When we look back at footage from the past, it subconsciously taints the way we perceive it. It's nearly impossible to think about people living in the 1950s and not see it in our mind's eye in black and white.
It's just as tough to imagine people from the silent-film era without thinking of them in black and white while walking at a jaunty pace. Because that's the only way they were captured on film given the technology of the day.
Looking back even further, can one picture someone in a Civil War-era photo smiling? It's tough to do, because people were told to be serious in photos back then. But it makes us think that everyone was dull and depressed.
Denis Shiryaev posted a video he made to Reddit that gives us a new perspective on how people looked and behaved at the dawn of the 20th century. He took Louis Lumière's 1896 short, "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat." and updated it to modern-film standards using artificial intelligence (AI).
The 45-second 1896 footage is historically significant because it was among the first short films ever screened in public. Urban legend has it that audiences were terrified by the film when they first saw it because they believed the train was going to bust through the screen.
Here's the original version of "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat."
Shiryaev took the original footage and made it more realistic looking by upscaling it to 4K and increasing the frame rate to 60 frames per second (FPS). Frame rate is the amount of full-screen images that are displayed each second. The human eye can detect up to 12 FPS, so anything greater than that creates the illusion of motion.
A traditional film has a frame-rate of 24 FPS. The greater the number of FPS, the smoother and more realistic the film appears to the viewer.
The original Lumière film was shot at 16 FPS, so to create a 60 FPS version, Shiryaev turned to AI to synthesize non-existent frames in-between the original frames.
The result is an updated version of the original film that shows people moving fluidly with more realistic looking faces. Instead of the jangly walk you see of old-timey footage, the people waiting for the train move just like people do in 2020.
The footage not only gives us a more realistic view of people from a bygone era, it also poses wonderful possibilities for preserving films from the silent era or those that have degraded over the years.
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Ketel Marte was brought to tears during an MLB game after facing a shameful fan taunt.
Baseball manager's poignant support for a player brought to tears after shameful fan taunt
Whether they’re expecting perfection from their favorite players or, worse, behaving callously toward opposing teams, sports fans often forget that athletes are human beings. But athletic competition has the ability to unify and uplift, even amid such painful and unpleasant encounters. Take, for example, a major-league baseball game held June 24, 2025 between the home team Chicago White Sox and visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
A shameful low point occurred when Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte was at bat in the seventh inning. Per ESPN, a fan reportedly yelled out a comment regarding Marte’s late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a 2017 car accident in the Dominican Republic. Team personnel, including manager Torey Lovullo, then requested the 22-year-old fan be ejected. (Though he was remorseful and admitted his actions were inappropriate, according to an ESPN source, he was nonetheless banned indefinitely from all MLB ballparks.) "We commend the White Sox for taking immediate action in removing the fan," the MLB said in a statement. Marte reportedly declined to comment.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
While the fan’s behavior is inexcusable, it did spark a powerful and inspiring moment. After hearing the comment, Marte was visibly upset, prompting Lovullo to walk on the field, put his arm around him, and offer some words of encouragement. "[I said,] 'I love you, and I’m with you, and we’re all together, and you’re not alone,'" Lovullo said in a post-game interview, as documented by The Rich Eisen Show. "'No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you’re heard, that guy is an idiot.’"
According to Arizona Republic, Lovullo heard the fan’s comment but didn’t want to repeat it. “I looked right at [Marte] when I heard,” he said. “I looked right at him, and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure."
Elsewhere in the post-game interview, the manager called the moment "terrible" and reflected on why he stood up for Marte. "Fans are nasty, and fans go too far sometimes," he said. "I love my players, and I’m gonna protect them…I’ve known Ketel for nine years. He’s had some unbelievably great moments and some hardships as well and some really tough moments in his life. I know those. At the end of the day, we’re human beings, and we have emotions. I saw him hurting, and I wanted to protect him."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
The following day, the Chicago White Sox X account sent out a message in support of Marte, writing, "We’re with you" and "Baseball is family." On The Rich Eisen Show, the show's host addressed the need to eradicate this kind of toxic athlete-fan interaction: "I was hearing [people saying], 'There’s no place for this in major league baseball.' There isn’t. There’s no place for this in our society. I understand that people are saying the MLB has got to do something about this. Fans have a right to heckle players—this is something that has happened forever…But there is a line."
In another recent, depressing sports moment with a beautiful coda, let’s look to Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the first quarter, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon—a devastating injury that could potentially sideline him for most of the 2025-2026 season. Following the game, in a lovely display of sportsmanship, Thunder point-guard and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went to the Pacers locker room to check on his competitor. In a press conference, he said, "You just hate to see it, in sports in general. But in this moment, my heart dropped for him. I can't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. It’s so unfortunate."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com