Ethan Hunt and the IMF team race against time to find a rogue artificial intelligence (why is AI always the bad guy now if films? ) that can destroy mankind. AI, IMF & VFX: A Mission Worth Rendering In the latest episode of The VFXShow podcast, hosts Matt Wallin, Jason Diamond, and Mike Seymour reunite to dissect the spectacle, story, and seamless visual effects of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. As the eighth entry in the franchise, this chapter serves as a high-stakes, high-altitude crescendo to Tom Cruise’s nearly 30-year run as Ethan Hunt,  the relentless agent of the Impossible Mission Force. Cruise Control: When Practical Meets Pixel While the narrative revolves around the existential threat of a rogue AI known as The Entity, the real heart of the film lies in its bold commitment to visceral, real-world action. The VFX team discusses how Cruise’s ongoing devotion to doing his own death-defying stunts, from leaping between bi-planes to diving into the wreckage of a sunken submarine,  paradoxically increases the importance of invisible VFX. From seamless digital stitching to background replacements and subtle physics enhancements, the effects work had to serve the story without ever betraying the sense of raw, in-camera danger. Matt, Jason, and Mike explore how VFX in this film plays a critical supporting role, cleaning up stunts, compositing dangerous sequences, and selling the illusion of globe-spanning chaos. Whether it’s simulating the collapse of a Cold War-era submarine, managing intricate water dynamics in Ethan’s deep-sea dive, or integrating AI-driven visualisations of nuclear catastrophe, the film leans heavily on sophisticated post work to make Cruise’s practical stunts feel even more grounded and believable. The team also reflects on the thematic evolution of the franchise. While the plot may twist through layers of espionage, betrayal, and digital apocalypse, including face-offs with Gabriel, doomsday cults, and geopolitical brinkmanship,  it is not the team’s favourite MI film. And yet, they note, even as the story veers into sci-fi territory with sentient algorithms and bunker-bound AI traps, the VFX never overshadows the tactile performance at the film’s centre. Falling, Flying, Faking It Beautifully For fans of the franchise, visual effects, or just adrenaline-fueled cinema, this episode offers a thoughtful cinematic critique on how modern VFX artistry and old-school stuntwork can coexist to save a film that has lost its driving narrative direction. This week in our lineup is (or are they really??) Matt Wallin *            @mattwallin    www.mattwallin.com Follow Matt on Mastodon: @[email protected] Jason Diamond  @jasondiamond           www.thediamondbros.com Mike Seymour   @mikeseymour             www.fxguide.com. + @mikeseymour Special thanks to Matt Wallin for the editing & production of the show with help from Jim Shen.

When a mother is pregnant, it’s normal—dare we say expected—for her partner to make sure she is taken care of. Hornbills, however, take these great expectations to a whole new level. Hornbills are colorful birds with large beaks native to Africa and Southeast Asia. They usually mate for life, Emily Bridges, Senior Bird Care Specialist at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, tells Popular Science, and have an incredibly unique nesting process.  Hornbill pairs start by identifying a tree cavity to their liking. They will then modify it by digging or adding material. It turns out they can be quite picky about what goes in their nests. At the Jacksonville Zoo, employees put pine shavings and tree bark in a tree cavity for hornbill mates named Humphrey and Bacall, “which they did not care for and threw most of it out,” Bridges admitted. “The preference for nesting materials varies from each pair and each species.”  Hornbills then start “walling,” or closing the tree cavity’s opening with materials such as soft fruit, feces, mud, and woodchips, and the female hornbill tucked inside. The birds leave a small opening in the seal through which the male can feed the female while she lays eggs and raises their chicks. Interestingly, females also poop out of the slit to keep the nest nice and clean. According to Bridges, hornbills are the only known bird species that nest in this way. [ Related: Bittersweet fledge watch begins for bald eagles Sunny and Gizmo. ] Bacall is currently sealed in, and you can check on her progress through a livecam. If her eggs hatch, she will care for the chick or chicks within the nest for somewhere between 111 to 137 days. After that nesting period, the adult birds will break the seal and continue raising their young together.   The pair (whose names are a call back to one of old Hollywood’s most prolific couples) became mates after Humphrey arrived at Jacksonville Zoo in January. The zoo staff undertook quite the matchmaking efforts. Initially, “we introduced Humphrey and Bacall through side-by-side enclosures so that they could see and hear each other,” says Bridges.  When the birds started demonstrating behaviors indicating that they liked each other, such as sitting next to each other for a long time, sharing food, and dual calling, “we introduced them together in a shared space under close monitoring at increasingly longer periods of time over a few weeks,” she adds. “We are lucky that these two seemed to be compatible quickly, as hornbills can take years to bond enough to want to nest together.” Here’s to hoping Bacall and Humphrey soon become parents!  The post Male hornbills are at their mates’ every beck and call appeared first on Popular Science.

Singleton Arts and Cultural Centre / BKA ArchitectureSave this picture!© Brett Boardman Photogrpahy Architects: BKA Architecture Area Area of this architecture project Area:  610 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2022 Photographs Photographs:Brett Boardman Photogrpahy Lead Architects: John Baker More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. The new Singleton Arts and Cultural Centre encourages fresh and exciting creative opportunities in the Hunter Valley region for locals and tourists alike. Each year, visitors flock to this area of NSW to appreciate the food, wine, and other locally made items. The new building aims to promote creative activities by providing space for functions and local art shows and offering the rural community access to international exhibitions.Save this picture!Perhaps most importantly, the space maintains flexibility throughout, catering to various demographics and changes in exhibitions. The innovative design is 'future-proofed' to allow for easy expansion. Windows of differing shapes perforate the concrete envelope, providing a spectrum of perspectives. The punctured wall fosters interactions between the internal gallery and external sculpture court, extending the art-viewing experience. The main gallery is flexible and open, allowing for easier transformation of the space for various exhibitions and community functions, with space for both permanent and new exhibitions.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Exposed steel beams cross the space, revealing the services above in a gesture that adheres to the project's material honesty. Industrial in nature, the material palette is further expressed through the tilt-up concrete walling, which keeps the structure economical while establishing a heavy base in contrast to the lighter steel roofing and structure. The inclusion of photovoltaic cells and a high-efficiency specialised mechanical system with humidification control supports the sustainability of the design while reducing costs associated with energy consumption.Save this picture!The project shares its site with the existing Visitor's Information Centre (VIC), and as a result, the new building manages a dichotomy between forging its own visual identity and recognising its neighbouring structure. The gallery has been angled to open the outside courtyard that connects the gallery to the VIC. Occupants can enter through this courtyard or the VIC, and the floor level of the gallery has been raised to match the height of the existing building since the site is located on a floodplain.Save this picture!Down the corridor, two artists' studios are equipped with wet areas that connect to the main building. The studios are distinct in form, planning, and colour. Vivid red steel cladding and steep roof forms solidify the new building as a future icon in the Hunter Valley. With these bold sloping roof forms, the gallery emerges from the parkland site as one travels along the busy New England Highway, a thoroughfare for tourists.Save this picture!Throughout the design and building process, BKA Architecture effectively managed a range of sub-consultants and stakeholders. The JV3 Energy modelling assessment undertaken in the early design stages informed a flexible and cost-effective design with increased energy performance. Sub-consultants collaborated with BKA and one another to meet deadlines at different stages of the design process, producing a high-quality outcome that adds value to both the local and wider community.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Singleton, AustraliaLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeBKA ArchitectureOffice••• Published on May 21, 2025Cite: "Singleton Arts and Cultural Centre / BKA Architecture" 21 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1030200/mudgee-arts-precinct-bka-architecture&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Thunderbolts*  is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Jake Schreier and stars an ensemble cast featuring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Pierce, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In the film, a group of antiheroes are caught in a deadly trap and forced to work together on a dangerous mission. Don’t forget to subscribe to both the VFXShow and the fxpodcast to get both of our most popular podcasts. This week in our lineup is: Matt Wallin *            @mattwallin    www.mattwallin.com Follow Matt on Mastodon: @[email protected] Jason Diamond  @jasondiamond           www.thediamondbros.com Mike Seymour   @mikeseymour             www.fxguide.com. + @mikeseymour Jason referenced his Tribeca film: How Dark My Love Special thanks to Matt Wallin for the editing & production of the show with help from Jim Shen.

New Research By Shoving a Bed Frame Against the Door, This Pompeii Family Tried to Survive Mount Vesuvius’ Eruption Archaeologists are learning new details about the four individuals’ futile attempt to hide inside an ancient residence called the House of Helle and Phrixus A bed frame shoved against the door served as a makeshift barricade. Pompeii Archaeological Park In 79 C.E., Mount Vesuvius erupted, spewing ash and small volcanic pellets known as lapilli over the city of Pompeii. Nearly 1,950 years later, archaeologists are still sifting through the layers of debris and making remarkable discoveries about life—and death—in the ancient city. Researchers recently discovered four members of a family, including a child, who attempted to escape the eruption by barricading themselves inside a bedroom, according to a statement from the Pompeii Archaeological Park. Though their efforts were futile, their remains provide remarkable insight into the doomed city’s final moments. When the eruption began, most residents of Pompeii “had no clue what was happening,” Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the park and co-author of a new study published in the journal Scavi di Pompei, tells the New York Times’ Sara Novak. “Many thought the end of the world had come.” A majority of the 15,000 to 20,000 residents of Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum fled and survived the eruption. The four family members were among the roughly 2,000 Pompeians who remained when the city was destroyed. As Helle struggles in the sea, Phrixus reaches out to his sister from atop a flying ram. Pompeii Archaeological Park Archaeologists found the family’s remains in a small but stately residence known as the House of Helle and Phrixus, named after a fresco of the mythological siblings discovered on the dining room wall. In Greek myth, the siblings survive their stepmother’s attempt to sacrifice them to the gods by flying away on a ram with a golden fleece. While Phrixus escapes, Helle falls off the ram into the sea. The fresco captures the siblings reaching out to each other—Helle in the sea, Phrixus on the ram—in a fittingly futile attempt at rescue. The architectural features of the house may have accelerated the family’s demise. Like many Roman houses, the House of Helle and Phrixus featured an open-roofed atrium, intended to aid rainwater collection. But as lapilli fell from the sky during the first phase of the eruption, the rock debris, which reached up to nine feet in some locations, quickly flooded the house through the atrium. At first, the archaeological evidence shows, the four individuals tried to protect themselves by packing into a small room. They even pushed a wooden bed frame against the door, hoping that it would prevent the lapilli from entering.When that failed, the researchers think they pulled back the barricade and attempted to escape. Based on the location of the remains, they only got as far as the triclinium, or dining room. “This house, with its decorations and its objects, shows us people who tried to save themselves,” says Zuchtriegel in the statement, per a translation by La Brújula Verde’s Guillermo Carvajal. “They didn’t succeed, but their story is still here, beneath the ashes.” Over the centuries, the ash preserved the remains of the family, the wooden bed frame and other items, including a bronze amulet known as a bulla and a stash of amphorae filled with garum, a popular Roman fish sauce. Ash and lapilli flooded into through the open-roofed atrium, burying the house in up to nine feet of debris. Pompeii Archaeological Park Researchers don’t know that this particular family owned the House of Helle and Phrixus. The group may have taken refuge there after the owners fled, as Marcello Mogetta, an archaeologist and Roman art historian at the University of Missouri who wasn’t involved in the study, tells the Times. Still, the recovered objects offer a glimpse into Pompeian family life. For instance, the child was likely the one wearing the bronze bulla, as tradition dictated that boys wear such amulets for protection until adulthood. Additionally, traces of masonry materials suggest that the house was under renovation. As Zuchtriegel says in the statement, “Excavating Pompeii means confronting the beauty of art, but also the fragility of life.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.