Podcasts about DreamWorks

  • 2,729PODCASTS
  • 4,917EPISODES
  • 56mAVG DURATION
  • 1DAILY NEW EPISODE
  • Jun 21, 2026LATEST

POPULARITY

20192020202120222023202420252026

Categories



Best podcasts about DreamWorks

Show all podcasts related to dreamworks

Latest podcast episodes about DreamWorks

Coffee and Coaching
The Road to Abilene: Why Teams Choose What Nobody Actually Wants

Coffee and Coaching

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2026 17:30


One hot Texas afternoon, four people climbed into a car with no air conditioning and drove 85 km to Abilene for dinner. The drive was brutal. The food was bad. They came home exhausted.Not one of them had wanted to go.THE STORY BEHIND THE PARADOXJerry B. Harvey, professor of management science at George Washington University, told this story about his own family in his 1974 paper "The Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement."His father-in-law suggested the trip. His wife said it sounded great. Everyone agreed. Only on the way back, in silence, did the truth come out—starting with his mother-in-law: "To tell the truth, I didn't enjoy it. I only went because the three of you were so enthusiastic."Every single person had gone along because they thought the others wanted to.THE COUNTERINTUITIVE COREAfter several episodes on managing conflict, Harvey flips the question."It's not about managing conflict better. The more dangerous organizational failure is the inability to manage agreement."Groups take actions that contradict what every individual privately wants—because each person wrongly believes everyone else is enthusiastic. The result is a decision nobody supports, frustration all round, and bewilderment about how it happened.The mechanics: members privately agree about the situation and what to do, but fail to communicate it. Everyone misreads the collective reality, acts against their own wishes, and then blames each other—which sets up the next trip to Abilene.WHY IT'S NOT GROUPTHINKA crucial distinction. In groupthink, people genuinely talk themselves into believing the bad decision is right. In the Abilene Paradox, they never believe it—they just go along.The engine is the fear of separation: the anxiety that voicing dissent will get you ostracized. People run "negative fantasies" about what happens if they speak up, and the imagined risk of exclusion outweighs the real cost of going along."Clark's first stage of psychological safety is inclusion safety. Here we have the opposite—the fear of exclusion."WHY THE LEADER SHOULD SPEAK LASTA practical tip: in a meeting where you want honest input, be the last to speak. The moment you reveal your view, people read your face and align to it. The hope of belonging quietly overrides their real opinion.THE JAKOB SCENARIO ON ROLEPLAYS.AIThis is exactly why Bernhard built a scenario to practise it. "Where Are We Actually Going?"—free in June.Five friends from their London Business School MBA plan a trip. It opens in a WhatsApp group. Jakob says: "Let's go to Greece." Jonah: "Greece is nice, I'm easy though." Another: "Croatia would be lovely…" And it drifts. Your job: get the group to a place everyone actually wants. Harder than it sounds. (Make all the personas agree on one location and you might win a prize.)"Reading about the Abilene Paradox is the easy part. Practice is where it shows if we actually inhaled what we learned."The scenario isn't negotiation or facilitation. It's closer to hearing what people are not saying—and slowing the group down long enough to find out what they actually want before the booking link goes out.ONE TOOL TO TRYThe "three hats" exercise (adapted from DreamWorks): assign an optimist, a realist, and a pessimist, and argue the case from all three roles. Suddenly you're not the person saying "I don't want to go to Abilene"—you talk it through, see the pros and cons, then decide.Today's invitation: start listening for what people don't say but actually think.REFERENCE: Harvey, J. B. (1974). The Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement. Organizational Dynamics.LINKS: bernhardkerres.com | roleplays.ai#AbileneParadox #PsychologicalSafety #Teams #Leadership #Coaching

Toy Power Podcast
#447: VENOM & ToyFare Banter!!

Toy Power Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 20, 2026 67:40


This Week on the Toy Power Podcast; we have another Segment for The Team - this round featuring the arch Enemy of the M.A.S.K. Heroes - Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem - V.E.N.O.M.! We take into effect their Appearances, their Mask's Capabilities & but not limited to; even pulling from their Stats. The usual run-down of: Leader, Muscle, Specialist, Wheelman & of course Vehicle! This was a fun one. Who would you have picked?!? Then Trent flips through the Magazine Pages of old ToyFare issues - in our repeat "From The Vault" segment. This round it focuses on Predictions (from the early 2000's) with us trying to guess what direction the articles where trying to go in. Plus another Fun article focused around the "Dirty Little Secrets" surrounding our beloved: Masters Of The Universe property. How many do we know? How many did you know? Enjoy!Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

movies australia film news star wars masters marvel predictions fun leader dc batman team modern spider man aliens video games superman enemy alien joker wrestling iron man nerds wwe star trek lego nintendo mask avengers playstation kickstarter comics xbox supernatural foot collection geeks godzilla mandalorian pop culture countdown xmen deadpool endgame aussie wolverines justice league predator toys terminator mortal kombat jedi jurassic park muscle stats specialist venom vintage blade transformers vehicles comic books superheroes sf warner san diego comic con spider verse skywalker aquaman reaction collecting invincible power rangers gremlins conan robocop sega street fighter animal crossing rambo banter wwf tmnt karate kid dceu mk vader mando scorpion hasbro mattel south australia golden girls he man wb dreamworks centurion spawn bumblebee appearances gi joe ninja turtles capabilities collectors bucky thundercats bluey masters of the universe macgyver voltron visionaries kenner jem toxic avenger idw g1 my little pony shredder she ra action figures universal monsters optimus prime mcfarlane sub zero dirty little secrets skeletor megatron ryu inspector gadget sota motu duke nukem remco casey jones lego masters toy fair robotech neca tonka toys that made us boss fight bronies savage worlds pop culture podcasts playmates street sharks marvel legends micronauts hot toys super7 mmpr australian podcasts autobot decepticon toxie a-team takara battle beast starcom from the vault wheelman coleco zoids bravestarr toxic crusaders toy collecting galoob dino riders vintage toys toybiz bucky o'hare battle beasts defenders of the earth toyfare mythic legions skeleton warriors mafex nytf plastic crack motuc action figure adventure toy power podcast
Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect
"SHREK 5 | OFFICIAL TEASER TRAILER"

Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 19, 2026 4:29


Linktree: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠⁠Join The Normandy For Ad-Free NME, Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠⁠ In this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, Analytic Dreamz reacts to the official teaser trailer for Shrek 5, the long-awaited return of the beloved ogre franchise arriving in theaters summer 2027. After 16 years since Shrek Forever After, DreamWorks brings back Mike Myers as Shrek, Eddie Murphy as Donkey, and Cameron Diaz as Fiona, now joined by their teenage children—including Zendaya voicing daughter Felicia—in a whirlwind big-city adventure. Analytic Dreamz breaks down the hyper-detailed new animation style, emotional family moments, nostalgic humor, and key teaser highlights like Donkey's antics and fresh story hints. From the updated character designs and visual upgrades to fan reactions and what this means for the next chapter in Far Far Away.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

GEEKS CORNER
Hexed Trailer, Pride Nite

GEEKS CORNER

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 19, 2026 39:24


Welcome to another exciting episode of Geeks Corner! This week, Mr. Daps and Caitie Bear return to the studio to chat about Disneyland After Dark events, look ahead to upcoming Disney animation and sci-fi trailers, and face off in a brutal round of Disney "This or That." Episode HighlightsHere is what you can look forward to in this week's episode:The History of "Welcome": The show kicks off with a fun park music fact: Phil Collins originally wrote the song "Welcome" for the 2003 animated feature Brother Bear, which was later famously utilized in Disneyland's Parade of Dreams starting in 2005. The hosts reminisce about the moose movie, share a clip of the song, and remember the incredible hype of waiting hours on Main Street for that parade back in 2005.CHOC Walk 2026: Mark your calendars for August 2nd! The team shares details on the annual CHOC Walk through the park to raise funds and awareness for the Children's Hospital of Orange County. Daps Magic has been supporting this cause for nearly twenty years, and the hosts explain how you can help out—even if you aren't a morning person—by registering as a "sleeping bear" to raise funds from home.Disneyland After Dark: Pride Night Review: Mr. Daps and Caitie Bear share their experiences from the first night of Pride Night, praising its positive, celebratory, and uplifting environment. Highlights include friendship bracelet trading, character sightings like Tinker Bell and her fairy friends performing "Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust," and a structured Royal Theater queue featuring Princess Aurora, Maleficent, and the Three Good Fairies. They also brainstorm an idea for a fully live-action Wonderland face character group featuring the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter.First Teaser for Hexed: The duo breaks down the brand-new teaser trailer for Walt Disney Animation Studios' upcoming November film, Hexed. While the magic and witchcraft premise seems promising, Caitie Bear notes the character animation reminds her heavily of Onward and Frozen, while Mr. Daps questions if the design leans a bit too close to DreamWorks rather than traditional Disney.Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Trailer: Caitie Bear, who recently finished crying through the end of season 3, shares her immense excitement for the final trailer of Strange New Worlds Season 4. The hosts discuss how well the series has built Captain Pike's backstory, planted the seeds for Kirk's future crew, and kept the zany, sci-fi spirit of the franchise alive.A High-Stakes Game of "This or That": Mr. Daps puts Caitie Bear on the spot with five quick-fire comparisons:The Week in GeekCHOC Walk - Join our Team - https://www.chocwalk.org/dapsmagic Caption of the Week Photo https://dapsmagic.com/2026/06/jammitors-caption-of-the-week/ Disneyland After Dark: Pride Nite https://dapsmagic.com/2026/06/guide-disneyland-after-dark-pride-nite-2026/ Hexed Teaser Trailer https://dapsmagic.com/2026/06/teaser-trailer-released-for-hexed-by-walt-disney-animation-studios/ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Trailer https://dapsmagic.com/2026/06/new-trailer-for-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-takes-enterprise-crew-closer-to-original-series/Connect With Us!Read the Latest News: Check out all the Disney and geek news as it happens at DapsMagic.com.Join the Post-Show: Head over to DapsHQ.com immediately following the episode to catch Daps After Dark and access exclusive community content.Don't Miss Photoniks: Tune in this Friday for a special Father's Day episode of Photoniks featuring Mr. Daps, Clocky, and a very special appearance by Mr. Daps' father.Subscribe on YouTube: Stay tuned for a massive wave of upcoming travel videos from Pride Night, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney Resort, and Hong Kong Disneyland .

Coffee Break
Finally, A Normal Episode! | Coffee Break

Coffee Break

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2026 64:16


Episode 223, Season 5Episode 223, Season 5In this episode, we sit back and have a fun time talking about the newest highlights and reveals about whats happening inside mainstream media. Dreamworks has doubled down with a new teaser for the upcoming "Shrek 5", while on the other hand, Pixar is unleashing their fifth installment of "Toy Story". Jessie Eisenburg wants nothing to do with Mark Zuckerberg and our boys over at "21 Jumpstreet" might have something new coming. It's all here, in this super chill podcast! If you'd like to learn more, please explore my other projects, PowerOn, which features video game Let's Plays, and my companion piece, film reviews.#toystory5 #podcast #spidermanbrandnewday #obssesion PowerOn. Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaLJYknNhCzfyrMEBebx3MwSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZdGk210vcQv1tQDUQ7y7Z?si=giPaap-TR-W2nPUe_fy2VgTwitter: https://twitter.com/BottomBarryInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/barrybottomproductions/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@barrybottomproductionsApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coffee-break/id1591091504Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0317d2a6-fa8a-4cca-9e86-d197fcf4aae7/coffee-break

10/10 You're Great
Shrek the Third

10/10 You're Great

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2026 90:45


It's a music podcast! And Shrek is one of the most musical movies out there! Kind of! Also this one is really bad and does not leverage the hits-- so look forward to our intimate disection of this Dreamworks classic. Also up for donk-shreking: A new hybrid bev that is better than the hybrid donkey dragon monster babies, we wear Julia's jeans for a night, and who could've seen it coming but Chris has a showtime and its the same as it was the last 30 times. 10/10 You're Great is presented by The Alternative. Support the site and our show on Patreon.Follow us on Instagram. You can also find Chris @ChrisFavata on most social media sites.Call the Hot Hotline: 360-559-2371Send an email: 1010youregreat@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

acast dreamworks shrek the third
Geek Freaks Headlines
Shrek 5: First Real Trailer Breakdown and Why the Swamp Still Hits

Geek Freaks Headlines

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2026 1:18


The first full trailer for Shrek 5 finally arrived, and this episode breaks down everything it shows one year out from release. We cover the new footage, the storybook opening that pays homage to original author William Steig, and our best look yet at the redesigned Shrek and Donkey. The trailer takes the whole Shrek family, now with adult kids in tow, to a new and noticeably rainier corner of the map that feels less friendly than the Far Far Away fans know. The standout gag is a creepy snowman who reads a lot like a parody of Olaf, and it sets the tone for a movie that looks ready to have a lot of fun.We run through the returning trio of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, plus the new generation joining the cast: Zendaya as daughter Felicia, with Marcello Hernandez and Skyler Gisondo as her triplet brothers Fergus and Farkle, the same babies fans met in Shrek Forever After. There is also good news behind the camera, with franchise veterans Walt Dohrn and Conrad Vernon back in the director chairs. From there it gets personal with some millennial nostalgia, a Toys R Us Shrek 2 stocking story, and an appreciation for one of the all-time great DVD menus.Timestamps0:00 First real trailer for Shrek 5 and our best look at the redesign0:08 Storybook opening and the homage to author William Steig0:17 The Shrek family heads to a new, rainier location0:25 The Olaf-style snowman and the movie's sense of fun0:33 Returning cast and the new generation joining0:52 Walt Dohrn and Conrad Vernon back in the director chairs1:02 Release date, the 26 year gap, and franchise nostalgia1:21 DVD menu appreciation and signing offKey TakeawaysThe first full Shrek 5 trailer is here, releasing one year ahead of the June 30, 2027 launchIt opens on a storybook that pays homage to original Shrek author William SteigThis is the clearest look yet at the redesigned Shrek and Donkey, and the new look plays better in motionThe family travels to a new location that looks rainier and less welcoming than Far Far AwayThe standout moment is a creepy snowman in the style of OlafMike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz all returnZendaya voices daughter Felicia, with Marcello Hernandez and Skyler Gisondo as triplet brothers Fergus and Farkle, first seen as babies in Shrek Forever AfterFranchise veterans Walt Dohrn and Conrad Vernon are directingShrek 5 arrives 26 years after the original 2001 filmMemorable Quotes"It's our best look yet at what Shrek and Donkey look like after they're a bit of a redesign.""The best bit by far is coming across a snowman, very much like Olaf.""They're gonna have a lot of fun with this one.""If you watched that first movie, how those knees feeling?"Call to ActionIf you enjoyed the breakdown, subscribe to Geek Freaks Headlines so you never miss an episode. Leave us a rating and review, since it genuinely helps more geeks find the show. Share this one with the friend who still quotes Shrek 2 and tag your post with #Shrek5. We want to hear from you, so send in your questions and hot takes and we will read them on a future episode. What did you think of the redesign?Get all our latest news at https://GeekFreaksPodcast.comFollow Geek FreaksFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegeekfreakspodcastThreads: https://www.threads.net/@geekfreakspodcastPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/GeekFreakspodcastApple Podcast TagsShrek 5, Shrek, DreamWorks, Shrek 5 trailer, Zendaya, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Felicia, Fergus and Farkle, Marcello Hernandez, Skyler Gisondo, Walt Dohrn, Conrad Vernon, animated movies, movie trailers, geek news, pop culture, Far Far Away, Shrek Forever After

American Dream Factory - An Innovation Collective Podcast
Morgan Linton on AI, Creativity, and Getting Our Humanity Back

American Dream Factory - An Innovation Collective Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 13, 2026 82:02


In this episode of the American Dream Factory Podcast, Nick Smoot sits down with Morgan Linton, co-founder and CTO of Bold Metrics, early Sonos employee, AI builder, and one of the most compelling people experimenting at the edge of artificial intelligence.Morgan's path is not linear, which is exactly what makes it valuable. He studied computer engineering and computer science at Carnegie Mellon, then turned down traditional software jobs to become an unpaid intern in the DreamWorks story department. From there, he joined Sonos before the product had launched, when the company had only a few months of runway left, and helped it grow into a billion-dollar company.That unusual path gave Morgan a rare mix of technical depth, storytelling, taste, sales experience, startup scars, and founder judgment. It also prepared him for the moment we are in now, where the future will not belong only to people who can write code. It will belong to people who can see what the world needs, imagine something better, and use machines to help build it.Today, Morgan and his wife Dana lead Bold Metrics, a machine learning company helping major apparel brands reduce returns, improve fit, and design clothing around real human body data. Bold Metrics can predict dozens of body measurements from simple inputs, then map those insights to garment data so brands can recommend better sizes and make better products.Nick and Morgan talk about why that matters in the AI era. As software becomes easier to build, the real moats become harder things: data, momentum, distribution, taste, and trust. Morgan explains why proprietary data is so powerful, why most people underestimate distribution, and why building something useful still requires judgment, creativity, and real-world understanding.The conversation then moves into the new world of AI-powered software development. Morgan shares how he moved his engineering team into agentic coding workflows and why he believes leaders now have a responsibility to use these tools. They discuss Codex, GPT-5.5, Cursor, Droid from Factory AI, Grok Build, Devin, Graphite, Claude Code, model routing, agentic code review, and the difference between a model and a harness.Morgan explains that a model is not the whole product. The model is the intelligence. The harness is the system that tells it how to behave, use tools, execute tasks, and interact with the user. The same model can perform very differently depending on the harness around it. That means the future is not just better AI models. It is better combinations of models, harnesses, workflows, and human judgment.For people just beginning with AI, Morgan's advice is simple: do not start with a book, a course, or a four-hour tutorial. Start by building. Pick one repetitive thing you do every day and ask an AI coding agent to help you automate it. A spreadsheet process. A report. A tax calculation. A file cleanup task. A simple internal tool. Once you build something useful, you cannot unsee what is happening.The deepest part of the conversation is not technical. It is human.Nick frames AI as the next wave of the internet, and Morgan pushes the idea further. This is not just the next wave of the internet. It is the next wave of humanity.Morgan argues that non-creative work can and will be done by machines at scale. That should not terrify us. It should free us. The computers can do the 996. Humans get to return to the work that makes us human: creativity, love, emotion, imagination, risk, beauty, invention, and solving real problems with people we care about.This episode is part founder story, part AI field guide, and part hopeful argument for the future. Morgan's message is clear: stop watching from the sidelines. Start building. Use the tools. Experiment. Automate something small. Follow your curiosity. Take the weird path. Build with taste. Create something useful.

Killer Innovations: Successful Innovators Talking About Creativity, Design and Innovation | Hosted by Phil McKinney

In 2000, Toys R Us paid Amazon $50 million a year to sell their toys online. It looked like a great deal. The company that defined toy retail for two generations was solving the internet problem in one move. Four years later they were suing each other. Seventeen years later Toys R Us was gone. Every store closed. Every job lost. And every step of what happened was visible from the day the deal was signed. Nobody at Toys R Us saw it. What Is Second-Order Thinking? First-order thinking asks what happens next. Second-order thinking asks what happens to the people who see what happened next. The skill isn't caution. It's the willingness to keep looking after the room has stopped. Inside HP, 2006 In 2005, HP launched Halo, a premium telepresence system co-developed with DreamWorks. For a brief period it reported into my organization. The next year, Cisco launched TelePresence and went straight at us. I called the HP team closest to Cisco and asked what they made of it. The answer was reassuring: Cisco is aiming down-market, we're fine. We were premium; they were chasing volume. That answer satisfied the room. It did not satisfy me. The room was asking "will Cisco hurt Halo?" That was the wrong question. The right one was sitting underneath: why did our partner of twenty years decide to do this without us? Nobody had an answer to that one. The HP team didn't think it was the question. They were focused on the product collision, and I kept coming back to the partnership. A company that had cooperated with us for two decades had just decided they didn't need to anymore. The product was the surface. The relationship had quietly ended, and we were the only ones who hadn't noticed. Three years later, Cisco launched a direct attack on HP's core server business with Unified Computing System. HP responded by acquiring 3Com and going after Cisco's core networking business. A twenty-year alliance ended in under two years. Neither side ran the second-order analysis at any point along the way. By the time the right question got asked, the partnership was already gone. The Three Skills These three skills stand on their own. Each one solves a different problem most decision frameworks miss. The first picks up signals before there's even a decision to analyze. The second uncovers what's actually driving the other party's timing. The third shows you what people will do once they see your decision land. If you've watched the November 2025 episode on the basics of second-order thinking, these skills add to that foundation. If you haven't, you can still apply all three starting today. Sense the Weak Signal, Not the Loud Event Most failures don't announce themselves. The loud event, the launch, the lawsuit, the lost customer, is usually the visible end of something that started much earlier as a quiet shift somebody noticed and explained away. A weak signal is a small piece of information that doesn't fit the story you're already telling. A customer's casual comment that contradicts your data. A team member's evasive answer in a status meeting. A supplier missing a deadline they've never missed before. The reflex is to make it fit the story you already believe. The skill is to refuse. Go looking before you have one. Once a week, scan three places where weak signals live. Customer-facing teams. Data points that surprised you and got brushed off. Topics that smart people you respect are paying attention to, but you aren't. You're not looking for problems. You're looking for things that don't quite fit. Name the thing that doesn't fit. Be specific. "Their CFO made a comment about the budget that didn't match what we were told last quarter." Not "something feels off." The more specific the signal, the more useful it becomes. List the stories that would make the signal make sense. At least three. Force yourself to consider explanations that don't fit your current assumptions. Ask which of those stories you'd act on if it were true. If one of them would change a decision you're about to make, that's the signal you can't afford to ignore. Find one more data point before you decide. A single signal can mislead. Two signals pointing the same direction is usually real. The Cisco TelePresence launch was a weak signal about the partnership. The team read the product. I read the relationship. Neither of us pushed it far enough. Ask "Why Now" Before "What's Next" Most people jump straight to the future: what will the other party do next? That's the wrong starting question. Ask why now first. Why is this happening now, when it could have happened a year ago? The timing tells you what changed in their world, and that change tells you what they're likely to do next, often more reliably than asking the question directly.   State the move that just happened. A competitor launched a product. A regulator opened an inquiry. A customer asked for a discount. Name it plainly. Ask what changed. What was true a year ago that isn't true now? What can they do today that they couldn't do then? Their capability, their pressure, their read of you, their read of the market. Identify the shift. Use the change to predict their next move. What's the natural follow-on from the thing that made this move possible? That's usually where the real consequence lives.   Cisco didn't enter telepresence in 2006 because telepresence was suddenly interesting. They entered because they'd decided the partnership with HP no longer constrained them. "Why now" would have surfaced that. "What's next" wouldn't have caught it in time. Watch the Response, Not the Result Your decision produces a result. The result triggers a response from everyone watching, your competitors, your customers, your team, your investors. Most analysis stops at the result. The response is where the actual consequence lives.   Toys R Us could have predicted that Amazon would sell more toys. That was the result. What they didn't predict was Amazon's response: opening the platform to third-party sellers, learning the toy business, and using the data to compete directly. By the time Toys R Us understood the response, Amazon had already replaced them. State the immediate result of your decision in one sentence. What will be visibly different in the world after you act? List who can see that result. Be specific. Name people if you can, not categories. For each one, ask: what does the result tell them about you? Your priorities, your weaknesses, your appetite. The result is information about you they didn't have before. Ask what they're now in a position to do that they weren't before. The result changes what's available to the other actors, not just the market. Identify the responses you can't undo. A customer who loses trust. A competitor that smells weakness. A regulator who opens a file. Those are the ones to model carefully. HP launching Halo was the result. Cisco entering TelePresence was the response. By the time anyone at HP said the word "over," the partnership had been over for three years. Practice Exercise: Run All Three on One Decision Pick one decision you're currently working through. Run the three skills against it in sequence. Weak signal. What have you noticed in the last 90 days connected to this decision that doesn't quite fit your current story? Don't explain it away. Name it. Why now. What changed in the world recently that's making this decision feel urgent now? Was that change visible six months ago? Watch the response. Who will see the result of this decision, and what does it tell them about you that they didn't know before? The first time you run this, you'll miss things. That's normal. The skills sharpen with repetition. The fifth time you sit down with a real decision and work through all three, you'll catch signals that other people in the room aren't even seeing yet. That's what improvement looks like. If any of the three turns up something the room hasn't discussed, you've found the work that needs to happen before the decision is made. Take what you found and run it through the two skills from the November 2025 episode. Map how people will respond. Ask "and then what?" two or three more times. All five skills work as one system. The link to the November episode is in the description below. Most second-order failures do not arrive as surprises. They arrive as something somebody noticed once, didn't have a way to act on, and explained away.

Best in Fest
AI in Animation & Film: What Editors and Directors Need to Know in 2026 with Joi-Noelle Worley

Best in Fest

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2026 33:30


In this episode of Best in Fest, host Leslie LaPage sits down with Joi Noelle Worley, editor, director, and content creator with experience across DreamWorks Animation, Netflix, Hulu, and independent film, to explore the evolving landscape of storytelling across animation and live action.Joi shares her unique career path working in both mediums, breaking down the creative and technical differences between editing animation and live action—and how those skills translate into directing, writing, and building original IP.

Fantasy/Animation
Archive Episode - The Prince of Egypt (1998) (with Francesca Stavrakopoulou)

Fantasy/Animation

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2026 76:16


To celebrate the summer, Chris and Alex take another trawl through the Fantasy/Animation archive to pick out some of their favourite past instalments of the podcast. For this first archive episode for 2026, they turn to their discussion of The Prince of Egypt (Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner & Simon Wells, 1998) that took place way back in March 2021 that featured the insights of biblical scholar and broadcaster Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter. Listen again at their analysis of this 1998 cel-animated and CG epic that took in conversations about musicality, animated adaptations, star voices, spectacle, and myth-making, as well as the film's contribution to the industrial standing of DreamWorks as a successful Hollywood studio, the politics of white-washing and colour-coding, and the stylistic mobilisation of Christian iconography. **Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo** **As featured on Feedspot's 25 Best London Education Podcasts** **As featured on MillionPodcast's Best 10 UK Animation Podcasts and Best 60 Movie Podcasts in the UK**

Toy Power Podcast
#445: Mega Toy Fair & Masters Movie Review!!

Toy Power Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2026 128:38


This Week on the Toy Power Podcast; we are giving our thoughts & experiences from our recent visit to the Annual Adelaide Mega Toy Fair! Kicking off with our forceful entry into the event! Scott as the New Organiser has done a fantastic job with table spacing, Real Pop-Culture Cars as an attraction & what kind of things that where on offer for Sale; plus of course our SCORES! We each have quite a diverse range of goodies that came home with us; but as always it was absolutely awesome to socialise with so so many people! Then we begin our Review of the New Masters OF The Universe Film! Kicking off with high level non-spoiler thoughts of the Movie. Tales of Trent & Ben seeing an Advanced screening of the Film - with sacrifices from our families to attend! Then; we dive in head first into a deep discussion that bounces all over the place which analyses the entire Movie - INCLUDING SPOILERS! We touch on everything from Characters, Lore, Tone, Easter Eggs, Credit Scenes; plus the things that don't quite merry up. We even have some of the Chronicles Action-Figures to touch on as well! Please get comfy for this extended episode; all the while celebrating Darren's Birthday too. Enjoy!! Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

movies australia film news star wars masters marvel dc batman modern tales spider man aliens video games superman sale alien joker wrestling iron man nerds wwe star trek lego nintendo mask avengers playstation kickstarter comics kicking xbox supernatural mega foot collection geeks godzilla mandalorian pop culture countdown xmen deadpool characters endgame aussie wolverines justice league predator toys terminator mortal kombat jedi jurassic park vintage blade transformers vehicles tone comic books superheroes sf warner scores san diego comic con spider verse skywalker lore aquaman reaction collecting invincible power rangers gremlins conan robocop sega street fighter animal crossing rambo wwf easter eggs tmnt karate kid dceu mk vader mando scorpion hasbro mattel south australia golden girls he man wb dreamworks centurion spawn bumblebee gi joe ninja turtles collectors bucky thundercats bluey masters of the universe macgyver voltron visionaries kenner jem toxic avenger idw my little pony g1 shredder she ra action figures universal monsters optimus prime mcfarlane sub zero skeletor megatron ryu inspector gadget sota motu duke nukem remco casey jones lego masters toy fair robotech neca tonka toys that made us boss fight bronies savage worlds pop culture podcasts playmates street sharks marvel legends micronauts hot toys super7 mmpr australian podcasts autobot decepticon toxie a-team takara battle beast starcom coleco zoids bravestarr toxic crusaders toy collecting galoob dino riders vintage toys toybiz bucky o'hare battle beasts defenders of the earth mythic legions skeleton warriors mafex nytf plastic crack motuc action figure adventure toy power podcast
Nostalgia Critic
The Croods - Nostalgia Critic

Nostalgia Critic

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2026 22:04


Nicolas Cage is a caveman, and it's not as weird as it sounds. What does Nostalgia Critic think of the DreamWorks animated comedy? Find out now as we take a look at The Croods. Come see us at SoCal Gaming Expo - https://socalgamingexpo.com/ Join our YouTube Members - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiH828EtgQjTyNIMH6YiOSw/join Last weeks Nostalgia Critic - https://youtu.be/PmuaX9VeQ-U Check out our store - https://channelawesome.myshopify.com/ Support this month's charity - https://solvecfs.org/ The Croods is a 2013 American animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. The film was directed by Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco, who also co-wrote the screenplay, and stars the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, and Cloris Leachman. It is set in a fictional prehistoric Pliocene era known as "The Croodaceous" where Grug, patriarch of the Croods, is threatened by the arrival of a genius named Guy, who comes up with revolutionary new inventions as they trek through a dangerous land in search of a new home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Toy Power Podcast
#444: Fantastic Teams Of FOUR!!

Toy Power Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 30, 2026 87:37


This Week on the Toy Power Podcast; we are leaning into the significance of the Episode number - being FOUR. So we decide to spotlight Twelve of the Key Teams consisting of Four Members throughout Pop Culture History! With each Team / Group mentioned; we address the Teams official Title; the Individual Characters that make up said Group; plus their noteworthy first appearance in Pop Culture History. An in-depth conversation why said Team is significant to each of us in our own personal way & what they really mean to us. With a good mix of Movies, Comics, TV & overall cultural phenomenon's; this is an interesting & unique way to highlight & chat towards some properties that we don't talk about very often... Or the back story to why we continue to talk about some of our Favourite properties so much!! Enjoy! Which Group / Team did we leave off our list; that you would have had on yours? Let us know!!Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

tv movies australia film news star wars masters marvel dc batman team modern spider man aliens video games superman alien joker wrestling iron man nerds wwe star trek lego nintendo mask avengers playstation kickstarter comics xbox supernatural foot collection geeks godzilla mandalorian pop culture countdown xmen deadpool twelve endgame aussie wolverines fantastic justice league predator toys terminator mortal kombat jedi jurassic park favourite vintage blade transformers vehicles comic books superheroes sf warner san diego comic con spider verse skywalker aquaman reaction collecting invincible power rangers gremlins conan robocop sega street fighter animal crossing rambo wwf tmnt karate kid dceu mk vader mando scorpion hasbro mattel south australia golden girls he man wb dreamworks centurion spawn bumblebee gi joe ninja turtles collectors bucky thundercats bluey masters of the universe macgyver voltron visionaries kenner jem toxic avenger idw g1 my little pony shredder she ra action figures universal monsters optimus prime mcfarlane sub zero skeletor megatron ryu inspector gadget sota motu duke nukem remco casey jones lego masters toy fair robotech neca tonka toys that made us boss fight bronies savage worlds pop culture podcasts playmates street sharks marvel legends micronauts hot toys super7 mmpr australian podcasts autobot decepticon toxie a-team takara battle beast starcom coleco zoids bravestarr toxic crusaders toy collecting galoob dino riders vintage toys toybiz bucky o'hare battle beasts defenders of the earth mythic legions skeleton warriors team group mafex nytf plastic crack motuc action figure adventure toy power podcast
The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast
Flashback Friday: "Interview w/ Brenda Chapman"

The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2026 94:23


The Bancroft Brothers go way back to 2014 for this Flashback Friday episode with the legendary director Brenda Chapman. She discusses her early story years and Tony gushes about working with her for 3 months on The Lion King. Many references are made to the late great Roger Allers too, as he was a huge influence on Chapman. Oh, and has anyone heard about her directing of Dreamworks' Prince of Egypt and Pixar's Brave? Well, you will here! Check out this episode on iTunes, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

ELIMINATION
S5 - Rd16 - Sing Vs The Iron Giant

ELIMINATION

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2026 64:55


Send us Fan MailThe tournament heats up as two animated favourites battle for a place in the next round!Will The Iron Giant — the emotional sci-fi classic about friendship, sacrifice, and one unforgettable giant robot — prove too powerful?

Best Seat on the Couch
220 | Flushed Away

Best Seat on the Couch

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2026 60:58


A long-awaited threequel to our episodes on Wallace & Gromit and legendary film Chicken Run, our discussion on the final DreamWorks & Aardman collaborative feature film Flushed Away feels somewhat bittersweet to Alex, resident Aardman enjoyer, who laments that perhaps the soul of the Aardman way is lost on this film's exclusively CGI production. But it's perhaps the opposite for Iris, who finds herself joining Marcus and Michael as a member of the awful-early-2000s-animated-movie-enjoyers on this episode, and to be completely honest there's quite a bit to praise about this box-office bomb: it's still got that trademark British humor, its voice cast is superb, the characters are refreshingly mature and intelligent as they navigate their issues, and the slugs perform an ingenious role in this film that Despicable Me's Minions will never come close to mimicking. Perhaps next time we'll be recording from the UK! Content warning: SPOILERS, strong language.

Toy Power Podcast
#443: Scott2 and the MEGA Toy Fair

Toy Power Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2026 87:02


Today we chat to Scott Simpson, the man behind one of our fave events, the Adelaide Mega Toy Fair! Learn what led him to take over from the great Andreas and how the 2026 edition is gonna be bigger and better. Scott brings his tales from Scotland, his passion for toys (and football), a wild sense of humor and even some gifts. Then a quick round of Show and Tell where Scott brings in something truley amazing. See you all at the Fair next weekend! Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Retail War Games
Click to Print: How Toybox Transformed 3D Printing Into a True Consumer Experience | Ben Baltes

Retail War Games

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2026 25:45


In this episode of Retail War Games, I sit down with Ben Baltes, the co-founder and CEO of Toybox. Ben is a brilliant former Microsoft programmer who took a heavily fragmented, complex industrial tool and completely reimagined it for true consumer adoption. We pull back the curtain on how Toybox built a friction-free "click-to-print" software ecosystem that allows kids aged 6 to 12 to print out high-quality toys with the press of a button. Ben shares the reality of moving from an 8-year, highly predictable DTC framework to landing major retail wins—including an insane 20,000-unit sell-out at Sam's Club in just a couple of months. We also dive into the high-stakes world of entertainment licensing with heavy hitters like DreamWorks, Warner Bros, and NASA, and get the honest, unfiltered story of how a legendary appearance on Shark Tank literally saved the business from shutting down.  

Toy Power Podcast
#442: News that brings the Heat Boys!!

Toy Power Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2026 82:23


This Week on the Toy Power Podcast; we are back all back together in the studio again; to bring in all the Latest News! Kicking things off with quite a few MOTU Toy Headlines; branching all sub-categories of the brand - including a Playset! Neca continue to flip through the pages of the Mirage Comics, & questionably bring us Figures from those stories. Playmates announce a 2pk with BLOOD attributes!! As well as a potential Lawsuit to protect their work....? McFarlane continue to produce Batman products & Transformers Missing Link announce a unique offering in the form of G1 Ironhide & Ratchet. Trent gets super nostalgic over Goof-Troop; plus we have more Fighters announced from Jada & McFarlane too. Rounding out the News is a beautiful nod to the influential man that was Jack Kirby; in the form of a street named after him! Then we have a very close in-hand review of the amazingly intricate HeatBoys TMNT Figures. These Figures are absolutely extraordinary; with their Die-Cast designed Mech-Suits. They are honestly like nothing we have seen in the TMNT franchise before!! All this & more! Enjoy!!Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

movies australia film news star wars blood masters boys marvel dc batman modern spider man aliens video games heat superman alien joker wrestling iron man nerds wwe star trek lego nintendo mask avengers playstation kickstarter comics kicking xbox supernatural foot collection geeks godzilla mandalorian pop culture countdown xmen deadpool fighters endgame aussie wolverines justice league predator toys terminator mortal kombat jedi jurassic park lawsuit vintage blade transformers vehicles figures comic books superheroes sf warner san diego comic con spider verse skywalker aquaman reaction collecting invincible power rangers gremlins conan robocop sega street fighter animal crossing rambo wwf tmnt karate kid dceu mk vader rounding mando scorpion hasbro mattel south australia golden girls he man wb dreamworks centurion spawn ratchet bumblebee gi joe ninja turtles collectors latest news bucky thundercats bluey masters of the universe macgyver voltron visionaries kenner jem toxic avenger idw my little pony g1 shredder jack kirby she ra action figures universal monsters optimus prime mcfarlane sub zero skeletor megatron ryu inspector gadget sota motu duke nukem remco casey jones lego masters toy fair robotech neca tonka toys that made us boss fight bronies savage worlds pop culture podcasts playmates street sharks marvel legends micronauts hot toys super7 mmpr australian podcasts autobot decepticon goof troop toxie a-team takara battle beast starcom diecast coleco zoids bravestarr playset toxic crusaders toy collecting galoob dino riders vintage toys toybiz bucky o'hare battle beasts defenders of the earth mythic legions skeleton warriors mafex nytf plastic crack motuc action figure adventure toy power podcast
Gary and Shannon
The Great Toilet Paper Debate

Gary and Shannon

Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2026 28:02 Transcription Available


The Gary & Shannon Show Hour 2 (05.15) – The Gary & Shannon Show Hour 2 (05.15) – a shirtless Gary photo sparks controversy, Southern California braces for possible El Niño chaos, and Heather Brooker somehow gets pulled into an extremely serious debate about toilet paper usage. • Gary & Shannon react to outrage surrounding an old shirtless photo of Gary from his water polo days after a similar Speedo-related controversy erupts at a Temecula school district• Then: forecasters warn a potentially massive El Niño could be developing• Experts say Southern California may be heading toward flooding, mudslides, coastal erosion, and a brutal rain season if ocean temperatures continue rising• Heather Brooker joins for a double-sized #EntertainmentReport → beginning with the return of an aggressively passionate conversation about how many squares of toilet paper people should actually be using• Plus: Gary has absolutely no interest in seeing The Mandalorian & Grogu in theaters, while streaming audiences fall in love with Remarkably Bright Creatures starring Sally Field• The hour wraps with the return of Shrek to theaters for its 25th anniversary → sparking full millennial nostalgia over early DreamWorks movies, iconic soundtracks, and the realization that Shrek is now officially a legacy franchiseSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Shrek launched a Dreamworks franchise, won an Oscar, spawned a stage musical, and greatly extended the cultural life of the band Smash Mouth. And it all started with the story of a crabby green ogre, voiced by Mike Myers, who just wants a bunch of fairy-tale characters to stay out of his swamp. The film turns 25 this month, so we are revisiting our conversation about its legacy. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Ecomm Breakthrough
Throwback: Mastering Licensing and Exit Strategies - Insights from a Shark Tank Entrepreneur

Ecomm Breakthrough

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2026 16:27


In this episode, Josh interviews Pat Yates, M&A advisor at Quiet Light and owner of Happy Feet Slippers. Pat shares insights from his Shark Tank experience, discusses the realities of TV deals, and explains the complexities of licensing with major brands like Disney and the NFL. The conversation covers the importance of intellectual property protection, strategies for evaluating and managing licensing agreements, and actionable advice on preparing an e-commerce business for a successful exit. Listeners gain practical tips on building value, protecting their brand, and planning ahead for future business transitions.Chapters:Introduction and Guest Background (00:00:00)Josh introduces Pat Yates, his background, and the episode's focus on licensing and business exits.Shark Tank Experience (00:02:06)Pat discusses his Shark Tank appearance, the process, and what it was like pitching on the show.Reality of Shark Tank Deals (00:03:36)Pat explains how deals on Shark Tank often differ from what is shown, and his ongoing relationship with Robert.Behind the Scenes of Shark Tank (00:04:45)Pat shares details about the filming process, post-show counseling, and the impact of the experience.Licensing Audits and Financials (00:05:44)Discussion about licensing agreements, financial audits by licensors like Disney, and the importance of accurate documentation.License Renewal Challenges (00:07:01)Pat explains how license renewals work, what licensors look for, and the challenges with companies like Disney.Transitioning and Subcontracting Licenses (00:08:57)Pat describes how some licenses are transitioned to subcontracted arrangements and the benefits of this approach.Direct vs. Subcontracted Licensing (00:09:18)Explanation of the differences between holding a direct license and working through a subcontracted licensee.Branding and Labeling in Subcontracted Licensing (00:10:27)Clarification on branding, labeling, and legal requirements when selling products under a subcontracted license.Actionable Takeaways for Business Owners (00:11:42)Josh summarizes three actionable tips: IP protection, evaluating licensing, and preparing your business for exit.Final Advice on Business Growth and Exit Preparation (00:15:11)Pat offers final advice on analyzing business performance, seeking help, and preparing early for a successful exit.Episode Wrap-Up (00:16:13)Josh thanks Pat and encourages listeners to reach out for further advice on exiting their business.Links and Mentions:Consulting and Strategy"Ecomm Breakthrough Consulting": "00:00:00""Email for Strategy Audit": "00:01:08"Shark Tank and Related Experiences"Shark Tank": "00:02:04""Robert Herjavec": "00:02:15"Licensing and Partnerships"DreamWorks, NCAA, NFL, Disney": "00:02:31""Licensing and IP Protection": "00:12:04""Consider Licensing": "00:13:12"Intellectual Property"IP Protection": "00:12:04"Transcript:Josh 00:00:00  Today, I'm speaking with Pat Yates, an M&A advisor at Quiet Light and owner of Happy Feet Slippers. And today we're going to be talking a lot about licensing and preparing your business to exit. This episode is brought to you by Ecom Breakthrough Consulting, where I help seven figure companies grow to eight figures and beyond. Listen, Pat, I started my E-comm business back in 2015, and it took me seven years to grow it to an eight figure brand. There were a lot of times that I struggled with the challenge of knowing whether my business could actually succeed financially, or if my brand could actually become a real well-known brand, or even myself as a leader. Whether I had the abilities and capabilities to lead a team and actually manage a group of people? Sure. For our listeners that have had similar experiences or hit similar plateaus, go to Ecom Breakthrough Comm and that's ecom with two M's. And you can learn a little bit more about how I can help you. And to our listeners, this month I'm giving away one $10,000 comprehensive business strategy audit session at no cost.Josh 00:01:08  All you need to do is email me at Josh at Ecom breakthrough.com. And in your subject line just say strategy audit and then tell me why I should choose your business as the business to do the strategy audit for this month. And don't worry if you don't win this month because you'll be entered to win for future months to come. But I'm super excited to introduce you all to Pat Yates. Pat, as a seasoned entrepreneur with a focus on eCommerce, in 2014, he struck a deal with Robert Herjavec on the Emmy Award winning show Shark Tank. Pat grew a single slipper kiosk business into a multi-million dollar, e-commerce focused business. During that time, Pat has done licensing deals with Dreamworks, the NCAA, the NFL and Disney, and in 2015, he struck up a relationship with Mark, the founder of Quiet Light Brokerage, and continued, eventually leading him to becoming an M&A advisor. So welcome to the show, Pat.Pat 00:02:04  Thanks. I appreciate you having me.Josh 00:02:06  Pat. I watched your Shark Tank episode and loved, you know, everything you kind of went through in that episode.Josh 00:02:15  You ended up doing a deal with Robert who who first kind of went out pretty early on, at least in the episode. And then he comes back in and kind of swoops up the deal. And at the last moment, how was that experience being on Shark Tank and going through that?Pat 00:02:31  Yeah, it's something I've talked a lot about it over the past few years because, as one of the people that likes on the speaking circuit with me likes to call me the one of the OGs in Shark Tank because I'm on season five. They have so many seasons now, I'm like, I can't be old at everything. I hate that, but, I mean, it's it's a difficult process in the very beginning. You have to submit several videos and a lot of written documentation, a lot of due diligence. And, you know, I was turned down in season one or season two or something like that. And then they called me back as season five was coming because they were ramping so much, and I was one of the people that came down to the very end and had to fly out there and do my pitch in front of the producers to even see if they could keep me.Pat 00:03:09  So, I did that. And then it aired in 2014 and it was awesome. I mean, the show was going, I mean, my, my time was going poorly in there for like 80% of it. The, you know, you're in there like an hour and 15 minutes. Most people don't realize that. And it's cut to eight. So for most of the time it wasn't going very well. But the end was pretty good. Yeah.Josh 00:03:27  Yeah, that's that's amazing. How was it, you know, doing a deal with Robert and what kind of his involvement been since you did that deal with him?Pat 00:03:36  Well, the deals that you do on Shark Tank and are are definitely theory and practice things. You know, one of you come up with a deal and then it closes or it doesn't. I mean, a lot of people that I talk to and I'm involved in a pretty deep Shark Tank group. You know, most of those deals don't close as you see them. And really, truly most deals don't close, period.Pat 00:03:55  you know, our deal. We did not do the financial terms we saw on the show. We just did a relationship and we didn't do any kind of money transfer, just a small equity portion to be able to help. So the relationships been mor...

The Filmumentaries Podcast
149 Craig Caton-Largent - Puppeteering Raptors, Caring for ET & Co-Founding Digital Domain

The Filmumentaries Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2026 72:22 Transcription Available


In this episode, I chat with creature effects artist, puppeteer and digital pioneer Craig Caton-Largent about a career that arguably traces the entire arc of modern visual effects — from foam latex and animatronics to motion control, performance capture and full CG animation. Craig talks about growing up on a sheep and cattle ranch in Washington State, being captivated by the 1960s Batman TV show and then Planet of the Apes, and teaching himself prosthetics from Dick Smith's Monster Makeup Handbook. After tracking down Dick Smith's address in Who's Who in America, he wrote a letter that led to a year of mentorship over cassette tapes and ultimately introductions to Rick Baker, Stan Winston and Tom Burman. We get into his first job on Charles Band's Metal Storm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn, working on the Olympic alien for the 1984 closing ceremonies, sculpting barnacles on Cocoon, building Spock's seamless silicone ears on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, undulating menacingly under shaving cream on Larry Cohen's The Stuff, and puppeteering Slimer's mouth on the original Ghostbusters. A big part of the conversation focuses on Jurassic Park, including the design evolution of the T-Rex, the helicopter convention moment that led to the McFadden motion base, the logistics of moving the full-size animatronic across the San Fernando Valley at night, and Craig's work as the Raptor puppeteer, including the now-legendary "head tilt" at the kitchen window that earned an on-set "It's like Alien, I love it" from Spielberg. We also talk about Craig's twenty-year stint as the caretaker, or "doctor", to the original ET puppet, including the time the LAPD turned up at his garage door thinking he was running a crack lab while he was actually repainting ET. Plus the story of how Stan Winston handing him a couple of SGI machines led, almost overnight, to him becoming one of the eight co-founders of Digital Domain alongside James Cameron and Scott Ross. Later in the conversation we move into Craig's animation career as a final layout artist and character TD at DreamWorks and Disney, with credits on Tangled, Rise of the Guardians, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Turbo, and stories from working with Guillermo del Toro at DreamWorks. We finish on Craig's current role as Creative Director of the 3D Animation and Visual Effects department at the New York Film Academy in Burbank. Topics coveredGrowing up on a Washington State ranch and falling in love with Planet of the ApesFamous Monsters of Filmland and Dick Smith's Monster Makeup HandbookCold-writing to Dick Smith and a year of cassette-tape mentorshipArriving in Hollywood at the start of the "golden age" of effectsFirst feature work on Metal Storm: The Destruction of Jared-SynThe closing ceremonies of the 1984 LA Olympics and Ron Cobb's alienSculpting barnacles and cocoons for Cocoon (1985)Seamless silicone Spock ears on Star Trek IV: The Voyage HomeThe Stuff with Larry Cohen and "undulating menacingly"Puppeteering Slimer's mouth on GhostbustersDesigning the T-Rex around helicopter flight simulator technologyWorking with McFadden Simulation on the T-Rex motion baseMoving the full-size T-Rex across the San Fernando ValleyBuilding a 70lb Steadicam-rigged Raptor insert head for Jurassic ParkUsing parrots as reference for bird-like Raptor movementThe kitchen porthole head tilt, and Spielberg's "It's like Alien" reactionUsing Kermit the Frog's voice on set as the Raptor performerTwenty years as ET's "doctor", and the LAPD crack-lab incidentET's arm in a rifle case at JFK a week after 9/11Motion capture experiments and blood-spread effects on Interview with the VampireA flying logo on an Amiga, and becoming a co-founder of Digital DomainWorking with Stan Winston, James Cameron and Scott RossMoving into animation: character rigging at Disney on TangledFinal layout and virtual camera work at DreamWorks on Rise of the Guardians, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and TurboLunches with Guillermo del Toro in the DreamWorks canteenPre-vis on the Total Recall remake with Len WisemanTeaching the next generation at the New York Film Academy, BurbankThe unique "intergalactic award" Spielberg gave Craig for puppeteering ETThis podcast is completely independent and made possible by listener support. If you'd like to help me keep making these episodes, you can join my Patreon community here: https://patreon.com/jamiebenning Watch more on YouTube:Check out the Filmumentaries YouTube channel for behind-the-scenes clips and extra content: https://youtube.com/filmumentariesAll my links

Disney Inside Out!
Somebody Once Told Me… Shrek Is 25?!

Disney Inside Out!

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2026 45:27


Send us Fan MailThis episode is like an onion… it has layers.Andrea and Ryan celebrate the 25th anniversary of Shrek with a nostalgic deep dive into the movie that turned fairy tales upside down and somehow became one of the most quotable films of all time. Andrea shares the behind-the-scenes story of how the movie was made and then joins Ryan in revisiting their favorite moments, characters, jokes, and scenes from the swamp.Follow us @grownasskidsclub

Toy Power Podcast
#441: Tealeós UK Toy Shop Tour!

Toy Power Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2026 66:09


This Week on the Toy Power Podcast; we are unfortunately once again missing Scot; but making up the Forth Member of the show; & back from his recent UK Trip; we have Special Guest: Matt Tealeó! Matt systematically guides us through his most recent Toy Hunting Tour through UK! Kicking things off at "Leicester Vintage" & "Retrodee Toys"; with a very difficult mindset of self control & retaining enough money for the rest of the Trip! Then traveling next to the impressive: "Space Bridge"; which certainly holds up its name for Transformers fans! Next adventure was "The Vintage ToyMonster"; that was very well stocked indeed. Moving on next to: "Back To The Retro" which was positioned in a Mall. Then heading over to the incredibly well curated & equally spectacular: "Retro By Ronnie." Touring on then to both "Nerdbase" & "The London Toyshop". Next expedition was to "Hertfordshire Vintage Toys," with their striking Cabinet presentations! Then wrapping up at the awe-inspiring "88mph Toys" which seemed to have everything!! Then we bring it back to the Studio; with an exciting Gift-Box from Matt; for us to open! Wrapping up the Episode is a great overlook of what we are each Reading, Playing &/or Watching! Enjoy! To find more from Matthew Teale - please check out his very Toy Focused Instagram page: @Tealeos_ToyBox Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

movies australia uk moving film news star wars masters marvel reading playing dc batman modern trip watching spider man aliens video games superman alien joker wrestling iron man nerds wwe star trek studio lego nintendo mask avengers playstation kickstarter comics kicking xbox supernatural foot collection geeks godzilla mandalorian pop culture countdown xmen deadpool endgame aussie wolverines justice league predator toys terminator mortal kombat jedi jurassic park wrapping vintage blade transformers vehicles comic books superheroes sf warner cabinet san diego comic con spider verse skywalker aquaman reaction collecting mall invincible power rangers gremlins conan touring robocop sega street fighter animal crossing rambo wwf tmnt karate kid dceu mk vader mando scorpion hasbro mattel south australia golden girls he man wb dreamworks centurion spawn bumblebee scot gi joe ninja turtles collectors bucky thundercats bluey masters of the universe macgyver voltron visionaries kenner jem toxic avenger idw my little pony g1 shredder she ra action figures universal monsters optimus prime mcfarlane sub zero skeletor megatron ryu inspector gadget sota motu duke nukem remco casey jones lego masters toy fair robotech neca tonka toys that made us boss fight bronies savage worlds pop culture podcasts playmates street sharks marvel legends micronauts hot toys super7 mmpr australian podcasts autobot decepticon toxie a-team takara battle beast starcom teale gift box coleco zoids bravestarr toxic crusaders toy collecting galoob dino riders vintage toys toybiz shop tour bucky o'hare battle beasts defenders of the earth mythic legions skeleton warriors mafex nytf plastic crack motuc action figure adventure toy power podcast
Retail Daily Minute
Target Launches Creator Commerce Programs, Old Navy Taps Marketing Veteran & Apple Readies Wallet Pass Builder

Retail Daily Minute

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2026 6:48


Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Duvo and Mirakl.In today's Retail Daily Minute, Omni Talk's Chris Walton discusses:Target launches Club Target and Target Ambassadors, two new influencer programs that gamify creator engagement, deepen LTK integration, and connect brand advertiser budgets directly to creator activation through Roundel.Gap Inc. hires Michael Francis, a retail and entertainment veteran with stints at Walmart, Target, and DreamWorks, as Old Navy's new Chief Customer Officer and its own enterprise-wide head of marketing shared services.Apple is reportedly building a "Create a Pass" feature for iOS 27's Wallet app, letting any user turn a QR code into a custom digital ticket, membership card, or gift card.The Retail Daily Minute has been rocketing up the Feedspot charts, so stay informed with Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, your source for the latest and most important retail insights.

Project Geekology
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Project Geekology

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2026 67:33 Transcription Available


Send us Fan MailThe Super Mario Bros Movie is the kind of film that can make you feel eight years old again and also make you ask, “Wait, is that all it wanted to be?” We jump into our full review with the stuff that matters to longtime Nintendo fans: the decision to start Mario and Luigi in Brooklyn, the joy of seeing the Mushroom Kingdom in crisp modern animation, and the constant stream of references that try to trigger that old-school Mario magic.We get specific about what works and what doesn't. Jack Black's Bowser is an easy highlight, especially once “Peaches” enters the chat, and we talk about why that moment feels more memorable than a lot of the movie's dialogue. We also dig into voice casting and character choices, from Charlie Day's Luigi energy to the debate around Chris Pratt's Mario and whether Seth Rogen's Donkey Kong pulls you out of the world. Along the way, we nerd out about Luigi's Mansion potential, the Mario Kart sequence, and the film's funniest curveball character.Then we go bigger: what should a great video game adaptation aim for in 2026 and beyond? We compare Illumination's kid-forward style to the DreamWorks approach, with Shrek as the measuring stick for an animated movie that truly serves adults and kids at the same time. If you've been searching for a clear Super Mario Bros Movie podcast review, a take on Nintendo lore, or a thoughtful debate about nostalgia versus storytelling, you'll fit right in.Subscribe for more geek culture deep dives, share this with the friend who still knows every Mario sound effect, and leave us a five-star review if you want to support the show. What did you rate The Super Mario Bros Movie?Support the show

Masters of Scale
Mellody Hobson: When investors head for the exit, run to the fire

Masters of Scale

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2026 31:07


When markets drop and chaos hits, Mellody Hobson is determined to be brave. The co-CEO of Ariel Investments and former chair of Starbucks and DreamWorks joins Rapid Response to make the case that volatility isn't something to survive but to exploit. She shares the financial lessons she lives by, including a surprising admonition against making choices based on money, and why she sees women's sports as the investment opportunity of a generation. Plus, why math has no opinion, and how that changes everything.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Masters of Scale: Rapid Response
Mellody Hobson: When investors head for the exit, run to the fire

Masters of Scale: Rapid Response

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2026 31:07


When markets drop and chaos hits, Mellody Hobson is determined to be brave. The co-CEO of Ariel Investments and former chair of Starbucks and DreamWorks joins Rapid Response to make the case that volatility isn't something to survive but to exploit. She shares the financial lessons she lives by, including a surprising admonition against making choices based on money, and why she sees women's sports as the investment opportunity of a generation. Plus, why math has no opinion, and how that changes everything.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Who Would Watch This?
Who Would Watch 'Antz'?

Who Would Watch This?

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2026 60:42 Transcription Available


It's “VS” month, and instead of doing “guy vs. other guy,” we've decided to do “movie vs. a kind-of-similar movie” month!We're starting with the only two ant-based movies: Antz and A Bug's Life, kicking things off with Woody Allen's DreamWorks Antz.Antz follows Z, basically Woody Allen if he were an ant, as he accidentally sparks a revolution.Which one is better? It's probably A Bug's Life.If you have any questions or requests, send them to askwwwtpodcast@gmail.comFind us through:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whowouldwatchthisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/whowouldwatchthis/TikTok: @podcastwhowouldwatchthisLetterboxd:Carl: https://letterboxd.com/carlllllllllll1/Oscar: https://letterboxd.com/oscarfart/More links: https://linktr.ee/whowouldwatchthis  

Toy Power Podcast
#440: News & The M.A.S.K. Team with Tealeó!

Toy Power Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2026 98:02


This Week on the Toy Power Podcast; we are unfortunately missing Master Scot; but standing his spot is Special Guest: Matt Tealeó! Kicking things off, we have some somber News as we morn the loss of the Creator of He-Man; Roger Sweet. RIP great sir. Then onto more positive things; with Movie Masters Toys hitting our local stores in a big way; just how deep are we already with purchases?! Lots of awesome things coming out of Mondo plus another shot at Tron from the team at Hasbro. Marvel Legends continues to impress us; especially with their New Rivals offers! Arguments about how to pronounce "Mate" - & this is coming from a bunch of Aussies! Neca - we are directing this at you! Then we take off our Headphones, & suit up with our key choices of Superpowered Helmets! Yep, its time for another segment of The Team! Featuring you guessed it: The Good-Guys behind the Mobile Armored Strike Kommand! Selecting key characters that best suit the catagories for: Leader, Muscle, Specialist, Wheelman; as well as an Iconic Vehicle too!! Do YOU agree with our final Choices?! All this & more; ENJOY!! To find more from Matthew Teale - please check out his very Toy Focused Instagram page: @Tealeos_ToyBox Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

movies australia film news star wars creator masters marvel leader dc batman team modern spider man aliens video games superman alien joker wrestling choices iron man nerds wwe star trek lego nintendo mask avengers playstation kickstarter comics kicking xbox supernatural foot collection geeks godzilla mandalorian pop culture countdown xmen deadpool endgame aussie wolverines justice league predator toys terminator mortal kombat jedi jurassic park rip muscle specialist vintage blade transformers vehicles comic books superheroes sf warner san diego comic con spider verse skywalker mate aquaman reaction collecting arguments invincible power rangers gremlins conan robocop sega street fighter animal crossing rambo wwf tron selecting tmnt karate kid dceu mk vader mondo mando scorpion hasbro mattel south australia golden girls he man headphones wb dreamworks centurion aussies spawn bumblebee gi joe ninja turtles collectors bucky thundercats bluey masters of the universe good guys macgyver voltron visionaries kenner jem toxic avenger idw my little pony g1 shredder she ra action figures universal monsters optimus prime mcfarlane sub zero skeletor megatron ryu inspector gadget sota motu duke nukem remco casey jones lego masters toy fair robotech neca tonka toys that made us boss fight bronies savage worlds pop culture podcasts playmates street sharks marvel legends micronauts hot toys super7 mmpr australian podcasts autobot decepticon toxie a-team takara battle beast starcom teale wheelman coleco zoids bravestarr toxic crusaders toy collecting galoob dino riders vintage toys toybiz bucky o'hare battle beasts defenders of the earth mythic legions skeleton warriors mafex nytf plastic crack motuc action figure adventure toy power podcast
It's No Fluke
E367 Glenn Ginsburg: The Most Successful Campaigns Don't Stop at Creators; They Spark Participation

It's No Fluke

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2026 38:34


Glenn Ginsburg is the President of QYOU Media, a media and entertainment company powered by the creator economy. QYOU specializes in developing, creating, and distributing creator-centric campaigns that help brands connect with audiences and make a cultural impact across social and digital platforms. With more than 25 years of experience across the creator economy and wider entertainment and media industry, Ginsburg has been instrumental in building and optimizing the QYOU team since he joined 2015 and currently oversees brand partnerships, strategy, creative content development and distribution with a client portfolio that includes Hulu (Paradise), Paramount Pictures (A Quiet Place: Day One and Smile 2), Kraft Heinz (Buffalo Wild Wings x Mustard), Warner Brothers (Wonka), 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, DreamWorks, and other leading entertainment companies, as well as Ubisoft, Hyundai, Kraft Heinz, MGA Entertainment and more.

Construction Genius
Flow State for Construction Leaders: Your Best Idea Is One Hour Away

Construction Genius

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 28, 2026 45:33


What if the thing holding your construction company back isn't lack of effort — it's lack of deep thinking? In this episode, I sit down with Steven Puri, former EVP at DreamWorks, former VP at 20th Century Fox, and CEO of The Sukha Company — to talk about flow state: what it is, why the best leaders in the world use it, and how construction company owners can harness it to make better decisions and leapfrog the competition. Three things you'll walk away with: Why grinding harder creates linear growth — and deep thinking creates competitive leaps How to find your chronotype and build a flow state practice that actually fits your schedule The 'other movie' principle: why your best ideas come when you're working on something else Steven Puri is CEO of The Sukha Company, former EVP at DreamWorks, and former VP at 20th Century Fox. He speaks and consults on the neuroscience of peak performance for leaders across industries.  

Toy Power Podcast
#439: Travel; ToyFair & Latest Scores!

Toy Power Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 26, 2026 124:14


This Week on the Toy Power Podcast; we are all back together again in the studio; ready to share our latest exciting Stories of Adventure! Scot traveled to Melbourne & caught the 20th Anniversary of Wrestle Rock; as well as the Evil Dead -Musical; along with his partner Jo, Brett & Sarah. Frank traveled with his Family to Japan, & soaked in the awesome atmosphere & Culture! Including the height of Cherry Blossom Season! Disneyland certainly proved to be the happiest place on earth; plus creating new friends too! Ben car-pooled with Davey to Ballarat Victoria, for the incredibly entertaining Live Recording of Passive Aggressive ep 200! Then a trip to Melbourne to catch Renegades Of Wrestling! Trent & Fam adventured to Japan too - with some amazing stories of Universal Studios & Toy Hunting as far as his feet could take him!! Then we bring it back to our local area; in which Ben, Frank & Scot attended Brett & Sarah's: Adelaide Comic & Toy Fair event! We each sold there & had the best day! With all said above - you can only imagine what we each come together to get amped-up about.... Our Latest Scores! This is a rather big boost from each of us; as we shout-out the goodies we have got from all over the place!! All this & more - enjoy this extended ep!Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

family culture movies australia stories japan film news star wars travel masters marvel dc batman modern adventure spider man aliens video games superman alien melbourne joker wrestling iron man nerds wwe star trek lego nintendo mask avengers playstation kickstarter comics xbox supernatural foot collection geeks godzilla mandalorian pop culture countdown disneyland xmen deadpool endgame aussie wolverines justice league predator toys terminator mortal kombat jedi jurassic park vintage blade transformers vehicles comic books superheroes sf warner scores san diego comic con spider verse skywalker aquaman reaction collecting invincible power rangers gremlins conan robocop sega street fighter animal crossing rambo wwf tmnt karate kid dceu fam mk universal studios vader mando scorpion hasbro mattel south australia golden girls he man wb dreamworks centurion spawn bumblebee scot davey gi joe ninja turtles collectors bucky thundercats bluey masters of the universe macgyver voltron visionaries live recording kenner jem toxic avenger idw my little pony g1 shredder she ra action figures universal monsters optimus prime mcfarlane sub zero passive aggressive skeletor megatron ryu inspector gadget sota motu duke nukem remco casey jones lego masters toy fair robotech neca tonka toys that made us boss fight bronies savage worlds pop culture podcasts playmates street sharks marvel legends micronauts hot toys super7 mmpr australian podcasts autobot decepticon toxie a-team takara battle beast starcom coleco zoids bravestarr toxic crusaders toy collecting galoob dino riders vintage toys toybiz bucky o'hare cherry blossom season battle beasts defenders of the earth mythic legions skeleton warriors mafex nytf plastic crack motuc action figure adventure toy power podcast
Wonder: A podcast by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization
How AI Agents Can Help Your Business with Growth

Wonder: A podcast by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2026 51:37


The AI revolution is here but many leaders are still struggling to see real results. Bones Ijeoma is the founder of AllSafe Intelligence and a tech veteran who has guided over one hundred organizations through digital change. With a career spanning roles at Dreamworks and Accenture along with an MBA from USC he understands exactly what it takes to scale a business effectively. In this episode, Bones talks about why entrepreneurs must move beyond simple tools to build a strategy powered by outcome driven AI agents. You will discover how his mission to make downtime obsolete can help you reclaim your time and maximize your impact. Listen now to learn how to transform your operations and lead with confidence in the age of automation.

Podzilla 1985
Extras & Epilogues - The Prince of Egypt

Podzilla 1985

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2026 67:38


Animation April steam rolls ahead with the power of GOD, as we review DreamWorks stunning biblical tale "The Prince of Egypt." Tonight is also a first for the show - no one wants to do an epilogue! Stay tuned to find out why!

Retail War Games
The Architecture of Storytelling: Inside the Creative Process of DreamWorks | Ben Willis

Retail War Games

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2026 44:51


In this episode of Retail War Games, we pull back the curtain on the world of high-level visual narrative with Benjamin Willis, Head of Animation at DreamWorks. While our usual focus is on the "war games" of retail and supply chain, today we explore the strategic "architecture" behind some of the most successful animated stories in the world. Benjamin discusses the immense complexity of leading creative teams through years-long production cycles. We dive into the director's chair to understand how a vision is maintained across thousands of frames, the evolution of storytelling in the age of streaming, and why "imaginary situations" are a vital mental reset for consumers and creators alike. Whether you are building a brand or a blockbuster, the principles of world-building and collaborative strategy remain the same.  

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network
Forgotten Island Buzz, CinemaCon Shakeups, and a Very Strange Wonka Future (Ep. 355)

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2026 47:28


Jim Hill and Drew Taylor break down the biggest animation and industry stories coming out of CinemaCon 2026, including Drew's early look at DreamWorks' Forgotten Island. They also dig into a surprisingly strong box office weekend, Studio Ghibli's return to theaters, and some truly unexpected developments in the world of Willy Wonka. Along the way, the two share insights on theatrical windows, upcoming animated projects, and what's really happening behind the scenes in Hollywood animation. HIGHLIGHTS • Super Mario Brothers Galaxy nears $750M worldwide as the franchise crosses $2B total • Pixar's Hoppers continues a solid run, with digital and physical release plans coming soon • Paramount commits to a 45-day theatrical window while Steven Spielberg pushes for longer exclusivity • Studio Ghibli Fest 2026 lineup revealed, including Ponyo, Spirited Away, and anniversary screenings • Warner Bros. Animation developing anime-inspired Scooby-Doo series Go-Go Mystery Magic • Drew shares his spoiler-free reactions to DreamWorks' Forgotten Island after CinemaCon screening • Netflix's Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory sets up a darker, heist-style Wonka story • Updates on Disney Animation's Hexed, including casting and creative changes HOSTS • Jim Hill (@JimHillMedia) • Drew Taylor (@DrewTailored) FOLLOW • Facebook: @JimHillMediaNews • YouTube: @jimhillmedia • TikTok: @jimhillmedia • Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jimhillmedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at https://www.patreon.com/jimhillmedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - https://strongmindedagency.com SPONSOR This episode is brought to you by UnlockedMagic.com - your go-to source for discounted Disney and Universal theme park tickets. Plan smarter, save money, and make your next trip more magical. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. https://www.jimhillmedia.com/sponsor/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fine Tooning
Forgotten Island Buzz, CinemaCon Shakeups, and a Very Strange Wonka Future (Ep. 355)

Fine Tooning

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2026 47:28


Jim Hill and Drew Taylor break down the biggest animation and industry stories coming out of CinemaCon 2026, including Drew's early look at DreamWorks' Forgotten Island. They also dig into a surprisingly strong box office weekend, Studio Ghibli's return to theaters, and some truly unexpected developments in the world of Willy Wonka. Along the way, the two share insights on theatrical windows, upcoming animated projects, and what's really happening behind the scenes in Hollywood animation. HIGHLIGHTS • Super Mario Brothers Galaxy nears $750M worldwide as the franchise crosses $2B total • Pixar's Hoppers continues a solid run, with digital and physical release plans coming soon • Paramount commits to a 45-day theatrical window while Steven Spielberg pushes for longer exclusivity • Studio Ghibli Fest 2026 lineup revealed, including Ponyo, Spirited Away, and anniversary screenings • Warner Bros. Animation developing anime-inspired Scooby-Doo series Go-Go Mystery Magic • Drew shares his spoiler-free reactions to DreamWorks' Forgotten Island after CinemaCon screening • Netflix's Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory sets up a darker, heist-style Wonka story • Updates on Disney Animation's Hexed, including casting and creative changes HOSTS • Jim Hill (@JimHillMedia) • Drew Taylor (@DrewTailored) FOLLOW • Facebook: @JimHillMediaNews • YouTube: @jimhillmedia • TikTok: @jimhillmedia • Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jimhillmedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at https://www.patreon.com/jimhillmedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - https://strongmindedagency.com SPONSOR This episode is brought to you by UnlockedMagic.com - your go-to source for discounted Disney and Universal theme park tickets. Plan smarter, save money, and make your next trip more magical. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. https://www.jimhillmedia.com/sponsor/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What We're Watching
Shrek: Lord Farquaad is 6'4 in real life (Throwback ep!)

What We're Watching

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2026 66:53


Ah, Shrek, the fever dream that shaped millennials everywhere (and our senses of humor). Join Megan and Jeni as they chat about how Shrek saved Dreamworks, the cast switch-ups that happened halfway through production, Mike Myers's $4 million accent, who Cameron Diaz went to high school with, and the real-life Disney beef that inspired Lord Farquaad!  ~This is a throwback episode that was originally recorded in May 2025.~ Follow us on social!Instagram: ⁠@whatwerewatchingpod⁠ TikTok: @whatwerewatchingpod

Toy Power Podcast
#438: Secret Wars & ToyFare Tournament!

Toy Power Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 11, 2026 72:57


This Week on the Toy Power Podcast; we once again welcome Special Guest Brett Owen into the studio! With his incredible insightful knowledge & overall Collection too; of Mattel's Secret Wars Toyline! With an impressive Roster of characters from all around the Marvel Universe! Kicking off in the early 80s; including a very impressive assortment of Vehicles & Playset. Brett drops some fact bombs that shock the Toy Power team; and he also has some great Toys from his personal collection to chat towards - including (but not limited to); the Doom Copter & Freedom Fighter sets. Then after a fantastic response from our listeners; Trent digs out another retro issue of ToyFare Magazine - in the new segment dubbed: From The Archives! With a look-back at the previous Top-10 list from Toyfare issue #11; how does that stand up against an apparently Fan-Voted 64 Action Figure Tournament -from the pages of ToyFare issue #38?!?! A fun guessing game for the crew; as they try & guess who will be (or was), the Overall Winner?! Do you agree; or were your own guesses different to ours? Enjoy!! Check out Brett on Instagram: @MyNameIsBrett & be sure to follow the Adelaide Comic & Toy Fair on all Social Media platforms! Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

social media movies australia film news star wars masters marvel dc batman modern spider man aliens video games superman alien joker wrestling iron man nerds wwe star trek lego nintendo mask avengers playstation kickstarter comics kicking xbox supernatural foot collection geeks godzilla mandalorian pop culture tournament countdown xmen deadpool endgame aussie wolverines justice league predator toys terminator mortal kombat jedi jurassic park vintage blade transformers vehicles comic books superheroes roster sf warner san diego comic con spider verse skywalker aquaman reaction collecting invincible power rangers gremlins conan robocop sega street fighter animal crossing rambo wwf tmnt karate kid dceu mk vader mando scorpion hasbro mattel south australia golden girls he man wb dreamworks centurion spawn bumblebee marvel universe gi joe ninja turtles collectors bucky thundercats bluey masters of the universe macgyver voltron secret wars visionaries kenner jem toxic avenger idw g1 my little pony shredder freedom fighters she ra action figures universal monsters optimus prime mcfarlane sub zero skeletor megatron ryu inspector gadget sota motu duke nukem remco casey jones lego masters toy fair robotech neca tonka toys that made us boss fight bronies savage worlds pop culture podcasts playmates street sharks marvel legends micronauts hot toys super7 mmpr australian podcasts autobot decepticon toxie a-team takara battle beast starcom coleco zoids bravestarr playset toxic crusaders toy collecting galoob dino riders overall winner vintage toys from the archives toybiz bucky o'hare battle beasts defenders of the earth toyfare mythic legions skeleton warriors mafex nytf plastic crack motuc action figure adventure toy power toy power podcast
The Conversation, Cannabis & Christianity podcast
S5 E70: Hard to Stop with, JP Donahue

The Conversation, Cannabis & Christianity podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2026 85:46


JP Donahue started his professional life with a law degree from St. John's University and a big job at a big firm in New York City. He quit one year in to write movies and television scripts. People thought he was nuts, but that choice began a 15-year run as a screenwriter in Los Angeles. He's authored over 25 original, for-hire, and uncredited rewrites for film and television at companies like Warner Bros., Dreamworks, CBS and NBC. He left Hollywood for cannabis in 2009, and after a decade in cultivation, he co-founded, Tropicana Dispensary, created the brand, and grew it into a $20M Superbrand in 18 months. His bold branding broke the mold and still influences cannabis branding today. In 2021, he exited Tropicana and moved to Costa Rica where he currently resides and operates, The Stoned Ape.

InObscuria Podcast
Ep. 328: Degrees Of Separation... HENRY ROLLINS

InObscuria Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 3, 2026 106:47


This week is lucky #13 of our series called “Degrees Of Separation…” where we discuss side projects and solo releases from artists we love. This episode focuses on the mega-intense, stage-stalking, heavy-throated, part-animal, part-machine literary punk rock icon: HENRY ROLLINS! Kevin's appreciation and fandom of old Hank goes all the way back to his rock n' roll beginnings! If you only know him as that red guy screaming Liar in that '90s video, or as the dude that is on every rockumentary, we hope we turn you on to something new. Search & destroy!!! New to InObscuria? It's all about digging up obscure Rock n' Punk n' Metal from one of 3 categories: the Lost, the Forgotten, or the Should Have Beens. While we may be talking about an artist that many of you know in this episode, perhaps you are not aware of the depth of his work and collabs from the early 80s to the 2000s. Hope ya dig! Songs this week include: Black Flag - “My War” from My War (1984) Iommi - “Laughing Man (In The Devil Mask)” from Iommi (2000) Henry Rollins - “Hot Animal Machine 1” from Hot Animal Machine (1987) Rollins Band - “You Didn't Need” from The End Of Silence (1992) S.O.A - “Girl Problems” from No Policy (1981) Mike Watt - “Sexual Military Dynamics” from Ball-Hog Or Tugboat (1995) Rollins Band - “Love's So Heavy” from Get Some Go Again (2000) Henry Rollins - “It's Kiss! Pt.1 - Excerpt” from Talk Is Cheap, Vol. 2 (2002) Visit us: https://inobscuria.com/ https://www.facebook.com/InObscuria https://twitter.com/inobscuria https://www.instagram.com/inobscuria/ Buy cool stuff with our logo on it!: https://www.redbubble.com/people/InObscuria?asc=u Check out Robert's amazing fire sculptures and metal workings here: http://flamewerx.com/ If you'd like to check out Kevin's band THE SWEAR, take a listen on all streaming services or pick up a digital copy of their latest release here: https://theswear.bandcamp.com/ If you want to hear Robert and Kevin's band from the late 90s – early 00s BIG JACK PNEUMATIC, check it out here: https://bigjackpnuematic.bandcamp.com/

Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast — CodeGen, Agents, Computer Vision, Data Science, AI UX and all things Software 3.0
Moonlake: Causal World Models should be Multimodal, Interactive, and Efficient — with Chris Manning and Fan-yun Sun

Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast — CodeGen, Agents, Computer Vision, Data Science, AI UX and all things Software 3.0

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2026 66:47


We've been on a bit of a mini World Models series over the last quarter: from introducing the topic with Yi Tay, to exploring Marble with World Labs' Fei-Fei Li and Justin Johnson, to previewing World Models learned from massive gaming datasets with General Intuition's Pim de Witte (who has now written down their approach to World Models with Not Boring), to discussing the Cosmos World Model with with Andrew White of Edison Scientific on our new Science pod, to writing up our own theses on Adversarial World Models. Meanwhile Nvidia, Waymo and Tesla have published their own approaches, Google has released Genie 3, and Yann LeCun has raised $1B for AMI and published LeWorldModel.Today's guests have a radically different approach to World Modeling to every player we just mentioned — while Genie 3 is impressive, its many flaws demonstrate the issues with their approach - terrain clipping, noninteractivity (single player, no physics/no objects other than the player move), and maximum of 60 second immersion. Moonlake AI (inspired by the Dreamworks logo) is the diametric opposite - immediately multiplayer, incredibly interactive, indefinite lifetime, capable of MANY different kinds of world models by simulating environments, predicting outcomes, and planning over long horizons. This is enabled by bootstrapping from game engines and training custom agents: In Towards Efficient World Models, Chris Manning and Ian Goodfellow join Fan-Yun in explaining why their approach to efficiency with structure and casuality instead of just blind scaling is sorely needed:SOTA models still show physical or spatial understanding glitches, such as solid objects floating in mid-air or moving “inside” other solid objects.If the goal is to plan for the next action, how often is a high-resolution pixel view necessary for modeling the world? Our bet is that there is a disproportionately large share of economically valuable tasks where such detail is not required. After all, humans with a wide variety of sensory limitations have little difficulty doing almost everything in the world. Furthermore, for a large number of purposes, describing a scene or a situation in a few words of language (“the car's tires squealed as it cornered sharply”) is sufficient for understanding and planning.Experiments also show that humans only partially process visual input in a top-down, task-directed way, often making use of abstracted object-level modeling. In almost all cases, partial representations combined with semantic understanding are sufficient.…If the goal is to facilitate the understanding of causality in multimodal environments, then the world model—whether it is used in the virtual world or the physical world—must prioritize properties such as spatial and physical state consistency maintained over long time periods, and an ability to evolve the world that accurately reflects the consequences of actions. That's what Moonlake is building.Game engines are the right starting point abstraction to efficiently extract causal relationships, and building the interfaces and community (including their new $30,000 Creator Cup) to kickstart the flywheel of actions-to-observations.We were fortunate enough to attend their sessions at GDC 2026 (the Mecca of Game Devs), and were impressed by the huge variety and flexibility of the worlds people were building with Moonlake's tools already! Live videos on the pod.Full Video Pod on YouTube!Timestamps00:00 Benchmarking Gets Hard00:47 Meet Moonlake Founders01:26 Why Build World Models03:12 Structure Not Just Scale05:37 Defining Action Conditioned Worlds07:32 Abstraction Versus Bitter Lesson14:39 Language Versus JEPA Debate20:27 Reasoning Traces And Rendering Layer37:00 Gameplay Over Graphics38:02 Fiction Rules And World Tweaks39:15 Code Engines Beat Learned Priors41:10 Diffusion Scaling Limits43:23 Symbolic Versus Diffusion Boundary46:14 Platform Vision Beyond Games50:24 Spatial Audio And Multimodal Latents54:23 NLP Roots Hiring And Moon Lake NameTranscript[00:00:00] Cold Open[00:00:00] Chris Manning: Think this whole space is extremely difficult as things are emerging now. And I mean, it's not only for world models, I think it's for everything including text-based models, right? ‘cause in the early days it seemed very easy to have good benchmarks ‘cause we could do things like question answering benchmarks.[00:00:20] But these days so much of what people are wanting to do is nothing like that, right? You're wanting to get some recommendations about which backpack would be best for you for your trip in Europe next month. It's not so easy to come up with a benchmark, and it's the same problem with these world models.[00:00:41] Meet the Founders[00:00:41] swyx: Okay. We're back in the studio with Moon Lake's, two leads. I, I guess there's other founders as well, but, sun and Chris Manning. Welcome to the studio.[00:00:54] Fan-yun Sun: Thanks. Thanks, Chris. Thanks for having us.[00:00:56] swyx: You've got, you guys have, come burst onto the scene with a really refreshing [00:01:00] new take of mold models.[00:01:01] I would just want to, I guess ask how you, the two of you came together. Chris, you're a legend in NLP and just AI in, in, in general. You're, you're his grad student, I guess[00:01:10] Fan-yun Sun: Actually my co-founder.[00:01:11] swyx: Oh, yeah.[00:01:12] Fan-yun Sun: I should give a lot of credit to my co-founder, Sharon. Yeah. She was, she was actually working with Professor Fe Androgyn and then she ended up working with, Ron and Chris Manning here.[00:01:22] And then, so I got connected through to Chris initially, actually through my co-founder,[00:01:26] What is Moon Lake?[00:01:26] swyx: what is Moon Lake? What, what is, actually, I'm also very curious about the name, but like why going into world models?[00:01:33] Fan-yun Sun: So I was working a lot. With actually Nvidia research during my PhD years on essentially generating interactive worlds to train reinforcement learning agents or embody EA agents.[00:01:44] And then there's two observations. One in academia and one in industry. An industry like folks at Nvidia are actually paying a lot of dollars to purchase these types of interactive worlds, whether it's for the sake of evaluation or training the robots, or policies or models. And [00:02:00] then, in academia, same thing is happening.[00:02:02] And more specifically, when I was actually working with Nvidia on the synthetic data foundation model training project, we were actually generating a lot of these synthetic data and showing that, hey, you can actually, these synthetic data are actually as useful as real world data when it comes to multimodal pre-training.[00:02:16] But then, like I said, there's a lot of dollars being paid out to like external vendors or, or like. Other folks to manually curate these types of data. It was very clear to us that, okay, on our way to, let's call it embody general intelligence models need to learn the consequences behind their actions, which means that they need interactive data and the demand for those types of data are growing exponentially.[00:02:38] But everybody's sort of thinking about it from a pure, say, video generation perspective or something else. But we feel like the true actually opportunity is actually building reasoning models that can do these things, like how humans do these things today. So that's a little bit on the genesis of Moon Lake, and I think the reason I got into world models was partly.[00:02:59] A philosophical [00:03:00] take of the on the world where I like, believe the simulation theory and stuff like that. But on the other, on the other hand, it's really just like, oh, like there's an opportunity there that I feel like nobody's doing it the way I think should be done.[00:03:10] Structure, Not Scale: The Vision[00:03:10] Chris Manning: I can say a little bit about that.[00:03:12] Yeah. So of the overall goal is the pursuit of artificial intelligence and most of my career has been doing that in the language space and that's been just extremely productive. As we all know, the story of the last few years, I don't have to tell about how much we've achieved with large language models, but, uh.[00:03:31] Although they have been extremely effective for ramping language and general intelligence, it's clearly not the whole world. There's this multimodal world of vision, sound, taste that you'd like to be dealing with more than just, language. And then the question is how to do it. And despite, a huge investment in the computer vision space, right, as the research field computer [00:04:00] vision has been for decades, far, far larger than the language space, actually.[00:04:05] I think it's fair. Say that, vision, understanding sort of stalled out, right? You got to object recognition and then progress just wasn't being made right? If you look at any of these, vision language models, it's the language that's doing 90% of the work and the vision barely works. And so there's really an interesting research question as to why that is and at heart, the ideas behind Moon Lake are an attempt to answer that, believing that there can be a really rich connection between a more symbolic layer of abstracted understanding of visual domains, which aren't in the mainstream vision models, which are still trying to operate on the surface level of pixels.[00:04:50] swyx: I think one of your blog posts, you put it as structure, not scale. Is that, a general thesis?[00:04:57] Chris Manning: Yeah. Well, scale is good too.[00:04:58] swyx: Yeah. Scale is good. Too[00:04:59] lot,[00:04:59] Chris Manning: [00:05:00] lots of data is good as well and scale, but nevertheless, you want the structure Yeah. To be able to much more efficiently learn.[00:05:07] swyx: Yeah. The other thing I really liked also is you put out an example of what your kind of reasoning traces look like.[00:05:12] Right. Which you would distill is the word that comes to mind. I don't even think that's a good, good description, but it would involve, for example, geometry, physics, affordances, symbolic logic, perceptual mappings, and what, what have you. But like that, that is the kind of example that involves, let's call it spatial reasoning, role model reasoning as as compared to normal LM reasoning.[00:05:35] Yeah.[00:05:36] Defining World Models vs Video Generation[00:05:36] Vibhu: But also like taking it a step back. So how do you guys define world models? A lot of people see okay, you can do diffusion, you can do video generation. But, you guys put out quite a few blog posts. You put out a essay recently, we can even pull it up about efficient world models. You have a pretty like structural definition here, but for the general audience that don't super follow the space, right.[00:05:55] What's, what's the difference in what we see from like a video generation model to [00:06:00] a world gen A simulator? How do you kind of paint that last[00:06:02] Chris Manning: year? Yeah, so I think this is actually a little bit subtle because, people look at these amazing generative AI video models, SAWA VO three, one of these things, and they think Genie, they think, oh, this is amazing.[00:06:17] This is we've solved understanding the world because you can produce these generative AI videos, but. The reality is that although the visuals do look fantastic, those visuals actually are accompanied by an understanding of the 3D world, understanding how objects can move, what the consequences of different actions are, and that's what's really needed for spatial intelligence.[00:06:49] So I mean, a term we sometimes use is that you need action condition, world models. That you only actually have a world model if you can predict, [00:07:00] given some action is taken, what is going to change in the world because of it. And in particular, that becomes hard over longer time scales. So if you're simply, trying to.[00:07:12] Predict the next video frame. That's not so difficult. But what you actually want to do is understand the consequences, likely consequences of actions minutes into the future. And to do that, you actually much more of an abstracted semantic model of the world.[00:07:32] The Bitter Lesson & Data Abstraction[00:07:32] swyx: Yeah, the question comes where you want to have more structure than is available in just predicting the next token.[00:07:41] And typically, well, let's, let's call it the experience of the last five years has been that is just washed away by scale, right? So what is the right middle ground here that, you don't ignore the bitter lesson, but also you. Can be more efficient than what we're doing today.[00:07:57] Chris Manning: One possibility [00:08:00] is, look, if we just collect masses and masses and masses and masses of video data, this problem will be solved.[00:08:11] Under certain assumptions that could be true, but there are sort of multiple avenues in which it could not be true. The first is what's really essential is understanding the, the consequences of actions producing an action conditioned world model. And if you are simply, collecting observational video data, which is the easy stuff to collect, when you're sort of mining online videos, you don't actually.[00:08:41] Know the actions that are being taken to see how the video is changing. And so if you are never collecting directly actions and you are having to try and infer them from what happened in the observed video, that's not impossible. But it's very [00:09:00] hard and it's not really established that you can get that to work at any scale yet.[00:09:05] And so there's a lot of premium on collecting action condition video data, which is part of why there's been a lot of interest in using simulation so that you can be collecting data where you do know the actions, which isn't quite limited supply, but there's also in the limit of as much data as you could possibly have.[00:09:28] Maybe the problem is eventually solvable, but. Even though we collect huge amounts of text data is always at a great level of abstraction, right? Language is a human designed, abstracted representation where there's meaning in each token and it's representing and abstraction of the world, right?[00:09:51] As soon as you are describing someone as a professor, and as soon as you are saying that they're condescending, right? These are very [00:10:00] abstracted descriptions of the world. It's not at what you're observing as pixel level, and to get to that kind of degree of abstraction, starting from pixels is orders and magnitude of extra data and processing.[00:10:14] And so, although, we absolutely want to exploit, get as much data as possible, use the bitter lesson. Nevertheless, if there are ways in which you can work with five orders of magnitude less data than people working purely from pixels, you're gonna be able to make a lot more progress, a lot more quickly.[00:10:34] And that's the bet here. And so you could just say that's only wanting to be able to, do it more efficiently, do it more quickly, do it more cheaply. But I think it's actually more than that, I think. One should be making the analogy to how human beings work at one level. You know? Yes, we have these high [00:11:00] resolution eyes and we can look and see a scene like a video, but all of the evidence from neuroscience and psychology is that most of what comes into people's eyes is never processed.[00:11:13] Right. That you are doing fairly fine ated processing of exactly what you're focusing on. But as soon as it's away from that of yeah, there's another guy over there that you've sort of only processing top down this very abstracted semantic description of the world around you. And so, that's what human beings are doing.[00:11:33] They're working with semantic abstractions and so. I think it is just the right representation. ‘cause we also have other goals we want to be able to do, real time worlds. So that means there's a limit to how much processing you can do and we want to do long-term planning and consistency. And again, that favors abstraction.[00:11:55] I mean, I guess there was actually a recent. Blog posts that [00:12:00] came out from our Friends of physical intelligence and, they were sort of heading in the same direction they were saying Oh, to the pay[00:12:06] swyx: pay model.[00:12:07] Chris Manning: Yeah. Yeah. To maintain a long term memory of what's happening in the world. So we can, do longer term we actually storing text of what is, been happening in the world.[00:12:19] Right. It is not such a successful strategy of trying to keep it all at a pixel level.[00:12:24] Vibhu: And yeah, I mean, you can see it in video models like that Temporal consistency. We're at a scale of train on, all the video data we have. We have it for maybe 30 seconds, a few minutes. That's not the same as a game state played for half an hour.[00:12:37] Right. I thought you guys break it down pretty well. You have a, you have a blog post about. Building multimodal worlds with an agent. I dunno if you guys wanna talk about this. This is one of the things I read, I[00:12:48] swyx: thought, yeah, it's the thing I talked about with the reasoning chain. Yeah.[00:12:51] Vibhu: So there's like different phases to this.[00:12:53] It seems like it's more of an agent, a scaffold, very different approach than just, type in a prompt and you, you don't have the same consistency. [00:13:00] It also, like, for people that are listening, I, I would highly recommend reading it. It breaks down the problem in a different light, right?[00:13:06] So like, what do you need to consider when you're talking about video, like world game models, right? How would, what do you need to consider? What are the factors? What are the elements? What's the state? So I don't know if you guys have stuff to talk about for this one.[00:13:19] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah. Actually, I wanted to add on a little bit Yeah.[00:13:22] On our previous point, which is just like, change topics so quickly. I, I do feel like sometimes people confuse like, oh, like we're taking an an, an method with abstraction. That means they don't believe in bitter lesson. Like that's just false, right? Like we are believed is a bitter lesson. But then I feel like the question that we always discuss is like, what is the right abstraction level today?[00:13:42] The analogy I like to make is like, let's just say we can encode and decode. Represent all of images, videos, audio and bytes. Then the most bitter lesson approached is to train a next byte prediction model as opposed to the next token prediction model where it's just like, okay, it's natively multimodal, can just, but it's like, yeah, like [00:14:00] to, to Chris's point, it's like the scale and computing you need to achieve that.[00:14:03] So that's why we always come back to like, okay, what is the most efficient way to do it? And reasoning models to the point of this blog post is a showcase of like, Hey, we're actually just like reasoning about the world and reasoning about. The aspects of the world that CAGR that matter for me to learn what I want to learn from this role model.[00:14:21] swyx: Yeah, it's like you're improving the en encoder of whatever you're, trying to model. And like a better representation would just represent the important things in less space. Yeah. Which would just be more efficient.[00:14:33] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah.[00:14:34] swyx: So yeah, I, I, I fully agree that it is not, antagonistic to, bitter lesson.[00:14:38] I do wanna wanna mention one more thing. Is there any philosophical differences with the JPA stuff that, Yun is working on? I gotta go there. You, you, you, you're, you're imagining like some latent abstraction. I'm like, okay, fine. Let's, let's talk about it, right? Like it's an elephant in the room.[00:14:52] Chris Manning: Yeah.[00:14:53] JEPA & Philosophical Differences with LeCun[00:14:53] Chris Manning: There are philosophical differences. Jan Lacoon is a dear friend of mine, but. [00:15:00] He has never appreciated the power of language in particular, or symbolic representations in general. Yarn is a very visual thinker. He always wants to claim that he thinks visually and there are no words, symbols, or math in his head.[00:15:21] Maybe that's true of yarn. It's certainly not the way I think. Um. But at any rate, the world according to yarn is the basic stuff of the, the world and of intelligence is visual and language is just. This low bit rate communication mechanism between humans and it doesn't have much other utility and it's far inferior to the high bit rate video, that comes into your eyes.[00:15:53] And I think he's fundamentally missing a number of important things [00:16:00] there. Think of this evolutionary argument looking at animals, right? That the closest analogies, the things with chimps, right? So chimpanzees, have fairly similar brains to human beings. They have great vision systems, they have great memory systems.[00:16:18] They've got, better memory than we do of short term memories. They can plan, they can build primitive tools that, humans. Massively ahead in what we understand about the world, what we can plan, what we can build. And essentially what took off for us was that humans managed to develop language and that gave a symbolic knowledge, representation, and reasoning level, which just, okay if this sort of vaulting of what could be done with the intelligence in brains.[00:16:59] So the [00:17:00] philosopher Dan de refers to language as a cognitive tool and argues that, humans unique among the creatures in the world have managed to build their own cognitive tools and language is the famous first example. But other things like, mathematics and programming languages are also cognitive tools.[00:17:21] They give you an ability to. Think in abstractions, in extended causal reasoning chains. And that allows you to do much more. And we use that for spatial representation and intelligence and planning and gameplay as well. So we believe, and this is, underlying the specific technologies that Moon Lake is making, that symbolic representations are powerful.[00:17:50] And you want to use that in your understanding of the visual world when you want a causal understanding, when you want to maintain long-term [00:18:00] consistency and prediction. And as I understand it, that's just not in ya Koon's worldview. So I think that's the fundamental philosophical difference. Then there's the specific model.[00:18:11] He's been advancing jpa, that's a reasonable. Research bed is a direction as to, to head for building out a model of the visual world. To my mind, it's sort of one reasonable research bed. It's not really established. It's the best one that everyone should be following,[00:18:32] swyx: at least developed at scale, at Meta.[00:18:34] But it's not just vision, right? Like, I mean, JPA is a, just joint admitting prediction can be applied to anything really. And people have done it. The argument is that there is a latent representation or that is probably more. Suited to the task, then why not let machines do it for us instead of predefining it at all?[00:18:50] And isn't something like a JPA shaped thing the right answer? And if not, why not?[00:18:55] Chris Manning: So I think there's a part of jpa that's right, which is [00:19:00] you do want to have a joint. Embedding that gives you a consistent model of the world. And Jan's argument is you can never get that from auto aggressive language models ‘cause they're sort of left to right churning out one token at a time.[00:19:22] I guess this is where we're the research arguments of the field, I'm not actually convinced that's right. ‘cause although the token production is this auto aggressive, process that's heading, left to right, I guess don't have to be left to right. But anyway, in sequence of tokens we could have right to left Arabic.[00:19:40] But although that's true, all of the weights of the model that are internal to the transformer, they are a joint model of the model's understanding of the world. And so I think you can think of the weights of the model as a form of. Joint representation, [00:20:00] and therefore it is plausible to think that could be the basis of a world model, which avoids, ya's objections.[00:20:10] swyx: I think I follow, and obviously that would touch on what Moon Lake eventually ends up doing as well. Right. Like, which it's hard to tell because you put out the end results, but we don't know the inputs that go into it. So it's, it's, that's something that we have to figure out over time.[00:20:25] Vibhu: Yeah. I mean, I guess this kind of breaks down some of the outputs. Do you wanna walk us through it?[00:20:31] Reasoning Traces & Interactive Worlds[00:20:31] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah. So this, this really just walks us through the reasoning traces of like, okay. So that just say, if we wanna build a world in this context, it's really just a game demo that, that shows the, the variety of interactions that this world model can build.[00:20:45] And yeah, it's really just a reasoning traces of like, okay it prompted to create a bowling game. Like how did it achieve what you saw? That level of causality, interaction and consistency, right? So yeah, this is almost just like a, an example of [00:21:00] like a reasoning traces. Very[00:21:01] swyx: detailed.[00:21:01] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah.[00:21:01] Vibhu: Very, very detailed.[00:21:02] You gotta you don't even realize it, right? Like when a video is generated, what happens when a ball strikes a pin, right? So first, like you, there's audio in that, like audio triggers happens, score increments, the world changes. Like pins have to start dropping. There's a timer that goes on. It's just like very similar to how now we're used to reasoning for language models.[00:21:20] There's a whole state of what happens. So geometry, physics, all this stuff. And then yeah, there's kind of that single prompt. So asset, ation all this stuff. It's like a, it's a nice view to see what's going on.[00:21:32] swyx: I think Sun is also too polite to point out that, both like Google's genie, demos as well as world Labs is marble, do not have interactive worlds.[00:21:41] Fan-yun Sun: That's the benefit of having a reasoning model, right? Like, because you can, you can say, oh, like maybe in this particular context, I want to learn how to bowl. And then you can say, okay, then what is it important when it comes to learning how to bowl? Okay, maybe it's like I need to understand the, the basic of like, physics and I want to throw it over [00:22:00] them.[00:22:00] I wanna know that when I, when it resets it's a new game. So I know that yeah, basically, you know to pick up the ball, you know that ball's gonna cause the pins to fall down. You know that what's important to this particular bowling game is to score and you know that the score corresponds to the number of pins that fell down.[00:22:19] So it's just like, if it's a model that sort of knows what it. Looks like, knows what a bowling game looks like, but doesn't actually allows you to practice over and over again and to understand that, oh, like what it takes to actually get a high score. Then it sort of doesn't actually allow you to learn what you set out to learn within the world model.[00:22:38] And I think this is really just one example of showing like the advantages of the approach that we're taking over most the, let's call it the zeitgeist, is today, when people talk about clinical role models,[00:22:51] Chris Manning: right? So it sort of seems like the question to ask when there's a world model is.[00:22:58] Can I not [00:23:00] only just wander around the world and look at the beautiful graphics, can I interact with the objects in the world and see the right consequences of actions?[00:23:11] Vibhu: And you also understand what the consequences would be if you do something right. So it's not just like, okay, there's one thing if I pick it up, something will happen.[00:23:19] But, there's 50 options and I know I can expect, I can infer what would happen if I do any of them. Right. So very different when you can actually see it play around with it.[00:23:28] swyx: There,[00:23:28] Beyond Unity: Cognitive Tools for World Building[00:23:31] swyx: there's two cheeky elements of that. I mean, the, the, the I guess, less ambitious one is, let's really establish for listeners, why is this fundamentally different than writing Unity code, right?[00:23:40] Like just creating a model to translate a prompt into Unity code[00:23:44] Fan-yun Sun: so there is an underlying physics engine. Yeah. In that sense, there's some overlapping things to Unity, but the way we think about it is like physics engine. Tools or code are cognitive tools like borrowing Chris's term, right? Like tools [00:24:00] that the model can employ as means to an end.[00:24:04] So today maybe you say, okay, in this particular context we care about physics, we care about the long-term causality consequences. Then yes, we deploy it, employ physics engine, and then maybe tomorrow we say, okay, we're we're training that. Just say drones where we only care about really fluid dynamics and the visual aspect of the world.[00:24:25] Then, then yeah, maybe we don't actually, the model actually doesn't have to use a physics engine. Or maybe it employs other types of representation or physics engine to achieve the task. So yes, writing code for Unity is sort of similar to a tool that our A model can employ, but our goal is for a model to take a representation conditioned reasoning.[00:24:46] Approach or process.[00:24:47] swyx: Yeah,[00:24:47] Fan-yun Sun: internally.[00:24:48] swyx: Yeah. Using these things as just like general two calls. Right. Which I think is very interesting. The other more ambitious one is, some kind of recursive element where it becomes multiplayer, right? Like here, there's a single player element, you're not [00:25:00] modeling any other people involved.[00:25:01] And that is a whole other thing.[00:25:04] Fan-yun Sun: But in fact, we can really do multiplayers. Oh yeah, okay. I haven't seen any double situations. So just actually just like prompt our, our model to say, Hey, like configure to multiplayer. Then it'll do like this. You'll be able to configure multiplayer[00:25:16] swyx: great[00:25:17] Fan-yun Sun: persistency database for you.[00:25:18] Easy. Yeah.[00:25:19] Vibhu: So what, what are like some of the current limitations in where we're at? So there's one approach of like, okay, scale up video predictors. Obviously there's data issues. With approaches like this, is it data constraints? What are like the next steps? Is it real time? Like, so there's one side of, write an agent to write Unity code, but okay, I want to be streaming a game real time.[00:25:38] I want to have characters being also like agent, but where, where do we kinda see this scaling up? Right?[00:25:44] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah, there's definitely a data constraint. Like the more data, the, the better. This reasoning model can almost basically act as humans to like operate a variety of tools and softwares to build whatever's necessary.[00:25:57] And then there's a sort [00:26:00] of fidelity constraint, which we're actually solving with another model, which we can talk about later. But it's like, it's not as easy to get to photorealism with the approach that we're taking. But we think there are better solutions to that, which is we can dive into later.[00:26:14] Later.[00:26:15] Vibhu: The one one thing you note here is it's a diffusion model, right? So there's, there's a few approaches, diffusion caution, splatting, yeah, so Ry diffusion model, you guys wanna[00:26:25] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah.[00:26:25] Vibhu: Introduce,[00:26:26] Fan-yun Sun: yeah, totally.[00:26:26] Rie: Neural Rendering & Skins for Worlds[00:26:26] Fan-yun Sun: So within our world modeling framework, we think there are two models that we train, right?[00:26:31] Like, there's the multimodal reasoning model that we just talked about that essentially handles. Mainly the, the causality, the persistency and logic determinism of the world. And then RY is our bet on saying, okay, like while all those model, can take care of all these things that we just talked about, it's limitations compared to existing, say, video models, is that it doesn't have as high of a pixel [00:27:00] ality right off the gate, right?[00:27:02] And EE is to say, Hey, we can actually take whatever persistent representation that we generate with our multimodal reasoning model and learn to restyle it into photo photorealistic styles or arbitrary styles you want. So this model is almost to say, Hey, I'm going to respect the persistency and interactivity of the world that you created, but my only job is to make sure that its pixel distribution is close to what we want.[00:27:29] Vibhu: Yeah.[00:27:30] swyx: Great example right there. You kept the KL divergence.[00:27:33] Fan-yun Sun: Oh. Where,[00:27:34] swyx: no, no. I mean this, this is a, a classic like, how you don't stray too far from the source material as you, you kept the kl, which is Oh yeah. Kind of cool. Yeah.[00:27:43] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah.[00:27:44] swyx: I mean, and the[00:27:44] Chris Manning: difference is, and I mean sun was pointing at this, where sort of saying it's in one way a more difficult path, but a better path that, typically the diffusion models are producing the whole scene and it looks lovely, [00:28:00] but there isn't spatial understanding behind it, which is allowing for the real time graphics gameplay, the spatial intelligence, understanding the consequences of worlds where this is, taking a path where it is assuming an abstracted semantic model of the world's state.[00:28:20] And then the diffusion model is then being used on top of that to produce the high quality graphics.[00:28:27] swyx: Is there an intended practical, or business use for this, or is it like a, like a demonstration of capabilities?[00:28:34] Fan-yun Sun: We actually believe that this is gonna be the next paradigm of rendering. So it's gonna replace how ra raizer, it's gonna replace DLSS today because it not only has these pixel prior that's learned from the world such that you can literally play any game in photo realistic styles, which is a lot of people's desire when they do GTA, right?[00:28:51] Like,[00:28:51] Vibhu: all the mods, all the people adding perfect lighting and all this.[00:28:54] swyx: So[00:28:54] Fan-yun Sun: skins[00:28:55] swyx: for worlds, let's call it[00:28:56] Fan-yun Sun: skins, let's call it skin for worlds. I,[00:28:58] Vibhu: it's also like, you can call it skin, you can call it [00:29:00] customization. You can play it how you want, right?[00:29:01] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah, exactly. And I think another thing that we really pointed out specific specifically in this blog is the programmability of it, right?[00:29:09] So what this means is that this render historically render is always a derivative of the game state, right? You're saying, oh, here's the game state, I'm rendering out a frame. But here I'm saying actually this render can be part of the gameplay loop. I can say something along the lines of, if upon getting 10.[00:29:26] Apples, I'm gonna, my weapon of choice, my bullet's gonna turn into apples. And that's, that's possible because we can say, we can basically dynamically have certain game state trigger the, the preconditions to the render such that the rendering is now part of the game loop too. One thing is to just say, okay, it's, it's, it's the appearance.[00:29:47] But the second thing is also to say there's these novel interactions that are possible because this render now has actually priors of the world.[00:29:57] swyx: It is up to the artist to figure out what to do with it.[00:29:59] Fan-yun Sun: It [00:30:00] is up to the creators. Yes.[00:30:01] swyx: Yeah.[00:30:01] Fan-yun Sun: And I also think that's actually another big argument that we're making and the reason that we're picking, taking the bet we're baking is that a lot of the times, whether it's for embody AI gaming, like you want a layer where human can inject their intentions.[00:30:15] So, for example, let's just say in the context of gaming, it's obviously like my creative intent, but maybe in the context of embodied ai, it's like, oh, like I take this foundational policy and I want to actually fine tune it to deploy in my house. So you want to almost say, inject, have a layer where human can say, oh, here's the distribution of things I want to create to achieve my goal.[00:30:35] And I think 3D graphics as it as it is today, is basic, the layer for people to say, Hey, what do I care about in this world? And it allows, basically human intent to be expressed in these worlds much more explicitly and distributionally as opposed to just saying, Hey, I'm gonna generate like, arbitrary.[00:30:54] And it's like just prompts,[00:30:55] swyx: it's one of those things where like, I think you, you're going to build up a series of models, right? [00:31:00] This is just one of, this is probably like the highest utility or heaviest, frequency one, I don't dunno what to call this. Where like you Yeah. You can immediately drop this in on any game and you don't need anything else that.[00:31:10] That you guys do. But, I, I could see, I could see that I think the, the human intent is something that people are not even used to because we're so used to static worlds or, worlds that just don't react, or, I don't know. It's, it, you're kind of blowing my mind right now with like, I'm, I wonder if you've talked to people at GDC Hmm.[00:31:27] And what are they gonna do with it?[00:31:30] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah. Now the stance that we take on this front is like, we're not gonna be more creative than our users to ship[00:31:35] swyx: it out.[00:31:35] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah. But we wanna make sure that we're building things in a way that really allows them to express their intent.[00:31:41] swyx: The thing that you said about, here's the distribution that I want.[00:31:45] I think text may be too low of a bandwidth to. To really demonstrate, because I, I, there, I'm, I'm probably just gonna want to drop in a bunch of, reference assets and then you can figure it out from[00:31:58] Vibhu: there. But you probably wanna do a, a mixture of [00:32:00] both, right? Like you throw in a few images. I wanted this style.[00:32:02] Yeah. I want it to look like this. So it, it's, it's a mixture, right?[00:32:05] Chris Manning: I, I think it's a mixture. I mean, yeah, I mean there's clearly a visual component of this, and it's not that, everything can be text. ‘cause of course you want to give a visual look, but there's also a massive amount of giving the overall picture of the look of the world and the behavior of things that you can express in a few words of text.[00:32:32] And it be very time consuming and difficult to do via visual means. So I think, yeah, you want a combination of both.[00:32:40] Evaluating World Models[00:32:40] Vibhu: So one question I kind of have is, how do we go about evaluating world models? So like, there's many axes, right? One is like, okay. I have preferences. How well do we adhere to prompts? One is the simulation.[00:32:50] One is like do things, is there core logic that's broken? So coming from we know how to evaluate diffusion, there's fidelity, there's [00:33:00] stuff like that. But what are some of the challenges that most people probably aren't thinking about?[00:33:04] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah, I think this is like a great question and probably one of the hardest questions in role models because like, I think it always comes back to what are you building this role model for?[00:33:13] And depending on your end goal and purpose, the evaluation should defer. So in the context of games, then the most direct way of measuring is how much behind are people actually spending in this world that you create? And if your goal is to say, for example, in the context that we just talked about, like, hey, deploying, deploying action in body, a agent, then your, your end.[00:33:33] Metric is then, okay, after training in these worlds that you generate how robust it is to when you actually deploy to the target environment. But then, it's, it's hard to measure these end metrics. So today people have like these proxy metrics that I call that basically try to measure what we really care about, which is the end metrics, but then frankly it's different for every use case.[00:33:57] Yeah,[00:33:57] Vibhu: which seems like quite a challenge, right? Like in [00:34:00] in language models or video models. Image models, your benchmarks are proxies, right? People aren't actually asking instruction, following tool use questions. They're proxies of how well it will do downstream. But for this, so like, should teams, should companies have their own individual benchmarks outside of games?[00:34:16] If you think of stuff like, okay, video production, movies, stuff like that, that also want to use world models. Should, should they sort of internalize like. Their own proxy. Is this something you guys do? Where, where does that connect[00:34:28] Chris Manning: go? Yeah, I think this whole space is extremely difficult as things are emerging now.[00:34:35] And I mean, it's not only for world models, I think it's for everything including text-based models, right? ‘cause in the early days it seemed very easy to have good benchmarks ‘cause we could do things like question answering benchmarks and could you answer the question based on these documents and the various other kinds of, do pieces of logical reasoning or math.[00:34:58] But again, these are sort of. [00:35:00] And there were sort of visual equivalents of things like object recognition, right? For these small component tasks. These days so much of what people are wanting to do also with language models is nothing like that, right? You're wanting to, have an interaction with the language model and get some recommendations about which backpack would be best for you for your trip in Europe next month.[00:35:25] And it's not the same kind of thing, right? And it's not so easy to come up with a benchmark as to does this large language model give you an effective interaction for guiding you in a good way for shopping, right? So, and it's the same problem with these world models. So if we take the game design case, well success is that a game designer can.[00:35:57] Produce what they are [00:36:00] imagining in a reasonable amount of time. And that's really the kind of macro task. That's a very hard thing to turn into a benchmark and I think a lot of this is actually going to turn into people walking, walking with their feet. Right? I mean, I guess that's what's happening, at the large language model level, right?[00:36:23] When people are choosing to use, GPT five or Gemini or clawed, individuals are trying out these different models and deciding, oh, I like the kind of answers that GT five gives me, or no, I feel like I get more accurate detail from Claude, right?[00:36:43] Vibhu: It's a lot of[00:36:43] Chris Manning: vitech, a lot of people just using it.[00:36:45] It's vibe checking. I realize that, but it's actually whether. People feel it's giving them utility in what they want. Right.[00:36:52] Vibhu: And the the interesting thing there is like a lot of people prefer the visual, right? This looks pretty, which is not the objective of what this is [00:37:00] for, right? It's if a, if a game designer is working on something, they care about the game engine, right?[00:37:04] The state, it's, it can look whatever. You can fix that up later. Or you can have a really good game state and you can quickly edit it to 20. 20 different versions, like Keep State,[00:37:14] Chris Manning: right?[00:37:14] Vibhu: So[00:37:14] Chris Manning: that's a really important distinction, for and for speaking to Moon Lake strength, right? So, yeah, great visuals are lovely to look at for a few seconds, but gains are really all about the concept, the game play.[00:37:33] And a lot of the time that doesn't actually even require great visuals. I mean, there are just lots of very successful games which have relatively primitive visuals, and there are other games where people have spent millions producing photo realistic, visuals, and the game sucks, right? So, keeping those two axes apart is really important in thinking about what's important in a [00:38:00] world model for different uses.[00:38:02] swyx: This conversation is reminding me of some game review and fiction discussions I've, had in my sort of non-AI related life. Some, for some people might know Brandon Sanderson, who's a very famous, fiction author, had, is is a big game reviewer. And he, he's a big fan of video games where you change one thing about a normal what you might assume about, about the world.[00:38:22] For example, Baba is you, I don't know if you might have come across that, where like the rules change as you play the game. And also like where, you can do things like reverse time selectively or like change gravity selectively. And I think this is also reminds, reminds me of other kinds of world models that are created by authors.[00:38:38] Where Ted Chang is, is my typical example where he'll take the world that, you know today, but change one thing about it and, but then create a consistent world based on that. Which is long-winded answer of me to, of. For me to say is it's it easy to create alternative roles that don't exist, but you change one thing and then let's, let's run a whole bunch of people through it to see if it works.[00:38:58] Chris Manning: My first dance will [00:39:00] be, that seems a lot easier and more conceivable to do using Techn technology like Moon Lakes than with some of the other world models out there, where the sun can actually make it happen. I'll let him give a second answer.[00:39:15] swyx: If I guess for you, you're constrained by the game engine tool, right?[00:39:18] Like at the end of the day, that's the, that's the thought, partner that you have. If I ask for something where like, if it never is allowed to reverse time or if gravity only ever works one way, then well that's it. But sometimes gravity might change,[00:39:33] Fan-yun Sun: but it's a lot easier to change with code as opposed to a model that is learned primarily on data of.[00:39:42] Real world and virtual worlds that are, I guess, like for example, junior, like there's actually trained on a lot of real world data and a lot of virtual gaming data, and it's hard to say maybe it's easier to say, okay, I wanna change the visuals in like the time period of, of the world. Like, you can't change gravity, for [00:40:00] example.[00:40:00] Vibhu: I feel like you can to light bounds, right? Everything comes down to like, code is a better way to execute it, but the models aren't that diverse and creative, right? You can say, okay, make gravity slower. It can do that, but it's limited to your representation of how you text it out, right? Like they're, they're only gonna do a few iterations, whereas programmatically, if there's a game engine under the hood, you can kind of go wild, right?[00:40:22] So one of the, I dunno, one of the limitations of most models is that they're very overtrained to one style. Right. And extracting diversity is pretty difficult. At least that's something we've seen.[00:40:35] Fan-yun Sun: I mean, are there examples you have in mind where you Existing models? Yeah. Like it would be easier to do that's not using code.[00:40:43] Certain types of creative intent or like transition state transitions,[00:40:47] swyx: Clipping, other models, other wo models are very good at clipping through things. Clipping my, my, my legs clipping through a rock because it's, it's just, it's just bad. [00:41:00] Like, you would have to struggle very hard with your stuff to actually make that happen.[00:41:04] Which I think is maybe a topic that you actually prepared on, Gian Splatting versus, the other stuff.[00:41:09] Vibhu: Yeah. Yeah. It's just for those not super familiar, right? There's a, there's gian splatting, there is diffusion. Like what works, what scales up. I feel like in February when Soro one came out the blog post was literally titled like,[00:41:21] swyx: you bring it up.[00:41:22] You never know.[00:41:23] Vibhu: World, world, video generation models are world simulators. It's super bitter lesson pilled. Yeah, emer, a lot of it is emergence, right? So, not to go through their blog post, basically their whole thing was as you scale up all this consistency, all this stuff just kind of solves, it's a very simple premise, right?[00:41:41] They just scaled up, diffusion, and from there, this is, this is Feb 2024, how much can we, it's already been two years, which is basically five years. How much more in AI time do we need to just scale up or, or do we hit a data cap? But I think we already talked about this a lot, right? Like this is back to the beginning discussion of what's [00:42:00] appropriate for the time.[00:42:01] And that seems like your approach, right?[00:42:03] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah. The point I'm trying to make is that they're very many, many different types of world simulators and like having a world simulator that can produce pixel coherency is very, very useful for games and, marketing and all these things, but it's not as useful as people think when it comes to causal reasoning.[00:42:25] When it comes to embodied ai. Yeah, like it this title is true. We're not saying that it's, it's like, not a great world simulator, but actually in the blog that we, we, we, we wrote, the bet is more so that there are gonna be disproportionately large share of value of real world tasks or, and virtual tasks where high resolution pixel fidelity is not needed.[00:42:47] Yes. Video models have their values.[00:42:50] swyx: Yeah. This is at the absolute limit of my physics understanding, but one example that comes to mind is basically having to solve like ba the equivalent of a three [00:43:00] body problem in a deterministic Well, where the video models, which is approximated good enough. Yeah.[00:43:08] Right. Like there's, there's some point at which your approach kind of runs into like the you now have to simulate the world. Please, thank you very much. And like you're trying to do that, but only to the extent that the game engine lets you and like game engines cannot do some things.[00:43:23] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah, no, I mean, I think the interesting or more technical question here actually is where do you draw the boundary between.[00:43:32] What's handled with, let's say, diffusion prior and what, when? What's handled with symbolic priors?[00:43:38] swyx: Yes.[00:43:38] Fan-yun Sun: Okay.[00:43:38] swyx: Okay.[00:43:39] Fan-yun Sun: Right. Let's go there. Because this, this boundary can actually be fluid. Like I think like maybe what you're trying to get at is like, okay, people are saying pixel prior, everything. But what we're saying is, okay, there's a boundary that we draw where this is where we think provides the most economical value for the domains and things that we care about today.[00:43:59] [00:44:00] And I actually do think, and it's something that we do internally all the time, which is like, okay, given new equations that we learn or new elements of the world and that we, we learn, or maybe some other knowledge that we acquire in the process of developing the models. Should we still be maintaining this line exactly as it is today?[00:44:22] Or should we move it a little bit left or a little bit right? Right. Like sometimes that we realize that, oh, like maybe customers or, or folks like want certain things that are better handled with preop pryor as opposed to, symbolic prior than,[00:44:34] swyx: yeah. Your, your skin thing is a, is a example moving it, right.[00:44:37] Yeah.[00:44:37] Or left. Yeah,[00:44:37] Fan-yun Sun: exactly.[00:44:38] swyx: I dunno what the, the left right is.[00:44:39] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No the, the model.[00:44:42] swyx: Yes.[00:44:42] Fan-yun Sun: Actually we have a few iterations of them. They're actually at slightly different[00:44:45] swyx: I know boundaries. You should, you should do that. That's a cool dimension to show.[00:44:49] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah.[00:44:50] swyx: Is quantum mechanics the diffusion prior of our world?[00:44:55] Right. It's like that's the boundary of classical mechanics versus quantum. Right? Like, that's it. At one [00:45:00] point God plays dice and the other point doesn't.[00:45:02] Fan-yun Sun: I dunno if Chris, you wanna say it, but I think, I think generally I feel like physics is better with symbol P priors.[00:45:08] Chris Manning: Even quantum physics.[00:45:09] Fan-yun Sun: Even quantum physics.[00:45:11] swyx: Yeah. This is starts against to, MLST territory is, is what I call it, where, he, he likes to get philosophical. We, we we're quite friendly.[00:45:18] Vibhu: I mean, we need to get, we need to get singularity. I heard some of that.[00:45:23] swyx: No, no, I think that is actually really helpful and man, I just want you to productize this like, as a product guy, I'm just like, oh, also[00:45:32] Vibhu: a gamer, I[00:45:33] swyx: wanna, it's like a researcher, like, it's cool.[00:45:35] Like this is a, the theoretical, like you have a very good, I don't know, like the way of thinking about these things, but I just wanna see you like, express it. I do think like your fundamentally things when, when you leave open new tools, like, okay, use, use human intent to incorporate it into how you render.[00:45:52] Artists are gonna have to take like two to three years to figure out what to do with this. And you just don't know.[00:45:57] Chris Manning: Right. But I think, this is, [00:46:00] gives a much more approachable and controllable world for the society, which is the beauty, the beauty of, NLP, that that will enable it to be adopted and used.[00:46:10] And we are very hopeful about that. Yeah,[00:46:13] Fan-yun Sun: yeah. Yeah. I mean, we are, we are very focused actually on commercialization in the sense that like we do, we do really believe in the data flywheel app approach. Yeah. Where, we put this in the hands of the creators and the users and then they will teach us when, what capability our model should improve.[00:46:27] And that's why we are, we are actually, like products and beta[00:46:31] swyx: Yeah. Focusing on gaming. What, what's like the adjacent thing to gaming[00:46:34] Fan-yun Sun: embody adjacent, basically. So maybe we can, we can I'll maybe start with where we see the platform in three years. Yeah. Which is like, okay. The users would tell us what they want to achieve.[00:46:45] The end goal could be, Hey, I just, I wanna make something to teach my kids the value of humility. Or it could be, Hey, I wanna fine tune my, drones to be really good at rescue situations. I could be vacuum robots. I want to like train [00:47:00] my manipulation or like vacuum robot to be very robust to my office, right?[00:47:04] But it's like, whatever it is, scenario robust to[00:47:06] swyx: my office[00:47:07] Fan-yun Sun: or like navigate very robustly in my office. But then it's like, whatever end goal that you want, our role model will say, okay, given what you want to achieve, let me generate a distribution of environments such that I can train and evaluate whatever it is you want.[00:47:24] Yeah. Right. Maybe for the purpose of games, it's just the end simulation and that's the end product for certain policies. It's like I can train it within these environments and then help you see where your policy is failing or not. Yeah. And then, so I think,[00:47:37] swyx: so in that case, much more of a training tool.[00:47:40] Than in other training[00:47:41] Vibhu: evaluation? Both. Right?[00:47:43] swyx: Sure. Same. Same thing.[00:47:43] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah, same thing. I think it's just this role model that allows people to train any policy that can act in any multimodal environments.[00:47:51] swyx: Would it be harder to reward hack? Is there an angle here where it is harder to reward hack? Like it's just, I'll just put it generally because I think that's a, that's obviously a key [00:48:00] problem that a lot of people face when in training agents in these environments, and I don't know, can you solve it?[00:48:07] Chris Manning: I think not necessarily. To the extent that there's a mis specified reward that. It seems like it could be hacked in a more symbolic world or in a more pixel based world. I dunno if Sun's got any thoughts, but I don't think that's really being solved.[00:48:26] swyx: The other thing that comes to mind is just you could just build a better sawa as a video generator model, right?[00:48:31] Because then you, you would move the diffusion, side a bit more further to the right. I think if I got the directionality correct. And that's it.[00:48:40] Vibhu: It's better on domains, right? Like on consistency over now, or for sure it exists versus something doesn't, right.[00:48:46] Chris Manning: So[00:48:46] swyx: yeah. Yeah. Is[00:48:49] Vibhu: is a question more like, like[00:48:51] swyx: I'm just riffing on like, how do you, what can you build, you know?[00:48:54] Oh, with the stuff that you have. I do think that the minor, the academic does go immediately to training [00:49:00] and in eval evaluation, but like art tends to take unusual directions. Like you might end up,[00:49:06] Chris Manning: okay. Yeah. But the question is, can you use this piece of software to develop compelling gameplay and. I don't think you can take SOAR and produce compelling gameplay, right?[00:49:19] If you want to have a world that you can wander around in a bit, you are good. But what are your abilities to have gameplay mechanics implemented the way you'd like them to be and to have things stay, with the long-term history of your gameplay that influences future actions. I think there's just nothing there for that.[00:49:39] swyx: Yeah, I do tend to agree. I, I'm just trying to sort of test the boundaries. I would also make the observation that as AAA games industry has developed the line between what is a movie and what is a game has blurred. And you, you, you do end up basically producing a two hour movie as part of your game.[00:49:57] Fan-yun Sun: No, honestly, there, there's so many actually [00:50:00] applications in adjacent markets that our world model can go into. Yeah. But yeah, it, it's sort of fun to riff, riff on. Although on the execution side, we we, we need to stay focused with like, okay, what are the capabilities we want to unlock over time?[00:50:11] And there's a roadmap for that. But yeah, if we're just riffing on sort of like the possibilities, I feel like, whether it's endless Yeah, it's like classic[00:50:18] swyx: and the embedding for a possibility and endless in my mind, it's very close. Yeah. I do wanna, focus on one, like weird choice. I, I don't know if it's weird.[00:50:28] Maybe I'm, I got something here. Audio, right? You could have just said no audio And audio in my mind has a lot of recursion, whereas in video you can just do recasting and that's much computationally much simpler. Audio just seems way harder. I don't know if you wanna just comment on just the special 3D audio.[00:50:46] Problem. Did you really have to do it? I guess you do to be immersive, but like a lot of people do treat it as like, well, you just stick a, a tt S model on top of[00:50:57] Vibhu: Well, there's a lot more to game audio than [00:51:00] just speech. Right. It's not just[00:51:01] swyx: tts. Yeah. Tts. S Fxt, GM Spatial in my mind Echoes[00:51:06] Chris Manning: Yeah.[00:51:06] swyx: And reflections.[00:51:07] And I, I don't even know what's, what else? I don't know what, what other problems in this space.[00:51:13] Fan-yun Sun: Yeah, I think this point like the, it's sort of a more, more pointing to the benefits of using an game engine as a tool that's available to the model, right? Because like part of the spatial audio is from the code that is underlying the simulation.[00:51:32] And while we do give our model access to other types of audio models as. Tools.[00:51:39] swyx: None of them would be spatial, I think.[00:51:41] Fan-yun Sun: But that's exactly sort of more 0.2. We're giving our model an abstraction or a suite of tools such that it's able to achieve that. And you can argue that sort of spatial is like a, like a emergence out of the, the tools that we and abstraction that we provide to the agents.[00:51:59] And I think that's the beauty of [00:52:00] this, this, this approach is like there's a lot of things kind of like how human's built technology and they're like Lego blocks that build on top of each other. And it's the same thing here. There's gonna be things that sort of just sort of emerges from being able to put these things together in like combinatorially interesting ways,[00:52:14] Chris Manning: right?[00:52:15] So this integrated audio model exploits the understanding and semantics of the Moon Lake world, right? And whereas in general for the Gen AI video models. There's no actual integration across to audio at all, right? That someone might stick some music or stick a soundscape or whatever else on top of their video.[00:52:44] So it's not a silent video, but they're in no way connected into a consistent world model. And there's nothing that's okay. An action is happening in the video. Therefore there should be a sound that's [00:53:00] coming from this part of the visual field.[00:53:03] swyx: Yeah.[00:53:03] Vibhu: Is that different than Sora too? Does it not have audio?[00:53:06] Not to say it's not like[00:53:08] swyx: amazing[00:53:08] Vibhu: isn't a spatial[00:53:09] swyx: audio.[00:53:09] Vibhu: It doesn't,[00:53:10] swyx: no. I've played around it with it enough. It just sounds like someone put an 11 laps voice on top of it and just tried to do the lip sync.[00:53:18] Vibhu: Oh, yeah. I've seen, okay. Generate a dog at the beach and reactions to big wave and move[00:53:23] swyx: around.[00:53:23] It's definitely like, so have the dog, have the dog move away from camera and see if the, the song goes down. It doesn't. ‘Cause they don't have facial audio.[00:53:32] Fan-yun Sun: We do want to basically like we, our moral model, like the one we're training is basically towards the goal of having a combined latent representation across all these different modalities.[00:53:42] Right? Such that it can like reason across these different modalities. So for example, if I close my eyes and like you play a video, you play a sound of like a car skidding away from me. I almost can like, visually extrapolate that trajectory in my mind. And I think that type of capability, we want our model to be able to reason, right?[00:53:59] And that's the reason that [00:54:00] we're sort of taking this multimodal reasoning approach. It's like we want this combine late in space that can[00:54:05] swyx: Yeah. Oh, you said late in space. We like that. Here we have to play the, the bell Every time that someone says late in space, no, you gotta train daredevil one. Where you, you, you, it's only audio, but you have to work out.[00:54:15] Where everything is.[00:54:19] Cool. I I think that that was, that was about it for our Moon Lake coverage. I do think that we have like a couple of, Chris Madden questions on, on IR and, just any, any other sort of attention topics or n NLP topics.[00:54:31] Vibhu: Okay.[00:54:31] swyx: Go ahead.[00:54:32] Chris Manning's Journey: From NLP to World Models[00:54:32] Vibhu: Well, no, I mean, yeah, it's just fun. We talked a bit about how you guys met, but you basically, you, you were like the godfather of NLP per se, right?[00:54:39] You spent the whole career from early embeddings, early early attention. You did 2015 attention for machine translation, everything. You, you had information retrieval, so RAG before rag, we just wanna shout that out and admire a lot of that. Right? So what prompted the switch over to world models?[00:54:56] How, how'd all that come about?[00:54:58] Chris Manning: To some answer it [00:55:00] is, the enthusiasms and creativity of students, but there's a bit of a history there, right? So, yeah. So clearly most of my career has been doing stuff with language and how I got into research was thinking, ah, this is just so amazing how humans can produce speech and understand each other in real time.[00:55:21] And somehow they managed to learn languages from their kids. How could this possibly happen? And so, yeah, starting off I was very focused on language, but as it sort of got into the 2000 and tens, I started, going, I'd been working on question answering, and then I started to get, interest in visual question answering.[00:55:42] And that was an area where it was very noticeable. That the visual understanding was bad. Right. These were the days when like, it sort of seemed like there's almost no visual [00:56:00] understanding. You were just getting answers that came from priors. So, if you asked how many people are sitting at the table, it'd always answer two regardless of how many, how many people you could see in the picture.[00:56:11] And so it seemed like, oh, these models actually aren't able to get semantic information outta

Don't Kill the Messenger with movie research expert Kevin Goetz
Stuart Ford (Film & Television Producer and Entrepreneur) on Independent Film, Risk Management, and the Future of Hollywood

Don't Kill the Messenger with movie research expert Kevin Goetz

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2026 55:25 Transcription Available


Send Kevin a Text MessageStuart Ford, Chairman and CEO of AGC Studios and one of the most influential figures in independent cinema, joins host Kevin Goetz for a candid conversation about his journey from Oxford-educated lawyer to Miramax insider to founder of two major independent studios. Ford reflects on the mentors, deals, and instincts that shaped his career, and shares an optimistic vision for the future of independent film in an era of AI, streaming, and global market expansion.From Liverpool to Hollywood (04:17): Ford traces his unlikely path from an upbringing in Liverpool through Oxford, where he studied law and caught the entrepreneurial bug managing bands, to becoming an entertainment attorney during the British cinema boom of the early 90s.Miramax: The Real Film School (09:26): Drawn to the energy of American independent cinema, Ford leveraged his relationship with Miramax's UK office into a move to New York, where he rose to senior executive, co-heading acquisitions and ultimately leading international sales, working with filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Anthony Minghella, and James Mangold.The Birth of IM Global (14:55): After leaving Miramax, Ford moved to Los Angeles, borrowed $5 million from a London hedge fund, and launched IM Global in 2007.Paranormal Activity (19:50): Ford recounts acquiring the international rights to Paranormal Activity for $250,000 while the film languished at DreamWorks, then orchestrating a midnight screening that helped persuade Paramount to release it. Kevin Goetz reveals that a reshoot suggested by Steven Spielberg raised test scores by 15 to 20 points and sealed the deal.Launching AGC Studios (29:17): After selling IM Global to a Chinese private equity group, Ford launched AGC Studios in 2018. AGC has since produced nearly 45 films and television shows, including Hitman, Woman of the Hour, The Tinder Swindler, and Those About to Die.The Art of Risk Management (32:57): Ford lays out his core investment philosophy: financial and creative risk are inseparable, and the key is to manage both simultaneously. He offers Ron Howard's Eden as a case study in successful risk management.The Future of Independent Film (43:23): Ford shares an optimistic outlook for the independent sector, citing evolving streaming models, cost reductions, and growth in international markets as reasons for optimism. His message for the next generation is simple: responsible filmmaking doesn't mean compromising on creativity. It just means doing it at the right number.Host: Kevin GoetzGuest: Stuart FordProducer: Kari CampanoWriters: Kevin Goetz, Darlene Hayman, and Kari CampanoAudio Engineer: Gary Forbes (DG Entertainment)For more information about Stuart Ford:Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Ford_(entertainment_executive)IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1023349/For more information about Kevin Goetz:- Website: www.KevinGoetz360.com- Audienceology Book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Audience-ology/Kevin-Goetz/9781982186678- How to Score in Hollywood: https://www.amazon.com/How-Score-Hollywood-Secrets-Business/dp/198218986X/- Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Substack: @KevinGoetz360- LinkedIn @Kevin Goetz- Screen Engine/ASI Website: www.ScreenEngineASI.com

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network
Super Mario Galaxy Fever, KPop Demon Hunters Mania, and a Shifting Disney Villains Land (Ep. 352)

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2026 50:05


Jim Hill and Drew Taylor unpack a packed week in animation, from Universal's massive push behind Super Mario Bros. Galaxy to the continued global surge of KPop Demon Hunters. They also break down the latest box office winners, Pixar's underappreciated Hoppers, and what's really going on with Disney's evolving Villains Land plans. Plus, a look at DreamWorks' ambitious Forgotten Island and how live-action remakes keep reshaping animation's future. HIGHLIGHTS • Super Mario Bros. Galaxy gears up for a massive $150–$165 million opening, with Universal deploying aggressive cross-promotion across NBC and its theme parks • Project Hail Mary holds strong at No. 1 with $300 million worldwide, blending practical puppetry and VFX for its standout character Rocky • Pixar's Hoppers nears $300 million globally, continuing the studio's tradition of dual-form character storytelling • KPop Demon Hunters expands into a full franchise with a sequel planned for 2029, a global live tour in development, and continued music dominance • Streaming windows tighten as films like Goat, Zootopia 2, and Search for SquarePants quickly transition to digital platforms • Disney's Villains Land plans shift toward a more playful, interactive tone, with concepts like an Ursula spinner and a Villains Funhouse coaster resurging • DreamWorks' Forgotten Island aims for bold, personal storytelling from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish filmmakers Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado • Live-action remake strategy evolves with returning voice actors like Gerard Butler and Cate Blanchett, while Moana continues to expand across film and parks HOSTS • Jim Hill - IG: @JimHillMedia | X: @JimHillMedia | Website: JimHillMedia.com • Drew Taylor - IG: @drewtailored | X: @DrewTailored | Website: drewtaylor.work FOLLOW • Facebook: JimHillMediaNews • Instagram: JimHillMedia • TikTok: JimHillMedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency SPONSOR This episode is brought to you by Unlocked Magic. If a Disney or Universal trip is on your radar for 2026, Unlocked Magic helps you secure great ticket deals with expert guidance from people who truly know the parks. Start planning your next adventure at UnlockedMagic.com. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network
Shannon Tindle on Ultraman, Lost Boys, and Animating the World of John Wick (Ep. 350)

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2026 64:00


Animation writer-director Shannon Tindle joins Drew Taylor for a wide-ranging conversation about breaking into animation, developing new projects, and navigating Hollywood's ever-changing animation landscape. Shannon reflects on his career from CalArts to DreamWorks and beyond, sharing behind-the-scenes stories from Ultraman Rising, Kubo and the Two Strings, and projects that never made it to the screen. He also discusses his upcoming animated John Wick prequel and how animation opens creative possibilities that live action can't. HIGHLIGHTS • Shannon Tindle discusses how artists today can break into animation from anywhere in the world thanks to digital portfolios, social media, and global collaboration. • The evolution from analog portfolios and paper storyboards to Cintiq tablets and fully digital pipelines - and how that shift changed how animation talent gets discovered. • Shannon shares details about his unproduced Disney animated series inspired by The Haunted Mansion, which would have followed a young girl tracking down escaped ghosts from the attraction's famous “999 happy haunts.” • A second Disney concept explored a modern take on the Lost Boys from Peter Pan, imagining a diverse group of kids in today's world and a girl challenging the group's “no girls allowed” rule. • Behind-the-scenes insights into developing Ultraman Rising, including how the project began as an original concept before becoming an official Ultraman film and how Japanese fans reacted to the finished movie. • Shannon explains how his upcoming animated John Wick project will expand the franchise with stylized action sequences impossible in live action while also exploring the emotional origin story of John and Helen. • The creative challenge of balancing large-scale action with quiet character moments - something Shannon sees as essential to preserving the tone that makes the John Wick films work. • Stories from Shannon's time at DreamWorks working alongside artists like Nico Marlet, Carlos Grangel, and Tony Siruno, and how collaborative studio environments sharpen artists' skills. HOSTS • Drew Taylor - IG: @drewtailored | X: @DrewTailored | Website: drewtaylor.work GUEST • Shannon Tindle - IG: @shannon_tindle FOLLOW • Facebook: JimHillMediaNews • Instagram: JimHillMedia • TikTok: JimHillMedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unlocking Your World of Creativity
Teamwork and Collaboration: BONUS GLOBAL ROUNDTABLE

Unlocking Your World of Creativity

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2026 38:24


On Your World of Creativity, we travel around the world talking with creative practitioners who turn ideas into impact. In this special roundtable episode, Mark brings together leaders from film, animation, hospitality, consumer brands, immersive experiences, and big-tech UX to explore one powerful theme:Teamwork.When creative outcomes depend on dozens—or even hundreds—of contributors, how do you align vision, manage complexity, and still leave room for magic?Today's PanelistsMichael Robinson — Hotel & Hospitality Operations LeaderDiego Pulido — Lead UX Designer, Amazon (formerly Google, Walmart, Adobe, JPMorganChase)Matt McLean — Organic Consumer Juice Brand FounderTom Bairstow — Event, Concert Production & Immersive Visual Experiences Rich Magallanes — Children's & Animated Content ProducerSteven Puri — Focus app creator, ex-studio exec/producer Fox, DreamWorks, SonyTogether, they share real-world lessons from film sets, animation studios, hospitality teams, live events, consumer brands, and product design at scale.In This Episode, We Explore:Creativity as a Team Sport. What great collaboration actually looks like across industries—and why creativity doesn't happen in isolation.Aligning Vision Across Many Contributors. How leaders communicate creative direction clearly when working with writers, designers, engineers, performers, vendors, and operational teams.Conflict, Constraints & Creative Breakthroughs. How budget limits, timelines, technical requirements, and differing opinions can either block creativity—or unlock it.Leadership in Collaborative Environments. What it means to lead when you're not the only decision-maker, how to build trust quickly, and why delegation is essential for scale.Practical Takeaways for Better Collaboration. From film crews to UX teams, each panelist shares what actually helps teams work better together—and what listeners can apply immediately.Final Lightning RoundEach panelist shares one simple action listeners can take this week to become a better collaborator.Huge thanks to our panelists. Be sure to connect with them.https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-robinson-a6985735/https://www.linkedin.com/in/diegopulido/https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-mclean-5507733/https://www.linkedin.com/in/tombairstownorthhouse/