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Chinese cyberespionage group Mustang Panda was seen targeting maritime, shipping, border control, and immigration organizations in recent attacks.

The post Over 200 Organizations Targeted in Chinese Cyberespionage Campaign appeared first on SecurityWeek.

A group of academic researchers devised an attack that can intercept Wi-Fi traffic at the MAC layer, bypassing client isolation.

The post New Wi-Fi Attack Allows Traffic Interception, Security Bypass appeared first on SecurityWeek.

I love all things The Last of Us, so it pains me to report that the PC port of The Last of Us Part I, which launched yesterday, is a buggy mess. Thousands of reviews on Steam are categorized as "mostly negative" and are filled with mentions of frequent crashes and poor hardware utilization. Meanwhile, Steam Deck users are reporting that it takes more than an hour for the game to compile shaders on its initial launch — and even once that's done, performance is an issue. 

I don't have a powerful gaming PC, but I do have a Steam Deck and can confirm these issues. Once I got the game installed and waited around 90 minutes for the shaders to compile, I started playing the standalone DLC Left Behind, and the game crashed during the opening cinematics. Once I started playing the game, I saw it was using 102 percent of the Steam Deck's VRAM. Dropping all graphics settings to low got me under 100 percent, so crashes will probably be less frequent going forward. I only played for a few minutes, so I can't say how things work once you're taking on Infected, but I won't get my hopes up. 

A few hours after this story was first published, Naughty Dog released the game's first patch, a hotfix for some of the stability issues. The company didn't have a ton of details on the specifics, but it says that more updates will be coming soon. I spent an hour playing the first part of the game on the Steam Deck, and it feels a lot more solid than it did yesterday, though I still haven't gotten to the most graphically intense sequences yet. Still, things seem to be moving in the right direction — playing on medium with the frame rate set to max out at 40fps, things ran pretty smoothly.

It's worth nothing that Sony didn't provide reviews with a demo code for the game until launch day, something that often means the game is either being worked on right up until the last minute or the experience isn't very good (or both). This made a bit nervous about how The Last of Us Part I would run, and it seems like my fears were well-founded.

Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Developer Naughty Dog didn't waste any time addressing the problems, tweeting out last night that they're "actively investigating multiple issues" that players have reported. The company also has a "known issues" page running, which acknowledges the shader loading issue as well as a potential memory leak, older graphics drivers leading to instability, and the game being unable to boot despite systems that meet the minimum requirements.

A number of high-profile PlayStation games from Sony's first-party studios have been ported to PC, including 2017's Horizon Zero Dawn and 2018's God of War, as well as Naughty Dog's own Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection (which includes remastered versions Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy). Both Horizon and the Uncharted collection had pretty serious issues at launch, as well. Since then, updates have made the games work much better, but it's still a disappointing trend. 

Even after delaying the game about a month from its original March 3rd date, things were clearly not ready to go. Sony likely wanted to capitalize on the popularity of the HBO series, which wrapped its first season earlier this month, but a delayed launch is probably better than a launch that no one can play. As of now, Naughty Dog hasn't released an update for The Last of Us Part I, but we'll be keeping an eye out for any fixes. I've been dreaming of having this game on-the-go since it was announced, so my fingers are crossed Naughty Dog can make it work on the Steam Deck — not to mention for the many people who want to play it on their powerful gaming PCs.

Update, 3/29/23 3:25PM ET: Added details about the first patch that Naughty Dog just released to address performance issues.

Update, 3/29/23 4:20PM ET: Added details about how the game plays on Steam Deck following the patch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-last-of-us-part-i-for-pc-is-a-buggy-mess-144036281.html?src=rss

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7 Best Ad Blocking DNS [Free & Paid] is a post from: Raymond.CC Blog

This article contains spoilers for season 3, episode 5 of "The Mandalorian."

Series creator Jon Favreau certainly knows that the Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal, et al) and Grogu duo is a huge reason why viewers continue to tune in to "The Mandalorian" on a weekly basis -- but the show isn't solely about their (mis)adventures. Throughout the course of a little over two and a half seasons, the pair have come across several fan-favorite characters who could easily shoulder the weight of their own entire spin-off shows. Some of these guest stars, such as Temuera Morrison's Boba Fett and assassin Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), have already gone on to headline "The Book of Boba Fett." Others, such as Timothy Olyphant's Cobb Vanth or Katee Sackhoff's Bo-Katan Kryze, have stolen the spotlight during their many appearances yet remain supporting players. With the latest episode, however, we may have just received our biggest hint yet at what a since-shelved spin-off could've looked like.

Early on in "Chapter 21: The Pirate," the assault on Nevarro by the pirate warlord Gorian Shard (Nonso Anozie) motivates the reluctant Magistrate (er, make that High Magistrate) Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) to send out a distress call to the New Republic. Who else but our old friend Captain Carson Teva, the X-wing pilot portrayed by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee in season 2, should respond with the urgency the situation requires. But as he struggles to get the slow-moving New Republic bureaucracy on Coruscant to approve sending reinforcements and protect the planet, this plotline can't help but recall Lucasfilm's plans for a very different "Star Wars" show altogether.

In effect, "The Mandalorian" is giving us a glimpse into what the now-scrapped "Rangers of the New Republic" spin-off series could've been.

Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It...

In a better world, Disney and Lucasfilm would've originally cast a much less vitriolic (and, dare I say it, slightly more talented) actor than Gina Carano as Cara Dune, the ex-Rebel soldier featured in the first two seasons of "The Mandalorian" who was meant to lead "Rangers of the New Republic." In light of her terribly offensive comments, the studios made the wise choice to part ways with her entirely and cancel any plans for her spin-off series. But while all that storytelling potential seems to have been squandered, "The Mandalorian" might have repurposed some of that original concept into its latest episode.

The indications of what this spin-off could've been start when we visit Carson Teva in a ramshackle bar populated by other former Rebels and now-current Rangers of the New Republic. Alerted to the message sent by Greef Karga, Teva happens to be the one to spring into action in honor of their past shared history. But it's easy to imagine an entire series where Dune, Teva, and other do-gooder adventurers respond to distress calls scattered throughout the galaxy, operating as the law people of the Wild West -- an apt comparison in an episode featuring pirate kings and other criminals running roughshod in a chaotic, post-Empire galaxy.

While Teva's rescue efforts get caught up in the muck of New Republic politics, stonewalled from helping because of petty bureaucracy, that only makes the prospects of a ragtag and technically law-breaking group of renegades acting in the best interests of the defenseless all the more exciting. Without the help of the New Republic government and free to choose their own missions, I for one would've been on board with the "Star Wars" version of Ethan Hunt and the Impossible Mission Force.

Filling In The Gaps

While the overall reputation of the sequel trilogy has been soured by the thoroughly divisive "The Rise of Skywalker," there's one major oversight from "The Force Awakens" that may have kneecapped the new movies before they ever really got off the ground. Decades after the fall of the Empire, the state of the galaxy and its new political reality without an evil emperor calling all the shots anymore were never really explored at all. Sure, we knew that the First Order had risen from the ashes of the Empire, the Rebellion had been replaced by the Resistance, and somewhere in the middle of it all was some government entity known as the New Republic. Otherwise, however, "The Force Awakens" never really stopped to explain any of this.

Now, it seems that "The Mandalorian" has decided to help tie up some of those loose ends, paying off Kathleen Kennedy's prior comments that "Rangers of the New Republic" would "...figure into future episodes, I'm sure, of the next season of 'The Mandalorian.'"

That seems to have come to fruition, as season 3 dives further into the new status quo of a recently-freed galaxy. Just because the Empire is (mostly) no more, naturally, doesn't mean that bandits and pirates and certain overambitious Imperials no longer pose a threat. By bringing Teva back into the action and finding himself at the whims of a corporate quagmire on Coruscant, "The Mandalorian" continues its interest in paralleling the New Republic with the Empire. In the process, season 3 may be killing two birds with one stone: providing important world-building context for the New Republic while giving us more insights into the paths left untraveled in "Rangers of the New Republic."

New episodes of "The Mandalorian" premiere on Disney+ on Wednesdays.

Read this next: Star Wars Movie Villains Ranked Least To Most Powerful

The post The Mandalorian Reveals What The Canceled Rangers Of The New Republic Spinoff Could Have Been appeared first on /Film.

This article contains spoilers for season 3, episode 5 of "The Mandalorian."

The question of what, exactly, "The Mandalorian" is about has eluded the first live-action "Star Wars" show. It is not about bringing Grogu "home," since the series already did that in season 2. It is not about discovering the fate of Mandalore, because that happened early on in season 3. So, the only logical conclusion is that the show is about Mandalorian culture as a whole, and the slow process of reclaiming the Mandalorians' lost homeland and its massive treasure of precious metal beskar. In a way, that makes it the "Star Wars" equivalent of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," which would make Grogu the show's Bilbo Baggins — in a matter of speaking.

It makes sense, then, that the show has shifted focus from Din Djarin to Bo-Katan, the most capable Mandalorian, the one who actually knows Mandalorian culture, had seen the planet Mandalore before its destruction, and has a personal stake in its retaking, as well as experience in leadership. We have seen her struggle in the fight to reclaim Mandalore — and get so sad about losing her squad that she didn't leave her chair for nearly two whole episodes — and we just saw her get tasked with uniting the different Mandalorian clans for whatever this show's answer will be to the Battle of the Five Armies.

There is just one problem: The main Mandalorian clan we know in the show, the one we are seemingly meant to follow and support, is a violent extremist cult of religious zealots that caused a civil war on Mandalore and even supported Darth Maul. And how do characters on "The Mandalorian" react to this information? With the shrug emoji, basically.

Wasted Possibilities

In season 2, when we met live-action Bo-Katan, she explained that the group of Mandalorians we had been following on the show up to that point (the ones who had saved Din Djarin as a kid and given him shelter) were not like the rest of the Mandalorians, but actually an extremist cult called the Children of the Watch. They are obsessed with restoring the Way, an ancient faith of the first Mandalorians that they deemed had been lost by the rest of their kin.

This explains why this particular group of Mandalorians never remove their helmets when everyone on Mandalore was fine with it during the Clone Wars. Indeed, they are extremely weird about the whole helmet rule (which the more we find out about, the less it makes sense), and why they kicked Din Djarin out for removing his helmet despite it being in front of his adopted son, who is now an official Mandalorian foundling!

This prompted many (including me) to assume that the show was going to go on a deprogramming arc for good old Din, who was going to realize that his adoptive family was full of cultists and he had to learn what it truly meant to be a Mandalorian, without the whole indoctrinating children thing. Except, the series appears to be headed in a different direction.

Instead, season 3 has seemingly forgotten all about the Children of the Watch being zealots. Instead, they've become major characters we are supposed to care about and who have welcomed Din into their ranks full-time now that he bathed in some special water. Paz Vizsla, who once tried to kill Din, is now his biggest fan, and we are apparently meant to simply forget he's descended from an infamous Mandalorian terrorist from the Clone Wars.

Forgotten Threats

For the uninitiated, the Death Watch was a terrorist splinter group of Mandalorians during the Clones Wars that was fixated on restoring what they believed to be the true way of Mandalore -- one they felt the planet's pacifist government led by Bo-Katan's late sister, Satine Kryze, had strayed away from. They even attempted to take over the planet several times and eventually resorted to allying with Darth Maul to seize control. Paz Vizla's ancestor, Pre Vizsla, was the leader of this terrorist group, and Bo-Katan herself was a member at one point.

Considering Death Watch was a huge part of the animated "Clone Wars" TV series, it's kind of baffling to see "The Mandalorian" tease some kind of reckoning for the organization, only to apparently swerve in the opposite direction. What's more, season 3, episode 5 ends with The Armorer charing Bo-Katan with uniting all Mandalorian tribes, yet there's no mention of whether they are going to make a truce or if the intention is to indoctrinate them all into the Children of the Watch.

The fact that we don't know, coupled with the show's apparent lack of interest in exploring what the Children of the Watch even stand for anymore, is a huge wasted opportunity at best, a betrayal of "Clone Wars" at worst.

New episodes of "The Mandalorian" premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.

Read this next: The Biggest Questions The Mandalorian Season 3 Needs To Answer

The post The Mandalorian Season 3 Really Wants Us to Like the Extremist Group, Doesn't It? appeared first on /Film.

Love running around blowing everything up? There's a quality new game selection in the Best of Boomer Shooters bundle.

quonset writes: In what has to be one of the most inconceivable confluences ever, the Norwegian company Nammo says it is unable to expand its production of artillery shells to support Ukraine because of "cat videos" on TikTok. To placate European scrutiny, TikTok is opening two data centers in Europe to house European user data locally. One of those data centers is in the Hamar region of Norway. Because of this expansion, there is no excess capacity for the factory to ramp up production of artillery shells. "The chief executive of Nammo, which is co-owned by the Norwegian government, said a planned expansion of its largest factory in central Norway hit a roadblock due to a lack of surplus energy, with the construction of TikTok's new data centre using up electricity in the local area," reports the Guardian. "Elvia, the local energy provider, confirmed to the Financial Times that the electricity network had no spare capacity after allocating it to the data center on a first-come, first-served basis. Additional capacity would take time to become available." "We are concerned because we see our future growth is challenged by the storage of cat videos," Morten Brandtzaeg told the Financial Times.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft, extending a frenzy of artificial intelligence software releases, is introducing new chat tools that can help cybersecurity teams ward off hacks and clean up after an attack. From a report: The latest of Microsoft's AI assistant tools -- the software giant likes to call them Copilots -- uses OpenAI's new GPT-4 language system and data specific to the security field, the company said Tuesday. The idea is to help security workers more quickly see connections between various parts of a hack, such as a suspicious email, malicious software file or the parts of the system that were compromised. Microsoft and other security software companies have been using machine-learning techniques to root out suspicious behavior and spot vulnerabilities for several years. But the newest AI technologies allow for faster analysis and add the ability to use plain English questions, making it easier for employees who may not be experts in security or AI. That's important because there's a shortage of workers with these skills, said Vasu Jakkal, Microsoft's vice president for security, compliance, identity and privacy. Hackers, meanwhile, have only gotten faster.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This post contains spoilers for the "Yellowjackets" season 2 premiere.

"Have a little cannibalism, as a treat." So said the season 2 premiere of "Yellowjackets" in its closing moments, as the teenaged Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) chomped down on her BFF Jackie's (Ella Purnell) severed ear two months after the latter froze to death in the season 1 finale. It was a characteristically surprising payoff for Showtime's multi-timeline cannibalism thriller, a series that spent its initial 10 episodes messing with the very conventions of the puzzle box TV series format.

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, though, we probably should've seen this coming ... and not just because it was subtly foreshadowed in season 1, as /Film's BJ Colangelo observed in her meticulous breakdown of the season 2 premiere. Prior to being stranded in the Canadian wilderness with their fellow Yellowjackets, Shauna and Jackie had a co-dependent, toxic relationship that felt all too real. Heck, even after finding themselves trapped in life-and-death circumstances, Jackie couldn't help but make something as important as Shauna's unplanned pregnancy all about her. Once she discovered the identity of Shauna's baby daddy to be, it was inevitable the two were headed for a brutally painful breakup.

Considering Jackie died right after their big blow-up, before the pair could make so much as a first attempt at mending fences, it's no wonder we found the deeply-traumatized Shauna imagining conversations with her friend's frozen corpse in the season 2 premiere (going so far as to fill out her notebook to maintain the illusion). According to the "Yellowjackets" showrunners, there was never any question as to whether or not Shauna would eventually turn to literally consuming Jackie to hold onto her. No, the real point of contention among the show's creatives was how best to depict the ear-munching itself.

Destroy That Which You Love

Speaking to Variety, "Yellowjackets" co-showrunner Jonathan Lisco noted there is, in fact, a practical reason for Shauna being the first Yellowjacket to turn to cannibalism. "Of course, she's hungry and she's pregnant, so she eats the ear that accidentally broke off when she pushed Jackie down — but it's really about their friendship," he commented, adding:

"It's about this very specific friendship that Jackie and Shauna had, where Shauna loves Jackie, but also was always in her shadow. She adored this friend of hers, but also in some ways, was always wanting to kind of destroy her — maybe that's going a bridge too far? But I think that is very relatable to a lot of people who are in these intense friendships."

Indeed, this idea of wanting to destroy that which you love isn't limited to unhealthy relationships between humans. It's also at the heart of toxic fandom, wherein people form harmful attachments to the pop culture they enjoy, even tying it to their identities in a way that brings Shauna and Jackie's dynamic to mind. It's how we end up with fans defending corporations over individuals, as they go from finding legitimate enjoyment in engaging with something to merely "consuming" the thing. So it is with Shauna, Lisco reasoned, albeit with "consumption" taking on a much more literal meaning:

"And so the next step of that is consumption, right? I literally want to consume this person, because I love them so much — but I also want them no longer to exist in a way. I also want to keep them a part of me for my entire existence. We were playing with that kind of plasticity on a psychological and emotional level, and not just have it be about, 'Oh, I'm gonna eat the ear!'"

How Does One Eat An Ear, Anyway?

Co-showrunner Bart Nickerson not only echoed Jonathan Lisco's observations during that same interview, he took them one step further. "Two things. This idea of wanting to destroy that which you love — there's almost a part of me that's starting to create this theory that those aren't actually opposing views," he explained, comparing it to when people claim "they're just so overwhelmed with cuteness and affection that they actually want to destroy the thing that is the object of that."

Perhaps proving his point that certain things might not exist in opposition to one another the way we assume, Nickerson shifted pretty smoothly from that rather disturbing insight to a much more darkly comedic tone:

"And then the other thing is — and I usually don't want to do this, talk about what almost was — but I just think it's hilarious the amount of time that we spent both in breaking writing, and then in editing, deciding how much of the ear — like, should it go in the mouth, should it not go in the mouth? Should there be a chew?"

Co-showrunner Ashley Lyle added:

"There's a crunch, yeah. We went for it. We ultimately decided to go for it, but definitely debated endlessly. Cutting as it went up. And it felt as though — like, we're already here."

The end result is a pretty perfect mic-drop to the season 2 premiere, capped off by Tori Amos' "Cornflake Girl" playing over the closing credits. It's unquestionably to the show's benefit its creatives took so much time getting Shauna's big moment precisely right. All we need is a taste of what's to come for the time being. Er, you know what I mean.

New episodes of "Yellowjackets" stream Fridays on Paramount+ and air Sunday evenings on Showtime.

Read this next: The 20 Best Female Friendships In TV History, Ranked

The post Shauna's Big Moment At The End Of Yellowjackets' Season 2 Premiere Was A Constant Debate Behind The Scenes appeared first on /Film.

Quality has its price! | Noctua offer a wide portfolio of high-performance air coolers and have been regarded as a top brand for years when it comes to the topic of air cooling. In this short review, we have taken a closer look at the Noctua NH-U9S, the NH-D9L and the NH-La9-AM5, which can be fitted into many cases thanks to their size. Additionally, we have tested whether the three test subjects could tame an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X.

If you know the name Quentin Dupieux, you likely know it from "Rubber," the slapstick thriller about a sentient, bloodthirsty car tire he directed in 2010. Now acclaimed in his home country of France for his unique brand of surrealism — at once wickedly humorous and nonchalant, even underplayed — Dupieux's filmmaking career took off in America with a string of riffs on schlock films. Before that, he was acclaimed (again) in France as Mr. Oizo, an electronic musician whose 1999 single "Flat Beat" spawned the beloved Levi's mascot "Flat Eric," built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Dupieux has lived a storied life, and his latest film, "Smoking Causes Coughing," could only have been made by someone who understands the power of stories. The film follows a ragtag squadron of superheroes called The Tobacco Force who harness the powers of noxious fumes to destroy giant turtles and evil lizard men from space. More Power Rangers than Avengers, the members of the relatively gentle Tobacco Force are played by some of the leading stars of the French film scene, such as Anaïs Demoustier and Vincent Lacoste.

But "Smoking Causes Coughing" plays like a perfect antidote to superhero franchise fatigue. Rather than build the film around climaxes of righteous violence, Dupieux sends his supes to a lakeside relationship-building retreat, allowing the stories they tell each other beside the campfire to take over the film: A man alive despite being processed to the neck by a woodchipper; a "cone of contemplation" which turns a placid holiday into a horror movie; a tragic tale of ecological betrayal from the POV of a fish.

Dupieux has cooked up another weird and wild ride, and in the interview that follows, he gets into stories about storytelling, financing your most out-there ideas, and the Marvel and DC of it all.

Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

'I Was Obsessed By This Idea Of A Tire Slowly Following A Girl'

I'm curious, because you are the sole writer of almost all your films, what is your way in? What's the first thing that brings you into a new project? Is it a character, is it an image, a concept?

It depends, actually. It's never the same thing. To give you a very easy example, when I did "Rubber," the movie about the tire, I only had this visual in mind. I was obsessed by this idea of a tire slowly following a girl — a little bit like "Jaws," the shark movie, but with a tire. And that was the visual I had in mind, this tension of following a tire who is actually following someone. This was very exciting, and that's how I started writing the movie.

Then when I did the giant fly movie, "Mandibles," I wanted to work with these two French comedians [David Marsais and Grégoire Ludig] because they inspired me. So I started creating stupid characters for them. This led me to the fly concept. It's never the same, it depends on the movies, but usually there's a desire for a visual idea.

Was it the same for "Smoking Causes Coughing?" What was the thing that got you into the script?

I wanted to create, let's say, a new ... even if it's not new, because we've seen movies like this, like "Creepshow," for example. Do remember "Creepshow?" You're maybe too young.

Of course.

So, I know I didn't create this concept of a movie that tells different stories inside, but when I started writing this one, I was looking for a new structure, a movie with some surprises inside, like, "Oh, there's another story." And then you come back to reality, but then you go somewhere else. That was the main goal, to basically create a new format, even if I know it's not new. But it was new for me.

'Everything Was A Nightmare To Me'

One thing that has been a huge subject of conversation lately is that these blockbuster superhero movies are not doing well. It seems like we might be at the end of this period of supercharged activity. So this film was really refreshing to me. You could have made a kind of cruel and snide movie, because everybody's so sick of superheroes. But you treat your characters with compassion, they're all so lovable, and they're also not buffoons. Creating that anchor story, were you thinking at all about the big superhero trend — Marvel, DC, all that — or was this something totally separate?

No, because actually I know nothing about these movies. I only see the posters. I know there's a lot of this stuff coming out, but I've never been into it. Maybe I watched the first "Spider-Man" by Sam Raimi, I don't know what, 15 years ago, because it was something new. I wanted to check how it was done. But I've never been into this stuff.

When I was still living in Los Angeles, I went to a movie theater with my son to watch an "Avengers" movie. I think it was the first "Avengers." I don't know. It was a nightmare for me. The sound, the noise, the explosions, the loud music, the editing, everything was a nightmare to me. So I think at this point I stopped. I was like, "No, this is not for me." And the movie we are talking about today is maybe ... it's like the reverse of this. It's slow. The pace is okay. There's no aggressive music. What can I say about superhero movies? Are you still watching these movies? It's impossible.

It is getting harder, because in some cases they're getting worse.

It's a torture. It's a torture. Plus the fact that it's almost like watching a video game now. The charm is missing. Who are these creatures? They're all made with CGI. Even for the kids, it's just like a stupid program. They don't get an emotional connection with these movies anymore because nothing's real. So they watch it, they enjoy, I guess, for a bit, but they have no emotional connection to these movies.

'I Need These Famous Actors To Basically Finance My Movies'

Part of that conversation has been people realizing that maybe what these huge companies are doing is trying to create characters that are box office draws and not actors, so they can increasingly get actors that they don't have to pay as much for. You do the opposite in "Smoking Causes Coughing." Not that people are going to go to the movie solely because of the stars, but it's funny that you first encounter all of the different characters with their helmets on, and then they take their helmets off, there are lots of big movie stars under those helmets. And I wonder, what was behind those casting choices?

I mean, let's put it this way: I need these famous actors to basically finance my movies. I'm working with them also because they're very talented, of course, and because they also want to work with me. A movie like "Deerskin," I don't know if you've seen this one, it was impossible to make without Jean Dujardin. I needed someone that big to be able to find a little bit of money to shoot the movie. Otherwise, nobody cares. They come for pleasure, they also come for the experience, because it's very different from what they're doing actually in some other movies.

I actually need them for their talent, but also because in a way, they validate the movie by being here. They say to the audience, "We think this director has something to say." You know what I mean? The same movie with only unknown actors suddenly will be hard to promote.

That period of time when you were living and working and making films in America, you didn't work with too many American stars. I mean, you probably worked with a lot of American actors, but you didn't anchor your films with American stars. Two that do jump out to me are Ray Wise and Grace Zabriskie, and I'm curious what it was like working with them.

There's no why, really. It was more like I wrote this movie and suddenly, exactly what I do on every movie I make, at some point you have to find actors for these small parts. I forgot how it happened, but I think we got Ray Wise ... in a meeting, someone just dropped this idea and I was like, "Oh yeah, he's a strong actor." And then someone else 10 days later brought the idea of, "Oh, we should get Grace Zabriskie too, it would be funny."

It's hard to explain -- working with them was, of course, exciting and interesting for me. But at the same time, when I look back at this moment, I have to say we didn't share much. Now working in France again with some French actors, and I'm getting better and better, I know the work I do now with actors is more complex. Back in the day, for example, the stuff I did with Marilyn Manson ("Wrong Cops"), it was fun, but I was not really directing him, if you know what I mean. It's hard to explain. I was so excited and fresh in this business that working with all these people was ... it's very different from what I'm doing now when I work with actors. And if I go back to English-speaking movies, I will now work more.

'Everyone Who Reads The Script Has A Different Movie In Mind'

Something that has always struck me about your work, and I definitely saw it in "Smoking Causes Coughing," your films are usually very funny, they can be very zany, they can be irreverent and they can be very light even when they're dealing with heavy subject matter. But there's always a little sliver of sadness. Where I saw it in this film was in the story that the little girl tells from the perspective of the fish. And it looks above the water and it sees the pollution being dumped into the lake. That was really sad.

Yeah, it's the worst. It's the worst.

It's so upsetting, and it's just sandwiched between those two longer stories. It makes such an impact because it's so distinct from them.

But you know what? Maybe it's because this one is true. This one is a real vision. And even if it's a little girl saying it, it is happening and it is real. So that's why it sounded so sad. The two other stories are crazy enough to make you think, "Whatever, it's a movie." But this suddenly, it's said by an innocent little girl, so then it's like, "Oh s***, yes." And the fact that the superheroes are shocked by the story makes it funny again.

You're often doing a real tonal balancing act in your films. There are so many different tones that you have to rein in and make sure that they're all cohesive. But in this film in particular, not only are you switching between different tones, but you're telling different stories with different characters that have different points of view. So for you, where does the real work come in, in terms of making sure everything feels cohesive? Is it in the writing? Do you feel like things come together in the edit?

Yeah, the editing is the most important part, and that's why I'm doing it myself. I usually say that this is the moment where you actually make the movie. Before that, the writing is amazing, because you start having a concept and ideas and it's very exciting, but it's a piece of paper. And basically, everyone who reads the script has a different movie in mind. I can tell. Some people want to see only the comedy, so they're going to say, "Oh, it's very funny. I had so much fun," and they're never going to talk about the other layers. And some other people are going to see only the sadness of it. 

So when it comes to the edit, you are going to make a movie that everybody's going to receive the same way, in a way. And that's when basically I craft the tone, even if, of course, the shooting part is very important because that's where you find everything with the actors. But yes, I can tell today that yes, editing is where everything happens.

"Smoking Causes Coughing" arrives in theaters and on demand on March 31, 2023.

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The post Smoking Causes Coughing Director Breaks Down His Silly, Surreal Spin on the Superhero Film [Exclusive Interview] appeared first on /Film.

So, it’s been nine months since Dad’s been gone, and about seven since I began writing here. This has offered a lot of time to mope and brood, or, you know, ‘think’, whatever you want to call it. In that time, I’ve had a lot of writing ideas. Everything from games I’ve had thoughts on, to projects I’ve been working on; D&D, commentary, Minecraft, you name it. I’ve had enough material that I could likely kick the site back into at least three or four posts a week, but…Houston, we have a problem.

See, there’s sort of an elephant-in-the-room issue that makes talking about, well, anything feel redundant and repetitive. I want to talk about my love-hate relationship with Stardew Valley, my reasoning for having a thousand ‘smart’ devices, my favorite children’s MMO, and every issue I have with Wizards of the Coast. But, at the end of the day, what I have to say about all those things has a common denominator which would get old to write about very, very fast.

Everything is a monopoly, and every creative decision I want to talk about boils down to money, not actual people. People are interesting, they make independent decisions and sometimes bonkers bad ones. Nuance and storytelling, ignorance and narrow world views, those are things we can talk about. Why CEO #34 made a piss-poor decision that will only really hurt employees and consumers and land him with a four week paid holiday isn’t fun and snappy conversation, it’s fucking depressing.

I won’t lie to myself and wish I was was alive and grown three decades ago when money hadn’t sunk its claws into the video game market. I’m queer and physically disabled, the testing to confirm my diagnoses didn’t even exist back then, but, god, I wish things were more interesting now. Why does the protagonist feel so bland in (insert franchise here) game? Oh, that’s easy: money. Why doesn’t this really cool tech exist even though it would help a lot of people? Oh, another easy one: money.

This means even bad decisions on a writer’s part make me feel like shit to complain about. Because, you know what, if it’s stupid enough to feel like I have a real opinion on it, at least that’s a human error. It’s sort of like a mistake in your box of grocery store sugar cookies. Like, oh wow, it’s different from the others, cool. As long as it’s edible I don’t really care, and the error makes it more interesting than the two hundred other boxes.

Like I said, I’m not as politically averse as my dad was, but that doesn’t mean I want to turn this into an anti-capitalist, angry echo chamber. I am frustrated, but frankly I’m not changing the world by bitching about it, all I’d end up accomplishing is being pissed off all the time and taking a bunch of internet people with me.

So, here’s what we’re going to do. Because there are still opinions left to have, and it sucks to feel like I’m at the mercy of this stupid elephant. This post is here, and I will jovially link back to it when money is the core of an issue, acknowledge it, and move on. CEO #34 gets enough attention, and my energy is better put enjoying the bit of humanity left in this stupid industry.

The popular Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo Wii emulator, Dolphin, is coming to Steam, the team behind the project has today announced.

The joyful news for retro fans was announced on the project's official blog and via one of the creators behind the project - the well-known Switch miner 'OatMealDome'.

[Dolphin Emulator]

Dolphin, a GameCube and Wii emulator, is coming to Steam!

We’ll release in Early Access during Q2 2023 (Apr to Jun). More info will be provided closer to launch.

In the meantime, feel free to check out our store page and wishlist us!https://t.co/m3XRhabK9V

— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) March 28, 2023

The Dolphin GameCube and Wii emulator offers various enhancements, including save states, netplay, as well as boosted resolution. In addition, Dolphin offers support for 4K displays, modern controllers, and more. The emulator is open-source and will be made available for free through early access on Steam in the coming months (between April and June). More information about this interesting project will be released closer to the launch of the emulator on Steam.

On Twitter, creator 'OatMealDome' writes that Dolphin will also support Steam Deck, which will likely please many retro fans owning a Steam deck. "This has been my pet project for the past little while, so I’m very happy to finally be able to show it off", 'OatMealDome' writes on Twitter. "Thank you to delroth, MayImilae, JMC, and everyone else on the Dolphin team for their help and support."

Of course, those wanting to play Nintendo GameCube and Wii games through Steam will have to own an original copy of the game.

How Does It Work?

Dolphin Emulator creates a virtual environment on your device that is capable of running games originally developed for two of the Big N's revolutionary consoles. However, Dolphin itself does not provide any of the games. It is just a tool to run legally obtained copies of these games. Once you have dumped copies of your games into a compatible format, you can launch them directly in the emulator.

Why Emulate?

Using emulation to play your games comes with many advantages. Dolphin can surpass the capabilities of the original hardware with enhancements like increased resolution, widescreen hacks, HD texture packs, and patches to increase the frame rate. While playing a game, features like quick saves (save states), slow motion, and turbo can make playing through annoying sections a breeze. You can even take your favorite local multiplayer games online with Dolphin's built-in netplay. Once you're bored of a game, you can breathe new life into it by playing community-made mods like randomizers and custom level packs.

The Dolphin emulator has been around for quite some time and over the years, the emulator has received numerous updates, including DX12 support and more.

The post Nintendo GameCube and Wii Emulator Dolphin is Coming to Steam Soon; Will Support Steam Deck by Aernout van de Velde appeared first on Wccftech.

Rejoice, fellow Nintendoers! Dolphin Emulator - the open-source emulator for Nintendo GameCube and Wii games - is coming to Steam in Q2 2023. The Steam page is quick to note, for probably legal reasons, that “this app does not come with games” and “you must own an original copy of any game” you want to emulate. Dolphin allows you to emulate retro games with 4k support, modern controllers, and it’s totally free.

Read more

Malicious actors are constantly adapting their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to adapt to political, technological, and regulatory changes quickly. A few emerging threats that organizations of all sizes should be aware of include the following: Increased use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Malicious actors are increasingly leveraging AI and machine learning to

Multiple threat actors have been observed using two new variants of the IcedID malware in the wild with more limited functionality that removes functionality related to online banking fraud. IcedID, also known as BokBot, started off as a banking trojan in 2017. It's also capable of delivering additional malware, including ransomware. "The well-known IcedID version consists of an initial loader

An advanced persistent threat (APT) group that has a track record of targeting India and Afghanistan has been linked to a new phishing campaign that delivers Action RAT. According to Cyble, which attributed the operation to SideCopy, the activity cluster is designed to target the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the research and development wing of India's Ministry of

What do Atomic Heart and Boundary have in common? Well, both of them had exclusive Ray Tracing effects (and even benchmarks) that were cut from their retail versions. Yes yes, even though Surgical Scalpels showcased some really GPU-heavy RT effects for this online FPS, the game will not feature any of them at launch. In … Continue reading Boundary will no longer feature Ray Tracing, ditches DLSS over FSR & XeSS →

The post Boundary will no longer feature Ray Tracing, ditches DLSS over FSR & XeSS appeared first on DSOGaming.

The new tool aims to deliver the network insights and coordination that “AI” security systems have long promised.

An MS-DOS-based Portable PC from 1984 is shown to be running the modern-day ChatGPT client without any issues.

A developer creates a ChatGPT client to run on MS-DOS and uses it on a 1984 IBM portable computer

Yeo Kheng Meng (yeokm1 on GitHub) is a "retrocomputing enthusiast." Three and a half years ago, the developer created a Slack client that ran on the Windows 3.1 operating system. With ChatGPT being the new buzzword and OpenAI releasing several APIs for programmers and developers, he wanted to challenge himself and have ChatGPT running on a vintage operating system/platform. He decided to get the AI chatbot to work on MS-DOS in his recent project.

The video below shows the MS-DOS-based ChatGPT clone in action. Yeo Kheng Meng has to launch MTCP DHCP to access an IP address from his router before using the application.

Yeo chose DOS because of the challenge of using an older platform, like Windows 3.1, that he had used for the custom Slack client that he developed. The system he chose to utilize is an IBM 5155 Portable PC that was created in 1984. He provides a list of specifications for this project:

• Intel 8088 4.77Mhz CPU
• 640KB conventional memory (using upgrade kit)
• CGA ISA graphics
• NE2000-compatible ISA Ethernet adapter
• XT-IDE ISA drive controller
• MS-DOS 6.22

He has documented with pictures the components utilized in the IBM 5155 portable PC for users interested in the computer's internals.

To begin with, developing the ChatGPT client in MS-DOS, he first needed to find a compiler that would work in the 16-bit DOS environment. After searching the internet for ideas, he found the Open Watcom C/C++ compiler the best option. The chosen compiler is a 32-bit application compatible with Windows 11 64-bit versions. The first hurdle needed to overcome was working with Windows 11 since 16-bit DOS applications do not run by default. There are third-party applications he could have used, such as winevdm, but they would not work for his particular needs in this project.

Yeo used a VirtualBox on his virtual machine for his DOS 6.22 environment. Using a bridged network to the host computer so that his virtual machine could access his internet connection, he began work on the ChatGPT DOS clone. The host machine used a simple Python-based web server, while the virtual machine used the MTCP library created by Michael B. Brutman.

Yeo found that with the lacking of network functions within DOS, he needed to utilize Visual Studio Code text editor and then parse JSON output from OpenAI's Chat Completion API. Once completed, the system, albeit slightly slow by today's standards, ran similarly to ChatGPT, including answering his first requests incorrectly. Within time the system would learn just like the widely used version of the generative AI application. Still, it is the oldest system currently running an AI-based generative pre-trained transformer.

The post Portable IBM PC With MS-DOS From 1984 Is Shown Running The ChatGPT Client by Jason R. Wilson appeared first on Wccftech.

This post contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets" season 2 episode 1.

The first season of "Yellowjackets" produced enough speculation and wild theories to rival any television series since HBO's "Westworld." Fans devoured the first episode of the hotly anticipated second season (reviewed in incredible detail by /Film's BJ Colangelo) making it the most-watched premiere in Showtime's history. As the timeline continues to jump back and forth between the survivors of the plane crash in the nineties and their present-day selves, more dark secrets are starting to come out into the light. 

So far, the adult versions of Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Misty (Christina Ricci), and Natalie (Juliette Lewis) have been the main focal point of the show, but if the season premiere is any indication, that attention is shifting to Taissa (Tawny Cypress) and her increasingly disturbing behavior. It's already been established that Taissa falls into some type of sleepwalking trance where she eats dirt, bites herself, and climbs trees in the middle of the night in her quiet suburban neighborhood. Worst of all, she appears to have sacrificed the family dog, Biscuit, in some sort of bizarre ritual in a hidden basement. 

Out of all the characters, Taissa is probably the one most tied to the horror genre, as she hides the monster within her and commits ungodly acts, connecting her to Lottie's cult that comes out into the open in the season 2 premiere. When the shrine is revealed showing Biscuit's poor shaggy head surrounded by candles, the reference to the dysfunctional Voorhees family from the "Friday the 13th" franchise is undeniable and shows that "Yellowjackets" is firmly planting its horror roots in the ground. Taissa's terrible act comes back to haunt her in this season's new episode and threatens to upend her life which appears so perfect on the surface.  

Did Taissa Make A Shrine Or An Altar?

Towards the end of "Friday the 13th Part 2," Ginny (Amy Steel) — the main protagonist and ultimate final girl — discovers a shack where Jason has built a hideous altar to his mother Pamela Voorhees, the killer from the original who still rules over her son. His mother was decapitated in the final minutes of "Friday the 13th," leaving Ginny to discover her head and sweater that she quickly wears to try and trick Jason into letting her live. The art direction in this scene also homages Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" but, in the first season of "Yellowjackets," Taissa's shrine is an obvious nod to this "Friday the 13th Part 2" scene that horror fans were quick to point out.

While Jason is obviously building a shrine to his mother, it's a little unclear what Taissa was intending. Biscuit was her son Sammy's dog and a doll belonging to him is also seen, along with a marking of the same cult symbol that Lottie created drawn in blood. What appears to be a heart is clearly visible and the theory put forth by ScreenRant that the organ probably belongs to Adam (Peter Gadiot) is one I happen to agree with. With all that in mind, was Taissa making a sacrifice to Lottie who is assumed to be the eventual Antler Queen? 

Most likely, the reference to "Friday the 13th Part 2" isn't too telling, but it is interesting how Taissa's hidden sacrifice is a total inversion of the shrine that Jason conjured up. Here, instead of the son creating a shrine for his mother, it's a mother making an altar for her son.

How Much Power Does The Cult Have Over Taissa?

It might be too macabre (even for this show) to have Taissa sacrifice Sammy to the Antler Queen, but Taissa's wife Simone (Rukiya Bernard) may be in some serious trouble after discovering the altar and confronting Taissa in the season 2 premiere. In a very public scene, Simone refuses to allow Taissa to pick her own son up from school. Taissa planned to surprise Sammy with a new dog named Steve she picked up from a shelter. After Simone reveals to Taissa that she discovered Biscuit's head and the secret altar, she demands that Taissa gets some kind of help and, more importantly, that she resigns from the state senate seat she won back in the first season.

Simone grows even angrier when Taissa tells her she has no idea what she's talking about. Clearly, Taissa has no recollection of decapitating Biscuit which leads her to face the truth and discover the altar for herself. She's justifiably horrified, and assures the new puppy Steve, saying, "It'll be different with you." (Famous last words if I've ever heard them.) Steve better make it until the end of this season! However, Simone may be too much of a threat to Taissa's new political power. Although Taissa isn't in control of her actions, it may turn out that Lottie's cult is able to activate her in some way that could lead to more killing or at least some more incredibly weird behavior.

Taissa's old flame Vanessa is also returning in adult form, played by the magnificent Lauren Ambrose. Grown-up Van should have a crucial role to play in either helping Taissa control her monstrous tendencies or, perhaps, she will wind up having a connection to the cult that could turn Taissa into even more of a dangerous foe. 

"Yellowjackets" episodes air Sundays on Showtime.

Read this next: Horror Roles That Changed Actors Forever

The post Yellowjackets Season 2 Brings Back A Plot Point With Major Friday The 13th Vibes appeared first on /Film.

Prices might be going up, but you can still build yourself a capable PC for around $550.

this should be addressed with consumer data privacy legislation, not a Great Firewall of America #

As was announced last week, eight classic SSI Silver Box games are now available again for the first time in decades. Four of these, Heroes of the Lance, Dragons of Flame, War of the Lance, and...

If you've seen "John Wick: Chapter 4," odds are good that you might be hankering for more in the "John Wick" universe sooner rather than later. Erica Lee, who produced all four of the "Wick" films, couldn't agree with you more.

"We're definitely developing more spin-offs," she told me after we talked about the two spin-offs we already know about — the upcoming feature "Ballerina," starring Ana de Armas, and the TV series, "The Continental," which focuses on younger versions of Winston and Charon, who are played by Ian McShane and Lance Reddick in the existing films. The possibilities for additional spin-offs are extensive, though Lee did say that the driving question in decided what to pursue comes down to the question: "What are the characters that stand out in the films, that pop, that have an interesting story to tell, who are still alive?"

Lee shared some of the characters she thinks meet those criteria, and in addition to discussing "Ballerina" and "The Continental," we also touched on the genesis of "John Wick: Chapter 4," including what parts of director Chad Stahelski's original vision did not make it into the film.

Read on for our spoiler-free discussion, which also includes updates on two projects that involve Dev Patel, Bryan Fuller, and Mads Mikkelsen.

Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

'I Know This Kind Of Franchise Is One In A Million, So I Don't Take It For Granted'

I know you've been involved with the "Wick" franchise from the beginning, and it's definitely evolved from the first film to "Chapter 4," and obviously, there are spin-offs now. I would love to start by hearing your experience and your history with the franchise. From your perspective, how did it progressively expand to what it is now?

It's been amazing. I mean, the first movie was a spec script we read, called "Scorn." And even just getting the first one made was a total labor of love and really hard -- insane. We did it independently and was really complicated and hard, and no one really knew what we had in the beginning. So when we made the first one, there was certainly no idea — I always say, when we make them, we're burning the house down by the end. We leave it all on the field. So we've been really lucky that people have embraced the movies.

I mean, it is crazy knowing that the first "John Wick" was really this scrappy independent movie, first time directors, and now here we are with "John Wick 4" coming out, and obviously, a much bigger budget, bigger scale, a lot more riding on it. But it's crazy to think how far we've come. Also what I think is really specific to "John Wick" is, I think when we wrapped, before we did additional photography, 11 people had worked on all four movies. And the brand continuity of the core team is really special. The fact that Chad [Stahelski] has directed all four movies, I mean, how rare is that in a franchise?

So there's a lot of love there for that. I would say "John Wick" is my first baby and I've had two actual children. It's crazy where we've come and that the world has embraced them and that we just, the awareness is so high now. And I hear people all time saying things like, "Oh, I missed 'John Wick 2,' but I'm coming in now and going back and watching them." So it's really special. I know this kind of franchise is one in a million, so I don't take it for granted.

I talked with Chad and he spoke about how he always had some space between each film. It sounded like from him, anything's possible, but he was not thinking about doing a fifth film. So I just wondered if you had any take on that? Do you think there'll be a fifth film in the future?

I'm hopeful. I think that on all of the movies at this point in the process, we were like, "We're never doing it again!" They're super hard and exhausting to shoot. "John Wick 4" was 97 days of night shoots, and Keanu [Reeves] gets the s*** kicked out of him. Everyone by this point is like, "We had seven premieres, oh my God, we're done!" But the joke is always, on the Japan trip for the last two movies — there's been a Japan release for both of them that was a couple months later — everyone has had some time to rest and think about what we would do, what we could do. I think we all remember how much we love each other and love these movies. So yeah, I'm hopeful. Is the character of John Wick dead? Are there other versions? Are there different stories to tell? I think so.

Speaking of that, how did "Chapter 4" come to be? Did Chad have a specific idea?

No. I think after the third film we were like, "Oh my God, we can never do this again." And then I'll never forget, Chad and I had lunch one day and he was like, "I'm thinking Japan. I'm thinking nunchucks and snow. Have you seen what they can do with snowmobiles these days?" And I was like, "Okay, we have a movie." It was such small pieces but I could just see the wheels in his brain spinning, and we were off to the races at that point. Then there was Covid, but the good or the bad of it was that it gave us also some more time to develop the script and work on it. And Keanu did "The Matrix [Resurrections]," so that changed. We had a little bit more time in between than we normally do.

'Wick ... Is Always Trying To Get Out, And The Character That Ana Plays In 'Ballerina' Is Trying To Get In'

Snowmobiles, we didn't see that in "Wick 4." We saw everything else.

We didn't. But we have snowmobiles in "Ballerina."

That's good to know. Speaking of "Ballerina," obviously, there's "The Continental" show and "Ballerina" that we know about. Can you tease anything about "Ballerina?" I know there's some returning characters involved with that, but obviously, it focuses on a new star, Ana de Armas. What do you think "Wick" fans coming to see that movie will get really excited about?

What's cool about "Ballerina" is it's a different setting. So it's, aesthetically, slightly different than the "Wick" movies. Ana de Armas is an incredible actress and she's amazing. I think what's different about her in "Ballerina" is that Wick in "John Wick" is always trying to get out, and the character that Ana plays in "Ballerina" is trying to get in. So what does that mean for the character? What does that mean for the High Table, the world, the Continentals, all of that? And I think that, obviously, there's going to be killer action and use of interesting weapons and amazing cinematography and cool sets. It's a European location, so we're always trying to push the envelope. Then of course, we have cameos and appearances from some of our friends from "Wick" world, so some continuity.

Yeah, I've heard from other folks that the script is impressive and that there are some twists.

We had some time to work on it. It was not something we rushed. I actually read it five years ago for the first time, and then we spent a lot of time developing it and finessing it once "John Wick 3" had shot, and then "John Wick 4," and how does that world inform the timeline and how does it all work? So we're trying to be really thoughtful about it.

What about "The Continental," the TV show? What can fans expect from that?

"The Continental" is really cool. It's an alternate timeline. It's a prequel, right? So it's the birth of the Continental, it's in the '70s. So what we do a good job of in the "Wick" movies is just giving little tastes of backstory and little glimpses of what goes on in The Continental. So it's a young Ian McShane and his rise into taking over The Continental. Winston is a character we give very little backstory on in our movies, so I think that audiences will be excited to see how that evolved.

'Where Do These Dogs Come From?'

I would love to hear from your perspective, if you're deciding to do other potential spin-offs, what do you look for? What things would you want to see in any other future spin-offs, just to make sure it's a good addition to the "Wick" universe?

We're definitely developing more spin-offs. And I think it's asking, "What are the characters that stand out in the films, that pop, that have an interesting story to tell, who are still alive?" We kill a lot of people.

Well, you could do another prequel!

Yeah, and also, what are the aspects of the world? The Continental was something we always were really interested in. The Bowery King and the Underground, what is that world like? I think that Rina Sawayama's character of Akira is really fascinating. These are just things I personally would love to explore. Now that "John Wick 4" will be out in the world, I think even more ideas will start flowing.

Yeah, for sure. There are a lot of characters from "Wick 4" that I'd be happy to see in their own film or show.

Yeah, I mean, the dogs. Where do the dogs come from? Where do the Tracker -- and Sofia, Halle Berry's character, has dogs in "John Wick 3", so that's always fascinating to me. Where do these dogs come from? How do you get them? What is a tracker? Where is he trained? I don't know. These are just things we think about and talk about.

I interviewed Lance Reddick less than 24 hours before the news broke [of his passing]. It's just so awful. And I'm so sorry to you, as I'm sure you knew him. But I would love to hear if you had any favorite Lance stories from working with him in the franchise.

Lance was just the greatest guy ever, and so it's so heartbreaking and so shocking.

So shocking. So shocking.

And the timing, all of it is so strange. He wasn't on the movies for long stretches. He would come in and just brighten up everyone and the scene. Not only the scenes, but him as a human and his wife Stephanie, and he was just such a great guy. I didn't spend an enormous amount of time with him socially, also because, I was again pregnant on "John Wick 4" and had a baby, a six-week-old, on "John Wick 3." So I would shoot the movie and then deal with life. But yeah, it's really heartbreaking and a huge loss for us and me personally and it's crazy. I was so blindsided by it. I mean, like you said, you were interviewing him.

I know. But he mentioned to me he shot "Ballerina," so he'll be in "Ballerina"?

He's in "Ballerina." He came and shot a day as the concierge. And there is a young Charon in "The Continental." So yes, he still lives on in the franchise, but yeah, so heartbreaking.

'People Will Say It's Akin To An Indian John Wick'

So I have a little bit more time with you. Can I ask you a couple quick questions about some of your other projects?

Sure.

Cool. So I noticed you were involved with Dev Patel's "Monkey Man." I know it's coming to Netflix, but is there anything you can tease about it or just the status of where that is?

We're in post on it. Dev is incredible in it. He wrote it, he acts in it, he directs it. It's a real labor of love. It's been very challenging. One of the hardest movies I've ever had to make. We started it in the height of Covid in Mumbai and had to shut it down and bring everyone home. And Dev was like, "Either I make this movie now or I don't. I'm trained. We have everything." So in this crazy experience, we're like, "Okay, we got to figure out how to make the movie." We couldn't leave. So we started figuring out where we could shoot it, and we started doing Zoom meetings with Indonesia and all these other places and ended up shooting it on an island called Batam off the coast of Jakarta.

He shot for 70 days. It's a story based on the Hanuman mythology, which is Indian folklore, a story that his grandfather told him. It's a simple story. It's a revenge story. People will say it's akin to an Indian John Wick. Dev is awesome. The action's insane. It has the look and the feel of India, and the grittiness is palpable. So I think people are going to love it.

Cool. And I saw the other news about "Dust Bunny" with Bryan Fuller and Mads Mikkelsen, which "Hannibal" fans are going to be very excited about, I'm sure. Anything you can tease about that?

We are going to start production later this summer. It's an incredible script. It's unlike anything I've worked on before. I mean, Bryan Fuller's brain is somewhere that I just want to sit inside of. It's visual and interesting. It's like if David Fincher had directed "Amelie." It is insane. And Mads is a singular talent. I worked with him a couple times on the "Clash of the Titans" movies. And they have an amazing relationship. And Mads is playing an assassin, and it's just really f***ing cool.

"John Wick: Chapter 4" is now playing in theaters.

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The post John Wick Producer Erica Lee On More Spin-Offs And What Didn't Make It Into Chapter 4 [Exclusive Interview] appeared first on /Film.

Slashdot reader votsalo shares a report from the Guardian: Tiny glass beads strewn across the moon's surface contain potentially billions of tons of water that could be extracted and used by astronauts on future lunar missions, researchers say. The discovery is thought to be one of the most important breakthroughs yet for space agencies that have set their sights on building bases on the moon, as it means there could be a highly accessible source of not only water but also hydrogen and oxygen. "This is one of the most exciting discoveries we've made," said Mahesh Anand, a professor of planetary science and exploration at the Open University. "With this finding, the potential for exploring the moon in a sustainable manner is higher than it's ever been." Anand and a team of Chinese scientists analyzed fine glass beads from lunar soil samples returned to Earth in December 2020 by the Chinese Chang'e-5 mission. The beads, which measure less than a millimeter across, form when meteoroids slam into the moon and send up showers of molten droplets. These then solidify and become mixed into the moon dust. Tests on the glass particles revealed that together they contain substantial quantities of water, amounting to between 300m and 270 billion tons across the entire moon's surface. "This is going to open up new avenues which many of us have been thinking about," said Anand. "If you can extract the water and concentrate it in significant quantities, it's up to you how you utilize it." The latest research, published in Nature Geoscience, points to fine glass beads as the source of that surface water. Unlike frozen water lurking in permanently shaded craters, this should be far easier to extract by humans or robots working on the moon. "It's not that you can shake the material and water starts dripping out, but there's evidence that when the temperature of this material goes above 100C, it will start to come out and can be harvested," Anand said. The water appears to form when high-energy particles streaming from the sun -- the so-called solar wind -- strike the molten droplets. The solar wind contains hydrogen nuclei, which combine with oxygen in the droplets to produce water or hydroxyl ions. The water then becomes locked in the beads, but it can be released by heating the material. Further tests on the material showed the water diffuses in and out of the beads on the timeframe of a few years, confirming an active water cycle on the moon. According to Prof Sen Hu, a senior co-author of the study at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, such impact glasses could store and release water on other airless rocks in the solar system.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Fans of Dave Filoni's animated "Star Wars" series have gotten their due reward for keeping up with what many may have initially dismissed as kiddie cartoons. Characters and major plot points in both "The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels" have appeared in live-action projects, turning Filoni's ideas into vital pieces of the grander "Star Wars" universe. Katee Sackhoff's Mandalorian Death Watch leader Bo-Katan Kryze, in particular, is currently playing a central role in season 3 of "The Mandalorian," paying off all the hard work Sackhoff has put into the role ever since she began voicing the character back on "The Clone Wars."

It's almost a miracle how prevalent Bo-Katan has become in the "Star Wars" mythos considering how rocky her character's behind-the-scenes start was. Filoni made Bo-Katan a major antagonist-turned-antihero in "The Clone Wars" right before Disney acquired Lucasfilm and subsequently cancelled the show. Luckily, Filoni gave her a chance to return in "Rebels" (in which she plays a more heroic role as an enemy of the Empire), prior to bringing the character back for a seventh and final season of "The Clone Wars" on Disney+. All the while, Sackhoff provided Bo-Katan's voice and made a smooth transition to live-action upon her debut in "The Mandalorian."

'It Just Warmed My Heart'

Those who have watched the "Battlestar Galactica" remake series have long known how great Katee Sackhoff is at bringing a senes of pathos into a hard-edged military mentality, when it comes to her live-action characters. Her role as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace was always more than an archetypical badass space marine woman, and she brings the same type of multi-layered performance while handling the moral complexities of Bo-Katan (in both animation and live-action). 

Bo-Katan's rise to and fall from the throne of Mandalore has its own tragedies that have deeply shaped both the character and Sackhoff's approach to portraying her over the years. The consistency and growth of the actor's work is also the reason why fans have greeted her reappearance(s) with such open arms. She discussed the fan reception in an interview with the official "Star Wars" website, explaining:

"I watched the fan reaction compilation that was put together of Bo showing up, and it just warmed my heart. I was so happy that she was so well received. I mean, listen: love her, hate her. You can hate her. She's done some pretty appalling things in her existence. But the reaction and overall excitement — and to see people instantaneously know who she was, the moment she landed... was really cool. I loved it."

Sackhoff has stated that transitioning from voice work to live-action has included its own challenges, but the positive response has proven that she has become synonymous with the character at this point. She now shares lead acting credits alongside Pedro Pascal, making the "The Mandalorian" deservedly Sackhoff's show, too.

New episodes of "The Mandalorian" premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.

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The post The Mandalorian's Katee Sackhoff Can't Get Enough Of Fan Reactions To Bo-Katan appeared first on /Film.

Microsoft says it has evidence that Russian APT actors were exploiting a nasty Outlook zero-day as far back as April 2022, upping the stakes on organizations to start hunting for signs of compromise.

The post Microsoft: No-Interaction Outlook Zero Day Exploited Since Last April appeared first on SecurityWeek.