The Nvidia RTX 4070 is yet to be formally confirmed, with team green having only shown off its RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 graphics cards. However, an image of the pixel pusher has peaked out from under the shadows of its bigger, more powerful siblings, giving us our first glimpse at the mid-range GeForce GPU.
RELATED LINKS: RTX 4000 - everything we know, GeForce Now RTX 3080 review, Best graphics card
Although the quality of the Fallout series has waxed and waned over the years, the name still means something. The original series was a trailblazer in the genre, and there's still a lot of goodwill left from modern adaptations like Fallout: New Vegas. To remind people of how important this series is, Bethesda is running a new Fallout retrospective series, which you can watch for free on YouTube.
The first clip, "conceiving Fallout," has a few familiar faces, including folks from Black Isle Studios. Original producer Tim Cain, executive producer Brian Fargo, and original artist/designer Leonard Boyarsky are present for this first episode, in addition to Feargus Urquhart (division director at Black Isle). Cain notes how he'd "stay at work after hours with pizza," and talk to people about potential concepts. The big focus was player choice, which is immediately apparent after playing the original Fallout for just a short amount of time, or watching any footage of it.
As Cain puts it" talking your way through the game was a revolutionary idea in those days." With a heavy modern focus on action, it kind of still is, to be frank! Cain also explains that part of the "special sauce" that made the series so special is humor, including a "morbidly funny" baseline. The concept of an "idealized 1950s future where an apocalypse happened to it" came to Cain during a daily drive. All of these ideas came together to form a living, breathing world.
This retrospective is part of the 25th anniversary celebration, which involves some Fallout 76 bonuses, new content for Fallout Shelter, and the aforementioned retrospective. Bethesda claims that it's "not done yet" with the festivities: and hopefully it includes more episodes of this series sooner than later. I'd love to see a longer video on New Vegas with some new insight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKEQz-h2j6Y
The post Bethesda announces Fallout retrospective series, with past and present developers appeared first on Destructoid.
"Dahmer" was one of Jeremy Renner's breakout roles. Early in an actor's career, it typically benefits them to take whatever roles they can get. Knowing this, the actor now known for playing Hawkeye ("Avengers" not "M*A*S*H") took the role of Dahmer without even knowing who he was, which likely resulted in a very unsettling realization when Renner eventually sat down to actually read the script.
Dahmer, who murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, is one of the most infamous serial killers in American history. The 2002 film "Dahmer" is about him and his heinous crimes. The film was a relatively low-budget independent picture, but it got eyes on it due to its disturbing content.
As you could expect for someone who needs to delve into the mind of a serial killer for a few months, Jeremy Renner did not love the whole experience of being Jeffrey Dahmer. According to Renner in multiple interviews, things just got "spooky" in his life when he took on the role, including adversely affecting his dating life, which he spoke about in a Parade article. "After I did the film, playing a guy who was basically a monster, things started getting creepy... ...Then some girl bit me in a bar because I wasn't paying attention to her anymore and I had to go to the hospital. It kept me single for a while, that's for sure. Lot of people I wanted to date, but people I probably shouldn't date."
We know better than ever now, with "true crime" becoming an extremely popular genre, how weird some people can get about serial killers. But for Renner, who didn't even know he'd be playing a serial killer, it had to have been a disturbing surprise.
According to Renner, the woman biting him wasn't close to the creepiest thing that happened after the release of "Dahmer." In an Esquire interview, Renner talks about some encounters he had with an old man.
The old man began appearing everywhere Renner went, whether it be coffee shops or bars. The man would remark how lucky they were to have run into each other, and suggested they get a drink together. Renner always said no.
One time the man appeared in front of Renner's apartment while Renner walked his dog. The man again asked if the two could get a drink. Renner said no again, and the man began yelling. Renner hurried away, waiting until he thought the man was gone to return to his apartment.
Finally, one day, Renner heard a noise on his patio. Upon investigation, he saw that old man with Renner's cat, Milo, in his arms. He ran away with the cat, never to be seen again. Renner mourns the loss of Milo the cat to this day.
"After I did the film, playing a guy who was basically a monster, things started getting creepy. My cat was stolen. Then some girl bit me in a bar because I wasn't paying attention to her anymore and I had to go to the hospital. It kept me single for a while, that's for sure. Lot of people I wanted to date, but people I probably shouldn't date."
"I hope Milo had a good life," added the actor. "I hope he didn't end up as that guy's dinner."
Luckily for Renner, his stint as a deranged cannibal allowed him to take more pleasant roles later in his career. Now, as we all wait excitedly for him to fix up houses in "Rennervations," we can be happy that we've never had to pretend to be a homicidal maniac in order to get our careers on track.
Read this next: Horror Roles That Changed Actors Forever
The post Things Got 'Spooky' For Jeremy Renner After Playing Jeffery Dahmer appeared first on /Film.
Oracle has released a new version of its popular cross-platfhypervisor, VirtualBox 7.0, with a significant change to the support of Linux virtual machines. The new version now supports OSes that use Secure Boot.
It doesn't matter how many times a slasher villain dies, they will return. Even if a long-running film series has been stretched past the point of credulity, the villain will somehow be back. "Friday the 13th" has traversed Jason Voorhees' constant returns with little explanation, eventually clarifying that he is possessed by a demon (if one prefers "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday") or that he is afflicted with a rare medical condition that allows his cells to spontaneously regenerate (if one prefers "Jason X"). "Halloween," meanwhile, has allowed Michael Myers' constant return by incessantly rebooting itself. At last count, there are at least five separate continuities across 13 "Halloween" movies.
In 1994, Wes Craven cleverly introduced an in-film reason for Freddy Krueger -- the undead, claw-handed dream demon from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" -- to constantly return. In "Wes Craven's New Nightmare," the filmmaker appears as himself to explain that Freddy is an ancient demon who is usually contained safely within fiction. If, however, Freddy dies or his movies become too cliché, he'll become abstract evil once again. In such a state, he will be able to manifest himself back into existence, if not in a story, then in the real world. That is Freddy's prerogative as a fictional construct. "New Nightmare" is, really, one of the best slasher movies ever made.
In the film, Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy in the original, plays herself, stalked by Freddy in the real world. Robert Englund and New Line Cinema head Bob Shea also appear as themselves. Terrifyingly, Freddy is also credited as himself. And while that was the last time Nancy and Freddy faced off on screen, Langenkamp hasn't given up hope for one final showdown.
Langenkamp previously played the role of Nancy in the original 1984 "Nightmare" and the 1987 sequel "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors." In the original film, Freddy Krueger, a vicious child murderer, had been killed years before by a vigilante mob of angry parents after he was released from court on a technicality. They burned him alive. Somehow, Freddy moved into the dreams of the neighborhood's youths, and was able to continue his murdering supernaturally. Nancy was the only one clever enough to full Freddy back into the real world and kill him off once and for all. Of course, as happens in dreams, the death was inconclusive.
In "Dream Warriors," Langenkamp, now in her 20s, returned to consult with a group of teenagers in a mental hospital who are now being haunted by Freddy. She arms them with the knowledge they need to defeat the demon. Apart from Englund, Langenkamp is the one actor most closely associated with the "Nightmare" series, and Nancy has emerged as one of the franchise's central heroes.
David Gordon Green's "Halloween Ends" due for release on October 14, and it will see the final confrontation between Michael Myers and Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode. Inspired by the "final confrontation" mentality of the film, Langenkamp feels inspired. In a recent interview on Entertainment Tonight (via Bloody Disgusting), Langenkamp wanted to follow suit, returning to the series in her 50s for Nancy to confront the demon that has been with her for her whole life.
One might argue that "New Nightmare," in peeling back the myth of Freddy and making a metacommentary on slasher movies was the final word on the matter. Recall, though, that Freddy did indeed return in Ronny Yu's 2003 entertaining monster mash-up movie "Freddy vs. Jason." That film also borrowed the conceit that Freddy would vanish if he was forgotten, and the story involved Freddy goading Jason into committing murders in his name so that he could regain his dream powers. Then, in 2010, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" was rebooted by director Samuel Bayer with Jackie Earle Haley as the monster. Restarting a concluded story is de rigueur, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has trained audiences to accept that most stories will never end. So Langenkamp's idea to make a ninth "Nightmare" is not so far-fetched. she said:
"If Nancy could fight Freddy one last time, I would really like that. Gosh, I'd love to see a future in that. I've been really watching the 'Halloween' saga that's been out, and I love watching Jamie Lee Curtis get to play that part. You know, this age, where I think we have so much to give to those storylines. But yeah, I wish I was in control of that, but, unfortunately, it's one of those Hollywood very complicated things."
Currently, the rights to Freddy Krueger belong to the Wes Craven estate which acquired them in 2019, four years after Craven's death. And future "Nightmare" movies would have to be cleared with Craven's family, as well as with Warner Bros. who currently holds distribution on the "Nightmare" movies. It is, as Langenkamp says, very complicated.
But not necessarily impossible. As we know, Freddy doesn't like being forgotten.
Read this next: The Saddest Character Deaths In Horror History
The post Nightmare on Elm Street Star Heather Langenkamp Wants to Star in One Last Sequel appeared first on /Film.
NVIDIA has just lifted the review embargo for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. The RTX 4090 is the flagship GPU from the green team, and we’ve decided to benchmark it in 4K on the 30 most demanding PC games. Can this new graphics card offer smooth 4K gaming performance? Time to find out. For our … Continue reading NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 benchmarked on the 30 most demanding PC games →
The post NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 benchmarked on the 30 most demanding PC games appeared first on DSOGaming.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Harley Quinn, the multi-faceted supervillain sidekick-turned-hero, just turned 30. And like any self-respecting 30-year-old, she should probably take inventory of her growth over the years, because she has a lot to be proud of. The character was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for "Batman: The Animated Series," and debuted on September 11, 1992, but she's come a long way from being Joker's horny, homicidal sidekick and romantic interest. In the past decade or so, she's become a fascinating feminist figure, a bisexual powerhouse who's a surprising face of representation for survivors of abusive relationships. It's been a bumpy road full of weird missteps and unfortunate costume choices, but even if Harley Quinn hasn't become a full-fledged hero in the canon, she's become one of my heroes.
As an abuse survivor and former manic pixie dream girl myself, Harley Quinn used to frustrate me, but her growth has made her into one of my favorite fictional characters. So much of what I loathed about her are things I loathe about my own past self, and seeing a post-abuse transformation arc play out over multiple mediums was incredibly cathartic.
In Harley's earliest days, she existed as a bit of comic relief and to help spice up storylines with the Joker. In "Batman: Harley Quinn #1," seven years later, she was finally given a backstory as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, a beautiful psychiatrist working at Arkham Asylum who disastrously falls for one of her patients: the Joker. She adopts a persona based on harlequins, who are comedic servants in Italian commedia dell'arte, and lives only to serve the Joker, whom she calls "Puddin'." While Harley is funny (in large part due to great voice work by Arleen Sorkin on the animated series), she's also pretty one-dimensional for a two-dimensional character. When interesting female villains can be a rarity, it's frustrating to see them written as so subservient and simple.
On a personal level, it was hard to watch a woman who was supposed to be brilliant falling victim to basic abuser tactics. Joker has never been interested in anyone but himself, and their "romance" was always purely one-sided. Then again, if someone as educated and witty as Dr. Quinzel could fall victim to the skills of a narcissistic sociopath, then maybe falling for those same tactics as my younger self wasn't so horrible. I realized that despite being a victim, I was victim-blaming poor Harley when she was still only Joker's dancing doll, because I ultimately wanted better for her.
Australian actor Margot Robbie made her debut as the killer shrink in David Ayer's "Suicide Squad" in 2016, and while that film has its fair share of problems, it also helped Robbie find her footing in the character. She's still a little too wrapped up in the Joker (especially a Joker played by Jared Leto), but she's fierce. Then, in 2020, director Cathy Yan delivered "Birds of Prey," giving Quinn a chance to go through a messy breakup with her Puddin' and find herself. She even gets a post break-up glow-up, with new costumes and a look that's still sexy without being truly uncomfortable.
"Birds of Prey" saw Harley stepping into her own with the help of an all-girl squad of heroes and antiheroes that would go on to become the Birds of Prey, and it was a blast of fresh air in the grimdark, masculine-centered superhero cinematic playground. Girls just wanna have fun, and "Birds of Prey" is a tremendous amount of fun. It just doesn't give Harley the kind of emotional arc she truly deserves after more than two decades as Joker's punching bag, but thankfully the DC folks have been giving us heaps of Harley and she got two more chances.
In James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad," Harley teams up with another rag-tag bunch of mercenaries, but this time she gets to do a whole lot more than spout off weird one-liners and look hot. (She still does plenty of both, don't worry.) She ends up getting captured by a rather good-looking tyrannical dictator who wants to marry her. She's swept up in the idea of romance with another bad boy, but once he starts talking about his vision for his nation and killing children, the romance is shattered. He's just another Mistah J, sans clown makeup. She kills him and then gives a monologue on her reasoning that is equal parts comical and chilling:
"I'm sorry. Recently, I made a promise to myself that the next time I got a boyfriend, I'd be on the lookout for red flags. And if I saw any, I would do the healthy thing, and I would murder him. And killing kids? Kind of a red flag. I know. I know. I know what you're trying to say. Harley why not just leave? And I'd say, Why are you screaming at me? I'm not deaf. I'm standing right here! And then I'd say, When your taste in men is as bad as mine, they don't just go away quietly. They slash your tires, and they kill your dogs, and tell you that the music you like ain't real music at all. And all the cruelty tears you apart after a while."
"All that cruelty tears you apart after a while" ripped through me, laying bare one of the most uncomfortable truths about being a domestic abuse survivor: it will break you down and make you numb, and before you know it you're just a dancing doll.
Harley Quinn started her life as an animated character, so it makes sense that the best incarnation of her to date is also animated. On HBO Max's animated "Harley Quinn" series, she's voiced by Kaley Cuoco and given the kind of character development she's always deserved. The show's Harley is still quirky and violent, with a penchant for smashing first and asking questions later, but she's not just some manic pixie dream girl, nor is she someone's faithful servant. The first season follows a break-up arc after she and the Joker (Alan Tudyk) call it quits for good, and fans have spent three seasons watching her grow into her own person. "Harley Quinn" is funny and crass and has some absolutely bonkers moments, but it's also one of the best damn love stories ever told about someone recovering from abuse.
I never expected to get emotionally invested in a cartoon series about a character who used to grate my nerves, but "Harley Quinn" got under my skin and into my heart. Harley stumbles and makes mistakes as she learns how to stand on her own two feet, and it's refreshing to see a picture of healing that's not perfect. Harley is a psychiatrist, after all, and knows a thing or two about healing from trauma that she's just never applied to herself. Her journey is messy, just like real-life recovery from abuse, and it's written with a lot of care.
In season 2 of "Harley Quinn," she starts hooking up with her best friend, Poison Ivy (Lake Bell). It's a whirlwind romance that's both helped and complicated by their deep friendship, and there are moments where they veer toward being toxic and co-dependent. Season 3 explores their new relationship in depth, and ends with them having an earnest heart-to-heart about what they want for themselves and each other. Their relationship is one of the healthiest, sweetest romances in television history, as the two support one another and encourage growth as individuals. They also recognize Harley's trauma and discuss it, and other characters comment when Harley slips into old behaviors to try and appease people, a common survivor habit.
Harley and Ivy's talk sounded like ones I've had with my husband, who was my best friend for years before we dated and helped me out of an abusive relationship. The comments from friends reminded me of ones I heard my own friends make, frustrated that I couldn't see through the fog of abuse yet myself. Representation is hugely validating for a number of reasons, but this struck me. The nitty gritty of trauma and how we go on afterward is usually relegated to much more serious fare, but Harley's arc on "Harley Quinn" was the closest to my own and felt the most genuine.
I spent years of my life identifying with the final girls of horror films or various antiheroes whose trauma turned them into monsters, but Harley's healing journey from villain's sidekick to actual hero has opened my eyes to a much more hopeful third option. Dr. Quinzel would be proud.
Read this next: What These DC Villains Really Look Like Under The Makeup
The post From Sidekick to Survivor: How Harley Quinn Became the Perfectly Imperfect Hero for Abuse Victims appeared first on /Film.
![[NYCC News] Witness Uncle Fester & New WEDNESDAY Trailer](https://i0.wp.com/www.nightmarishconjurings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/EN-US_WED1_Main_Vertical_27x40_RGB_PRE.jpg?resize=640%2C948&ssl=1)
The trailer debuted at New York Comic Con during a packed Empire Stage panel on Saturday night that featured stars Jenna Ortega, Gwendoline Christie, Luis Guzman and showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar, along with surprise guest Fred Armisen.
From the imagination of Tim Burton, WEDNESDAY is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy, where she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the murder mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore. Snap snap.Directed by Tim Burton, the series stars Jenna Ortega (Wednesday Addams), Gwendoline Christie (Principal Larissa Weems), Jamie McShane (Sheriff Galpin), Percy Hynes White (Xavier Thorpe), Hunter Doohan (Tyler Galpin), Emma Myers (Enid Sinclair), Joy Sunday (Bianca Barclay), and Naomi J Ogawa (Yoko Tanaka).
The series also stars Moosa Mostafa (Eugene Ottinger), Georgie Farmer (Ajax Petropolus), Riki Lindhome (Dr. Valerie Kinbott), with Christina Ricci (Marilyn Thornhill), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Morticia Addams), Luis Guzmán (Gomez Addams) and Isaac Ordonez (Pugsley Addams).
The series Showrunners are Alfred Gough & Miles Millar who also serve as Executive Producers and Writers. Additional Executive Producers include Steve Stark, Andrew Mittman (1.21 Entertainment), Kevin Miserocchi (Tee and Charles Addams Foundation), Kayla Alpert, Jonathan Glickman (Glickmania), and Gail Berman, Tommy Harper, Kevin Lafferty.
The post [NYCC News] Witness Uncle Fester & New WEDNESDAY Trailer appeared first on Nightmarish Conjurings.
For this post, I'll throw out a bunch of little snippets, or "post-lets", covering a variety of DFIR topics rather than one big post that covers one topic.
What's Old Is New Again
During Feb, 2016, Mari published a fascinating blog post regarding the VBAWarnings value. That was a bit more than 6 1/2 yrs ago, which in "Internet time" is several lifetimes.
Just this past September, Avast shared a write-up of the Roshtyak component of Raspberry Robin, where they described some of the techniques used by this malware, including checking the VBAWarnings value as a means of "detecting" virtual or testing environments.
Getting PCAPs
When I've been asked on-site (or remotely), it's most often been after an incident has happened. However, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't have a means available for myself, or to share with IT admins, to collect pcaps. Having something like this readily available can be very beneficial, when you need it.
It seems that Windows 10 and above comes with a native tool for collecting network traffic data called pktmon.
Prefer Powershell? Doug Metz over at BakerStreetForensics has a solution for you.
I've used bulk_extractor to get pcaps from memory dumps; because this uses a different means for identifying network connections than Volatility, running them both is a really, REALLY good idea! So good, as a matter of fact, that I included an example of this in Investigating Windows Systems, which just shows that regardless of the version of Windows you're dealing with, the process still holds up.
Memory Analysis
Or, if you're looking for a bit more, consider bulk_extractor with record carving.
Also, if you're doing memory analysis, you might consider tools such as MemProcFS and MemProcFS-Analyzer. While I'm not a fan of a lot of the available GUI tools that folks (generally) use for analysis, this tweet from "evild3ad79" makes visualizing processes so much easier!
MOTW
MOTW, or "mark-of-the-web" is a pretty hot topic, as it should be. "MOTW" is the NTFS alternate data stream, or "ADS", attached to files downloaded from the Internet, and something we've seen expand over time. At first these were simply "zone identifier" ADSs, and contained just that...the "zone" for the downloaded file. We first saw these associated with files downloaded via IE and Outlook, and then later saw MOTW attached to files downloaded via other browsers.
MOTW picked up steam a bit after MS announced that they were going to change the default behavior of systems running macros in Office documents downloaded from the Internet. We then saw some actors move to using archives rather than "weaponized" Office documents, and our attention shifted to archive utilities and MOTW propagation.
For a bit of a different perspective on MOTW, Outflank published this article discussing MOTW from a red team perspective.
And, to top it all off, MS has shared information regarding how to disable the functionality (of attaching MOTW). What this does provide is an excellent opportunity for detections, both in the SOC (adding or modifying the SaveZoneInformation value) and for DFIR (checking the value).
Web Shells
Many, many moons ago (circa 2007, 2008), Chris Pogue and I were addressing investigating SQL Injection and web shells for the IBM ISS X-Force ERS team, codifying (or trying to) some basic processes for locating these attacks in a reactive, DFIR mode. We had a lot of different approaches, all of which could be addressed programmatically...things such as the first instance of a page being requested (across the history of the web server logs that you have available), the number of times a page was requested, the length of the request sent to the page, User Agents, etc. Now, all of these depended upon which fields were actually being logged, so we started with the default IIS logging fields and attempted to modify and address things from there. This way, encountering IIS logs with the fields having been modified (hopefully, added to...) or non-IIS web servers were considered "one-offs", and we found that the approach worked well.
I learned recently that Aaron Shelmire authored a blog on this topic for Anomali; this was a great finding, not just because it lists some of the things we'd looked for, but also because Aaron and I worked together at one point. It's great to see contributions like this within the community.
Events Ripper
Not long ago, I released Events Ripper, a proof-of-concept tool based on RegRipper, in that it relies on plugins to extract and present data. The idea behind Events Ripper is to leverage what analysts are already doing to provide situational awareness and pivot points for analysis. So, when analysts are performing timeline creation (and moving to timeline analysis), they can leverage the events file they've already created to obtain insight into the system.
At this point, all of the Events Ripper plugins are based on data in an events file, from parsed Windows Event Logs (via wevtx.bat). For example, I wrote two plugins recently, mount.pl and ntfs.pl, that analysts can use to verify initial access used by Raspberry Robin; mount.pl runs through the events file looking for Microsoft-Windows-VHDMP/1 events indicating that a disk was "surfaced", and outputs a list of the VHD[X] and/or ISO files. Ntfs.pl looks for Microsoft-Windows-Ntfs/145 events to locate volumes, and map them to the drives or devices. Using these two plugins, you can get some quick insight as to how Raspberry Robin (or other malware) may have originally made it on to the system...via a USB thumb drive or ISO file delivered as an email attachment.
Interestingly enough, when I was developing and testing the mount.pl plugin, the Microsoft-Windows-VHDMP/Operational.evtx log file from my test system contained three ISO files. Checking the RecentDocs/.iso values in the Registry, I found those same three files listed, as well.
Per a request from my esteemed co-worker Dray, all of the plugins display the system name, or names, as the case may be. It's not unusual for systems to start out as a gold image and be renamed, so you may have event records that still contain the original system name.
There are more versions of "Freaky Friday" than the casual reader may realize. The original 1972 novel by Mary Rodgers ("Once Upon a Mattress") is about a 13-year-old girl named Annabel and her put-upon mother as they are currently living through a period of antagonism. In what might be considered a grand cosmic joke, Annabel and her mother magically swap bodies for a day -- a freaky Friday -- forcing them to live one another's lives and see how difficult the other has it. They eventually swap back having learned important lessons. The book borrows its premise from an 1882 fantasy novel by F. Anstey called "Vice Versa, or a Lesson to Fathers." Rodgers wrote two sequels, "A Billion for Boris" in 1974 and "Summer Switch" in 1982.
"Freaky Friday" was first adapted to film in 1976 by director Gary Nelson in a celebrated version starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris. Thanks to heavy rotation on TV, "Freaky Friday" became something of a Gen-X staple. In 1984, there was a TV movie adaptation of "Summer Switch." In 1995, Melanie Mayron ("The Babysitter's Club," "Mean Girls 2") directed a TV movie adaptation of "Freaky Friday" starring Gaby Hoffman and Shelley Long. In 2003, Mark Waters directed a successful and high-profile version with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. In 2016, a "Freaky Friday" musical debuted on Broadway with Emma Hunton and Heidi Blickenstaff in the central roles, and that musical was adapted into another TV movie in 2018 with Cozi Zyehlsdorff replacing Blickenstaff.
The most recent film iteration of Rodgers' novel was Christopher Landon's "Freaky," a twist on the formula that saw a teenage girl magically swapping bodies with a sociopathic serial killer. Shenanigans, as they say, ensue.
Curtis, star of the 2003 version, recalls her film with fondness. It has impacted Millennials with perhaps the same power that the 1976 version marked Gen-Xers, and it's no wonder why, as Waters' version is bubbly, clever, and even a mite subversive. A highlight is when Curtis, occupied by her teenage daughter, sits to have a conversation with her daughter's crush. They bond over their mutual hidden affection for Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time." The film climaxes with Curtis taking up a guitar -- a talent of her daughter's -- and jamming backstage while Lohan, occupied by her mother, awkwardly mimes guitar movements on stage. Both actresses are delightful in the film.
Curtis, in speaking on "The View" on October 10, 2022, announced that not only would she return for a sequel to "Freaky Friday" some 20 years later, but she already had a pitch in mind ... which she already mailed to Disney. Her idea? Curtis, 63, swaps bodies with her 36-year-old daughter. She said:
"I have already written to Disney ... I'm 64 years old in a month, soon. My point is, creatively, I'm wide open. So Lindsay Lohan and me back in 'Freaky Friday?' She was just in a Christmas movie, she got married. It's all good. Bring it! Let me be the gramma! Let me be the old gramma who switches places. Then Lindsay can be the hot gramma who's still happy with Mark Harmon in all the ways you would be happy with Mark Harmon."
Harmon played Curtis' fiancé in the 2003 film and Lohan was not pleased with her incoming stepfather. In Curtis' version, their marriage is going well, and her adult daughter would have to face that.
Curtis immediately apologized to Pam Dawber, Harmon's wife, for her slightly lascivious crack.
A story of a 36-year-old living life as a 64-year-old is, of course, a much different story than a teenager and a fortysomething swapping bodies. A mom would have to face the parental shift of being the grandmother to her own toddlers, while a gramma would have to once again be a mom. By Curtis' pitch, it seems that "Freaky Friday 2" would be about parenthood and the way different generations of parents are equipped with different skills, resources, and vocabulary when it comes to child-rearing. Recall that "parent" didn't become a popularly used verb until maybe the 1960s. Curtis said:
"And simply, I would like to see Lindsay be the hot gramma, and I would like to see me try to deal with toddlers today. I wanna be a helicopter parent in today's world, as an old lady."
Lohan's Christmas movie that Curtis mentioned is the upcoming "Falling for Christmas," due on Netflix on November 10, 2022. She will also appear in "Irish Wish," a romantic comedy due in 2023. Lohan was only 16 when she made "Freaky Friday," and immediately had a high-profile career with notable films and pop records. Her success was accompanied off-screen by a turbulent separation from her parents, which has been well documented. Lohan has also wrestled with addiction and rehab, leading to ups and downs in her career.
These days, Lohan has become a hotel entrepreneur, opening her own nightclub in Athens and two beach resorts in Mykonos and Rhodes. Lohan is now back to acting, recorded a new single, and is engaged to be married. Curtis may have timed a "Freaky Friday" revival perfectly for the both of them.
Read this next: 20 Underrated Comedy Movies You Need To Watch
The post Jamie Lee Curtis has Already Pitched a Freaky Friday Sequel to Disney appeared first on /Film.
The AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs come with an integrated RDNA 2 GPU that can be overclocked up to 3 GHz with little effort with MSI's new BIOS.
In a new video published by MSI's in-house and legendary overclocker, TOPPC, we get to see some new features and tricks for AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs on the latest BIOS. First up, we have the thermal limit profiles tested with PBO Enhanced Mode. This is a new feature introduced by MSI on its X670E and X670 motherboard that really helps lower down the temperatures without comprising a lot on performance. We exclusively covered the feature in detail over here.
Secondly, MSI is also introducing AVX Control Options for AMD Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs on their AM5 motherboards. Currently, all AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs have AVX512 support set to enabled by default and there was no option to disable it. However, with the new BIOS, users can disable and enable all AVX modes (AVX2 / AVX512). We have also talked about how Ryzen 7000 CPUs AVX-512 capabilities make them the top option for game emulators such as RPCS3 (Sony PS3).
And the final option that MSI is giving is the option to enable RDNA 2 iGPU overclocking. All AMD Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs come with an integrated RDNA 2 GPU that features 2 compute units or a single WGP (128 cores).
By default, the iGPU is clocked at 2200 MHz or 2.2 GHz but with MSI's latest BIOS, users will get overclocking support within BIOS. However, it should be noted that the iGPU is sharing voltage with the CPU so overclocking the GPU can affect CPU overclocking & performance.
With that said, MSI showcases overclocks of up to 3 GHz on the AMD Ryzen 7000 iGPU. With a 3 GHz overclock using the JEDEC DDR5-4800 spec, the RDNA 2 chip can offer up to 20% higher GPU performance in 3DMark Fire Strike. If you are using DDR5-6000 memory than the higher memory bandwidth can lead to an additional 2% performance gain of up to 22% which is quite neat. Now it must be pointed out that the RDNA 2 iGPU on the Ryzen 7000 CPUs is in no way intended for gaming purposes but it will still be cool to see some benchmarks in games that the tiniest RDNA 2 GPU has to offer.
The post AMD Ryzen 7000’s RDNA 2 iGPU Can Offer 20% Better Performance With 3 GHz Overclock, New AM5 BIOS Introduces AVX On/Off Switch by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.
In its third and final season, "Star Trek: Picard" is going out with a bang by bringing back fan-favorite characters from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" for one final reunion in the final frontier. The most recent trailer for "Picard" season 3, coming out of New York Comic Con (NYCC) this weekend, showed familiar faces like LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, and Brent Spiner springing back into action as their "Next Generation" characters. However, as we catch up with Dorn and Burton as Worf and Geordie La Forge in season 3, they're in a different place than they were when we last saw them.
In the trailer, there's a line where Worf says, "I now prefer pacifism to combat," which seems to fly in the face of his combat-driven Klingon culture. /Film's Ben F. Silverio was in attendance at the NYCC panel for "Picard" this weekend, where Dorn elaborated on the character's ongoing "Star Trek" evolution, saying:
"Worf is on a journey. He's always been on a journey, and I was very fortunate that the producers incorporated both of our ideas about where he was going to go. There's a lot of things that I wanted to keep, and a lot of things that they actually convinced me to change about him. And I think that we will recognize a lot of Worf, and we won't recognize a lot of Worf. Which is wonderful, I love that as an actor."
The last time we saw Worf and Geordie La Forge was in the final movie with the "Next Generation" cast, "Star Trek: Nemesis." That movie came out back in December 2002, so by the time "Picard" season 3 hits Paramount+ in February 2023, it will have been two full decades since those characters were onscreen. That's plenty of time for a man to start a family, and indeed, Geordie La Forge comes into "Picard" having raised a couple of daughters offscreen.
"Geordie was never in a healthy relationship," Burton said at NYCC. "I'm happy to report that when we meet him, Geordie is not only married, he has two daughters."
La Forge's older daughter, Sydney, is played by Ashley Chestnut, and you can catch a glimpse of her at the helm of the USS Titan in the new "Picard" season 3 trailer, after Picard says, "La Forge, gun it!" Meanwhile, Geordi's younger daughter, Ensign Alandra La Forge, is played by LeVar Burton's real-life daughter, Mica Burton.
"Star Trek: Picard" season 3 premieres on Paramount+ on February 16, 2023.
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The post Worf Is A Pacificist And Geordie Is A Family Man In Star Trek: Picard Season 3 [NYCC] appeared first on /Film.
The HBO comedy series "Avenue 5" is coming back with a second season on October 10, 2022. Along with it comes the glittering cloud of poop that orbits the ship. If you haven't watched yet (and you absolutely should), you probably want an explanation for that. In the series, which is set 40 years in the future, a group of people are on an eight-week space cruise on the Avenue 5, a ship owned by a billionaire (Josh Gad). A technical mishap stretches their trip to 3.5 years, and needless to say, things are a mess.
The real crew is shoved in a dark room below the bridge, and the crew that the passengers see around the ship are actually actors, including Hugh Laurie as Captain Ryan. A rescue by NASA isn't possible, because it's too expensive, and things are starting to break on the vessel. That includes a giant tube that holds human waste in a shield around the ship. Though Ryan and friends manage to block the leak, a whole bunch of poop has begun to orbit the Avenue 5, which has its own gravitational pull. So the poop is orbiting along with the coffins of some people who have died.
What does our billionaire do? Well, he lights it up and makes it sparkle. It's fancy poop now! As for why it's there in the first place, it's to protect the ship from the radiation of space! It turns out the poop cloud is actually rooted in real science, according to an interview we recently conducted with Hugh Laurie ("House," "Veep") and series creator Armando Iannucci ("Veep").
I asked Iannucci about his research into the private space travel companies and their relationship with NASA. He said they looked into it "a little bit" and spoke to Space X and Virgin Atlantic:
"Hugh and I went round the jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena. And we spoke to scientists and engineers really. We asked one, the episode in season one where human waste leaks out, was based on an answer one of them gave about long term, long distance space travel. Saying you're insulated from all the radioactivity with human waste. That's the solution. And we thought there's an episode there.
It is one of the funniest things in the series, which is saying something. I'd always heard that radiation was the big problem we had to solve for long-distance space travel, and it appears that our own waste can offer protection! Iannucci also said that the coffins orbiting were rooted in science too, "The scientific advisor for 'Star Trek' says she did the math and said, 'Yes, no, that works.'"
I had to know more (because you don't get to ask questions like this very often), so I reached out to the scientific advisor for "Star Trek" to ask how this all works.
Not only did Erin Macdonald, PhD Astrophysics and "Star Trek" scientific advisor, have an answer for us, but she made a whole video discussing the science of the show a while back (The discussion about what is called "the wet suit" begins at 56:00.) Is this gross? Absolutely. Is the science behind it kind of great? Yup! Macdonald said:
"Yes, it absolutely could work. In fact, scientists have looked at creating a "waste radiation shield" for trips to Mars. Radiation in space is one of the biggest hazards for long-term space travel. Astronauts on the ISS are protected (mostly) from radiation due to them being in low earth orbit and thus somewhat within Earth's protective magnetic field.
Traveling to Mars would mean months of exposure to radiation, and a waste shield is a great protector against that. The shield we would practically use, however, would likely not be orbiting the ship like in 'Avenue 5,' but rather encased within the ship's walls itself."
The wet suit was inside the ship before the episode, but now, well, people are seeing religious symbols in it as it orbits, or at least its sparkles. That's not all, though. It can also be dry like fertilizer. Macdonald explained:
"The water content of waste is a good protector, and the ISS has extra-protected sections that have layers of water. But dehydrated fecal matter (yay) would also protect from radiation, just even as a barrier to cosmic rays, giving them something more to hit."
It's also a resource that is, um, renewable on long voyages.
Trust me when I say you should catch up with this show before the second season begins. It's hysterical!
"Avenue 5" returns to HBO and HBO Max on October 10, 2022.
Read this next: The 55 Best Space Movies Ever
The post Avenue 5's Orbiting Poop Shield is Rooted in Real Science [Exclusive] appeared first on /Film.
"Hellraiser" is back to bring you all the pain and pleasure you've been missing. Director David Bruckner's reboot "lifts the series out of the gutter to give it a touch of old-school charm," as Chris Evangelista wrote in his review for /Film. The movie follows brand new characters, including a brand new version of the iconic Pinhead character, and a whole lot of carnage.
The film works wonderfully as a first introduction to the world created by Clive Barker in the '80s, telling you just enough about the Cenobites without diving into the convoluted mythology of the ten-film franchise, all while still having plenty of references for fans.
Following the film's world premiere at Fantastic Fest, /Film has the chance to talk to have a spoiler-filled conversation with filmmaker David Bruckner and star Jamie Clayton about the ending of "Hellraiser," what the hell the main characters do after the carnage they experienced, whether they made the right choice, and more.
First of all, I'm curious what you think happens right after the end of the movie? How do they even explain their injuries when there's no physical bodies or any culprit to explain things?
Bruckner: I have such a disappointing answer to this: I don't think about it. One of the things I love about movies as opposed to TV is they have endings and that you can step away from a film and regard it as an object, as an idea in total. And so it's a conversation with the audience and the end of this film is a counterpoint. Riley makes one decision and Voight makes another. And they end up in opposite perspectives having two completely different experiences. We wanted to capture the irony of that and ask the audience, who are you? Which direction would you go? What would you choose?
Clayton: Well, the only thing -- I've thought about Voight, Goran's character, and the only thing that I've thought is that in finally ascending to this decision that he's made, is that he's finally released of all of this questioning and anguish and all the bulls*** that he's put himself through. He's finally released of all that now and we've given him the gift and he understands, "Oh, okay." And he's finally reveling in all of the pleasure because in my head, everything's gone. I've only thought about Voight and that he's finally one of us.
Bruckner: It's all in that exhale, in the final shot.
So you think he goes full Cenobite at the end? He fully embraces the idea of it?
Clayton: Yeah, where we move right along to the next person to find the box. Yeah.
Why do the Cenobites grant both Riley and Voight's requests at the end?
Bruckner: Oh, well the Cenobites love to take people on a journey. So they are quite literally there to offer gifts. These are experiences that they value and enjoy. They represent the extremity of human pursuits in many different forms. And we may find them horrifying, but they're sincere in their offerings. And so, the Priest means it when she says, "If you're not happy Voight, let us address your displeasure." So there's an eagerness to work with us, I would say. They're not resistant to fulfill our desires.
Does Riley make the right choice at the end? Was a better outcome possible?
Bruckner: Well, was it the best possible choice for Riley? I'm on the fence personally as an audience member of this film. I think in some ways it was the choice that she needed to make. But I do think that the Cenobites have something truly magical on offer, and if you dare to pull back the veil on the universe and take a peek, you can have that. So it's a question that we offer and I think you can really feel in Jamie's performance in those final moments, the disappointment that she has because of all the majesty that Riley will miss because of the very responsible decision that she has made.
Clayton: I mean, yeah, as an audience member, I'm so proud of the Riley character for realizing that her choices do have consequences and that this is her fault. Her brother is gone because of her. And you can't keep going. You can't. But as the Priest, [I say] "F***ing idiots. Are you f***ing kidding me? Oh my God, what the f*** is wrong with you? No, don't pick that one."
Would the resurrection have actually worked? Or was it a trick?
Bruckner: There's an image in the basement. She has a premonition of what it will be. The resurrection choice does harken back to Frank in the original film. Like all gifts the Cenobites give, it will be miraculous but perhaps terrifying, perhaps an aberration in one way or another from our perspective. It's a tough call.
Can you talk about the practical effects in the film, particularly the death of Aoife Hinds' Nora with the throat stabbing?
Clayton: The scene that you're speaking of with the pin in the throat, the actress Aoife Hinds, she's incredible. And she was up in a rig with hooks in prosthetic makeup and they were coming in and putting blood between the takes. They built that hallway, that extension of the van that we were in. And there was dirt on the ground and those bricks were there and there were chains that were suspended by my head. And I do go and pull a pin and then it is switched with the long one. And then I do go and I poke her with it because she told me to.
Bruckner: I didn't know that.
Clayton: You need to see the depression of the skin. I was like, "Can I do this to you?" And she was like, "Yes, do it darling." So I would poke her with it. Even reading it on the page and the lines, there's no music and as I'm turning, we're there, and David said, "You're going to be turning the pin as if you're conducting her screams and adjusting the pitch and the volume of her screams." And so in my mind I'm like, "Okay, cool, cool, whatever." And I'm doing it and then I see it and I'm like, "Oh f***, that is so f***ing cool."
Bruckner: One of the things we really wanted to achieve, I think in any of the chain sequences, really, was to have torque in the poles. Typically when you rig an actor up and you attach chains to them, they can't be real chains, they can't be the weight of metal, necessarily. But we really wanted the body to move and conduct and respond. And so we had to design a chain system that you could attach to a harness underneath that could play as a practical chain on camera, but was also a kind of resin mold.
We designed our own chains that you could pull and maneuver. An actor could support real weight. So moments like that with Aoife, moments with Joey in the beginning, moments with Voight later on, and even some degree with Colin, all of those -- that's practical stuff at work. What you see in the movie is really there on set. Anytime we were interacting with Cenobite devices and actors, that was the most challenging.
Is there a specific scene you want people to pay close attention to in regards to references or easter eggs?
Bruckner: One of my favorites is that there is some direct sexual references to how the Box is handled in the original film by Frank before he's taken by the Cenobites. And we did nod to that from Riley's perspective. So there's some interaction that she has with the Box that feels like an appropriate counterpoint to that.
"Hellraiser" is streaming now on Hulu.
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The post Hellraiser Director and Star Explain the Reboot's Ending And What the Characters Do Next [Exclusive Interview] appeared first on /Film.
Modder ‘vini1264’ has released a new version of Duke Nukem Forever: Enhanced. Duke Nukem Forever: Enhanced is a mod for the 2011 release of DNF that aims to improve the gameplay of the original game and make it play more like a classic shooter. Going into more details, this mod removes sprinting and makes the … Continue reading Duke Nukem Forever: Enhanced Mod 1.1 available for download →
The post Duke Nukem Forever: Enhanced Mod 1.1 available for download appeared first on DSOGaming.
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Many a joke has been made about what awkward family dinners the Targaryens must have: between the incest, eye-gouging, arm lacerating, prejudice against brunettes, and the general issue of holding onto grudges for WAY too long, there's no way that this extended family can sit down for a peaceful meal of pigeon pie without breaking into battle. So it was only a matter of time before "House of the Dragon" made good on the promise and forced us to endure the full-fledged awkwardness of a massive Targaryen gathering. In "The Lord of the Tides," we get a front-row seat to one of this family's most unforgettable meals.
All that said, I've gotta say, for a surprising couple of minutes, the Targaryen family dinner actually goes pretty smoothly. It was even kind of heartwarming! But, of course, I'm a seasoned Westerosi visitor, and thanks to the Red Wedding debacle of 2013, I know better than to get comfortable at a feast (especially one that's meant to smooth over everyone's deep-seated tensions). When there's jaunty music playing and sweet interactions are abundant, it's usually a major red flag — but I'll be damned if I didn't smile when Jacaerys crossed the invisible battle lines to dance with Helaena. For a shining few moments, the Targaryens truly did come together to give poor King Viserys (Paddy Considine) the one thing he's spent the past eight episodes screaming about: some goddamn unity.
But in Westeros, good things tend to meet a tragic end.
Shockingly, it isn't a crack in the composure of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) or even Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) that makes this sweet moment crumble. Hell, they even take baby steps to heal their incredibly fractured relationship. But then comes the harsh realities of the conflict they've passed down to their kids, a sharp reminder that this vision of a happy family can never truly be.
"The Lord of the Tides" begins the culmination of mistakes made so long ago, that those at fault still believe they can be left behind forever. But the damage has been done beyond repair: Rhaenyra can keep trying to dodge the consequences, but the fact of her children's parentage will never stop haunting them. And though Alicent can try to make nice, the resentment that she's passed down to her children has taken root. All that's left to do is suffer the consequences (and, I'm guessing, make a helluva lot more mistakes along the way).
We begin with the revelation that we are enduring yet another major time jump. Yes, another set of new actors has been swapped to replace some kids. That's another six years of story that we breeze right through. How much has changed? How many new kids have been born? And gods be good, how many limbs has Viserys lost this time? All that and more will be answered but first, we're checking in with the status of Driftmark, because its crisis of leadership will be the firestarter for a whole lot of "Succession"-esque drama. It seems Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) has suffered a potentially fatal wound after 6 years of fighting in those ceaselessly warring Stepstones. So with his death looming ahead, the question of who will become the next Lord of the Tides finally needs a definitive answer.
Now, you're probably thinking, doesn't it already have one? With both of his children (presumed) dead, the throne will pass to his grandson, Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault). You know, the lily-white brunette who doesn't resemble his "father" in the slightest and definitely is not a bastard? Well, Corlys' brother Vaemond (Wil Johnson) takes serious issue with this possibility and plans to petition in favor of his own claim.
Under normal circumstances, that would be absurd. Viserys made it abundantly clear that anyone who dares to question the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's kids will lose their tongue. But Vaemond has no real reason to fear: this is no longer a Westeros ruled by the king. Not really. The years of decay have caught up with Viserys in a real and gruesome way, leaving him with half a face and an inability to take care of any kingly duties. Meaning all business has been shuffled off into the grabby hands of House Hightower.
All of this Driftwood Throne drama turns out to be extremely inconvenient for poor Rhaenyra, who is forced to leave Dragonstone, where she's happily shacked up with her uncle and is awaiting the birth of their third child together. They've got dragon eggs, Valyrian tutors, and some of the only bearable Targaryen kids in the realm. Why the hell would they want to leave that behind to cross paths with the Hightowers again? Because, as usual, the heavy burden of her duty is calling.
Rhaenyra has no choice but to step up and defend her son's claim to the Driftwood throne because his very life could depend on it. If he's passed over, then Jacaerys and even Rhaenyra will look suspicious as heirs to the Iron Throne. It would give credence to the rumor that her children are illegitimate and if the rest of the Kingdom openly accepts that, then her family is at risk.
Rhaenyra isn't the only would-be Queen with a stake in this debate. I've yet to mention the only other woman who might be more entrenched in this than her: Rhaenys Velaryon (Eve Best). Even though she spent years sitting on the throne in her husband's stead, the possibility of his death means he must be succeeded by someone else — aka a man with Velaryon blood. The Queen Who Never Was is no stranger to being passed over, so she doesn't really make an effort to argue in her own defense. But don't forget that she's already voiced her opinion on this matter: she tried to convince Corlys to pass the throne to their grandaughter, Baela, but he stubbornly stuck to his guns about backing Lucerys. So with him out of commission, where does Rhaenys stand?
Rhaenys is nothing if not realistic. She has plenty of excuses to resent Rhaenyra and does so openly — which includes blatantly accusing her of murdering Laenor. But when she confronts the Princess about the Driftmark succession, she isn't being cruel just for cruelty's sake. Rhaenys' MO has always been reality, so she once again speaks the truth as she knows it: Rhaenyra's claim to the throne will not be honored. Not easily and not without a fight. Giving Driftmark to Vaemond is precisely the kind of blow that will help the Hightowers weaken Rhaenyra, and there's nothing that either of them can do to stop it.
Rhaenyra knows this all too well — which is why she finds herself at Viserys' bedside, lamenting the impossibility of the duty he's passed down to her. If the point of Aegon's prophecy is to keep the realm united, then why did he divide them by naming her heir? He might have an answer, but he's in no state to voice it: Viserys is perpetually sated on milk of the poppy, which keeps his brain muddled but his pain distant. Is it an act of mercy from Alicent, or a strategic method of keeping her husband out of commission? Based on both her shock and concern when he triumphantly arrives at the throne room, it's something in between.
The fact of the matter is simple: Alicent Hightower is a far cry from the anxiously obedient teenager we met in the series premiere. Our first hint came last week when she dropped her cloak of piety to threaten a kid with a dagger but in case you had any lingering questions about her morality, this episode features Alicent's most despicable act yet.
It turns out that a lifetime of being told that he's special, meant for greatness, and totally allowed to steal his sister's birthright has made Aegon Targaryen into a spoiled brat, a bully, and *checks notes* yep, a rapist. For what is presumably not the first time, Aegon has sexually assaulted a servant and left it upon Alicent to clean up his mess. Like an absolute pro, Alicent offers the girl a hug and then promptly coerces her into silence with the threat of a ruined reputation and the unspoken possibility of something worse.
Throughout all this, Alicent's misery is palpable. She clearly hates her son and is disgusted by his actions — but none of that is enough to stop her from protecting him. And it's certainly not enough to hold him accountable in any significant way. Sure, she slaps him, insults him, and showers only Helaena in sympathies but despite knowing him to be a monster, there's no question that Alicent will continue to defend Aegon and take actions that may one day help him win the Iron Throne.
Thankfully, Viserys manages to pull his half-decayed body from bed just in time to stop that from happening.
A barely breathing corpse he may be, but Viserys was lucid enough to process his daughter's plea for help and steps up in her defense. Or, more accurately, limps up the stairs with the help of Daemon (Matt Smith). It's a struggle (made easier by his touching reconnection with his brother), but he manages to collapse on the throne and resize authority. He throws to Rhaenys for her thoughts on Corlys' wishes, which she chooses to honor, ultimately siding with Rhaenyra and Lucerys.
Believe it or not, Vaemond is not a fan and decides to do the unthinkable in his outrage. He shouts for all seven Gods to hear, "Her children are bastards." Uh oh.
For the second time and in a very public setting, someone pretty high up in the totem pole has accused Rhaenyra's kids of being bastards. But while Aegon went unpunished (beyond a brief scolding from the King), Vaemond pays the ultimate price. Dameon "give me a reason" Targaryen has been patiently waiting for this moment. You might notice that immediately after Vaemond speaks, Daemon disappears from his post at Rhaenyra's side. It's the briefest detail, and our hint that he's off to grab the extremely sharp blade that will slice right through Vaemond's face, causing yet another loss for House Velaryon.
Corlys — who isn't even well enough to appear in this episode — has unknowingly led his house into yet another tragedy. His ambition is what got them mixed up with the Targaryen succession in the first place and all these years later, his children and brother are dead. Rhaenys in her mournful solitude is all that remains. If anyone besides Rhaenys sees a reason to mourn Vaemond, then it's never mentioned. While she stands watch in the morgue, yet another funeral looming on her horizon, the rest of the Targaryens join together for a family dinner.
If not for Viserys' speech, it would've been a tense and uncomfortable meal. But for maybe the millionth time since the series began, the King makes a plea for everybody to play nice. This time, he lays himself bare — and maybe it's because he's speaking as a man whose life is clearly waning out, but his words have some actual impact. "The crown can not stand strong if the house of the dragon remains divided," he reminds them. But when he makes his final plea, he asks that they be a family for him, if nothing else.
It's enough to strike a chord in Rhaenyra's heart, and she makes a sincere effort to extend some peace. Kicking off a night of many toasts, she raises a glass in Alicent's honor, thanking her for the years spent taking care of Viserys and even offering an apology. Alicent, in turn, shocks her father by accepting the olive branch and toasting Rhaenyra — "You will make a fine Queen," she tells her.
Both of them speak sincerely and, besides a few other uncomfortable toasts (Helaena you are so loved), their words manage to shift the mood of the meal. Jacaerys ignores Aegon's taunting and offers his aunt a dance. Around the table, everyone gets chatty and even kind of silly. We even get a glimpse of Otto Hightower smiling! I didn't know that his face could do that! They seem like a real, genuine family. For a second, I was afraid the joy might kill Viserys on the spot. Instead, he simply retires to take something for his pain — revealing that the very fragile man, on the verge of death, is truly the only thing keeping this family from imploding. The second he's gone, the happy family dinner unravels.
"The Lord of the Tides" is a lesson in what happens when you raise children in the eye of a political storm. Palace intrigue? Petty grudges? Enduring rivalries? All stuff you should probably shield your kids from at all costs. As a teen mother, Alicent once complained to her father that it would be a terrible thing to raise Aegon to steal his sister's crown: what kind of man would he become? Well now we have an answer: he's pathetic and despicable, prone to hurting others while wallowing in his own self-pity. And as for Aemond? He's a rogue prince on the rise, strategically waiting for just the right moment to sow chaos.
The brief peace that Rhaenyra and Alicent find isn't strong enough to contend with the impact they've had on their children. Jace and Luc are always on the defensive, terrified of their parentage coming to light while Alicent's boys play offense, attacking their nephews at every opportunity. It's o surprise then that Aemond seizes his chase to publicly antagonize them, toasting his Strong nephews with an all-knowing smirk. Viserys is far too frail to keep doling out motivational speeches, but it wouldn't even matter if he could. These kids already have the conflict baked into their bones. The damage has been done.
It's also not just about the kids. Otto looks none too pleased to see his daughter making ice with Rhaenyra and this might be a rare issue that he and Daemon agree on. But with everyone around them planning for the worst, the women still make plans to reconnect.
Though they smile and lock hands, the episode ends on an ominous note that casts a dark shadow over their friendship. This certainly isn't the first episode to end with Viserys' potential death, but there's a finality to this particular chapter of their lives. The house of the dragon hardly needs an excuse to tear itself apart, but that's exactly what Viserys' passing will be.
FINALLY, an explanation for why the camera keeps lingering on Alicent's handmaid, Talya. And very well timed! I've started seeing crackpot theories that she's a young version of the Red Witch, Melissandre and personally, I was starting to think it had something to do with the character being played by director Miguel Sapochnik's real-life wife, Alexis Raben. But in reality, she's just a spy! That makes lots of sense. And it means Mysaria might be coming back in a big way because she has a direct line to all of Alicent's secrets.
Viserys' inability to tell his daughter from his wife is a serious problem. Hw just accidentally gave Alicent half of a crucial prophecy and I'm terrified of what her takeaway was. Does she think she's the chosen one? Does she think Aegon is the prophesied prince? Is this just another reason for her to block Rhaenyra's claim?
I'm no political strategist but I am absolutely baffled by Rhaenyra's decision to not tell Rhaenys that she did not murder her son. Generally, people like you a lot when they learn that you didn't have their child stabbed and burned! (I know it needs to be kept on the down low so that her marriage to Daemon stays legit, but I bet Rhaenys wouldn't mind her son being far away because it's a massive improvement on him being dead.)
Listen, I am very much Team Rhaenyra but... are we sure about making Lucerys Lord of the Tides? Has that kid ever even been on a boat? Why wasn't he raised at Driftmark, a castle that he's expected to rule? And why isn't HE the one marrying Baela, who's the resident Driftmark expert?!
On the subject of Targeryen education, how is Jacaerys only just learning High Valyrian? Rhaenyra was fluent at his age. Hell, even Daenerys was fluent at his age and all she had was an abusive, s****y brother to teach her. This is the height of Targaryen power, there are all sorts of tutors and books available, so why wasn't he just raised multilingually?!
I can not overstate the unflinching badassery of Rhaenyra naming her one of her child Aegon as if to say, "Alicent, your first draft sucks, let's toss that one in the trash ad focus all our attention on my perfect beautiful boy." I don't yet know baby Aegon very well, but I already like him a thousand times more than the blonde dumpster fire who ruined Helaena's life.
On the other hand, maybe this family just lacks any and all creativity. You're telling me that we now have two characters named Aegon and two characters named Viserys?! All because Rhaenyra couldn't dream up another name?! (On the bright side, one Viserys looks to be on his way out...)
Three cheers for Matt Smith and his range: one second he's looking like an absolute puppy dog, staring sadly at Viserys and the next, he's committing a very graphic and public murder for which he will face absolutely no consequences.
LOSER: Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey Targaryen - Get publicly called a bastard once, shame on them. But twice? It might be time to pack your bags and move to Essos because this rumor isn't going away anytime soon. Having Daemon in their corner is definitely a bright side to all this, but it only helps them so much. If all of Westeros decides to accept the truth, what then? And what about how they perceive themselves? Lucerys has finally realized the truth of their parentage and seems rightfully terrified by what it could mean for his future. Poor Joffrey has no idea what awaits him...
WINNER: Rhaenyra Targaryen - A tentative win for Rhaenyra is still a win. After feeling alone in the past, her family finally unites in her defense, lessening the burden of her duty. Viserys wills himself to sit on the throne ad keep her safe, Daemon jumps at the opportunity to behead someone in her honor and even Rhaenys very reluctantly backs her claim.
LOSER: Otto Hightower - The audacity of Otto Hightower to use Viserys' sickness as an excuse to sit on the Iron Throne. Lyonel Strong would never! It must've been supremely disappointing for him when Viserys limped in to reclaim his throne but I bet it wasn't nearly as upsetting as seeing Alicent and Rhaenyra rekindle their friendship.
WINNER: Mysaria - Things are going so well for Mysaria that we straight-up forgot to worry about her — that's when you really know that someone has become a threat. She has spies everywhere, including the Red Keep, and that gives her the freedom of options. She gets to choose which side to back, if any, or she could simply keep selling secrets for her own benefit. Either way, it seems she's found the liberation that she was after.
LOSER: Rhaenys Velaryon - Death has come for House Velaryon and left Rhaenys in isolation. Both of her kids lost and her husband laid up, she had no choice but to back the women she believes is responsible for her son's murder. Things are looking bleak for Rhaenys as she continues her period of mourning, but I get the feeling that is she chooses to really renter the game, then her enemies will be in serious danger...
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The post House of the Dragon Hosts An Awkward Family Dinner in 'The Lord of the Tides' appeared first on /Film.
The Addams Family, when they first appeared on page nine of The New Yorker in 1938, were not named. The initial cartoon saw a gaunt Morticia-like woman and her towering beastly husband standing at the foot of a stairway in a dilapidated haunted house. A bat flies above, and there are spider webs in every corner. Lurking above them was some sort of ghoul. Their child? Addressing the monstrous couple was a determined vacuum cleaner salesman, clad in white, who states plainly that his product is "Vibrationless, noiseless, and a great time and back saver. No well-appointed home should be without it." The home was perhaps the least "well-appointed" imaginable.
The "family" soon began appearing in more and more strips in the New Yorker, until the members became more solidly codified. The gaunt matron remained the same, but her beastly husband became squat and lascivious. Their butler was more or less a Frankenstein monster, the uncle became a grinning fool, and the children were a vicious prankster and a sullen thanatophile. Grandma was a witch. The characters were soon dubbed the Addams Family after their creator, Charles Samuel "Chas" Addams.
The appeal of the Addams Family was that they celebrated the opposite of what ordinary humans did. Dark and stormy days brought them joy. Torture was a jolly hobby. Christmas carolers were to be murdered via molten lead. And they never encountered pushback. They do what they want to do, say what they want to say, live how they want to live, play how they want to play. They could be called counterculture icons for a stuffy age. Death-obsessed goths before it was a movement. The strips would be adapted for TV in 1964, 1973, 1992, 1998, and at the end of 2022. Films would come out in 1991, 1993, 1998, 2019, and 2021.
When Chas Addams was approached about adapting "The Addams Family" into a TV series, he didn't have names for the characters. Indeed, they had only come to be called "Addams" by dint of their author, the implication being that Addams was drawing autobiographical stories. Chas, however, would have to invent first names for his family for the screen.
As it so happens, a mural that Addams had been commissioned to paint came into play. In 2018, an article in The A.V. Club printed a few letters to The New Yorker written by a woman named Joan Blake. Blake tells the story of how the mural -- called "An Addams Family Holiday" -- brought her and Addams together, and how a subsequent kibbitz led to her invention of the Addams daughter. A portion of the letter ran thus:
"I met Addams in New York more than fifty years ago. I lived in North Carolina, but had travelled to the city for a court case involving the custody of my children. I was staying with my college roommate, and she threw a large party, which Addams attended. I was so depressed that I sat on the couch all evening. Addams sat down beside me and asked what was wrong. I told him. He took my arm, walked me to the elevator, and took me to P. J. Clarke's. He made me laugh and told me that the Addams Family was being made into a television show, and that he had no name for the little girl. I said, 'Wednesday — Wednesday's child is full of woe.' And Wednesday became her name."
The A.V. Club points out, however, that there was no way to directly substantiate Blake's story.
The suggestion that Wednesday was named after a famous poem was backed up, however, in Kevin Miserocchi's 2010 book "The Addams Family: An Evolution," Addams had to invent names for the characters for a line of stuffed toys that a New York toy company was manufacturing. According to Miserocchi, Addams had already thought of the names Morticia and Gomez, and chose Wednesday based on a friend's suggestion. No one else has come forward taking credit for Wednesday, so it could very well have been Blake. No further word of Blake has been heard, only that being grumpy at a party led to the name in question
The famous poem referred to above, of course, is "Monday's Child," a children's verse of unknown origin.
According to a 2011 edition of "Traditions, Legends, Superstition, and Sketches of Devonshire" by Anna Elizabeth Bray Stothard, the first printed source of the nursery rhyme appeared in her 1838 magazine Traditions of Devonshire, and had been "collected" there by one James Orchard Halliwell. According to Halliwell, it was a centuries-old English tradition to predict a child's fate depending on the day of the week they were born. As the poem goes: "Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace. Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go. Friday's child is loving and giving, and so on."
There are of course multiple renditions of the poem, but the above version is the one seemingly most widely accepted.
A teenage Wednesday Addams will be the central figure in Tim Burton's upcoming Netflix TV series "Wednesday," set to debut on November 23, 2022.
Read this next: 14 Sequels That Truly Didn't Need To Happen
The post How Wednesday Addams Came To Have Such An Unusual Name appeared first on /Film.
NVIDIA's GeForce Beyond GTC event featured some expected announcements (the new GeForce RTX 4000 Series graphics cards and DLSS 3) and a completely unexpected reveal: RTX Remix.
Out of the proverbial left field, NVIDIA unveiled a free modding platform capable of remastering DirectX8 and DirectX9 games to include AI-upscaled textures, ray traced effects (even highly advanced ones), and support for technologies like DLSS 3 and Reflex. To demonstrate the potential of RTX Remix, they showed the RPG classic The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind looking almost like a modern game.
The game choice was likely no coincidence, as Bethesda's titles are the most popular on modding communities like Nexus Mods. Following this mindblowing reveal, we reached out to some of the most prominent modders to get their perspective on RTX Remix.
Today, we're publishing an extensive conversation with Rebelzize, the lead developer behind Skyblivion, the unofficial remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in Skyrim's engine. We talked at length about his take on RTX Remix and also got an update on the total conversion mod project, which is now closing in on the final stage of development (volunteers can still apply here). Enjoy!
What did you first think when seeing the RTX Remix announcement from NVIDIA? Did you already speak to your team from Skyblivion about it?
Funnily enough, we were actually in Discord hanging out, we made it like a group viewing thing. We were watching the event as it was happening live with a good few people from the team.
We were a little bit shocked, to be honest. I don't think anyone was expecting NVIDIA to come up with modding tools. Especially the demo from Morrowind, it was really, really cool and exciting and just kind of mindblowing to see what this tech would allow us to do. Although it's still, at least to me, a little bit unclear how this will exactly work. I haven't really had time to read up on what these tools will actually do for us, but at least from a marketing perspective, they clearly did a good job at blowing people's minds.
Everyone from my team was really, really at least excited or intrigued by the software and by the pretty impressive visual overhaul that RTX brought to Morrowind in lighting, the AI upscaling of textures, and of course the remeshing of assets. Or at least they're replacing assets with similar counterparts, which was very cool to see in real time.
From my perspective, the ability to capture all of the assets directly from the original game seemed the most impressive RTX Remix feature. Do you agree?
Yeah, this is definitely the feature that intrigued me the most as well. It looks like you were basically exporting your scene from Morrowind, importing it into RTX Remix, and then it would allow you to export the new assets basically to replace them in your game. If you look at a project like Skyblivion, remaking the assets has been the biggest time sink. For many reasons, it's probably one of the biggest aspects of the project. There's tens of thousands of assets that need to be remade. Some are small, like a little pot or a table, and some are really big, like a castle or a house. Seeing RTX Remix, at least for a lot of the smaller objects, pulling that out of whatever resource it's using behind the scenes was very impressive. It makes you think about how it could impact mods like Skyblivion.
At the same time, to a certain extent, I do think that AI will have certain limits when it comes to artistic styles. Especially when you look at things like architecture, it's important that everything feels like it's part of one cohesive whole. When you let AI run loose.... with the Morrowind example, I did personally see assets that I thought didn't quite fit into the scene. Some things were pretty much a perfect replacement while other things just looked a bit out of place. With a small pot or a candle, it's hard to go wrong, but when you work on more intricate assets, it might still be required for someone to do the work themselves.
And I think on top of that, something that's very powerful within video game development is to try and optimize your game as well as you possibly can. For a project like Skyblivion, this means that we have certain texture materials, like standard texture materials that we have in the game. For instance, we have ten different wood textures ranking from exterior to interior, lower class, middle class, upper class, and a few mismatches that can be used in between. We do the same with bricks, mortar, and cloth materials, and you try to reuse those as much as you can, especially for smaller assets that don't need unique textures to save on texture space. I'm not sure with RTX Remix if the AI is able to take that into account because, as far as I know, it really needs a manual touch to put all the assets on the same trim sheets. But again, it's hard to know how the software and how the AI will develop.
Maybe, at some point, they will actually be able to take that over. What was potentially done in the RTX Remix demo is that they were just taking the original textures and AI upscaling them, so that might also just be how the results were achieved, and I think that that is how they did it. But that for me raises another question. For instance, Bethesda, I've been in touch with them about Skyblivion quite recently. I asked them if it would be possible for me to take some Oblivion textures and use AI upscaling to essentially remake them; I asked if that was allowed or not and they told me then that this was not something that they would allow us to do. It's up to them. But that also raised the question of, if this was the response to my request to AI upscale textures from Oblivion to use for our own mods and that was not allowed, will it be possible for other modders to use RTX Remix to AI upscale Skyrim or Oblivion or the next Elder Scrolls game's textures en masse and upload them? I'm not sure legally how that would work, but that raises an interesting question at the very least.
Interestingly, I've been in one of the RTX Remix press presentations where someone actually did ask about potential copyright issues and what developers would think about this. Well, NVIDIA said they already talked to many studios, and as far as the reaction goes, it was really good. It didn't sound like they had any issues with RTX Remix so far. That was interesting to hear, but of course, the AI upscaling textures tool seems to be pretty central to RTX Remix. If it was true that Bethesda won't allow it, then that would be very disappointing as their games are a big part of the mod community. Maybe NVIDIA can get them to relent on this topic.
Yeah, or maybe it's also just a matter of, in this case, a bigger brand, a bigger company approaching them and asking the same question; maybe that also makes a difference. We don't know what the politics are behind the scenes. Whatever the case is, I accept that, it's not a problem. I love Bethesda all the same. It's not a deal breaker for me in any case.
Another key goal of RTX Remix, according to NVIDIA, is to simplify things. Once captured, the assets will be converted to the USD format. That allows them to be tweaked in many tools, including NVIDIA's Omniverse. They've said it will be possible for one modder to be working in Blender while another is working in Adobe Substance, and their work can then be synchronized pretty much in real time. That sounded like it would be really good for huge projects like yours.
Yeah. I think a big part of modding any game is that oftentimes we don't have a lot of tools at our disposal, or at least we don't have the tools that the studios had internally to make the games. Oftentimes these tools are then made by community members, which can sometimes take years and often also don't work as well as they should. So any help you can get to make it easier to export models and remake them in the case of Skyblivion, I think that that would be a huge help. On top of that, I work with modding tools, but the definition of what modding is really depends on the actual mod. I don't remake assets, I'm not a 3D artist. When I mod, I make maps, I make interesting locations, I make quests and other content within the game. While other people take it upon themselves to remake all the assets of Skyrim, for instance, because they were very low resolution or the meshes themselves were very, very undetailed, which is a completely different skill set.
For instance, using these RTX remix tools to help me replace some meshes or maybe even make new ones for my own mods. I think would allow a lot more modders to potentially enter aspects of modeling that have previously been very difficult for them to get into. I mean, even now, you can get free assets on something like Sketchfab to use in your mods because there are some resources out there. But again, RTX Remix might simplify that process by a whole lot and give you a lot more freedom to experiment. At least, that's what it looks like. But time, I guess, will tell.
We'll have to wait for its release to know all the details. Coming to the next question, do you fear that projects like Skyblivion, Skywind, or Beyond Skyrim might be rendered obsolete by NVIDIA's RTX Remix?
Luckily I don't think so. There's one thing that RTX Remix can do that we cannot, which is the fantastic lighting. That's been its strength so far. We've seen that with Minecraft as well, for instance, and that's really cool. But other than that, I think projects like Skywind, Skyblivion, and Beyond Skyrim are more than just a coat of paint, which I think RTX Remix is to some extent. It allows you to really spruce up the older DX8 and DX9 games. It allows you to AI upscale your textures, improve the lighting, and replace or move models within the game world. And that's great. But I think the strength of projects like Skyblivion and Skywind is that they go a step further than that; they actually take the old games and put them in a new engine. With that, you get improved mechanics and a much more enjoyable player experience. Even with the best mods, Morrowind still plays like Morrowind. It doesn't change the game or the mechanics. It's easier to try and remake mechanics in a newer game. Skywind has an armor system, for instance, which allows you to separate your armor sets into all the different pieces that you're familiar with from Morrowind. Skyblivion has the armor degradation system from Oblivion remade as well. We also have spellcrafting in both Skyblivion and Skywind, so all the mechanics that people love from the original games are there.
It's just the experience of playing it is a whole lot more comfortable and more modern than Morrowind can ever be, even after an RTX Remix remaster. Because of that, I don't think that these mods or modern projects will ever be obsolete. If anything, it might help more people get into the original game and then, as a result, also make some of those new people hyped for the project that we are working on. I don't think that we're threatening one or the other. I think we can coexist and maybe in some ways help each other a little bit.
That's true. RTX Remix is mostly a remastering tool, whereas in your case, you are remaking Oblivion, but in a newer engine that can do a lot more things than the original one. So that's obviously going to be a better experience in many ways. As you said, unfortunately, RTX Remix is currently limited to DX8 and DX9 games that use fixed graphics pipelines. During the press Q&A I mentioned earlier, NVIDIA said that they are researching the possibility of expanding compatibility to more recent APIs. Let's say that they find a way to support even newer games like Skyrim. Would you want to use it to speed up the process of making assets, improving lighting, etc.?
Hell yeah, if it's available, I would want to use it 100%. I think, though, that the problem is, for one thing, the lighting that comes with RTX is only compatible with RTX GPUs. The problem there is that you're locking features away for certain users, which I think is fine as long as it's optional and you don't force people to own an RTX card, which would be a bit sad. Other than that, in terms of the assets unfortunately or maybe fortunately with the current state of the project the only assets we really have left to do are clothing, architecture, and the occasional weapon. From what I've seen RTX Remix is not able to create these assets. We try and make, as I mentioned earlier, cohesive weapons and armor and clothing. They require good concept art and certain rules to ensure that the clothing feels like it's all part of the same game world. We want the people of Cyrodiil to have a very distinct look and not look anything like Skyrim, for instance.
Cyrodiil needs to feel warm and colorful and multicultural, whereas Skyrim is more for the Nords by the Nords; it's more gray and cold, etc. So I think it's hard to portray the art style in the more intricate and difficult assets. If the RTX Remix tools could make architecture that I would 100% be excited for. While it's pretty easy to make architecture for a product like Skyblivion, since the architecture in Oblivion itself was already really good, giving the perfect cheat sheet, it still needs to be done. And because they're bigger parts and not as interesting as a weapon, it's very hard to find artists to do them. If for those kinds of assets you could use a tool to help remake them, that would be fantastic. I would 100% love to use that. But again, until we actually use the tools, we won't know their limits and how powerful they are. But yeah, should it be possible, especially for the tedious things, I would love to try and use some AI to assist.
That makes sense. With regards to the RTX tidbits, the good news is that while you actually need to own an RTX graphics card to make mods with RTX Remix, to actually play them you just need a graphics card that supports Vulkan ray tracing, so one of the latest from AMD or Intel work as well. We've talked at length about RTX Remix, but what can you tell me about Skyblivion today? It's pretty far along now, isn't it?
Honestly, it's come a really long way, especially in the last year, year and a half, I'd say we've gotten a lot of milestones checked off. Recently we finished the last creatures for the project, we have been able to do at least half of the architecture that needs to be done, which doesn't sound so exciting, but as I mentioned earlier, architectures are really, really, really big 3D workloads that not a whole lot of people are interested in, so that's been really good and pretty much all the clutter has been finished, for instance, which was also a really big 3D task. In terms of quests, I think we have around 2/3 of quests implemented at this point, which is also really huge.
When we go into the game these days to test things out, it looks and feels like a proper game. A lot of things are final and actually playable. The biggest problem that we have, and every project like us has, is that generally, people stick around for a limited time. It's a volunteer project, so there's very few people who have been here from the start and are still here. I'm a bit of a loner in that regard as a lot of the people that I used to work with when we just started have since moved on. That's their right, I'm not upset about that. I'm super glad that they've been able to do what they have done. But as the project grows older, some senior people who have been helping out with it at some point move on. Perhaps they move to a new country, they get a very high-end job, they get married, they have kids, stuff like that, which makes it sometimes a bit difficult to keep the momentum up and to keep the project moving forwards at the pace that's been moving forward. Because of that, we try and work on developer diaries, we try to give people an update. We're currently working on a new video project that we hope will be a bit more mainstream; with a bit of luck, it might go a little viral, and we'll bring in the last volunteers for this.
But I really think this is the last piece of Skyblivion's development cycle. The amount of work that actually is left at this point is actually manageable, whereas two years ago, it still felt like we were reaching for the stars and that the whole project as a releasable product was still kind of a bit dicey and uncertain. We're in a really good spot now where the last few quests just need to get implemented into the game by the talented team that's currently in charge of that, the last assets need to be made, and then the last stage of the project will really be to stitch everything together, make sure it all gets in the game and works as it should. I think that that last stage will be interesting but also very time-consuming, but very exciting at the same time.
Game developers usually say the last 10% of game development is as intensive as the previous 90% because they have to, as you said, stitch everything together and polish it up. Still, I've been following and covering Skyblivion for quite a while, so I'm glad to see it progressing well. We can say it will be released before The Elder Scrolls VI, right? Because that's quite far away.
I should hope so. It's difficult because, on one hand, I'm a really big Bethesda and Elder Scrolls fan, and on the other hand, this project needs to be released before The Elder Scrolls VI for it to actually stay relevant. If Bethesda was to announce tomorrow out of nowhere that TES VI will be coming out this holiday season, I would be very conflicted. I would be ecstatic and stressed and sad because there's no way we can wrap up Skyblivion in the next two or three months. That's not gonna be possible, but yeah, hopefully we do come out on top before TES VI; I think we can do that. I never want to make promises, but I think we can do it.
By my reckoning, The Elder Scrolls VI won't be released before 2026 or 2027, so you have time.
That's definitely more than enough time. I really hope we don't have to wait that long, though. That would suck.
On that note, I remember covering a statement of yours pleading to Bethesda to improve their engine before The Elder Scrolls VI.
That's funny, the statement blew up; I got contacted about it a lot. I didn't expect it to get as much traction as it did. What we've seen with the new Creation Engine looks very exciting. I saw a documentary from NoClip where someone was working with the engine. One of the things I noticed is that it uses very similar markers I'm familiar with from Skyrim. It's still Creation Engine, but the big difference is that it looks very good. I think from a tech perspective there are also a lot more tools at their disposal. They have mentioned that the planets are procedurally generated, which I think is insane. From the Starfield gameplay demo, I noticed that the terrain is part of the land mesh. In Skyrim, if we wanted to create a mountain, you take a land mesh and drag it up and place rocks against it. Here it was one seamless landmesh from the looks of it, which means that the tools have taken a really big leap. Maybe it'll be easier for someone like myself to start working on a planet and terraform it and make it into the biome we have in mind without spending hundreds or even thousands of hours. The lighting looks really good as well.
Indeed, Todd Howard from Bethesda said it's the biggest technological leap from game to game for the Creation Engine. Also, there was a bit of a controversy when they announced the total number of planets. Some felt that they would be useless since they were procedurally generated, but as Todd hinted later, Bethesda may have done it to make Starfield a modder's paradise.
Possibly. We've discussed it internally with the Skyblivion team, and there's already a couple who are very excited to take one of those planets and turn it into something else entirely. It seems like they know what they're doing. They've always given us modders the credit we deserve, we're a really big part of Bethesda games. They've seemingly thought about us when it comes to giving us the space and playgrounds to do our own things, and that's cool. Hopefully, as with Fallout and Elder Scrolls, the Starfield modding community will take off and have its own place.
Would you want to participate in Starfield modding, or do you plan to focus on Skyblivion?
I kind of have to focus on Skyblivion. I won't lie though, I will certainly play Starfield because it's a game I've been looking forward to for a very long time. I will definitely also give the modding tools a look to see what's changed. But when it comes to actually making mods for Starfield, I think I'll let that one slide and leave it to my fellow modders who are currently not tied up with larger projects.
Thank you so much for your time.
The post RTX Remix Q&A with Skyblivion Lead Dev – Hopes, Dreams, and Worries by Alessio Palumbo appeared first on Wccftech.
This method appears to be the winner:
del /f/s/q folder-name > nul && rmdir /s/q folder-name
Tested on a ~10TB directory (containing many hundreds of thousands of files) residing on a SATA-connected 32TB Windows Storage Spaces SSD array. Time to delete: ~10 seconds. On a USB 3.1-connected 32TB RAID 0 HDD array, the process took just over a minute.
Despite a claim to the contrary, I found this robocopy method to be slower:
mkdir "empty" && robocopy "empty" "deletetest" /mir /w:1 /r:10 /mt:32 > nul
(See also Robocopy: Is /MT with more threads faster?)
Speaking of timing commands in Windows, check out this neat batch script by user87453 for approximating *nix's time command:
@echo off
@setlocal
set start=%time%
:: Runs your command
cmd /c %*
set end=%time%
set options="tokens=1-4 delims=:.,"
for /f %options% %%a in ("%start%") do set start_h=%%a&set /a start_m=100%%b %% 100&set /a start_s=100%%c %% 100&set /a start_ms=100%%d %% 100
for /f %options% %%a in ("%end%") do set end_h=%%a&set /a end_m=100%%b %% 100&set /a end_s=100%%c %% 100&set /a end_ms=100%%d %% 100
set /a hours=%end_h%-%start_h%
set /a mins=%end_m%-%start_m%
set /a secs=%end_s%-%start_s%
set /a ms=%end_ms%-%start_ms%
if %ms% lss 0 set /a secs = %secs% - 1 & set /a ms = 100%ms%
if %secs% lss 0 set /a mins = %mins% - 1 & set /a secs = 60%secs%
if %mins% lss 0 set /a hours = %hours% - 1 & set /a mins = 60%mins%
if %hours% lss 0 set /a hours = 24%hours%
if 1%ms% lss 100 set ms=0%ms%
:: Mission accomplished
set /a totalsecs = %hours%*3600 + %mins%*60 + %secs%
echo command took %hours%:%mins%:%secs%.%ms% (%totalsecs%.%ms%s total)
Thanks to the Duffer Brothers, I can no longer watch any Sean Astin movie without mourning the tragic death of Bob Newby from "Stranger Things," and "The Goonies" is no exception. In the classic childhood adventure, Mikey Walsh (Astin) leads a group of friends –- collectively known as the Goonies –- in their search for a hidden treasure to save their neighborhood from being demolished to make way for a golf resort. "Superman" director Richard Donner directed the film that was penned by Chris Columbus, who later directed the first two "Home Alone" movies.
But it was Steven Spielberg, the film's executive producer, who came up with the story. The revered filmmaker got the idea for the movie while filming another movie, which is not uncommon. John Hughes got the idea for "Home Alone" while working with Macaulay Culkin on the set of "Uncle Buck," and Will Smith pitched the concept for "Men in Black 3" while shooting the sequel a decade prior.
I immediately assumed the movie Spielberg worked on at the time was either one of the first two "Indian Jones" movies. The similarities between the two booby trap-filled adventure films are unmistakable. I imagined that while on set, Spielberg asked himself what would an "Indian Jones" movie tailored for kids look like. Wrong! According to the Independent, popular belief is that the movie Spielberg was filming at the time is the period drama "The Color Purple," and the question he asked himself that led to "The Goonies" is one that perhaps aspiring child psychologists should use for their dissertations.
What kind of wild adventures do kids get into on rainy days? That's what Steven Spielberg asked himself while working on "The Color Purple." Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, and Oprah Winfrey, the movie based on Alice Walker's novel of the same name follows the life of Celie (Goldberg), a southern woman who longs for a reunion with her long-lost sister, Nettie (Akosua Busia). In the first act, a young Celie (Desreta Jackson) and Nettie run around, play hand-clapping games, and read outside in a field full of flowers. Later, an adult Celie reads a book to kids on the porch while a storm approaches. Other than these scenes, I can't think of anything about this movie with heavy themes of abuse, incest, pedophilia, and a laundry list of bad isms that would've incited Spielberg's curiosity about children's rainy day escapades.
But to answer the question, rainy days are typically boring. When I was a kid, I either sat on the porch and sang "Rain, Rain, Go Away," or stayed inside and watched TV and played with toys. I recall an episode of one of my favorite childhood cartoons, Disney's "Recess," in which it rained every day of the school week, so the kids couldn't play outside during recess and had to sit in the cafeteria instead; by the end of the week, they lost their minds. So, it takes one heck of an imagination to come up with a story about a band of kids who goes on a wild treasure hunt to save their neighborhood while fighting off an Italian crime family.
Though Spielberg didn't direct the movie, he was very much so involved with bringing the story to screen. For Sean Astin, this was almost a bad thing.
During a 2019 appearance on the "Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum" podcast, Sean Astin talked about how Steven Spielberg, along with a few other Hollywood honchos, was in the room the time he auditioned for his role in "The Goonies." He recalled the hilarious story of the director's personal assistant escorting him to the audition room:
"So we're walking through it and he says 'Are you nervous?' And I said 'Yeah, a little bit.' He goes 'Why?', and I said 'I don't know.' He goes 'Well, you're just about to meet the most powerful man in Hollywood' and he opens the door. And he had this smile on his face. And I was like 'Ok.'"
It gets better. Astin begins to forget his lines during one particular scene and starts panicking. The folks in the room calm him down and ask him to start over. It gets worse from there. Astin explained:
"I've now psyched myself out. But at the same spot I forget. I go 'Sh*t!' And Steven gets up and walks out of the room. And I'm like 'Well, I guess I'm never going to make another movie in Hollywood.' I'm a guy who's cursed, you probably don't want as the star of your kid movie a kid that says 'sh*t.'"
Luckily, Astin got through it and got to star as the hero in one of the most iconic child adventures movies ever. Sadly, Bob Newby, superhero, didn't enjoy the same fate on "Stranger Things." Anyways, Astin said there's video of his audition for "The Goonies" floating around on YouTube somewhere, and lo and behold, I found it! Enjoy!
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The post The Goonies All Started With A Simple Question In Steven Spielberg's Mind appeared first on /Film.
Alright, finally.
Last week I posted about Angelic Layer, an anime from the early 200o’s. I mentioned briefly that it’s become less science fiction and more science fact with time (although we’re not at all at battle dolls just yet). But mainly, I talked about how hopeful it was that the fictional company in the show was trying to make prosthetics, and only made the dolls to help pay for that endeavor.
I ended that post by admitting that I was meant to be talking about the Oculus, but got distracted with 1000 words of anime babble, oops.
I swear the two thoughts were connected somehow, and not just…’heehoo both have headsets’[1].
See, the thing is, the Oculus is…not in the fictional world of Angelic Layer, at all. Facebook runs it, and they have a product that could do a lot of good…if they’d only gear it in that direction.
Imagine for a moment that you’re in a slightly altered version of the fictional world of Angelic Layer. The Battle Dolls have gotten bigger, and more impressive. The days of Barbie dolls fighting are over, these dolls are now people-sized. Not androids, not robots, they have no AI. These are people-shaped tech that you can control and move around when you put on a headset. Sometimes they do work, moving around in environments people can’t usually be in. Sometimes they’re on TV, playing full sports, controlled by people in little booths; e-sports and physical sports mixing into one genre.
Now, add to that fictional world that you have no goddamned legs.
The company never made prosthetics, no one ever thought or cared to, and now you’re surrounded by technology that would greatly improve your life, and it’s being used for e-sports.
No one was morally obligated to make this into prosthetics for you, the tech is theirs, but like, jeez, right?
That’s how I feel looking at the Oculus Rift.
It’s not a totally fair comparison, admittedly. The Oculus isn’t the one thing between me and having working legs. It’s not even the one thing between me and going outside.
I got an Oculus just after Dad died. I had been bedridden almost entirely for six months, people brought me my meals in bed and I had the mental health of a neglected guinea pig. I couldn’t get outside without being in agony and risking badly hurting myself, which made the work-to-reward of doing so…really not worth it.
I got out of the house for overseeing the cleaning up of my old apartment, get paperwork filed, and go to my dad’s memorial. Not exactly spirit lifters.
So, the Oculus. It has a sitting mode, and lets you do things without leaving the house. Put on a headset and get new scenery, get to feel like you’re doing something, going somewhere. With a push of a button, I could jump, something I hadn’t been able to do in months, a year, even. I could open games and be out of that stupid bed, out of that stupid room.
Except no I couldn’t, because ‘sitting mode’ isn’t wheelchair accessible. I could screw around with one or two things in every game I picked up, but every single one required you to do something impossible from a wheelchair. Every normal motion has its handicapped player smacking the remotes into the wheels, armrests, and leg rests. You have to be able to turn and move in ways impossible from a bulky chair.
In many games, this feels very fixable. You have to be able to lean down or reach out to grab things and interact with the environment, and there are no settings for alternative motion. You can’t tell the system ‘Hey, not only am I sitting, but I can’t stop sitting. Please just give me the items I point at.’.
From a coding and design perspective, of course, it’s more complicated than that, but from a user perspective…It needs those grabby claws you can get at a dollar store.
It’s new tech in the grand scheme of things, but it’s the same sensation as the above theoretical. No one is obligated to make disability-friendly VR, no one is evil or wrong for not making it. But, like, bro, you’re telling me that the only thing between me and a near-normal VR experience is…a dinosaur head on a stick?
Like the hazy fogs that often coat their landscapes, dystopian and post-apocalyptic films are heavy and dense. They ponder frightening futures while critiquing present-day social issues that might lead us there. Visually, they are often gritty and bleak, with stark images of what might be waiting for us in the years to come.
Any dystopian film worth its salt asks its viewers to process some deep issues. The "Blade Runner" films explore humanity and empathy. "V for Vendetta" presents a futuristic London under total surveillance and ruled by an oppressive police force. "The Matrix" warns of our reliance on technology and questions the very notion of reality.
A dystopian film is an ambitious project to begin a film career, but that's exactly what Australian filmmaker George Miller did with the 1979 film "Mad Max." The movie is a simple revenge story that leans on elaborate stunts and unique visuals to do the heavy lifting. The gamble paid off and "Mad Max" was an instant hit, even though Miller initially thought he had a disaster on his hands.
George Miller didn't start out as a filmmaker. In his 20s, he was an ER doctor. While completing his residency in medical school he was also honing his skills as a director. By 1978, Miller had quit medical school and borrowed enough money to produce his first feature film, the dystopian "Mad Max."
In the film, war and oil shortages (a very real thing in the 1970s) create a post-apocalyptic setting where only the vilest and most vengeful survive. Miller has described the film as taking place "next Wednesday, when all the bad things we read in the news come to pass." When a former cop's family is murdered, he sets out for revenge against the gang responsible for their deaths.
Miller made "Mad Max" on a shoestring budget, using a then-unknown Mel Gibson as the eponymous protagonist. In an interview with The Guardian, Miller admitted that the production made him question if he was cut out to be a filmmaker:
"The film was a complete disaster to me in terms of what I wanted to do. I really thought I wasn't cut out to make films. We had no money for an editor, so I cut the film myself for a year. And every day for a year I was faced with the evidence of what I hadn't done, what I'd failed to do. Every day facing this film, this wreck."
As it turns out, "Mad Max" was anything but a disaster, becoming a global hit. Miller wowed audiences with innovative camera shots and editing that were far ahead of their time. The success of the film kickstarted a franchise that spawned several blockbuster sequels and allowed Miller to explore far beyond the Australian wastelands.
You might (and maybe should) consider Miller an Australian Martin Scorsese. At age 77, he's been making films for more than 50 years, if you count the short films he directed before "Mad Max." And like Scorsese, he continues to push the boundaries of filmmaking, making up new rules as he goes while producing arguably his best, most breathtaking work yet, all while in his seventies.
For the long-awaited sequel "Mad Max: Fury Road," Miller broke the long-established rule of thirds cinematography technique, framing the action of the entire film in the center. Miller also boldly shifted the franchise protagonist from male to female, making Tom Hardy's Max a secondary character and allowing Charlize Theron's Furiosa to take the spotlight.
Although Miller is best known for the "Mad Max" franchise, his filmography is surprisingly diverse. Fans of his post-apocalyptic films might be surprised to see titles like "The Witches of Eastwick" and "Babe" on his resumé. Miller's sole Academy Award came as the result of an animated film of all things, winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature for his 2006 film "Happy Feet."
And though there are two "Mad Max" films on the horizon -- both prequels to "Mad Max: Fury Road" -– that hasn't stopped Miller from genre-hopping again. Last August, he released the fantasy drama "Three Thousand Years of Longing" starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba.
It has been an amazing career for a director who considered his first film a "disaster." And in his fifth decade of filmmaking, Miller is showing no signs of slowing down.
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Wes Anderson is one of the most distinguished working directors today, but he thought his career might be over after his very first film. The young director was incredibly excited for the world to see "Bottle Rocket" when his Sundance short got picked up by a major Hollywood producer. Sadly, he faced a seriously crushing reality check when the film was poorly received. It was a miracle that he got his second film made, especially since it was an even more expensive venture. Luckily, "Bottle Rocket" gained Anderson a few fans in the movie business that stepped in to fund his sophomore film — the ultimate quirky coming-of-age comedy, "Rushmore."
"Bottle Rocket" follows a group of three novice criminals on a haphazard spree. It was also the acting and co-writing debut of Owen Wilson, Anderson's college friend. Polly Platt, who produced hugely popular '80s rom-coms like "Say Anything" and "Terms of Endearment," decided to make the short into a feature. The film also caught the attention of Hollywood legend James Caan, whose credits included "The Godfather" and "El Dorado." "Once we got accepted to Sundance I always thought we'd get picked up," actor Robert Musgraves told ICTN. "But I always thought we'd raise $500,000 to do it on an independent scheme instead of major Hollywood stepping in."
The promising crime-comedy completely flopped at the box office. "I was never more confident in my life than when we made that film and never less confident than when we screened it," Anderson confessed at a Q&A (via FORA.tv). "We screened in Santa Monica at the AMC 17 for an audience of 400 people and as the reels unspooled... I began to see people leaving," he recalled. "They were leaving in groups — people don't go to the bathroom in groups. They're not coming back."
After the poor response that "Bottle Rocket" got, Anderson did not have high hopes for his future as a director. "Looking back, I don't even know how we managed to get 'Rushmore' made, or why," he admitted to Film4. "We'd spent many years making ['Bottle Rocket'] — well, virtually no one saw it." Anderson's debut feature did impress a few people, though, most notably a producer at Touchstone Pictures. "It sort of built up a little cult following eventually but it had a few fans that were in the movie business, like Ross, who sort of set us up with Disney," Anderson explained to Charlie Rose.
The director's sophomore film was an even riskier endeavor. "'Rushmore' was more expensive and maybe even a bit stranger," he told Film4. "And yet it seemed to just happen. So I think it was just lucky." It wasn't all luck though — his first film taught him a lesson. "Once we showed ['Bottle Rocket'] publicly and I saw that people could reject this completely... that changed my perspective permanently about what it's like to bring a movie to an audience and what you can expect," he explained.
Even still, Anderson would not allow the hostile reception from "Bottle Rocket" to cloud his creative judgment. "It didn't make me change how I went about doing 'Rushmore,'" he asserted. "Once 'Bottle Rocket' was finished and suddenly somebody said we'll do another one, then that was what I was really focused on."
"Rushmore" was a roaring success, featuring an unforgettable debut performance from Jason Schwartzman and a supporting role played by the incomparable Bill Murray. The two actors would go on to star in nearly every one of Anderson's subsequent films, forming an unstoppable cinematic force.
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