Search results for "Entertainment"

Les spectacles à Antioche d’après Libanios

2008

The subject of my contribution might seem very wide. I intend, in fact, to develop it in two main directions: the theatrical shows and those of the circus. If Antioch people’s entertainment reaches its peak in the Olympic Games and Syriarch’s spectacles, more common ones were provided by theatrical shows and chariot-races. I shall study the part of these ordinary spectacles in Antioch people’s life, beginning with generalities on the already well-known world of actors, mimes and pantomimes, without lingering however, in order to move on to what I would like to focus: the circus world, the equestrian competitions which took place in the hippodrome, and the exaltation which they aroused. Abou…

Binge-Watching as Case of Escapist Entertainment Use

2021

Although the concept of escapism is widely used in entertainment research, it lacks theoretical and empirical differentiation. Based on the transactional model of stress and coping, we extend previous attempts to conceptualize escapism as a form of emotion-focused avoidance coping. In contrast to the primarily negative connotation of escapism found in prior research, we propose that escapist entertainment use may be a functional coping strategy in some situations and may thus have beneficial effects on the well-being of media users. To develop and illustrate our perspective, we turn to binge-watching as a prominent example of escapist entertainment use. We show exemplarily how escapist bing…

Towards a Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for Tower Line Wars

2017

There have been numerous breakthroughs with reinforcement learning in the recent years, perhaps most notably on Deep Reinforcement Learning successfully playing and winning relatively advanced computer games. There is undoubtedly an anticipation that Deep Reinforcement Learning will play a major role when the first AI masters the complicated game plays needed to beat a professional Real-Time Strategy game player. For this to be possible, there needs to be a game environment that targets and fosters AI research, and specifically Deep Reinforcement Learning. Some game environments already exist, however, these are either overly simplistic such as Atari 2600 or complex such as Starcraft II fro…

The Use of Cluster Analysis to Segment Clients of a Sport Center in Spain

2005

Abstract This research examines the motivation profiles of 218 consumers at a sport center in Valencia, Spain. We employed the Motivation in Sport Scale (MISS–Sport Center) with the following eight motives (factors): Positive Affect, Social Contact, Physical Exercise, Coping Strategy, Challenge, Body Image, Competition, and Entertainment. There were significant differences in consumers’ motives across gender, age, and marital status. We identified five motivation profiles using the eight motives of MISS–Sport Center: Non-Competitive Leisure-Oriented Exercisers, Practical Social Entertainers, Affective Users, Enthusiastic Sportspersons, and Passive Participants. There were differences in dem…

Implementing a Face Recognition System for Media Companies

2018

During the past few years face recognition technologies have greatly benefited from the huge progress in machine learning and now have achieved precision rates that are even comparable with humans. This allows us to apply face recognition technologies more effectively for a number of practical problems in various businesses like media monitoring, security, advertising, entertainment that we previously were not able to do due to low precision rates of existing face recognition technologies. In this paper we discuss how to build a face recognition system for media companies and share our experience gained from implementing one for Latvian national news agency LETA. Our contribution is: which …

Entertainment virtual reality system for simulation of spaceflights over the surface of the planet Mars

2006

In recent years Virtual Reality technologies have enabled astronomers to recreate and explore three dimensional structures of the Universe for scientific purposes. Mars, due to its scientific interest,has been the focal point of numerous research projects using these technologies, however, none of these virtual reality tools have been developed specifically for entertainment purposes.The focus of this paper is to present MarsVR, as an entertainment research project that educates people on the topography and orography of the planet Mars from the perspective of popular science. Some projects have been designed MarsVR for entertainment purposes and include the latest advances in 3D real time a…

Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment, 1890–1933. By Marline Otte. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. xiv + 317. ₤51/$96 Hb.

2008

The Globalization of Fear

2017

In this chapter, we combine the advances of other disciplines to expand our understanding of terrorism and the fields of emotions. In this respect, as L. Howie puts it, the media industry engendered a culture of witnessing which not only is conducive to terrorism, but enlarged fear to other continents. The globalization of fear operates in a new field which is based on what Baudrillard named ‘the spectacle of disaster’. Though this vicious circle between the spectatorship of disaster and terrorism not to be broken, the problem is far from being solved. Terrorism and 9/11 as founding event ignited a new stage of capitalism which Korstanje called ‘Thana-Capitalism’. Unlike modern sociologist …

El libro y la lectura en Valencia (1300-1410). Notas para su estudio

2020

Through this article, we try to underline some aspects related to the research undertaken on the book and its different uses. We have centred our attention on the social meanings of possessing a book for private individuals: the book as an instrument of work and/ or study, the book for entertainment, etc. Every single one attests to an attitude of the individual as regards the Written Culture and, above all, the role of the latter in the consolidation of a social status. Cet article tend à faire ressortir certains aspects en rapport avec la recherche sur le livre et ses différentes utilisations, en particulier les diverses significations de la possession d'un livre par les particuliers: le …

From the Risk Society to Thana Capitalism

2021

The current paper focused on the spectatularization of disasters as the main commodity thana capitalism exchanges. The discussion around the crimes against mankind perpetrated by Nazis in the clandestine concentration camps opened the doors towards new insights respecting the roots of thana capitalism. Nazis violated human rights secreting their crimes in a moment of the world where millions certainly died. Today´s philosophers are shocked to see how Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was the sanctuary of the horrors of the Second World War, sets the pace to a new allegory, intended to entertain thousands of tourists, many of them unfamiliar with these events. As a highly-demanded tourist destinatio…