🎬 Another Outstanding Fest Anča!
The curtain has fallen on the 19th edition of the Fest AnÄŤa International Animation Festival, and what a fantastic week it has been. Once again, Ĺ˝ilina became a meeting place for filmmakers, artists and animation enthusiasts from around the world, celebrating creativity, innovation and the power of storytelling through animation. This year’s theme, FAKE, proved […]
🎬 The Countdown to Fest Anča 2026 Begins
Darren Chastney | 24 June 2026 In just a few days, Ĺ˝ilina will once again become the home of international animation as the 19th edition of Fest AnÄŤa International Animation Festival opens on 30 June. This year’s theme, FAKE, could hardly be more timely. In an age of AI-generated content, deepfakes, manipulated images and competing […]
AI Doesn’t Just Learn From Authors. It Learns From Researchers Too.
When people talk about the copyright implications of artificial intelligence, the conversation usually centres on novelists, journalists, musicians, and artists. But there is another group whose work has quietly become part of the AI story: Researchers. Every journal article, conference paper, textbook chapter, and academic publication represents years of specialised work. Behind each publication are […]
If Even Literary Prize Judges Can’t Tell, What Happens Next?
Darren Chastney | 28 May 2026 A major literary controversy last week has raised an uncomfortable question for publishers, prize judges, and readers alike: Can we still reliably tell the difference between human writing and AI-generated fiction? The debate emerged after concerns were raised over one of the regional winners of the 2026 Commonwealth Short […]
Lost in Translation: The Curious Language of Easter
Easter is not just a cultural and seasonal marker—it’s also a surprisingly rich linguistic landscape. Take the names of the days themselves. Good Friday is perhaps the most puzzling. Why “good” for such a solemn occasion? The term is thought to derive from an older meaning of good as “holy” or “pious”—a reminder that words […]
From Porridge to Panicky Horses
This blog looks at Slovak expressions and the importance of their human transcreation into the English equivalents.
AI-poetry: more human than human?
AI Poetry: Revolutionizing Perceptions of Creativity A groundbreaking study has revealed that AI-generated poetry is rated more favorably than classic works by human poets like Shakespeare or Dickinson. Non-expert readers were largely unable to distinguish AI poems from human-authored ones, with many perceiving AI creations as “more human than human.” The study found that AI […]
Ernest vs. William – a clash of styles
The American literary giants Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner had a famously terse relationship, with the former extremely unlikely to invite the latter on an extended fishing trip for silvery merlin off the coast of Cuba (it is unclear whether the two actually ever met at all).
The Czechoslovakian Porsche
Rapid, light of my life, fire of my acceleration. My sin, my soul. Ra-pi-d: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Ra. Pi. D. She was Ra, plain Ra, in the morning, parked bright red by the kerbside. She was Rapid […]
Shakespeare: Wordsmith Extraordinaire
William Shakespeare was an incredible writer and poet, but did you know he also single-handedly added more than 1,700 words to the English language?