how Finn is the best candidate for Sequel-Trilogy replacement to Han Solo, and so there was good reason to believe that, as he threw himself into a First Order super-weapon, we were in for a rerun of Han’s heroic surrender to frozen doom – I don’t think anyone was expecting Finn to actually die, but by that point The Last Jedi had certainly demonstrated that it was down for pretty much anything – at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. Once again, that didn’t end up happening but the spirit was certainly there: just like Han, Finn had spent the whole film – and the whole franchise up to that point – torn between his own good heart and an individualistic penchant for self-preservation; by the end of their respective second chapters, both characters finally embrace their heroic streak. Ironically, whereas Han sacrificed himself to save Leia – culminating in the saga’s first explicitly-stated romance – here it’s the girl who ends up in suspended animation instead, after saving the day and declaring her love.

Rey’s parentage The most (apparently) outrage-introducing aspect of Johnson’s film is also the most interestingly handled. After two years of speculation regarding Rey’s true parents, and a number of increasingly far-fetched theories – Rey is Luke’s, Obi-Wan’s, Qui-Gon’s, Palpatine’s daughter – in The Last Jedi she was finally revealed to have been just a regular Jane Doe all along, an outsider to the Skywalker family saga. Some fans have met this with outcry, partly because they don’t seem to understand that the Sequel Trilogy is still part of the Skywalker arc through Kylo Ren, and partly because of precedent. The reveal of Luke’s parentage in The Empire Strikes Back is the single most iconic moment in the entire franchise, and quite a few people were expecting a direct retread of that. Except a direct retread is precisely what they got. Even without getting into the fact that Kylo could’ve simply been lying, the scene plays exactly how you’d expect: the bad guy extends his hand to the hero, offering a place beside them on the Galaxy’s throne after dropping the unexpected bombshell about their parents’ identity. The scene is almost exactly the same, but in reverse: for starters, the hero has just been in a fight involving the film’s villain; but unlike in Empire, Rey comes out of the fight victorious and having fought on the same side as the villain, not against him. Similarly, the biggest reversal comes in the fact that the bombshell shock doesn’t come in the shape of a twist reveal but rather in the absence of one. The Last Jedi – something it has in common with another piece of oft-maligned fiction that I happen to love, but that’s a story for another time – trades a twist for an anti-twist: “I am your father” becomes “Nobody is your father”. Which isn’t just poetic, it also works on a number of levels. Rey doesn’t have to be connected to everything else in the saga, just like Finn doesn’t have to be Lando’s or Mace Windu’s secret son. In The Last Jedi we finally get to know and love these characters for who they are, not for who they could be. This moment in which the saga is freed from the weight of its own legacy is as earth-shattering and franchise-changing as the ending to Empire was; if not more, because this time around we were prepared for it but were still surprised. We were prepared for anything, and they surprised us with nothing. You can call that cheating. I call that clever.

2. Confirmed tropes

Luke’s goodbye While Luke’s final act of heroism in The Last Jedi is breathtaking in its unexpectedness, his ultimate fate is as traditional as they come. Right after re-enacting Obi-Wan’s “strike me down” scene, Luke pulls a Yoda and peacefully joins the Force. It’s something that by all logic should’ve been reserved for the first half of Episode IX – just as Yoda’s death signalled the beginning of act 2 for Return of the Jedi –, but then again I did mention in my review that The Last Jedi is a bit of an episode-and-a-half kind of deal. Narratively speaking, the film could’ve ended on an Empire-like note right as Rey manages to escape after her lightsabre-breaking, parentage-revealing confrontation with Ben. Instead, Johnson took things one giant step beyond. And that’s a good thing, fortunately: had this movie closed on yet another cliffhanger, we wouldn’t have had the chance to conveniently explain away Leia’s departure from the franchise by means of a – all but inevitable, now – time skip between Episodes VIII and IX.

Snoke’s death Unexpected as it was in its timing, Snoke’s demise was anything but in terms of pure narrative structure: he was set up to be defeated, and he most certainly was. Not just that, but he was defeated in what’s arguably the most traditional way to be found in Star Wars canon: an apprentice turning on his own master when he’s instead supposed to finish an incapacitated opponent. It happened to Palpatine in the Original Trilogy, and it happened to Mace Windu – in a direct reversal of that same scene – in the Prequels. Snoke may not have been an actual member of the Sith order, but his fate certainly conformed to that of historic Dark Side practitioners. What’s more, his efforts to turn Ben Solo into a new Vader definitely paid off... perhaps even too much for his liking.

DJ’s betrayal Benicio Del Toro’s character is more a walking, talking plot device than anything, but he’s an undeniably charming addition to the franchise. Still, for anyone who thought he didn’t get enough development on his first time on the Star Wars scene, his return is pretty much a given. His potential for a face-turn in Episode IX, combined with his introduction as a shifty but useful ally to our heroes, only to grievously betray them while maintaining a measure of relatability, paints a very clear picture: DJ is, quite simply, the Sequel Trilogy’s Lando. There’s probably no easier cross-trilogy comparison in all of The Last Jedi, in my opinion. And to be frank, it’s a pretty entertaining one.

3. Still-dangling plot threads

What role do Luke’s relics play? The Last Jedi includes more than a few deep-lore easter eggs, many of them hidden on its characters. Snoke, for example, wears a golden ring whose stone – as one can read in the Visual Dictionary companion book – comes directly from the Dark Side pit originally lying beneath Vader’s fortress first glimpsed in Rogue One. Luke carries not one but two of these significant relics. The first is a Jedi compass, a MacGuffin introduced in the recently-released Battlefront II video game whose exact purpose wasn’t really disclosed, although one might speculate that it’s through it that Luke managed to find the ancient Jedi planet of Ahch-To. The second is Luke’s pendant, apparently housing a red crystal of unspecified origins. This particular object became the centrepiece of a fascinating fan theory in the months preceding the film’s release, and while that specific scenario didn’t pan out, the pendant itself did get a suspicious close-up shot which went entirely unexplained. The Visual Dictionary lists it as an ancient “Jedi Crusader” trophy, sparking rumours about the renewed canonicity of fan-favourite Knights of the Old Republic character Darth Revan. Could that be it, or is there more to Luke’s story between trilogies that we have yet to see? And if so, will that be addressed in Episode IX, or is it something that’s bound to be left to exploration in New Expanded Universe material?

Who was Snoke, exactly? Easily the second most controversial bit in the movie, Snoke’s sudden death left a lot of questions hanging. Who exactly was this guy? Where did he come from? Why was he so strong in the Force, and how did he know so much about everyone involved in the previous two thirds of the saga? The fans’ frustration about these unresolved plot points is understandable, and it’s undeniable that Johnson has left quite the hot potato in Abrams’s hands. Still, one must never forget that Emperor Palpatine was just as much of an unknown quantity in the Original Trilogy: character-wise, he was very little more than a cackling, mugging “evil incarnate” trope, blandly intimidating up to the point where his right-hand man killed him by essentially pushing him down a flight of stairs. It wasn’t until the oft-maligned Prequels that good ol’ Sheev took on a personality all his own. On the other hand, that sort of undefined mystery just isn’t viable in the franchise’s current state. After forty years of accumulated, obsessive exploration of the narrative universe’s every nook and cranny, fans are no longer willing to put up with not knowing. And, to be completely fair, relegating Snoke’s backstory to Expanded Universe novels or comic-book series would be a disservice to the portion of the audience that only watches the film instalments – whereas Phasma’s mostly-perfunctory role in the movies is more acceptable, vis-à-vis her much more in-depth characterisation in ancillary material – and a general faux pas from a narrative standpoint.

What about the Knights of Ren? Speaking of dubious narrative choices, another unexpected element in The Last Jedi’s standalone-but-not-standalone structure – the movie works extremely well in isolation, but it’s also perhaps the most interconnected to previous lore that Star Wars has ever been – was the total absence of Kylo Ren’s eponymous Knights, teased in Rey’s “Force Vision” sequence halfway through The Force Awakens. From a purely in-universe standpoint, their uninvolvement with the film’s proceedings makes sense: Episode VIII takes place over a short period of time immediately on VII’s heels, and as such it would’ve been strange for the Knights to come running as a sort of bad-guy cavalry, especially if it were for the sole purpose of being anticlimactically slaughtered barely halfway through the trilogy at the hands of a still-inexperienced Rey. Narratively speaking, however, what we got was a full movie – and two more years of endless wait – going by without the characters being addressed, which is pretty frustrating. So much so, in fact, that some fans have already begun speculating that the Knights actually were featured in The Last Jedi as none other than Snoke’s Praetorian Guards, a truly awful theory that presupposes a shockingly appalling grasp of storytelling on Rian Johnson’s part. One can only hope that with Kylo now positioned as the trilogy’s Big Bad, they’ll serve as the mid-boss-level characters our heroes will have to get through if they want to face the ultimate evil... potentially resulting in the most spectacular lightsabre battle ever witnessed in Star Wars canon.

Where are the other Force ghosts? The question of where Yoda’s Force ghost has been all these days as Luke – and the Galaxy – needed his guidance is easily answered by The Force Awakens, in both title and dialogues: there has been an “awakening” in the Force, at least the Cosmic side of it, with Rey’s and Kylo’s mounting powers. So it’s not hard to imagine that the world of spirits has been a lot less in touch with that of the living over the past thirty years. Nonetheless, that dry spell is now decidedly broken. Obi-Wan whispered in Rey’s ear at least once in Episode VII, and Yoda’s appearance in The Last Jedi showed us a Force ghost with more power and influence over the physical world than ever before – although that may have to do with the peculiar Force-attuned nature of the planet Ahch-To –, and that’s a pretty hard can of worms to re-seal. So the big, looming question right now is: where is Anakin Skywalker’s ghost, and why isn’t he giving his grandson a piece of his mind about his hare-brained scheme for galactic annihilation? Should we expect Hayden Christensen to make a Vader-y return in Episode IX, or will Abrams’s apparent loathing for the Prequels rob us of that long-delayed rehabilitation of his take on the character?

Other questions loom large over the next (and final) episode in the Skywalker saga, of course. Did Kylo lie about Rey’s parents? Will Snoke still exert some sort of influence on the Galaxy’s fate, even after death? How exactly will Leia die? How will the Resistance turn things around to win the day? Will Rey and Poe start a surprise romance? And how will Phasma have ludicrously survived this time?

We’ll just have to wait, I guess. In the meantime, I’m sure Solo: A Star Wars Story will give people a lot more to complain about.

[ramajmedia]

Star Wars: What Needs To Happen To End The Skywalker Saga

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will end the Skywalker Saga, but what does the film need to do in order to achieve this? Since Disney's takeover of Lucasfilm, the term "Skywalker Saga" has come to encompass the original trilogy of Star Wars movies, the oft-derided prequels and the current trio of films kicked off by J. J. Abrams. Future endeavors by The Last Jedi's Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones' David Benioff and D. B. Weiss will be set in the same universe, but tell an entirely different tale within the Star Wars canon.

Rounding off a series of 9 films, and arguably cinema's most famous franchise at that, is no mean feat and Star Wars 9 faces the daunting task of not only bringing the current trilogy to a respectable conclusion, but ending the Skywalker story in a way that makes sense in the context of all 9 episodes. And all while crafting a film that works as a standalone blockbuster adventure.

Related: Star Wars 9's Trailers Prove Disney Has Learned From Endgame

Star Wars 9 has the unenviable task of tying up loose plot threads from across all three trilogies, answering any lingering mysteries and bringing together three very distinct trilogies, some installments of which proved incredibly divisive, into a cohesive saga. But what does the end of the Skywalker Saga actually look like? Star Wars 9 might be the final chapter for this dysfunctional family of Force-sensitives but how much ground needs to be covered before the book is actually closed, and a new story can begin? Here's what Star Wars 9 must do in order to truly end the Skywalker Saga.

First introduced in 1999's The Phantom Menace, an ancient Jedi prophecy foretells the coming of a chosen individual who will destroy the Sith once and for all, finally bringing balance to the Force. George Lucas himself confirmed that Anakin Skywalker is the fabled Jedi of legend. First identified as the potential figure of prophecy by Qui-Gon Jinn, young Annie turns to the Dark Side as an angst-ridden youth, but ultimately finds redemption by killing Emperor Palpatine, defeating the Sith and bringing balance to the Force. But that was before Disney came along with a truckload of cash and designs for a third trilogy.

In Star Wars 9, the Emperor's back, and the prophecy Anakin was supposed to fulfill is consequently rendered incomplete. This is perhaps the primary plot point The Rise of Skywalker must address. Is Anakin somehow still the chosen one? Was Luke Skywalker the Jedi who destined to bring balance to the galaxy? Or does the task fall to Rey - a character many suspect still might harbor Skywalker connections?

In broader terms, Star Wars 9 also has the opportunity to address what bringing "balance to the Force" actually means. The modern sequel trilogy has firmly established that the mystical power known as the Force is balanced by two opposing sides, Light and Dark, and therefore killing off the Sith surely leaves the galaxy in a state of unbalance. Does true harmony come only when the Jedi and the Sith die out? This theme was heavily explored in The Last Jedi and would provide a justification for why the Jedi prophecy remains unfulfilled 3 movies after Anakin's heroic sacrifice.

The Skywalker clan are far more than just a dusty old prophecy, and the family's personal arc must also draw to a close in Star Wars 9. In The Last Jedi, Luke sacrifices himself in order to allow his sister and the dwindling Resistance one final chance at toppling the First Order and although it seems highly likely that the good guys will eventually succeed, Star Wars 9 must also address Luke's ongoing influence throughout the galaxy. The divisive closing scene of Rian Johnson's (equally as divisive) The Last Jedi showed a Force-sensitive stable boy looking up at the sky, inspired by tales of the Resistance and the Rebel Alliance.

Related: Star Wars 9's Poster May Contain Big Emperor Resurrection Clue

Luke is already a figure of legend in the Star Wars universe, but how will his efforts ripple outwards among the galaxy's citizens? Fans are eager to discover whether Luke and Leia will inspire a new generation of freedom-fighting Jedi, with statues built in the duo's honor, or whether the true contributions of both Skywalker siblings will remain known only to a select few who were present to watch it all unfold. Furthermore, does the Skywalker bloodline end with Luke and Leia? While Rey's parentage is still the subject of much debate, Kylo Ren carries the Skywalker DNA, if not the name, and his fate could define the future of the family's legacy.

Aside from reopening the Jedi prophecy, the return of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars 9 unties the end of Anakin's personal story thread. The sand-averse former Jedi looked to have redeemed himself in Return of the Jedi's epic conclusion, but more recent episodes have revealed that not only is the Emperor still alive, but Vader is also acting as a major source of inspiration for Kylo Ren, and a new wave of terror across the galaxy. As a result, Anakin's redemption arc needs strengthening, and with the character still existing as a Force Ghost in the Star Wars world, there's room for his story to continue. Whether that will involve a second crack at the Emperor or giving Kylo Ren a well-deserved Force-spanking remains to be seen.

In the original Star Wars trilogy, Force Ghosts are a deeper power exclusive to the Light Side - the more peaceful equivalent to the Dark Side's finger lightning - and are also the reason Obi-Wan allows himself to be defeated by Darth Vader on the Death Star. Traditionally, the Jedi have used this ability to pass on knowledge and teachings to their successors, influencing the progression of the Order from beyond the grave.

From a narrative perspective, the phenomenon of Force Ghosts might be little more than a plot device to allow dead characters a route back into the story but, in terms of ending the Skywalker Saga for good, these friendly ghosts surely have a more meaningful role to play. Considering their selfless teachings and strict moral code, it always seemed strange that a Jedi's ultimate ability would be to gain life after death. Perhaps this is intended as a slice of irony - the Dark Side spend eons searching for a way to cheat death, and the Jedi achieve it just by being morally sound. Or perhaps there's a deeper purpose to the Jedi's Christmas Carol antics that holds some connection to balancing the Force and defeating the Sith.

Mark Hamill is reprising his role as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars 9, likely as a Force Ghost, and there's surely more to his return than cheering on Rey as she completes her training. Rey now holds the entire legacy of the Jedi on her shoulders, and it's time that the ghosts of her predecessors made their presence known in a meaningful way, perhaps amassing their collective power in one final push against the Dark Side.

Related: Star Wars 9: The Secret Empire Star Destroyer Fleet Explained

Fans can head into Star Wars 9 reasonably confident that the Resistance will somehow defy the odds to overcome the First Order and restore peace to the galaxy, but that was Return of the Jedi's ending. J. J. Abrams has already taken criticism for beginning his sequel trilogy in almost identical fashion to George Lucas' original, so the ending needs to take a more unique approach. More specifically, Star Wars 9 needs to answer why this epic, nine-episode saga had to revolve around the Skywalker family. What impact will they have not only on saving the galaxy, but on changing the entire Star Wars universe in a permanent way?

With the First Order rising out of the ashes of the Empire, a straightforward victory for the Resistance in Star Wars 9 will leave a lingering fear within the audience that the same story will repeat itself in another generation (enter Benioff and Weiss?). If the ending of Star Wars 9 leads directly into a new chapter of the story, this risks invalidating the past 9 films. Why does Anakin's death, or Luke's sacrifice, or balancing the Force matter if peace in the galaxy is only going to last another 20 years? Star Wars 9's biggest challenge is to ensure that every step of this 40+ year journey feels worthwhile.

More: Star Wars 9 Trailer Has A Major Clue That Rey Is Now A Jedi Master

source https://screenrant.com/star-wars-9-how-end-skywalker-saga/

[thenichibro]

Spring 2017 Anime First Impressions

This season doesn’t really seem to have a posterchild show like last season, which had both a new KyoAni work and Konosuba’s follow-up. However, there’s some good slice-of-life and top-tier fanservice, so as usual there will be ups and downs, weighted towards the latter of course. (This paragraph is short because I had a huge rant here about Anime Strike and its effect on consumers/businesses, but I’m pretty sure no-one who follows me gives a shit about actual discussion of the industry, so I’ll spare you.)

With MAL links, and original shows marked:

Alice to Zouroku (MAL) Starting off we have a hefty 40-minute episode, which follows Sana, a girl with supernatural powers, escaping from a reserach lab. She is chased by the organization's other power-users, and snares the other main character, Kashimura, in a bad-CG-filled car chase. I like Kashimura as that sort of grizzled old man type moreso than a generic teenage protag in this sense. His no-nonsense attitude contrasts well with the haughty-yet-childish one of Sana. In addition, I like the subtle humor near the end of the episode that contrasts what you think Kashimura's line of work is with what it actually is. The animation looks somewhat plain, and the CG is honestly just bad. The entire sequence could have used hand-drawn, but for a solid 2-3 minutes it was hard to look at. Other than that there isn't anything especially new here - reality-warping powers, dangerous medical research - we've seen it before. I don't really think this needed a 40-minute episode, but we'll see where it goes.

Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records (MAL) Any show with a school uniform that highlights midriffs gets points in my book. Starting off, we have the eccentric (in this case lazy) teacher, Glenn, starting at a magic school. There's the haughty noble girl, Sistine, oft-embarrased by the teacher's antics, and her quieter sister Rumia. While setting itself up as a comedy in episode 1, episode 2 has everything from a shouting match culminating in a slap to military thugs sexually assaulting Sistine - so I'm honestly not sure which way this is going. The boastful-but-easily-embarrased Sistine contrasts well with the smooth-with-nothing-to-back-it-up Glenn. We have the brewings of a wider plot, with why Glenn was assigned to the school if he's a bum and Sistine having a goal of discovering secrets of a floating island. The animation overall is still quite good, which helps in a magic-casting show. Helps the fanservice out too. I don't have high expectations for this show, but the lower the bar the easier this show will impress.  I just hope it focuses on a single direction in the plot instead of trying to have comedic episodes and dark episodes.

[Original] Sakura Quest (MAL) Starting with a bubbly OP (and ending with a similarly fantastic ED), we have the first slice-of-lie this season. I love the genre, I love the country locale, I love the art, and I loved Shirobako. I have high hopes. Our main girl Koharu wants to get out of the country and get a job in Tokyo, but the job she gets (by mistake, even) is back in the country at a tourism board. Sakura Quest puts an interesting spin on the country locale, setting Manoyama up as both tranquil yet struggling - and I like it. It brings a sense of realism to an oft-idealized setting. The language of taxes, grants, and the real strategy of creating "mini independent states" to boost local tourism echoes Shirobako in its depiction of life, and that's good. Koharu is plucky, insistent, and overall just a joy to watch. I'm refreshed any time a show does something about not high-school students or teenagers in general. Focusing the story on adults that have established lives (or even better, that are trying to establish their lives) gives the slice of life genre, well, new life. Showing the smooth transition between the comedic and the sentimental, with background music to match, the tonal shifts are nothing abrupt, a the first episode flowed well. P.A. Works certainly has a hit-or-miss record with original shows, and Sakura Quest thus far is more Shirobako and less Glasslip. I'm looking at an AOTS contender already.

Clockwork Planet (MAL) Starting off with an impressively boring action sequence, we have our heroes led by a (I'm sure incredibly powerful) kid defeat a bunch of automatons. A world created entirely of clocks, and a main character (Naoto) obsessed with tinkering with them. My primary conception from the summary was more apocalyptic, with the main character being a wandering junker who finds an automaton (Imagining the world looking sort of like Gargantia, with less water). Maybe I'm just standoffish because instead we got a high school kid with an annoying voice that finds a girl who proceeds to call him "Master." This is of course after the fact that despite Naoto being unable to fix a single clock, he easily opens and fixes the girl, one of the most top-of-the-line automatons created. Naturally. As far as the "clockwork" aesthetic goes, instead of a rusty, machinic society the world looks exactly like any other city, except with random gears everywhere. At one point it shows a character driving an otherwise normal car, but in the door of the car there are gears that look like they aren't connected to anything, just there to remind you of the title. Regarding the animations, they're not great, echoing the facial style of something like Baka to Test or Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka? - only this show is airing in 2017. Also, a shot shows a bunch of gears falling from a guy's hand feels the need be CG. Ugh. Shoved-in fanservice on top of all of this makes this a show I already regret starting. Avoid.

Eromanga-Sensei (MAL) Next up, we have the second original series from the famed creator of "It's Okay to Fuck Your Sister if She Likes Porn," This one uniquely titled "It's Okay to Fuck Your Sister if She Draws Porn." Sibling bonding over erotic fiction/art. Wew. Nothing else to expect from OreImo's creator, but similar themes do not a similar plot make. I hope. The first episode is the reunion, where Masamune finds his shut-in sister Sagiri is Eromanga-sensei, his LN ero-artist. I'll give it this - Sagiri is leagues cuter than Kirino. Man, fuck Kirino. Naturally the art is similar to OreImo, especially Masamune, only I think his hair's a bit greener. Other than that, though, the animation is smooth. Eromanga-Sensei starts off on a much more sentimental note, with discussions of dreams, mourning parents, etc. Other than one main fanservice-y scene and the fact that they connect over erotic art, the sentimental is certainly preferable. ClariS return for the ED of ep1, and it's fantastic as ever. I mean, seriously, Nexus as the OP for OreImo was the best part of the show. Judging from the key art this may well become a harem, but we'll see. So far it beats OreImo, but that's a low bar.

Sakurada/Sagrada Reset (MAL) I don't know why the changed the romanization to "Sagrada," but then again I don't know Japanese in the first place. Sakurada Reset follows Kei and Haruki, with the powers of recalling the past perfectly and being able to reset time, respectively. The town of Sakurada gives people the powers for basically no reason, but on the other hand that's not really the point - the assumption is that this is normal. Set up to be friends by Soma, the enigmatic class rep, Kei aims to get Haruki to help him help people, using their powers. Haruki is adamantly opposed, for fear Kei could exploit her, as she herself doesn't remember anything after resetting. Sakurada Reset certainly doesn't set itself up as a comedy, but rather a series of sobering investigations undertaken by Kei and Haruki. There's a lot of pseudo-philosophical bullshit off the bat ("You're unable to believe your own righteousness, yet you continue to be righteous."), and yet the show isn't interesting enough for me to look any deeper. Add to that a surprisingly dark first investigation topic, and I'm already kind of tired of this. If you like HaruChika (which I didn't) with darker themes, then give this a watch. Otherwise, I'd avoid.

Hinako Note (MAL) Back on the slice of life train, Hinako Note follows, well, Hinako, a girl who sucks at speaking, moving to Tokyo to go to high school and get better via the theater club. She moves into a bookstore-cafe combo, living with Kuu, who likes books so much she eats them, and Mayu, the short girl who dresses like a maid. Also introduced is Aki, the quiet landlady and a theater troupe leader on the side. The only conflict is that the theater club is shut down, and so Aki suggests Hinako simply form a troupe with the rest of the girls. The OP/ED show we'll meet a fifth girl, so I expect that soon. Speaking of the OP/ED, they're both incredibly fast paced, sung by the cast, and remind me of Teekyuu's OP style, if you like that. The animation is pretty good, though the show really likes going into chibi-style a lot. Probably more a style choice than budgetary problem, and I don't mind it. Overall, it seems like the theater setup could produce a wealth of interesting scenarios, and the girls are cute. Not much else I need.

[Original] Tsuki ga Kirei (MAL) Last on the slice-of-life roster, we have an self-described slow paced school story, and an original from feel. studios to boot. I'm excited. Starting in the third-year of middle school is interesting, because that means all the relationship-forming is already done. (To be done away with when they get to high-school though, I'm sure). Akane is a sincere, shy girl on the track team, while Kotarou is a similarly shy novice writer and spends club time as the school's librarian. They share off glances at each other, leading to a nervous, stammering meeting at a family restaurant where not much else happens. "Slow-paced," to be sure. The animation matches the shows sort of muted tone, with no massive eyes (or tits), no multicolored hair, etc. It's clear Tsuki ga Kirei aims to tell a more-or-less realistic love story. One thing I did notice, mostly in the beginning of the episode, was the crowd shots combined with CG. Honestly, just do closer shots so you can avoid CG-ing people. It never looks good. The first episode sort of confirmed my feeling that this show will be a nice way to decompress each week, as we watch Akane and Kotarou grow slowly closer. If the title's any indication, their relationship will have its awkward moments, but there's nothing more essentially youth than that, right? Unlike many original works, this show doesn't look like it will go in any strange direction, and that consistency is relaxing. Give this a watch.

Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho (MAL) Furry Berserk, I guess? ZeroSho follows the unnamed beastman "Mercenary" and Zero, a mage, as they search for Zero's Grimoire, the basis of all magic. The show follows a typical fantasy setting, with mages at war with a ruling empire, and beastmen subjugated by everyone. Interestingly, "sorcery" differs from "magic" - the former requires a summoning circle, long casts, etc., while the latter is quick and far more deadly. More interesting is the fact that Zero wrote the book on magic. I normally enjoy overpowered characters, and in this case that power is packed into a cute, ahoge-sporting mage loli. Definitely a plus. Something else the struck me as unique was the comedic moments throughout the episode. Thus far Mercenary and Zero play off each other quite well, and I'm interested to see where it goes. There's the standard background of discrimination against beastmen/witches and Mercenary's war-torn past, but at least if it's been signposted now it won't be jarring later. This show surprised and impressed, and I'm interested to see how it goes. And man, Zero's cute.

Anonymous Noise (MAL) For whatever reason, I've been waiting for this to come out for a while. I'm not sure why, but when there were any cast announcements or key visuals, etc. I always recognized the name. Anyway, Anonymous Noise sees Nino Arisugawa - "Alice," a loner singer starting high school reunite with her childhood singing friend Kanade Yuzuriha - "Yuzu." Right from the start, this show is very, very shoujo. The eyes, the immediate drama, everything is very shoujo. Not necessarily a problem, but be aware that's what this is. Amazing how a dramatic reunion could immediately turn to "Never talk to me again," but that's the genre I guess. Regarding the music, as this is a musical show, there was one main performance, and if I'm honest I thought Alice's voice was quite rough. The music per se isn't a problem - the sound echoes Scandal or Stereopony, bands that do some harder rock that I both love. The vocals, at least in the song they played, weren't to my liking. I was unaware of just how shoujo this show is, and I hope it doesn't become any more overbearing than it already has. I have low expectations on that front. From the insert song and the ED, I know I like the sound, so if the vocals keep up and the shoujo stays down, this won’t be bad. On the other hand, I can't say I expect both of those things to happen.

Sin Nanatsu no Taizai (MAL) Best for last, amirite? Aka “Seven Mortal Sins,” SinNNT is unabashed, unapologetic fanservice. As a quick note, make sure to skip the HorribleSubs release on this one, only because their release is censored. Censored like Shinmai Maou no Testament censored (and that's bad). Anyway, the story involves Lucifer falling first to Earth and then to Hell, where after a short sexual assault by Leviathan (Envy) she proceeds to challenge the other sins for control. Back on Earth, the nun Lucifer passed as she fell to hell (as well as giving her some blood) is having her own daily life. (Don't worry, there's still groping between her and her friend). There's over-the-top transformation sequences, grandiose music, and plenty of inane sexual situations. I honestly have no idea where this show is going - whether it's going to be in Hell, on Earth - but let's be real, no-one really cares. The animation budget is actually pretty great for this show, and that means the fanservice is top tier. As if I need to write anything about this show - it's distilled fanservice. Watch it, or don't.

[metalempire]

another little royal knights story mainly focusing on lordknightmon and jesmon this time around with a bit more plot to it 

In the Northern Digital World, deep in the sky, there is a place where the 3 Archangel Digimon, Seraphimon, Ophanimon and Cherubimon rule over the heavens and the holy type Digimon. They have always been close to Yggdrasil, and the Royal Knights were always under the impression that Yggdrasil was the one who appointed them that position in the first place. Thus, relations with the holy Digimon of the heavens were key to preserving the balance of the world.

The Royal Knights were called to the assembly room, those not actively busy were present. Those being Omegamon, Duftmon, Lordknightmon, Jesmon, and Examon. Omegamon had finished speaking with Cherubimon via computer screen transmission. Apparently, there were concerns over Clavisangemon, a high ranking angel Digimon owning the key to the vital Zenith Gate that protects the Digital World from the outside worlds. The concerns were over his strangely political nature of late, he seemed to be vying for power, questioning the authority of the 3 Archangels and rallying other impressionable angel Digimon to a mysterious cause. The Royal Knights had been asked to investigate. 

“We do not need to expend more than 2 members for this mission. He is only one Digimon and could be brought to reason. Yet we must also be prepared for the worst. Politics is a dangerous battlefield to approach.” Duftmon spoke very matter-of-factly to the group. 

“I should go, I knew Clavisangemon when I was training to be a knight. If anyone should reason with him, it should be a friend.” Jesmon spoke up, raising a hand. 

“And I should go also. If the worst comes to the worst, we may have to subdue him.” Lordknightmon also spoke up as well, arms folded. Jesmon winced and donned a light frown. 

“Very well, I don’t see any problems with this. Omegamon? Examon? Do you have any objections to this plan?” Duftmon looked around to the both of them. 

“None.” Omegamon nodded. 

“Angel Digimon.... Not my area of expertise. I’m sure you guys can handle it.” Examon remarked, adding a light chuckle after he spoke. 

The knights had all agreed, and so Lordknightmon and Jesmon departed to meet with Clavisangemon in the heavens.

Jesmon felt uneasy around Lordknightmon, for he was known to be ruthless in his execution of duty. If there was any doubt about Clavisangemon, if he showed any signs of being a threat to the established peace of the area, then Jesmon knew that Lordknightmon wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to kill Jesmon’s old friend.

In the clouds above the Northern Digital world, the Holy Area was located. A place where “God’s Light” always shined. “God” being a possible colloquial term for an interpretation of Yggdrasil in a less physical sense. Clavisangemon resided in the most influential church in the region. One in which young holy Digimon oft prayed every day to receive wisdom and guidance in their duties. It stood tall as a building, red and white with a large, slim bell tower, moving in an intricate, double cross pattern as it went up, the stone of the building a bright white, reflecting the sunlight and glimmering. The insides had humble wooden benches to sit in prayer, a golden organ ornately decorated in rubies and emeralds, reaching high to the ceiling. The windows were of blue and purple stained glass, depicting images of several angel Digimon and of the Digitail world. The building was currently empty, save for Clavisangemon himself, who was in charge of the church. Soft light filtered into the room during the day. Lately it had been a place for him to spread and cultivate his views and plans, imparting them onto other Digimon and gathering support to his plans. 

The two Royal Knights arrived after a pleasant conversation about cooking tips, since Lordknightmon was an expert chef and Jesmon always had trouble with the art. Lordknightmon enjoyed making delicious works of art, since he did used to reward the Knightmon he ruled over before he joined the Royal Knights with exceptional meals. Desserts were his ultimate specialty. Jesmon opened the two, sturdy wooden doors to the church. Stepping in with his bladed footsteps making a sharp banging noise on the ground, which he apologised for, much to Lordknightmon’s amusement as his metallic footsteps echoed through the beautiful building. 

“Ah good day gentlemon, how can I-Baohackmon? Is that you, my friend? My, how you have grown!” Clavisangemon approached the pair, instantly recognising his friend with open arms and a smile. His accent was like that of a well-off, approachable uncle.

“Hahah! It’s Jesmon now, Clavis. I’m one of the Royal Knights, like I said I was going to be! It’s good to see you.” Jesmon offered his hand to shake, the angel Digimon taking it warmly to do so. 

“As much this reunion heartwarms me to my core, we’re here on business, Jesmon.” Lordknightmon sighed. 

“Ah, of course, forgive me. Uh, Clavis. Cherubimon tells me you’re up to something concerning. Please let me hear it from you, my friend. I’m sure we can work something out.” Jesmon nodded, a little uneasy to bring this all up. 

“I see, Bao-I mean, Jes. Please, take a seat if you’d like. Maybe offer a prayer while you’re here? Hahahah! Ah, I jest, my friend. I must say, it saddens me to see my suspicions confirmed, that an Archangel cannot deal with his own problems without sicking someone as prestigious as the Royal Knights on me.” Clavisangemon spoke somewhat harshly there, discontent dominating his tone. 

“Elaborate. Swiftly. Clavisangemon.” Lordknightmon put his left hand on his hip, taking a considerable dislike to such a tone being used in the presence of the Royal Knights.

“Well, you see, my esteemed guests, lately the Archangels have been losing their resolve, their power, their influence, and their balance. I fear they will soon clash and conflict, becoming their fallen forms soon enough if nothing is done. I am rallying pure Digimon to my side to help prevent this from happening by changing the leadership of the Heavens before it is too late!” Calvisangemon’s tone became dire and increasingly serious. 

“What!? Clavis, such an accusation is a serious offense. The Archangels are close allies of the Royal Knights and of Yggdrasil! Clavis, you should know better than anyone that heresy is a grave thing to commit-” Jesmon protested, wide eyed, though the angel cut the knight off mid sentence.

“I am aware of the risks, Jes. But in my holy heart of God, I know it to be true. Their leadership has faltered, the justice of Seraphimon has been less active and more lenient, the wisdom of Cherubimon, the love of Ophanimon has dulled and dwindled. They are more conservative with how they conduct themselves and are less committed to their heavenly duties. I suspect foul play and corruption at work, but they have thwarted my past attempts and ensured my silence for a time. Their leadership is harsher, and life here is not as peaceful, grand, and well, divine as it should’ve been. The artwork is not as majestic, the food is not as scrumptious, the water is not as thirst quenching, the smiles of the people are fewer and fewer by the day. Even the holy light that shines upon the heavens has diminished. Just ask the common angels, not the higher ups, but the regular ones who come to this church and many others who live here. Life is not as it was, Jes, and I seek to rally support to show them the error of their ways. And old tensions are sparking again between Cherubimon and Seraphimon. In the ancient Digital World, and a time after it, there was always conflict between Beast and Human Digimon and such conflict is once again. I would not see us divided once more!” Clavisangemon spoke with resolve and determination, yet, his voice was untrustworthy to Lordknightmon, so he took the chance to speak.

“I would advise you to give us a little more to work with here, Clavisangemon. It sounds to me like excuses under hard times to make a bid for power. Examon encountered similar problems in the past, an area falling on hard times and rulers making changes, leading to a power hungry disgruntled noble leading a rebellion and destablising the region. Sadly the specifics are classified but I do hope, for my comrade’s sake, that you are not the same.” Lordknightmon pointed at Clavisangemon. 

“L-Lordknightmon! Please! Clavis isn’t like that! He just means well is all, maybe we should consider-” 

“It’s fine, Jes. I wouldn’t expect a Virus to trust me. I do have one more piece of information to impart. A while ago, they departed on a mission to the Dark Area. When they returned, they had the leader of the Demon Lords, Lucemon Falldown Mode, captive with them. As you might be aware, before the Archangels ruled over the Holy Area, he was the leader of all Holy Digimon before becoming a Fallen Angel due to his pride. Ever since they brought him back, he has been restored to his old self, the young angel of light and peace. I suspect the abduction of that.... thing is the reason for all this.But please, side with me, old friend. Together we can work out what happened to the Archangels and restore the light to the heavens!” The angel pleaded to his friend, avoiding eye contact with the pink knight. 

“You’re lying. I have not heard anything about this business with Lucemon. The Archangels always tell us about their movements and something as bold as that would definitely be brought to our attention. The fact they never asked us to participate also makes you suspicious, since I have cooperated with them on multiple occasions when the Demon Lords are involved. Jesmon, what do you feel Yggdrasil’s will on this is telling you? I know what it tells me.” Lordknightmon folded his arms, looking calmly to the young knight. 

“I....I....Yggdrasil’s will, is to end this. Clavis will only bring chaos if conflict erupts here. Isn’t that right, Lordknightmon? The conflict from within could be what makes them fall, as Clavis feared. I-I’m sorry, my friend, but you’re only going to be your own demise at this rate, please, stop this and let us handle things.” Jesmon looked saddened, yet he knew what he was saying and what he was feeling was ultimately right. 

“I am not a liar, Jesmon. But if you really seek to stop my divine mission, then you leave me no choice. I cannot allow things to continue like this. Forgive me for this, old friend, but this is God’s will that I should rule the heavens, for I know the light of the people better than any other.” Clavisangemon was solemn and grim as he spoke, knowing he had no choice and knowing that the Royal Knights would not leave him be, he raised the large key he held and brought it down sharply towards them.

Jesmon reacted by bringing out the swords on his arms and blocking the hit with them, pushing against the heavy golden key’s weight.

“Clavis, please! Stop this-!” Jesmon had little time to plead before the angel rose the key up and brought it down diagonally, smacking the knight clear on the face with it to know him to the ground. 

“I will use this key to open the Zenith Gate and plunge the evils of this world into it, banishing them forever more! None shall stop my divine crusade, not even you, Baoha-Jesmon!” Clavisangemon brought it up again to strike the knight once more, who was still stuggling to bring himself to fight, yet he was interrupted by Lordknightmon lunging at him, using his Spiral Masquerade to slice up the angel and push him back, forcing him to use the key defensively.

Once the attack finished, Clavisangemon rose the key to strike once more, yet the metal ribbons Lordknightmon had just used to attack with now grabbed at the key and threw it down to the found near the knight’s feet. The angel went to pick it up, aiming a punch at Lordknightmon, yet with a simply backhand slap, the knight knocked Clavisangemon to the floor. He scrambled to get the key and get to his feet, kicking at Lordknightmon’s lower leg to stagger him. He grabbed the key, stood up, and went to strike with both hands, yet, he had forgotten who he was dealing with. 

“Argent Fear.” Lordknightmon was already at point blank range, and brought the pile bunker on his right arm to Clavisangemon’s stomach, firing it and punching a hole clean through the angel’s body, knocking him onto his back. 

“Foolish.” Was all Lordknightmon commented on the matter, raising a rose to his helmet and sniffing it (somehow), before throwing it on the angel’s dying body, data dispersing from the wound. 

“Clavis....! I’m sorry....” Jesmon walked over to his body. Clavisangemon offered him a weak smile while Jesmon knelt down and closed the angel’s eyes for him with two fingers as his body slowly faded away into data. 

The knights turned around to leave and walked towards the door, Lordknightmon holding it open for Jesmon, he spoke to him as he passed through. 

“Jesmon. When we return and file our report, we’re scheduling a visit to investigate what your friend said about the Archangels. If they’ve been withholding information from the Royal Knights, then Alphamon needs to hear about it. Anything regarding Lucemon is serious business.” Lordknightmon spoke in his usual aloof tone, trying to make it seem rather factual. 

“Lordknightmon!” Jesmon’s voice perked up, perhaps he was honouring his friend’s last request? 

“And perhaps before then, after we file our report and arrange our next visit, maybe we could go and have a little date to wind down? I know just the place for a good-” 

“N-No thank you....” Jesmon’s voice trailed off once again. Trust Lordknightmon to make the moment weird again...

[ntrending]

To shorten flights and lower emissions, scientists are discussing the birds and the bees

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/to-shorten-flights-and-lower-emissions-scientists-are-discussing-the-birds-and-the-bees/

To shorten flights and lower emissions, scientists are discussing the birds and the bees

When bees leave their hive hoping to find a better location for their nest, they often first settle nearby, usually on a tree branch, and cluster around the queen while several dozen scouts go off in search of a new home. Each scout then returns and starts to dance, indicating the direction and distance of the site it found. The more excited they become, the more frantically they dance, signaling the others to have a look. Ultimately, a favorite location emerges from all this swarming and buzzing about — and they all depart and fly to it.

In computer science, this behavior is known as particle swarm optimization, which holds that each particle’s movement not only is influenced by its own position but is guided to other good positions, all of which are updated as other particles find better positions. This process usually moves the whole collection of particles toward the best outcome.

You might wonder what this has to do with airline routes.

Flight routes for passenger aircraft are well established. But in practice, unforeseen factors — mostly related to weather — often force pilots to change course, meaning they have to cover more miles than originally intended. This costs time and money, and it uses up more fuel, producing more carbon pollution.

Aviation is the world’s most rapidly growing source of greenhouse gases, according to Friends of the Earth. Aircraft engines produce heat, noise and carbon dioxide, as well as a host or other pollutants, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, lead, and black carbon.

With the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, noise pollution, and operating costs, scientists and engineers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia set out to optimize the flight routes of short-range passenger aircrafts by designing new algorithms based on the behavior of bees and cuckoos.

“In the case of bad weather or other obstacles, these algorithms will select the best route with the minimum fuel consumption leading to less carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere,” said Juan Carlos Colmenares, a scientist with the Polish Academy of Sciences. “This also will reduce the operating cost of the airline, and hence, the price of flight tickets. The great advantage of the software is that it works in real time. The flight controller and the pilot receive hints on a regular basis.”

The algorithms use principles of nature to help choose the appropriate flight paths. With swarming bees, for example, each bee in the group decides on the next movement based on knowledge of the best places it or other bees have visited. In the software, the “bees” represent various points around the aircraft, each treated as a separate individual.

“The algorithm begins working from a swarm of points moving around the plane, and — in the next iterations of the algorithm — the ‘bees’ begin to cluster around the optimal place at a given moment, which is considered the next stage of the flight path,” Colmenares explained.

“The second algorithm for searching for the next stage of the flight imitates the behavior of the cuckoo — the bird laying its eggs in other birds’ nests to deceive other birds into raising their young,” he continued. “The best ‘eggs,’ or solutions, will go unnoticed and survive, but the worst ‘eggs,’ or solutions, will have a chance to be discovered by the owner of the nest and will be discarded.” Scientists described their work in a study published in the journal Cogent Engineering.

Researchers tested the software simulating an Airbus A320 aircraft, serving routes of around 220 miles with a typical cruising speed of about 515 miles an hour. The simulations showed that the alternate routes proposed by the software were, on average, nearly 7 miles shorter than the typical alternative routes, according to the scientists.

Ultimately, the software’s operation reduced direct operating costs of one aircraft by more than one percent. That may not sound like a lot, but in the case of a single oft-used aircraft, it could produce hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings over the course of a year, the researchers said.

“The bio-inspired algorithms will optimize the route based on fuel consumption, pollutant emissions to the atmosphere, operating costs, and aircraft safety, automatically without the pilots and controllers,” Colmenares said. “These kinds of algorithms will help plots in the decision-making process for unexpected situations, help the airlines save money, and reduce the environmental impact.”

Marlene Cimons writes for Nexus Media, a syndicated newswire covering climate, energy, policy, art and culture.

Written By Marlene Cimons

[rigdicklucas]

Wonder Woman(2017) Spoiler Review

Zack Snyder’s latest foray into ruining the superhero genre had the potential to be something special but throws it all away for no reason at all.

By D. Lucas.

Let me tell you right away that this is not a movie you should be spending time on, let alone drive up to a theater for. It’s one of those rare occasions where the ingredients for a great film are all in there but it gets ruined by a terrible, terrible director, Zack Snyder—as if this surprises anyone anymore. If there’s a silver-lining to this CGI slugfest it’s the sliver of hope from the story by Patty Jenkins but it tries hard with little success, which is ironic since she had directed a film (2003′s Monster that won Charlize Theron her Oscar) and some interesting TV episodes. It would’ve been quite interesting to see had Warner Bros. allowed her to have a go at it. But, alas, we’re stuck with the Snyder and let’s just get this out of the way as fast as possible and get ready for that fun-superhero film coming this July. wink, wink.

There, if the director is not enough reason to skip this movie, which given his track-record shouldn’t be all that hard, then go ahead and read why the director is reason enough to skip it.

The movie begins with Diana (Gal Gadot) receiving a package in a truck with the Wayne Enterprises logo on it. Inside it is the actual photograph that we saw in Batman v Superman (Note how Zack made it so that even Wonder Woman needs a man’s help to get this photograph that is important to her). It is used to transition back to when Diana was a little girl on her paradise island, Themyscira, and how she grew up being denied training by her queen mother, Hippolyta, but was secretly trained by her general aunt, Antiope. For some stupid reason all this is intercut with a history-lesson about how Zeus made mankind and Ares corrupted them as the God of War and how Zeus again made Amazons to compensate for it which made Ares go mad and kill all the other gods. Luckily he was defeated by Zeus at the cost of his own life but not before making an ultimate sword called the Godkiller.

Gal Gadot Warner Bros.

The queen finds out about the secret training-sessions and seems upset at first but then pivots a full 180-degree and asks her sister to train Diana harder than any Amazon before. I mean, seriously? Whatever happened to sticking to established character traits? Only in a Zack Snyder film can this happen. I’m willing to bet Patty’s story had a long interlude in between but Zack decided he couldn’t wait to get to the messy fight sequences. And sure enough we get to Gal Gadot in the very next scene where she battles a couple of Amazons and then her aunt while her mother looks down from atop a hill on horseback. And sure enough it ends with a random shock-wave out of her bracelets—which we are to assume have grown along with her since the child Diana also had smaller ones on. Then Diana feels guilty for hurting her aunt and runs away only to find the crashing plane of Steve Trevor(Chris Pine).

She, of course, rescues him and a band of men breach into Themyscira who were in pursuit of Steve. The battle scene that Zack had been itching to get to is here and it plays out much like his oft-criticized sludge of slow motion and the-oh-so-important manner of shooting them. There’s a self-indulgent shot of the general Antiope grinning like a maniac as she marches into battle which could only be found in a Zack Snyder movie (another bet that Patty’s story didn’t include this).

The battle costs Antiope her life and the Amazons instead of impaling Steve right there like the warring faction that they are decide to interrogate him using some heated rope that makes you tell the truth. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the way Diana announces it as if it isn’t the most ridiculous thing ever.

Then follows the forced humor™ with Steve and Diana about man-parts and watches when out of the blue Diana just decides to betray her entire sisterhood and leave with this man who she’d known for less than a day. The feminist-front this film had been marketed on makes this move so very ironic I can’t believe Zack believed he could win over feminists like me with this. Humor™ in any superhero film not made by Marvel can only be reactionary and a cash grab.

Gal Gadot and Chris Pine Warner Bros.

And so we return to London with all of Zack Snyder’s favorite dark and drab aesthetic. You could just feel the relief he must have felt at this point! I’m surprised he didn’t cut the “It’s hideos” line by Gal which is clearly just another attempt at the Marvel-only humor™—honestly there are so many instances of such attempts that just fall flat on their face that it’s unintentionally hilarious.

The villain is obviously going to be the God of War that was weakened by Zeus in his climactic battle but his identity is supposed to be a secret. Anyone with any rational thinking capacity can figure out that it’s the dude that talks about peace at a meeting of generals! The gall of Zack Snyder is thinking it’s a well-kept secret by shamelessly inserting a red-herring in the German general Ludendorff. It is so blatant in its execution that his lackey poison-cook makes these pills for him, saying, “For you. To restore your strength.” As if we didn’t know he wasn’t a red-herring! Zack’s potential to keep assuming his audience as a pack of dumb sheep never ceases to amuse me.

Danny Huston Warner Bros.

Once Steve gathers his band of misfits and smuggles them to Belgium along with Diana, while sitting around a fire, there are some throwaway scenes masquerading as character moments that just toss out themes about the futility of war, a soldier’s PTSD, etc., which all deserve to be further expanded upon but this being a Snyder feature are left hanging like the hooked carcasses at a slaughterhouse.

Before long, Zack’s itch for another battle sequence becomes unbearable and we have our next action set piece. There’s nothing inventive or creative about this, just ticking off a list of cool-shot after cool-shot with the same tried-and-tired slow motion that even Zack should have gotten sick of by now. The most hypocritical thing about Wonder Woman here is just how easy she finds it to kill the innocent German soldiers under the influence of Ares and even finds it appropriate to dance with Steve to celebrate it later that evening. My third bet is that Patty’s story didn’t have all this killing and instead had Wonder Woman gently put out these soldiers because she truly believes only love can save the world. But Zack had to muddy it up with his 300-style brutality.

There’s an idiotic scene where one of Steve’s band just randomly find an automobile parked around which they then use to get Steve into a German party where Ludendorff will be. This is without an invitation, mind you. The damned proto-Nazis are that easy to fool in Zack’s dark and gritty universe and that brings us to when Ludendorff deploys the new gas weapon over the little town that Diana just saved by killing two dozen soldiers. It just has to be that dark, thank you very much. Unfortunately the ending only further devolved into what’s now Zack’s characteristic bad-CGI overload.

The plot-twist, like I already mentioned, comes unsurprisingly and is followed by the same bad-guy-vision-for-the-future that Zack used in Man of Steel except here Ares(David Thewlis) is a stand-in for General Zod. It is funny how this battle seems to be a polar opposite of the final battle in Man of Steel:

- Zod rips off his armor while Ares puts on one.

- Zod shows a future built over the dead remains of humanity while Ares shows … a future built on the dead remains of humanity.

- Zod is the more experienced one over Superman while … Ares is the more experienced one over Wonder Woman.

Okay, Ares is just Zod for Wonder Woman.

The sequences feel rather recycled if anyone’s seen Zack’s previous films but he expects us to oversee that because it’s a female superhero. Sorry, Zack, we’re not that stupid! When Steve Trevor sacrifices himself by flying the bio-weapon payload into the sky and shooting it, Diana gains new powers as she mourns him and simultaneously skates, mortally hurls around German soldiers, pummels Ares, and lifts a tank to crush the poison-cook, Dr. Maru, but reconsiders Maru for sequels and also because she just suffered a short-term memory loss by forgetting what Steve had told her before catching the plane. This seems to be a one-time thing though because the film doesn’t turn into Memento, or anything. She also remembers what Steve says about men not deserving to be protected but still should be, maybe and tells exactly that to Ares before she skates up to him and kills him using his own lightning bolt, so technically not murder (unlike MoS where Superman should’ve used Zod’s own hands to snap his neck like a true hero and technically not murder him. He could’ve stood up and smiled at that family he’d saved like Diana looks at the soldiers).

Wonder Woman is basically Zack’s go at making the same kind of film he always does but shrouded in the veil of Marvel humor™ and a good, straight story (thanks to Patty). But at the end of the day, Wonder Woman still can’t save itself from Zack Snyder.

Why pose big questions like why did Wonder Woman walk away from mankind when no one wants to give the answer anyway?

Bonus critiques:

-Zack’s sexual-predatory, exploitative lens makes a comeback in this shot:

-Just the general idea of scantily clad beautiful women (Amazons) being objectified at the beginning of the film and thinking it empowers them à la Sucker Punch, which suffered the additional burden of being written by Zack Snyder!