When RhoParkour decided to invade Chihaya_1996’s world in Bloodborne, little did he know it would turn into a standoff that lasted for hours, thanks to a convenient door glitch.
International chess champion Magnus Carlsen leaned over the 12th chessboard in a long line of half-played games at the Marshall Chess Club in New York City. He stared down at the pieces for a few seconds before swiftly moving a pawn forward. In that short time span, Carlsen's brain racked through thousands of previously played games, moves and choices. He subconsciously sifted through patterns and strategies learned from countless books and lessons to make a snap decision. Years of practice will do that to you.
"The thing that helps you improve the most is just playing, practicing, playing tournament games, playing games online," Carlsen told Mic. "Practice is your intuition, practice is your calculation, practice is everything."
Source: Joe Van Brussel/MicCarlsen, 24, has the highest chess ranking ever recorded. He has remained the world No. Read More
Yup. It was only a matter of time before Commander Will Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation got a spin-off. Well, not a real one of course, but the one we wished he’d gotten. You know, the one where he flies around space impregnating alien females. Yeah, that one.
Thank you, YouTuber gazorra, for giving us the perfect 1990’s Riker spin-off we didn’t know we needed – until now.
Kit Harington
as Jon Snow in 'Game of Thrones.' Photo courtesy of HBO
Warning: If you aren't
caught up on season five, spoilers abound.
Game of
Thronespresents a classic example of a heroic fantasy that lacks just one thing: actual heroes. Sure, there are many interesting
characters—some of whom we like despite ourselves—but pretty much everyone lets
us down.
The Mother of Dragons, Daenerys, has spent endless episodes
failing to govern Meereen either justly or effectively, getting her best
warriors injured or killed, and losing control of her dragons. Season five
could be retitled "Daenerys Fails at Everything She Tries." Tyrion has shown up
to help, and their conversation last episode was an outstanding quiet moment. But, putting his undeniable charisma aside, let's remember that he murdered a
prostitute he had forced to service him because she dared to sleep with his
father.
Sansa has been turned back into a victim, after a few glimmers of hope
early on. Arya, my favorite Stark, just performed euthanasia on a sick child
and is currently busy on her first assassination mission for the Many-Faced
God. She's going to serve him... with poisoned shellfish? Not exactly the rousing
sword fight to the death that we grew up with. Which leaves us with one possible hero:
Jon Snow.
Not that we necessarily need him. After all, plenty of shows
don't have heroes. It's frequently argued that we're in
the era of the anti-hero, generally charted from Tony Soprano to Walter White and Don
Draper, with Frank and Claire Underwood, and perhaps Luther and Alice, as current
contenders for Anti-Hero-In-Chief. The
premier HBO dramas—The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Rome, and Boardwalk Empire—all feature casts
dominated by powerful, mostly white, mostly male anti-heroes. Clearly, the
model sells.
And yet,
Game of
Thrones, as a work of heroic fantasy, belongs to a different genre than any
of the other HBO dramas. When George R. R. Martin began writing A Song of Ice and Fire in the early 90s, he specifically decided to write against the grain of his own genre.
Instead of a hero emerging from humble origins (perhaps with some kind of
secret nobility or divine blessing), his point-of-view characters are almost
all members of the Great Houses of Westeros. Though many become humbled—or
dead—they start out rather mighty. It's a story of the internecine conflict among
the one percent, while everybody else suffers.
Speaking of the middle ages, check out The Return of the Black Death in Madagascar
While Martin was writing the first book, Robert Jordan's
Wheel of Time series came out, which focuses on the rapid ascent of a peasant to the world-shaking Dragon Reborn. Martin's focus on the elite who want to stay elite, with no mystical elevation of a peasant (or, for that matter, a hobbit) to glory and power, offers a kind of rebuke to this model.
Nonetheless, Jon Snow is the one character, featured
prominently in both the books and the show, whose plot arc so far very much
follows the traditions of heroic fantasy. For one thing, he's a bastard. Sure, he's
the illegitimate son of Ned Stark, Lord of Winterfell, and was raised with all
kinds of perks compared to most people, but his relative isolation is made very
clear from the beginning of the series. Catelyn Stark, Ned's wife, treats him terribly. He feels
alienated from his family. He and Tyrion bond (sort of) over being different.
Eventually, Jon takes himself to the Wall and joins the Night's Watch. As Ramsey Bolton of all people observed in episode seven, Jon has done very well for
himself indeed, rising to great prominence as the lord commander. He was even
offered Winterfell itself by Stannis. Though, Jon heroically turned it down to
remain true to his vows.
In fact, much of Jon's story has followed
the classic hero's quest. He
leaves town and goes on a journey, first to Castle Black, and then out with the
expedition into the North. There, he gets cut off from his companions and is taken prisoner, kills his superior Qhorin Halfhand (at Qhorin's command, so that Jon can infiltrate the Wildlings), confronts supernatural forces in the North, falls in love Ygritte, a beautiful Wildling
spearwife, with whom he gets to have sexy times in a hot springs. Later, he betrays Ygritte in order to remain honorable, is elevated to command the defense of Castle Black against a vast force, and is even rescued by the
unexpected arrival of the king. Among
Game
of Thrones
characters, his alone is the heroic arc.
In the most recent episode, Jon Snow sailed north to
Hardhome, where the bulk of the Wildlings are gathered. As the zombie hordes
descend, he rallies most of the Wildlings to his plan, building the first
glimmer of an alliance between peoples who have been warring for centuries.
Alone of all the major characters (except maybe for Stannis and Melisandre, but
let's remember that Stannis is currently considered murdering his daughter for
political gain), Snow understands the existential threat that's coming and what
it will take to battle it.
What's more, Jon may have a secret origin story, concealed
even from him, that oft-employed device in speculative fiction (think Luke
Skywalker in
Star Wars, another hero
following the classic quest narrative). The
books and show have been very coy about Snow's parentage, a move that would be pretty anticlimactic if it turned out Ned Stark—violently against his character—had
a roll in the hay with some farm girl or serving wench.
Fan theories abound (massive unverified spoilers at that link, be warned), and
if any of them are true, it only confirms the sense that he's the one true hero
of the series. His ancestry has been concealed from those around him, ready to
be revealed at just the right dramatic moment.
That's if he manages to negotiate the arrival of hordes of
terrified Wildlings south of the Wall, keeps his pissed-off brothers in the
Night's Watch compliant, resists the machinations of Stannis and the Boltons
alike, and can weather his own guilty pangs over watching Ygritte die in his
arms (after she was shot in the back by Olly, the farm boy who saw his own
family murdered by Wildlings). Honestly, Tyrion's decision to be drunk whenever possible or Daenerys's decision to wall herself up in a pyramid with her mercenary lover, look much more rational than Jon's attempt to save the Seven Kingdoms. Being a hero brings nothing but trouble.
MIT’s larger robots may be able to run at 30 mph in an open field and now leap over obstacles, but its smaller ones can transform out of creased polystyrene and then destroy themselves.
The tiny origami robot squirming about above is made of nothing but a sheet of heat-sensitive material, a permanent magnet, and some clever folding. Once placed on a heating element, the bot bends and shapes itself according to the folds impressed on it.
From there, the bot is ready to squirm around. However, its movement is deceptive — there is no motor on board. Rather, a series on magnets placed underneath it rapidly switch off and on, and the asymmetric design of the “legs” causes the folded contraption to wiggle in a certain direction.
With the help of the magnets, Shuhei Miyashita, Steven Guitron, Marvin Ludersdorfer, Cynthia R. Sung, and Daniela Rus of MIT and TU Munich have gotten this origami creation to swim over water, dig through small piles of obstacles, and carry loads double its own weight.
The folding pattern shown in the video demonstration isn’t the only option either. Different foldings could suit the robot for other tasks — different heating gradients could even shape the robot in stages for more functionality. And after the robot outlives its usefulness? It can destroy itself in a pool of acetone.
According to IEEE Spectrum, the researchers hope that this robot will one day complete its life-cycle inside a person. The internal heat of a body could feasibly cause the small sheet to fold, after which magnets could steer it around to its directive, eventually dissolving itself somewhere within you when its job is done. Kinda sweet if you think about it.
Have you ever considered what The Shining would’ve been like if it been directed by Wes Anderson? YouTube contributor Steve Ramsden did and this awesomely clever and thoroughly delightful movie trailer mashup is his answer. One of the 20th century’s most iconic horror films has been brilliantly interwoven with The Grand Budapest Hotel, infusing it with the unmistakable style and idiosyncratic charm of Wes Anderson’s world.
Welcome to The Grand Overlook Hotel. You may not get out alive, but you’ll be thoroughly charmed during your stay, right up until the moment Jack Torrence comes for you.
I gave this dude off tinder my number and all he’s done is send me pictures of his rock collection and it’s the best thing that’s ever come out of tinder tbh
I’ve done a lot of things while tripping on mushrooms. I’ve eaten meals, taken walks in the park, even closed my eyes and chilled out to my favorite tunes. But, until a few weeks ago, I’d never won first place—and $5,000—in a Magic: the Gathering tournament.
It's almost time for Underworld to make their long awaited return! One of Scenestar's favorite electronic acts will kick off the KCRW World Festival Series at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, June 21, performing their landmark debut album Dubnobasswithmyheadman in...
Low End Theory is arguably the best weekly party in L.A., if not the entire the U.S. A veritable Valhalla for the beat scene’s elite producers and DJs, a seemingly inexhaustible breeding ground for emerging L.A. musicians (electronic, rap, jazz, etc.), and a retreat for decorated visitors — the sub-harmonic...
kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes on earth, has erupted continuously from its pu’u o’o vent since 1983, oozing one thousand degree fahrenheit lava at fifteen yards an hours across hawaii’s big island into the ocean. photos by (click pic) tom kualii, g. brad lewis, bruce omori, cj kale and nick selway
This Incredible Hulk cosplay is incredibly awesome. Spotted at the Salt Lake Comic Con, at first glance it’s simply an amazing example of Low Cost Cosplay. But look closely and you’ll see that this costume contains two people, two people whose legs and feet are taped together, each forming one of the Hulk’s two legs.
You know what this means, right? It means that this Hulk isn’t just Incredible, he’s the Incredible Hopping Hulk. We hope someone out there has video of this cosplay in action. Even if we never get to see it ourselves, we’d like to think it’s been saved for awesome posterity.
Now that Tidal has, so far, proven to be simply a Nice Idea, Apple is stepping up its iTunes Radio game and attempting to recruit the likes of Drake, Pharrell and David Guetta as guest DJs for its Beats by Dre streaming service.
Pharrell Williams just bought a sleek $7.14 million compound in the Hollywood Hills, complete with infinity pool, outdoor theater, and plenty of stunning views. [ more › ]
El Mac continues to be one of the great and most unique muralists of his time, one that is based on tradition but also a progressive and unique style. We have been covering Mac for years, both as a fine artist, muralists, and champion of public art around the world. Recently, Mac painted this massive mural in Boston, which was titled Ars et Scientia.
Early last summer, at 3 a.m. in the South Bronx, an agent named D Skully was getting frustrated. Staring into a black-and-green grid on his smartphone, he attempted to secure a target for his team — but every time he thought he'd nabbed it, it'd get stripped away. He looked around; nobody else was out.
Suddenly, D Skully spotted a girl's face illuminated by the light of her phone screen in a small car parked down the street. As she remembers it, he went and knocked on her window to confront her, and as soon as she was caught, the car peeled off.
The two of them were playing Ingress, an alternate reality game (or ARG) run by a Google startup called Niantic Labs. Ingress is like a giant game of Risk or Capture the Flag, only the game board is the entire world. Read More
Here are 20 awesome events happening in L.A. in June. [ 
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Pharrell Williams just bought a sleek $7.14 million compound in the Hollywood Hills, complete with infinity pool, outdoor theater, and plenty of stunning views. [ more › ]
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A new and colorful interactive map lets you explore where and when all of the buildings across L.A. County were built over the decades. [ more › ]
