Ronald.phillips

South African-Canadian filmmaker Neill Blomkamp caught the world off-guard with his feature directorial debut: 2009's "District 9," a movie that expanded the premise for his 2006 sci-fi short "Alive in Joburg" into a Paul Verhoeven-style blend of action, satire, and splatter gore. It wasn't everybody's cup of tea (neither is Verhoeven's work), but the film was a critical and box office hit that landed multiple Oscar nods, including one for Best Picture, and firmly secured Blomkamp's status as someone to keep on your radar.

Much like M. Night Shyamalan after the breakout success of "The Sixth Sense," however, Blomkamp spent his newly gained clout from "District 9" getting more original and, frankly, weirder films (namely, "Elysium" and "Chappie") off the ground, as opposed to making a sequel or boarding a franchise. And when those movies proved far more polarizing than his debut, Blomkamp turned his attention to crafting experimental shorts (via his company, Oats Studios) while coming precariously close to helming a legacy sequel to Verhoeven's "RoboCop," as well as a new "Alien" film.

Once again, though, Blomkamp declined to become a studio workhorse in favor of making "Demonic," a demonic possession thriller with a sci-fi twist that got roundly trashed by critics. So what now? Well, it looks like a "District 9" sequel may actually happen.

What's Going On With District 10

Backing up a bit: it's worth noting that Blomkamp announced he and "District 9" co-writer Terri Tatchell (to whom he's married) had begun penning the sequel, "District 10," with his longtime collaborator and "District 9" star Sharlto Copley in February 2021, well before "Demonic" debuted. So this isn't, per se, a case of a director releasing a badly-received movie and, suddenly, their schedule magically opens up and they start working on the sequel that people have been bugging them about for ages. "District 10" is also something that Blomkamp has expressed an interest in doing for years, with the caveat that he needed to come up with a story that excited him first.

If anything, it's good that Blomkamp has spent the last decade experimenting and evolving his sense of craft and not risk losing his way in the studio system. The results have been wildly inconsistent in terms of their quality (some would say they've all been bad, and not unreasonably) and, in the case of "Chappie," may have even cost him his dream job of directing an "Alien" film. Still, the fact we're even talking about Blomkamp at all shows he's more or less fashioned an identity as the guy who specializes in peculiar, off-putting, high concept sci-fi fare (odd as that sounds).

And who knows: just like Shyamalan rebounded the first time he made a sequel (okay, "sequel"), perhaps "District 10" will mark Blomkamp's own return to form.

What District 10 Could Be About

Right off the bat, "District 10" has some major plot threads it can pick up. "District 9" ended with the formerly human Multinational United (MNU) employee Wikus van de Merwe (Copley) completing his transformation into one of the aliens commonly referred to by the derogatory term "Prawn," having aided the alien Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope) in fleeing the titular South African prison camp where he and the other extraterrestrials had resided since their arrival on Earth. With the MNU's experiments on District 9's residents exposed, "District 10" will presumably explore what life is like in the aliens' new home (see the title), as well as what became of Wikus and whether Christopher will ever return for the others and/or to restore Wikus to his human form.

Blomkamp has confirmed that "District 10" will be as "stripped-down and bare bones" as possible, which is not only consistent with the approach he took on "District 9" but shows he's being practical and not expecting someone to grant him a huge budget after years of churning out not-so-successful films. He's also confirmed the sequel will evolve its predecessor's social and political subtext by pulling from "a topic in American history" that, one assumes, deals with issues of discrimination and segregation similar to those touched upon in "District 9." 

Basically, it seems like Blomkamp is serious about seeing "District 10" through this time; now he just needs a studio backer, and he's off to the races.

Read this next: The 14 Greatest Science Fiction Movies Of The 21st Century

The post Will There Be a Sequel to District 9? Here's What We Know appeared first on /Film.

From  1912 to 1916, Harry Houdini's signature outdoor escape act was the overboard box escape. In this vintage footage, you can see Houdini manacled and nailed into a small wooden box. The box is then lowered into the water, giving him a very short amount of time to make his escape. — Read the rest

This is it — the last six episodes of the sci-fi series, "The Expanse." The show has had quite a journey, saved by Prime Video when Syfy canceled it after its third season to give fans an additional three seasons in a future universe based on the books by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, the writing duo behind the pen name James S. A. Corey.

In the universe of the show, the solar system has been through quite a journey as well. (Here's your obligatory warning for spoilers for the first five seasons of "The Expanse.") The introduction of the protomolecule, an alien technology that ultimately opened a ring gate to thousands of other worlds, provided immeasurable opportunities to humanity while also causing geopolitical upheaval between Earth, Mars, and the Belt. That turmoil helped foment the rise of Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander), a Belter hellbent on destroying the inners, and he does a good job of it when he pummels Earth with asteroids that kill billions.

We End By Starting With The Solar System In A Big Ol' Mess

That's roughly where we start season 6 — it's six months later and Earth is in shambles and still shooting down asteroids, a faction of Mars has gone missing after it helped Marco come to power by giving him stealth tech, among other things, and the Belt is largely under the control of Marco's Free Navy.

The solar system is at war and is, in short, a big ol' mess. And in the throes of it all is the surviving crew of the Rocinante: James Holden (Steven Strait), Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), Amos Burton (Wes Chatham), and new crew member, reformed mass murderer Clarissa Mao (Nadine Nicole).

This season has only six episodes — an understandable choice given these episodes are no doubt very expensive. But it's one of the rare times I wish a season had more episodes instead of less — a lot is packed into each installment, especially in terms of moving the geopolitical story forward. But each episode also makes time for intimate moments with characters we've come to care about over the past few years.

Big Geopolitical Happenings Blended With Small Character Moments

On the Rocinante, the biggest change is the death of the Roci's pilot, Alex — something that occurred at the end of season 5 because sexual assault accusations against actor Cas Anvar caused the show to not include him in the series' final episodes. Alex's death was abrupt and felt sandwiched in at the end of last season, again, something understandable given the circumstances.

The creative team, led by showrunner Naren Shankar, had time to consider how to address Alex's absence in season 6, however, and does so through different characters dealing with the loss of Alex in small moments — Naomi feeling strange piloting the Rocinante for the first time after his death; Bobbie (Frankie Adams) singing along to Alex's country music while cleaning her power armor. One could argue for having a big send-off to Alex, the crew all crying together and remembering him. These nods to him six months after his death, however, feel authentic and not forced — grief is an ongoing thing, one that ebbs and flows, and how the crew deals with it feels similar to how anyone would deal with such a loss over time.

Season 6 also spends time with characters from the Belt. Marco, now head of the Free Navy struts around the Pella like a peacock, trying to look strong while showing cracks of vulnerability with his and Naomi's son, Filip (Jasai Chase Owens). Filip also unsurprisingly has his own struggles — he, along with his father, killed billions after all. And we also spend time with Drummer (Cara Gee), who faces off against Marco and faces the breakdown of her family indirectly caused by Marco's actions. And of course, on the Earther side, we also have the indomitable UN leader Chrisjen Avasarala, deftly played as always by Shohreh Aghdashloo.

The six episodes give us time with all these characters, and also sets up moments to see how they have changed from the beginning. Is it satisfying to see where they all have ended up? Yes. But their character arcs aren't tied up with a bow — you can see them all going on and continuing to grow and change as human civilization changes with them.

The End Of The Series, But Strong Hope For Future Onscreen Projects

The season ends with some things tied up, but by no means all. "Let's just stay here for a minute," Naomi says to Holden in the last words of the series. Yes, the Rocinante crew deserves a break, but as Holden mentioned in that same scene, there are big, protomolecule-sized threads still out there, not to mention some character tidbits revealed with apparently no impact on the season's conclusion.

Each episode of the season also starts with a vignette pulled from the "Expanse" novella, "Strange Dogs," a story that takes place after the events in book six, and a story in the show that teases what's to come in the "Expanse" universe. For those who haven't read "Strange Dogs," these scenes may be confusing at first. But ultimately, they pose a question — will there be other "Expanse" installments in the future, perhaps in movie form? The creative team have certainly laid the groundwork for that, so much so that I wouldn't be surprised if a project isn't already secretly in the works. I certainly hope that's the case, and I don't think I'll be alone when I say that I'll be very sad if this is the last time we see the world of "The Expanse" on screen.

Read this next: Single-Season '80s Sci-Fi And Fantasy Shows That Deserve A Second Shot

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Recently, we examined the controversy behind "A Clockwork Orange," a film that went largely unseen by a whole generation of British filmgoers as it was banned from the U.K. for over a quarter-century. What's surprising is that the ban came about as a result of a request that director Stanley Kubrick himself made to Warner Bros.

One of the most famous images from "A Clockwork Orange" is that of Malcolm McDowell's character, Alex DeLarge, sitting with his head harnessed and his eyes pinned open as white lab coats subject him to the Ludovico technique, a form of aversion therapy meant to brainwash and reform dangerous criminals. It's a nightmare vision of totalitarianism, the government "controlling its citizens," as McDowell put it in a 40th-anniversary retrospective (via The Guardian). Yet it functions simultaneously as a kind of twisted karma, a comeuppance for Alex, who we've seen perpetrating ultra-violent acts of murder and sexual assault on random strangers. A hand reaches in and applies eyedrops as he is forced to watch scenes of bloodshed, gang-rape, and swastikas onscreen.

Moviegoers in Britain stared up at the screen unharnessed, watching "A Clockwork Orange" uncut, in December 1971 when the film first premiered. Within a few years, however, there would be an inversion of what happened to Alex. Instead of being forced to watch something, audiences would be unable to legally see it anywhere in the country.

Rather than the government instigating this, it was Kubrick, the artist, apparently exerting control over his own film to keep it from being further misinterpreted and linked to ongoing headlines. In 1972 and 1973, "A Clockwork Orange" came up in two court cases against real-life teenage boys accused of manslaughter and murder in England. The second one involved the killing of a homeless man. The 16-year-old convicted of the crime told the authorities that he had heard about the scene in "A Clockwork Orange" where Alex and his droogs attack a homeless man.

Death Threats And Resentment

"A Clockwork Orange" is based on an Anthony Burgess novel, and as the AFI Catalog notes, "other violent criminals used the book and film as part of their defense in the British criminal courts" following the movie's release. The media was all over this, and Far Out Magazine observes that Kubrick struggled because he made his home in Britain and was facing "constant abuse from the tabloid press." Though he never delineated his exact motives for withdrawing "A Clockwork Orange" from circulation there, he likened the media furor surrounding it to "the Salem witch trials," and it seems likely this was a factor in his decision.

In 2011, when the director's widow, Christiane Kubrick, appeared with McDowell at the Cannes Film Festival in that 40th-anniversary retrospective, they revealed that Kubrick's family had even received death threats due to "A Clockwork Orange." There were "nasty phone calls" and "horrible letters" and they had people outside their front gate.

Christiane was also quoted in the book "The Complete Kubrick," saying, "Stanley was very insulted by the reaction, and hurt." Evidently, he resented the implication that his film could push someone over the edge or act as the catalyst for violent crimes in the real world.

There are no direct quotes from Kubrick explaining why he instituted the ban, but in the book, he told a journalist, "The people who commit violent crime are not ordinary people who are transformed into vicious thugs by the wrong diet of films or TV. Rather, it is a fact that violent crime is invariably committed by people with a long record of anti-social behavior."

This opens up a separate debate about art and its potential influence on crime, which has continued into the present day with films like "Joker," which inspired a train attack in Tokyo in 2021 while "A Clockwork Orange" was gearing up for its 50th anniversary. There are no easy answers, but Kubrick was so adamant in his decision about "A Clockwork Orange" that he did not lift the ban on it until just before he died in 1999.

Read this next: The 14 Best Noir Movies Ranked

The post Why Stanley Kubrick Helped Ban A Clockwork Orange From British Cinemas appeared first on /Film.

Remember Avengers: Infinity War? I know you saw it. And how Thanos put on the Infinity Gauntlet and then snapped his fingers and then wiped out half of all life in the universe?

Yeah, well get this: that couldn't have actually happened in real life! — Read the rest

Everyone handles near-death experiences differently. For trained killers, that tends to lead to just more killing ... and maybe a little bit of self-reflection, too. 

After stealing the show in James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad" and making a surprise return from the dead in a post-credits scene, John Cena's Peacemaker is back and more violent than ever. The only things that can stop him now are, well, everyone who's currently gunning for his head, a sense of ennui, and a metric ton of daddy issues, to boot. In a somewhat surprising development from his remorseless murder spree in the film, however, it sure seems as if the killer has grown just a hint of a conscience in the time since, too. 

The villain/antihero is set to become the latest expansion of the DC Universe to streaming, with "Peacemaker" headed to the small screen on HBO Max early next year. You can check out the latest full-length trailer and a brand new poster for "Peacemaker" below.

Peacemaker Trailer

As it turns out, it's pretty difficult to walk away completely from Amanda Waller and her grand plans for (what's left of) her Suicide Squad. In the aftermath of surviving an entire building falling on top of his face in "The Suicide Squad," actor John Cena is back and ready for action along with James Gunn and a small cast of supporting characters, all making their return to further dive into Peacemaker's troubled story and a few of his insecurities with this streaming series. After guiding "The Suicide Squad" to immense success and critical acclaim, Gunn is back behind the driver's seat to write all eight episodes of the series and even direct many of them, too. Other directors include Jody Hill ("Eastbound and Down"), Rosemary Rodriguez ("The Walking Dead"), and Brad Anderson ("Session 9").

Cena, the man of many underrated talents, once again reprises his role as Christopher Smith, aka the unhinged, freedom-at-all-costs Peacemaker. He'll be joined by Robert Patrick ("Terminator 2: Judgment Day") as his disapproving father Auggie Smith, Christopher Heyerdahl ("Chapelwaite") as Captain Locke, Freddie Stroma ("Harry Potter") as Vigilante/Adrian Chase, Chukwudi Iwuji ("John Wick: Chapter 2") as Clemson Murn, Danielle Brooks ("Orange Is the New Black") as Leota Adebayo, and a pair of familiar faces from "The Suicide Squad" in Jennifer Holland's ("Brightburn") Emilia Harcourt and Steve Agee's ("Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2") John Economos.

"Peacemaker" streams weekly on HBO Max starting on January 13, 2021.

Read this next: Superman Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

The post Peacemaker Trailer: Right Now, The World Needs a Son of a B**** appeared first on /Film.

Chorus is a game that caught my attention, and when the announcement dropped last year, it instantly became a game to look forward to. I had no idea what to expect; it just looked out there. I could tell it was a fast-paced space shooty thing, but I also thought I would have a bit of space-horror thanks to the on-foot parts shown. I was right about the space shooting. The space-horrors do exist, but it's not horror. I wasn't right about anything happening on foot.

I never figured out why Fishlabs, or Deep Silver, don't know how to spell Chorus. The "v" key is nowhere near the "u" - on a qwerty keyboard, that is - so It still baffles me why it's written as Chorvs. Anyway, that's not the point. So, from looking forward to it to getting hands-on with Chrous, what do I think?

I'm going to have to start with a few petty niggles first. One area you go to is just large lumps of ice, with a few rocks. One should remember that you're in space, so the part that I noticed is that even when you've come to a complete halt, it's snowing. If a sizeable destructive event had just occurred, sending ice crystals flying, I could accept that to a point. We know that hasn't happened, so it shouldn't be snowing. Also, why is it windy? I don't believe space sounds like the UK during Storm Arwen.

Another issue, not quite as petty, is that all of your allies must be fighting with space-aged peashooters because I am pretty confident - even in the massive space war before the end-boss of Chrous - they don't do any damage to the enemy. It's likely by design because you don't want the AI to finish your objectives before you get the chance? You may think so, but you would be wrong.

At first, this may seem like a crazy notion. Why, in a game that is all about space combat - and features genuinely exciting and compelling space combat - would you want the computer to take care of some of this space combat? The reason for that is simple: saturation. Despite the relatively large number of missions, the game has only three chords to play. See what I did there? That was more entertaining than half of this 15-or-so hour game.

These chords are combat, flying from point to point to watch memories of past events and flying from point to point collecting items. Correct that; sometimes, there are escort missions with one or more of these elements. It's a shame that Chorus is so limited and that even combat eventually outstays its welcome. It gets that part entirely correct, even if other areas aren't as developed.

Combat is fast, fluid, and fun. More than that, the sense of scale offered by some of the ships you fight provides a true feeling of being this super-powered being, which is what Nara is. The story revolves around Nara, her abandonment of a religious force attempting to conquer this area of space and bring all of its people "into chorus" after she killed billions at the behest of the religion. Only that force, The Circle, has found the last remnants of people who have fled and are on the attack.

These events bring Nara back into a war she was trying to hide from, and now she wants to overthrow the religion. Only she isn't. But she is. To do this, she has to go through religious trials as she was born with abilities and able to learn space magic. Also, she flips back to speaking in the same lines as the religion with nary a push in that direction. In a roundabout way, what I'm saying is that the story of Chorus isn't the most directed. It feels truncated, with a lot of the more minor points lost in the chaos.

Other issues include characters appearing without any development or introduction; Chrous expects us to know them or have some investment due to their rank or position in this fictional universe. Other characters, Chorus wants us to get invested in their trials and tribulations, even deaths, but it's just impossible to care due to a lack of development. The sad reality is that Nara and her ship, Forsa (short for Forsaken), are the only things with any arc.

It's this lack of development that further hinders the rest of the game. Several missions will have you using an ability to track and watch memories of past events, almost always leading to fights. Since this lacks virtually any emotional investment, the fighting then feels like it's happening for the sake of it. Nearly all of them feel like the randomly generated missions with a bit of writing thrown in.

It's a shame because you can see there's an idea of a universe full of lore and interesting characters somewhere in here. It feels like Fishlabs cut something in the process, which is also an impression I sometimes get from the gameplay. I've mentioned the random missions that pop up. These seem to consistently reward you with credits to spend at a station in each area you visit. You can buy hull upgrades, shield upgrades, weapons and a few other random upgrades that allow you to customise your ship, some offering set bonuses.

These little things are a positive and further help propel the combat, the best part of the game. My preference is the set bonus that lets you absorb the shields from nearby enemies as it suits my style of getting as close to my victims as possible, using the drift and other abilities to get as much fun out of the action as I can. Being close to the action allows you to experience the game's finer details, with a clear amount of effort gone into the ships and areas within Chorus.

That little segway brings me to one of the few other clear pros of Chorus, the aesthetics. Not only does the game honestly look good while playing it, but it's also one of the few games where a photo mode has got an extensive amount of use from me. Even though the game feels a little lacking when you're flying around, the visuals are fantastic, with excellent audio design to boot.

Well, mostly. The music is fantastic. Back to a bit of a niggle, possibly a big one. While the music is good, and most of the voice acting is passable to decent, there's one thing that grated on me. Whatever Nara is thinking gets whispered, so you can tell it's a thought. It's incredibly annoying, unnecessary, and one of the worst ways of representing thought in any medium that I've ever come across. Whispered thoughts after nearly every sentence is not the way to weave in exposition or character motivations.

I honestly think I've said enough to say if Chorus is the game for you. To trim it down, if you're okay with some genuinely good space combat in a game that looks fantastic, but held down by underdeveloped characters, story, and most other things, then it's worth playing this. I will admit that I'm disappointed, even though I've no real cause to be disappointed.

It's on me that I let a game break through the stony carapace that surrounds my heart, allowing me to think something unique and overwhelmingly positive can occur within the games industry. Go into Chrous expecting a decent-enough space-combat Eurojank game, and you're going to be fine, and, honestly, that's more than okay.

PC version reviewed. Copy provided by the publisher.

The post Chorus Review – Silent Cry by Chris Wray appeared first on Wccftech.

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Fans ended up embracing Tom Holland's casting as Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in record time, a choice that gave the classic Marvel hero a much more youthful energy that had been missing from the character throughout previous iterations. That said, it's probably safe to say that the real stars of the show in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" are the cast of villains who will be smashing through the confining walls of their own continuities to cause all sorts of multiversal trouble for the MCU's Spider-Man. The mere appearance of Alfred Molina's digitally de-aged Doc Ock saying "Hello, Peter" at the end of the first trailer was more than enough to send fans into hysterics, and the latest trailer doubled down on the nostalgia with its many teases of even more supervillains in the form of Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, Thomas Haden Church's Sandman, Jamie Foxx's Electro, and even Rhys Ifans' Lizard.

Though the marketing for this rumor-filled blockbuster is still playing coy about possible major roles for Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's respective versions of Spider-Man, the dam of information is slightly bursting with the arrival of a batch of new character posters that put three of the returning villains in the spotlight. Check them out below

Spider-Man: No Way Home Posters

It's not easy being Peter Parker. Some days you're just trying to make it to class on time, other times you're dealing with a handful of dangerous supervillains from alternate universes crossing into your own and nursing a spider-shaped grudge against our favorite hero. "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is set to make worlds collide (insert that famous "Seinfeld" line here) in an unprecedented way and both Marvel and Sony are playing up that novelty factor as much as possible. Three new villain-centric character posters have been released, putting Tom Holland's Spider-Man squarely in the path of Alfred Molina's Otto Octavius (which is a perfectly reasonable supervillain name, no matter what Peter and his friends may think!), Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn, and Jamie Foxx's Maxwell Dillon.

First up is Alfred Molina's Doc Ock. Now, I can't be the only one who feels like this gives off the vaguely familiar aura of my grandmother peering down her glasses at me in mild disapproval for clumsily knocking over my glass of orange juice, with the major difference being that my grandma didn't have a set of threatening mechanical arms surgically implanted into her back. Honestly, we're just happy to see Sam Raimi's legendary villain back in action, dodgy CGI de-aging aside.

Next is Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn, hidden underneath his ever-theatrical Goblin outfit. Interestingly, this promotional artwork puts the villain back in his old, traditional costume as opposed to the new and updated getup we see later on in the trailer. There are conspiracy theories out there that the movie may feature multiple Green Goblins running around the MCU, but how much more fun would it be if there were multiple Willem Dafoes let loose and wreaking havoc around Peter? Selfishly I would want Marvel and Sony to strike similar deals with other studios so we could get Dafoe's "Why'd ya spill yer beans?" character from "The Lighthouse" or his all-too-brief role as an assassin in the very first "John Wick" to start taking shots at Tom Holland. What, a guy can dream!

Finally, there's Jamie Foxx as Electro. It'll be interesting to see if "No Way Home" treats these characters as mere obstacles in Peter's path or as well-rounded characters in their own right, but we'll find out for certain when it comes to theaters on December 17, 2021.

Read this next: Every Martin Scorsese Feature Ranked From Worst To Best

The post Spider-Man: No Way Home Posters Highlight the Returning Villains appeared first on /Film.

Same! And yes! And don't let anyone stop you! 

Look, we get that John Cho doesn't have total power over season 2 of Netflix's live-action "Cowboy Bebop" remake. And we also understand that "dark and weird" could be a turn-off to some people. But if you're remaking something, you should add your own spin to it, and what's a better, more interesting spin than making something weirder and darker? Maybe making it a rom-com? A choose-your-own-adventure story? I mean, I guess there are lots of ways to make a show your own, but we're personally signing off on a weirder and darker "Cowboy Bebop." John, you have our full and total approval.

In an interview with ScreenRant, Cho made it clear what he'd want from a second season of "Cowboy Bebop," saying:

"I hope to get weirder and darker. I always hope that for some reason. I also really want Spike to be happy. This season was rough for him. I did feel a lot of sympathy pangs for him. So I hope he has a moment of happiness. I predict that it will be a tough road, again. However, I guess the only thing I could say is really abstract, which is: If this season was verse, chorus, verse, chorus, I'd like to hit the middle eight and do a little something unusual and unexpected."

Keep Cowboy Bebop Weird

Besides the "weirder and darker" comment, which we're clearly delighted with, what's fun about Cho's comment is the fact that he's interested in coming back. Netflix hasn't announced their plans to make "Cowboy Bebop" season 2 and reviews of the first season have been pretty mixed, but it would be fun to see what Netflix could do with the story when they've finally adapted the entire arc of the original anime and are officially in uncharted waters. While the live-action show changed some aspects of the story, including the roles some of the characters play, taking the series into a second season sounds like it would really allow them to make this story their own.

It's also important to note that while reviews of season 1 have been all over the place, the cast -- which includes Mustafa Shakir, Daniella Pineda, Elena Satine and Alex Hassell -- has been pretty consistently praised. Hopefully this means Netflix will give it at least one more season to find its own way. A season that's weirder. And darker.

"Cowboy Bebop" season 1 is available on Netflix.

Read this next: 15 Must-See Horror Anime Movies

The post John Cho Hopes Cowboy Bebop Season 2 Gets 'Weirder and Darker' appeared first on /Film.

In this PSA, Pee Wee Herman Talks About Crack Cocaine. He may be holding a little glass container of it, but he is not a fan of this substance. "Every time you use it, you risk dying", he informs us. — Read the rest

Cancel your Thanksgiving plans — Netflix just invited the world over to Grandma's for a potluck dinner! Surprise Thanksgiving invitations are all the rage now, or haven't you heard? The heartwarming tale in question began six years ago, when a grandma in Arizona invited a total stranger to her holiday feast. It was an accidental text message meant for her own grandson, but upon realizing her mistake, she doubled down on the invitation with a genuine ask: Come share Thanksgiving with my family! This story naturally made the rounds on social media and went so viral that Netflix got a whiff of its very popular air. The only logical response? Turn it into a feature film. (A movie based on a Twitter thread you say? There's no way that's been done before!)

Variety reports that "The Thanksgiving Text" will recount the tale of grandmother Wanda Dench and the total stranger who would become her lifelong friend, teenager Jamal Hinton. The internet has spent the past six years swooning over their friendship anyway, so we might as well enjoy it as a full dramatization.

The story will trace the friendship that blossomed from Dench's accidental text, leading Hinton to make the 25-minute drive from his house in south Phoenix to spend Thanksgiving in Mesa, Arizona, with a woman he'd never met. Gotta say, I'm relieved that we actually know how this story ends because hearing that plot description without context is just a tad bit chilling. But no worries, "The Thanksgiving Text" is not the spiritual successor to "Get Out." It's just a sweet tale of unexpected friendship. It will likely be in the vein of other live-action Netflix family films, like the newly released "Mixtape."

Abdul Williams ("Salt-N-Pepa," "The Bobby Brown Story") is set to pen the screenplay for the upcoming film, and no further announcements have been made about who will direct. Producers on the project include Robert Teitel, George Tillman, with Lawrence Mott as an executive producer.

The Story Behind The Text

Get ready for some heartstring tugging, because "The Thanksgiving Text" is rooted in nothing but kindness. The story began when Jamal Hinton, a high school senior at the time, got a text inviting him to a 3:00 P.M. Thanksgiving dinner. Nothing mentioned in the text sounded particularly familiar, so he responded by asking who was texting him. The stranger, later revealed as Wanda Dench, simply responded "your Grandma," topped off with the Grandma emoji. Since this didn't really clear up "Grandma? Can I have a picture?"

The selfie he got in response was a complete stranger. "You not my grandma," he wrote, then jokingly tacked on, "Can I still get a plate tho?" Dench responded the only way a grandmother can: "Of course you can. That's what grandma's do ... Feed everyone." Here's the original tweet from Hinton, hilarious exchange and all:

Six years later, their touching Thanksgiving tradition continues on. The pair regularly share updates of their friendship on social media, which goes beyond the yearly holiday and now includes Christmas, birthdays and just regularly keeping in touch. They often take to Twitter with said updates, including a yearly Thanksgiving selfie. Their holiday reunion hit a new level of poignant in 2020, when Dench's husband passed away due to COVID-19 complications.

Hinton announced "The Thanksgiving Text," on Twitter and the pair released a joint statement expressing their excitement about the film.

"We are excited to share our story with the world. We hope it inspires more people to reach out and make connections that they wouldn't ordinarily make. We are so blessed to find a genuine friendship brought together by God from a mistaken text message."

Read this next: The 14 Best Christmas Movies Ranked

The post Netflix is Making a Movie About the Grandma Who Accidentally Invited a Stranger to Thanksgiving appeared first on /Film.

[link] [139 comments]

Reply from Wengier, 03.12.2021, 10:33:

> But MSVC build is slower than MinGW build (compared to previous v0.83.19) -
> 27 vs 34 FPS in quake timerefresh...
>
> rr is able to compile new BOCHS for WXP with MinGW so why not Dosbox?

If I have the correct version of MinGW then I can also try it. But latest versions of MinGW-w64 apparently do not support Windows XP any more, and it is not so easy to install some specific older version of MinGW-w64 as you do with the latest version.

Not much change. just reverted back to original dosbox included with blood. too many bugs with other releases.

The need for organizations and consumers needing large capacity drives has increased over the last several years. With the increase of small businesses and remote work and learning, Seagate Technology Holdings (NASDAQ: STX) has recognized the necessity of high capacity data storage and released the IronWolf Pro and Exos X2 20TB conventional magnetic recording (CMR)-based hard disk drives (HDDs) for their consumers and clients.

Seagate moves forward with shipments of 20TB IronWolf Pro and Exos X20 HDDs to answer the needs of large-capacity file storage

Seagate's Exos X20 HDD utilizes Seagate Secure technology as well as a 2.5M-hr MTBF rating, allowing business enterprises to recognize the need for maximum data and efficient operations, along with the highest storage capacities.

Paired with Seagate’s Exos CORVAULT intelligent storage system, the Exos X20 HDD delivers maximum data transfers and storage on a minimum footprint size. The Exos CORVAULT offers over 2.12PB of SAN-level performance structured on Seagate’s technologically advanced storage architecture, which is built on Seagate’s in-house 4U chassis which accommodates up to 106 Exos enterprise drives in an amazing 7-inches of rack space.

Scalable, Responsive, and Innovative Enterprise Solutions

Seagate’s Exos X20 enterprise HDD is designed for maximum storage capacity and the highest rack-space efficiency. Built with cloud storage in mind, the 20TB Exos X20 delivers performance for hyperscale data centers and massive scale-out applications. With low latency of 4.16ms and repeatable response times, Exos X20 provides enhanced caching that performs up to three times better than solutions that only utilize read or write caching. Exos X20 also delivers an increased sustained data rate (SDR) of up to 285 MB/s.

The IronWolf Pro 20TB features increased reliability with consumer workload rate limits of up to 300TB/year. IronWolf drives are a necessity for current NAS servers with the design to handle heavy workloads. On top of increased workload rates, the IronWolf line offers sustained transfer rates of 285MB/s, allowing consumers the ability to collaborate with others by sharing files, backing up, and tackling heavy workloads in multi-user NAS environments.

The new IronWolf Pro 20TB drive comes with an IronWolf Health Management system to help to easily access as well as monitor the health of the drive. Seagate also offers a five-year limited product warranty and three years of Rescue Data Recovery Services for peace of mind.

High Capacity, Dependable Solutions for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs)

Seagate’s new IronWolf Pro 20TB HDD offers network attached storage (NAS)-optimized AgileArray technology to provide exceptional RAID reliability and compatibility during the heaviest NAS workloads that SMBs might require. Designed with built-in rotational vibration (RV) sensors, IronWolf Pro 20TB offers RV mitigation to provide reliable performance for NAS systems with little lag or downtime.

Seagate's Exos X20 20TB will be available with an MSRP of $669.99, and the IronWolf Pro 20TB will have an MSRP of $649.99. Both Seagate drives will be available this month. Seagate's Exos CORVAULT intelligent storage system is available globally via qualified Seagate distributors.

The post Seagate introduces IronWolf Pro & Exos X20 20TB HDDs for necessity of large capacity drives for consumers by Jason R. Wilson appeared first on Wccftech.

Gigabyte and AMD have a very special new years gift for gamers out there in the form of even higher prices for their Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards and the respective Gaming GPUs prices.

Gigabyte Follows AMD Protocol, Jacks Up Radeon RX 6000 Gaming Graphics Cards Prices By Up To 6%

It is reported by Board Channels forums as discovered by Videocardz that AMD's partner, Gigabyte, has increased the prices of their Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards by up to 6% in December. It has only been 3 days in the new month and distributors had already been notified in advance to re-adjust pricing of Gigabyte products. This could've been done to mark up prices prior to the holiday season which begins shortly.

As for the new prices, almost the entire lineup except the flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card has seen a price rise. The RX 6900 XT was already hard to get hands-on and the most expensive in the lineup, costing over $2000 US in various outlets. All Radeon RX 6800 XT models will see a price rise of 500 RMB or around 70-80 USD, Radeon RX 6800 models will see a price rise of 300 RMB or 47 USD, Radeon RX 6700 XT & RX 6600 XT will see a price rise between 100-200 RMB or 15-30 USD while the entry-level Radeon RX 6600 will see a price rise of 200 Yuan or 30 USD. On average, this is around a 40-50 USD hike in overall prices for Gigabyte's AMD Radeon RX 6000 series lineup.

The following table, courtesy of Videocardz, shows just how bad the price inflation has become in the Chinese retail sector for Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards:

Gigabyte Radeon RX 6000 December 1st Price Increase
	Price Increase	Current JD.com price*	Estimated New Price
Radeon RX 6900 XT	no change	11000 RMB (1725 USD)	–
Radeon RX 6800 XT	500 RMB (78 USD)	8300 RMB (1302 USD)	~8800 RMB (1380 USD) / +6%
Radeon RX 6800	300 RMB (47 USD)	7400 RMB (1161 USD)	~7700 RMB (1208 USD) / +4%
Radeon RX 6700 XT	100-200 RMB (16-31 USD)	5800 RMB (907 USD)	up to 6000 RMB (941 USD) / +3%
Radeon RX 6600 XT	100-200 RMB (16-31 USD)	4300 RMB (674 USD)	up to 4500 RMB (706 USD) / +5%
Radeon RX 6600	200 RMB (31 USD)	3600 RMB (565 USD)	~3800 RMB (596 USD) / +6%

The main reason, as previously cited, is TSMC's foundry costs and the price to acquire 7nm wafers. The source states that due to increased production and process node acquiring costs, TSMC has raised its prices for all partners including AMD whose entire AMD Ryzen and AMD Radeon lineup currently relies on the 7nm process node.

It is not just Gigabyte but other AMD partners such as ASUS, MSI, Sapphire, XFX, PowerColor, etc, are also expected to raise the pricing of their own Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards within this week. We know that the GPU market isn't expected to get normal until 2023 so till then, we might see even more price hikes and shortages as reported here. In an interview during the  Credit Suisse 25th Technology Conference, AMD's CEO, Lisa Su, made a hilarious yet interesting reply to a question regarding the availability and prices of consoles that feature the brand new RDNA 2 GPUs.

John Pitzer

A year ago, virtually, I complain that I couldn't find an Xbox or a PlayStation. We're a year later, I still can't find them. I'm pretty cheap. I don't want to pay 2x or 3x the retail.

Lisa Su

You can find them, you're not just willing to pay for them.

via Seeking Alpha

All reports now point towards normalization in 2023 so don't expect any miracles prior to that. New GPUs are planned for launch in the coming months so expect them to be priced similarly if not way higher. So this new year, expect to be paying a lot more for a brand new gaming graphics card than what you paid last year.

The post Gigabyte Raises Prices of Its AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series Graphics Cards By Up To 6%, Gaming GPUs Get More Expensive Before Start of New Year by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.

A 69-year-old man sat on top of his capsized boat, clinging to its propeller, drifting for 22 hours before Japan's coast guard spotted him. The rescuers, who had received a call from the man's colleagues, found him 18 miles away from where he'd started, off the coast of Japan's subtropical island Yakushima. — Read the rest

This wonderful performance is a joy to re-watch so many years later.

Madonna was fun too.

A series of malicious campaigns have been leveraging fake installers of popular apps and games such as Viber, WeChat, NoxPlayer, and Battlefield as a lure to trick users into downloading a new backdoor and an undocumented malicious Google Chrome extension with the goal of stealing credentials and data stored in the compromised systems as well as maintaining persistent remote access. Cisco Talos

Before she became a pop star and a movie star, Lady Gaga had a bit part on HBO's "The Sopranos." Though Gaga made appearances in the 2013 and 2014 Robert Rodriguez films "Machete Kills" and "Sin City: A Dame to Kill for" — and was later nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress with her 2018 performance in "A Star Is Born" — her star was on the rise much earlier. In "The Sopranos" episode 9 from season 3, "The Telltale Moozadell," first broadcast in April 2001, she made an uncredited appearance as a teenager at the high school of A.J. Soprano, Jr. (Robert Iler).

This was back when Gaga was known by birth name, Stefani Germanotta. It's been 20 years since then, and now Gaga has a new movie, "House of Gucci," in theaters, which is building a murmur of Oscar buzz for her even as the rest of the film draws mixed reviews. She was only 15 at the time her "Sopranos" episode aired on HBO, but the adult Gaga has a few notes that she would like to give her young self. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, she said:

"When I look back on that scene I can see exactly what I did wrong in that scene. I didn't know how to listen in a scene! I was supposed to laugh, and it was sort of like, cue, laugh ... I see it and I go, 'oh, that's not a real laugh!' "

Lady Gaga In The Telltale Moozadell

As you can see from the clip above, there's really not much to Gaga's "Sopranos" appearance. She's one of three girls sitting in the bleachers next to the swimming pool at A.J.'s school. The boys break into their teacher's office and throw his desk in. Then, one of them smashes up some nearby trophy cases. All the while, the young Stefani Germanotta sits laughing on the sidelines with her friends.

If you didn't know it was the future Lady Gaga in that scene, you probably wouldn't zero in on her and pay much attention. For Gaga, that's part of the problem. She told EW that when she looks back on her "Sopranos" episode, she sees a "a very non-specific actor." She explained:

"The nuance and being specific as an actor is something that can grow over time if you're willing to listen and really hear the other actor that you're working with."

Somewhere along the way, Gaga learned to be in the moment and listen to her scene partners better. "A Star Is Born" was the remake of a remake of a remake, and it would not have worked nearly as well were it not for her genuine chemistry with Bradley Cooper.

To portray Patrizia Reggiani in "House of Gucci," Gaga worked with an acting teacher for months beforehand, and the result is a performance that has been singled out as one of the best parts of the film. Though "House of Gucci" has come under fire for its broad accents, Gaga's voice is evidently very close to what the real Patricia sounded like.

"House of Gucci" is in theaters now.

Read this next: The 14 Best Bill Murray Movies Ranked

The post Lady Gaga is Not a Fan of Her Pre-Fame Acting in a Sopranos Bit Part appeared first on /Film.

Going into 2022 the Linux kernel's floppy driver continues to see new code improvements and fixes...

id Software and Nightdive Studios have released the second major update for Quake Remaster. According to the teams, this second patch adds a Horde Mode and a free add-on, and packs a number of quality-of-life improvements. Going into more details, the Horde Mode is playable in both solo or co-op modes. Players can play solo, … Continue reading Quake Remaster Update #2 released, adds Horde Mode and free add-on, full patch notes →

The post Quake Remaster Update #2 released, adds Horde Mode and free add-on, full patch notes appeared first on DSOGaming.

Google has removed The Pirate Bay and more than 100 related domains from its search results in the Netherlands. The search engine points to a local pirate site-blocking order that was forwarded by anti-piracy group BREIN. The order targets ISPs and doesn't name Google but the company chose to voluntarily comply. TorrentFreak reports: The reason for this broad removal is provided by Google itself. The search giant notes that the results were removed in response to a legal request. This 'request' came from local anti-piracy group BREIN and includes a copy of a Dutch site-blocking order. The order, issued in October last year, required Dutch ISPs Ziggo, KPN, and XS4ALL to block access to Pirate Bay mirrors and proxy sites. Google isn't listed as a party in this lawsuit, but a copy was sent to the search engine nonetheless. BREIN's request, at least the part that's available publicly, doesn't explain why it would apply to Google. However, BREIN informs us that it's not uncommon for Internet services to comply with orders that don't target them directly. A few weeks ago, Dutch ISPs agreed to a covenant where they promise to comply with site-blocking orders that are targeted at other ISPs. While Google is not part of this agreement, in this case it chose to follow the court order. "In essence, this is the same situation as recently agreed in the Dutch government-supported covenant between right holders and internet access providers," BREIN director Tim Kuik informs TorrentFreak. "Dutch case law also shows that once there is a contested court order against one access provider, courts do grant the same order against others if they refuse to conform to it even though they are not named in it." The report notes that this is "the first time that Google has complied with a pirate site blocking order without being named." BREIN has gone on to submit the legal paperwork to block six additional pirate sites, including proxies and mirrors.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Drive: U.S. Space Force's General David Thompson, the service's second in command, said last week that Russia and China are launching "reversible attacks," such as electronic warfare jamming, temporarily blinding optics with lasers, and cyber attacks, on U.S. satellites "every single day." He also disclosed that a small Russian satellite used to conduct an on-orbit anti-satellite weapon test back in 2019 had first gotten so close to an American one that there were concerns an actual attack was imminent. Thompson, who is Vice Chief of Space Operations, disclosed these details to The Washington Post's Josh Rogin in an interview on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum, which ran from Nov. 19 to 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada. The forum opened just four days after a Russian anti-satellite weapon test involving a ground-launched interceptor, which destroyed a defunct Soviet-era electronic intelligence satellite and created a cloud of debris that presents a risk to the International Space Station (ISS). That test drew widespread condemnation, including from the U.S. government, and prompted renewed discussion about potential future conflicts in space. "The threats are really growing and expanding every single day. And it's really an evolution of activity that's been happening for a long time," Thompson, told Rogin. "We're really at a point now where there's a whole host of ways that our space systems can be threatened." "Right now, Space Force is dealing with what Thompson calls 'reversible attacks' on U.S. government satellites (meaning attacks that don't permanently damage the satellites) 'every single day,'" according to Rogin. "Both China and Russia are regularly attacking U.S. satellites with non-kinetic means, including lasers, radio frequency jammers, and cyber attacks, he said." [...] Thompson's assertion that these kinds of attacks are occurring with extreme frequency is new. It underscores the rapid development and fielding by Russia and China, among others, of a wide variety of anti-satellite capabilities, something the U.S. military has called increasing attention to in recent years. "The Chinese are actually well ahead [of Russia]," Thompson told Rogin. "They're fielding operational systems at an incredible rate." "Thompson could not confirm or deny whether any American satellites had actually been damaged in a Russian or Chinese attack," the report adds. "[H]e told Rogin that even if such a thing had occurred, that very fact would be classified." He did, however, provide new details about the incident in 2019 where a small Russian satellite released a projectile in one on-orbit anti-satellite weapon test. According to The Drive, "Russia's satellite had first got in very close to a U.S. 'national security satellite' and that 'the U.S. government didn't know whether it was attacking or not.'" "It maneuvered close, it maneuvered dangerously, it maneuvered threateningly so that they were coming close enough that there was a concern of collision," Thompson said. "So clearly, the Russians were sending us a message."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Microsoft, one of the pioneers of DNA storage, is making some headway, working with the University of Washington's Molecular Information Systems Laboratory, or MISL. The company announced in a new research paper the first nanoscale DNA storage writer, which the research group expects to scale for a DNA write density of 25 x 10^6 sequences per square centimeter, or "three orders of magnitude" (1,000x) more tightly than before. What makes this particularly significant is that it's the first indication of achieving the minimum write speeds required for DNA storage. Microsoft is one of the biggest players in cloud storage and is looking at DNA data storage to gain an advantage over the competition by using its unparalleled density, sustainability, and shelf life. DNA is said to have a density capable of storing one exabyte, or 1 billion gigabytes, per square inch -- an amount many magnitudes larger than what our current best storage method, Linear Type-Open (LTO) magnetic tape, can provide. What do these advantages mean in real-world terms? Well, the International Data Corporation predicts data storage demands will reach nine zettabytes by 2024. As Microsoft notes, only one zettabyte of storage would be used if Windows 11 were downloaded on 15 billion devices. Using current methods, that data would need to be stored on millions of tape cartridges. Cut the tape and use DNA, and nine zettabytes of information can be stored in an area as small as a refrigerator (some scientists say every movie ever released could fit in the footprint of a sugar cube). But perhaps a freezer would be a better analogy, because data stored on DNA can last for thousands of years whereas data loss occurs on tape with 30 years and even sooner on SSDs and HDDs. Finding ways to increase write speeds addresses one of the two main problems with DNA storage (the other being cost). With the minimum write speed threshold within grasp, Microsoft is already pushing ahead with the next phase. "A natural next step is to embed digital logic in the chip to allow individual control of millions of electrode spots to write kilobytes per second of data in DNA, and we foresee the technology reaching arrays containing billions of electrodes capable of storing megabytes per second of data in DNA. This will bring DNA data storage performance and cost significantly closer to tape," Microsoft told TechRadar.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Long-time Slashdot reader Aighearach shares a report from Reuters: President Joe Biden on Thursday laid out his strategy to fight the coronavirus as the highly contagious Omicron spread across the globe with winter coming and hours after the first known U.S. case of community transmission of the variant was reported. [...] In California and Colorado, the patients had recently returned from trips to southern Africa and had not gotten booster doses. The case in Minnesota is the first known community transmission within the United States. The patient in Minnesota had recently travelled to New York City for an anime convention, prompting the city to launch contact tracing to try to contain the spread. "We are aware of a case of the Omicron variant identified in Minnesota that is associated with travel to a conference in New York City, and we should assume there is community spread of the variant in our city," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said. The person told state health investigators he attended the Anime NYC 2021 convention at the Javits Center from Nov. 19 to 21 and developed mild symptoms on Nov. 22. How many Slashdot readers were there? Have you had a recent COVID test? As of this writing, CNBC reports a total of five cases of the omicron Covid-19 variant have been confirmed in New York. "Cases were discovered in Suffolk County, two in Queens, one in Brooklyn and one in New York City," the report states, citing Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

mrflash818 shares a report from PCMag: To avoid a lawsuit, Donald Trump's social media site is quietly acknowledging the computer code powering the platform comes from Mastodon. Trump's "Truth Social" site now features a dedicated section labeled "open source," which contains a Zip archive to Mastodon's source code. "Our goal is to support the open source community no matter what your political beliefs are. That's why the first place we go to find amazing software is the community and not 'Big Tech,'" the site adds. Truth Social created the section on Nov. 12, two weeks after social networking provider Mastodon threatened to sue Trump's platform for violating its open-source license. Since Mastodon is an open-source software project, anyone can use it for free. But if you do, the software license demands the code and any ensuing modifications to your Mastodon-powered platform be made publicly available, allowing the entire Mastodon community to benefit. (This doesn't include publishing any user data or disclosing admin access, though.) [...] However, it appears the uploaded Zip archive is simply a barebones version of the existing Mastodon source code you can already find on GitHub. The archive itself is only a mere 30MB in size. Nevertheless, Rochko said the Zip archive might "become more interesting" once Truth Social finally launches.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.