Today, November 18, marked a day of shocking developments in the artificial intelligence space. In the first incident, the cofounder of OpenAI, Sam Altman, was sacked from the position of CEO of OpenAI by the company's board of directors. In the fallout of the decision, company president Greg Brockman also resigned from his position. In other news, Amazon announced it is trimming jobs at its Alexa voice assistant unit, citing shifting business priorities and a greater focus on generative artificial intelligence. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.
The case for and against the gargoyles in Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame
31.10.2023 - 17:33 / polygon.com
A Century of Disney
[Transcript of the hearing of THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES V. THE GARGOYLES]
ALL RISE!
You may be seated. Good morning, everyone. We have a long day of cases ahead of us, so let’s just get straight to the point. The defendants today — Hugo, Victor, and Laverne, colloquially known as The Gargoyles From Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame — have been accused of tarnishing an otherwise fantastic film. The alleged crime was committed on June 21, 1996, in the midst of what later became known as the Disney Renaissance era. But before we get too deep into the film itself, I believe some background information is required.
In 1831, novelist Victor Hugo released his book Notre-Dame de Paris. It was a love letter to the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which, over the centuries since its construction, had fallen into disrepair. While a large portion of the novel is devoted to describing Notre-Dame in great detail, Notre-Dame de Paris is more known for its central story and characters, namely a hunchback named Quasimodo, who lives in the cathedral’s bell tower. He falls in love with a Romani girl named Esmeralda, who also attracts the affection of the Archdeacon Claude Frollo and aristocratic military figure Captain Phoebus.
The story was a massive hit and the novel was published around the world, with its English-language title becoming The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. With this success, of course, came cross-media adaptations.
The first question when Disney planned to adapt The Hunchback of Notre Dame into a children’s animated musical was inevitably, “How will they make this novel palatable for kids? How will they remove all the adultery, torture, rape, murder, and suicide?” Hunchback is no stranger to adaptations that sanitize the material, including the 1836 opera La Esmeraldaby Victor Hugo himself, as well as several film adaptations, all of which walk back Esmeralda’s death from the novel and allow her to survive. Making the story accessible and acceptable for children, however, is a major challenge.
Disney’s film wound up focusing on Quasimodo as the main character of what was originally a pure ensemble story, as many other adaptations did before it. Esmeralda and Phoebus get a romantic arc, while Quasimodo gets an ending focusing on self-acceptance. In all, the film was what people have come to expect from Disney-fied adaptations, though The Hunchback of Notre Dame is still surprisingly dark compared to most Disney animated features.
One criticism routinely aimed at the film, though, is the management of that grim tone. To counteract it, the five-person screenwriting team and directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise added many moments and characters meant to provide comic relief. This
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gamespot.com
15.11.2023 / 18:40
October 2023's Top-Selling Console In The US Revealed, And It's No Surprise
The PS5 dominates the hardware charts for another month.
gameinformer.com
15.11.2023 / 14:54
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Was The Best-Selling Game In The US Last Month, PS5 Remained Top Console
Video game analyst group Circana has released its October 2023 U.S. Video Game Market Highlights report and in it, the company reveals that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was the best-selling game of the month. The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console of the month, too.
destructoid.com
13.11.2023 / 18:59
PS5 accounted for over half the UK console market recently
The console wars continue to rage on, as always. Nothing gets the gaming market fired up quite like being at loggerheads with competitors. There’s never usually a clear winner, but for the UK, the PS5 seems to be outshining the rest.
polygon.com
13.11.2023 / 13:23
All the new Christmas and holiday movies and specials coming out this winter
The winter holiday season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. The moment Halloween is over, holly springs up, lights adorn houses, and Mariah Carey belts loudly for all to hear! And, of course, the Christmas specials come rolling out.
videogameschronicle.com
10.11.2023 / 13:28
Modern Warfare 3 is being bundled with PS5 ‘Slim’ for $499, and with the launch PS5 for £400
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wowhead.com
10.11.2023 / 02:25
Diablo 4 x CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice Collaboration - Bubble Tea and Gaming Together!
Looking for a refreshing drink to sip while slaying demons? CoCo Fresh Tea has you covered with the newest Diablo 4 collaboration! CoCo Tea Collaboration Announcement The newest Diablo 4 collaboration on the block, CoCo Fresh Tea has partnered with Blizzard to promote the Mother and Father of Sanctuary themselves… along with the rest of the mere mortals, as well. Offering several themed drinks exclusive to this promotion, as well as Diablo themed merchandise, players can have their thirst quenched while they quench their thirst for Potent Blood in the Season of Blood — it's a tasty win-win. Those looking to take advantage of this partner-sip can use CoCo Fresh Tea's store locator to find their closest location.
videogameschronicle.com
06.11.2023 / 15:31
A Smash Bros edition Switch OLED is coming to the US for Black Friday
A new Nintendo Switch OLED bundle with a Super Smash Bros Ultimate design is being released in the US for Black Friday.
polygon.com
03.11.2023 / 19:31
Echo might be the most R-rated thing the MCU’s done yet
The first trailer for Marvel Studios’ Echo is full of surprises. It’s shockingly violent, as we watch Kingpin beat a man half to death, and see his adoptive daughter Maya Lopez (the eponymous Echo) throwing savage blows and snapping the necks of street-level scum. There’s even a very brief Daredevil cameo. (OK, that last part is not really a surprise; we knew that Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio would return as Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, respectively, for Echo.)
mmorpg.com
01.11.2023 / 20:01
Survival MMO The Day Before Delayed Yet Again, This Time Releasing Early Access On December 7th
The Day Before, the post-apocalyptic survival MMO, has seen yet another delay, this time with Fntastic delaying the game till December 7th.
wccftech.com
01.11.2023 / 18:55
The Day Before Final Trailer Reveals December 7 Early Access Date
The saga of The Day Before just got a new chapter as developer Fntastic published the game's final trailer and revealed that the game would be released on December 7 in early access instead of the prior November 10th date.
pcgamer.com
01.11.2023 / 14:19
Lenovo launches the Legion Go and aims straight for the handheld PC crown
Lenovo announced its plans to enter the handheld gaming PC market back in September and two months later, the Legion Go is now finally in Lenovo's stores. Depending on where you live, two models are up for grabs, with both sporting a huge 8.8-inch screen, lots of RAM and storage, plus a decent sized battery.