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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Oregon Live: Nearly two decades ago, fishers discovered an odd occurrence off the coast of Oregon. They were pulling up pots of dead or lethargic crabs. At first they suspected a chemical spill or a red tide. But instead, they learned, dangerously low levels of dissolved oxygen in the ocean water were to blame. The crabs had suffocated. These swaths of hypoxic areas have surfaced every summer on Pacific Northwest shores since it was first recorded in 2002. They are spurred by naturally occurring coastal upwellings and algae blooms, exacerbated by climate change, said Francis Chan, director of the Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies at Oregon State University. Akin to fire season, hypoxia season arrived earlier this year -- the earliest start in 20 years, according to Chan. But unlike wildfire, or other visible climate emergencies, it's gone largely unrecognized. "It's kind of a silent problem happening out there," said Chan. "This year, I can look out and see trees with one side burnt because of the heat wave. As I'm driving on McKenzie highway, I can see Mount Jefferson has no snow on it. But when you drive out to the ocean, it looks exactly the same as last summer." Typically, hypoxic conditions haven't arrived to the nearshore until mid-June or July. This year hypoxic conditions were reported in April with the upwelling season beginning in March. To get a sense of why an early beginning to the upwelling season is concerning, Chan compared it to the summer drought season. "Say we expected rainfall lasting until March but the rain stops in February. That's all the water we have. We have to last until next year." Similarly, if upwelling starts a month earlier than usual, the amount of oxygen, already low, has to last until the fall when storms promote mixing which adds oxygen back into the system. Chan said as of late September this year, upwelling is still occurring and low levels of oxygen are still persisting. Climate change is playing a role in worsening oxygen levels. Simply put, warmer water holds less oxygen because the oxygen molecules are moving faster and are more likely to escape from the surface. A little more complicated, climate change is altering the structure of the oceans as the warmer upper layer is more buoyant than the cooler, deeper, already oxygen-poor ocean layer. The warmer upper layer keeps the deeper layer from "taking a breath," explained Chan. On a global scale, the oceans are already losing oxygen. Take this and add local factors like coastal upwelling and phytoplankton bloom decomposition off Washington and Oregon coasts, and you have a system with severely low oxygen levels. [...] There are no records of reoccurring low-oxygen levels like scientists have observed since 2002, despite over 50 years of oceanic monitoring.

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(Welcome to Will There Be Another Season?, a series where we answer that question and explore what comes next.)

Fans of "Young Justice" were given quite the treat a couple of years back when Warner Bros. finally caved and offered up a third season of the beloved animated series. The advent of HBO Max made the long-awaited "Young Justice" season 3 possible. But that was more than two years ago. That begs the question: is "Young Justice" season 4 still happening? The good news is, yes, it absolutely is. But for those who have questions, we're here to provide answers.

Here is everything we know currently about the status of "Young Justice" season 4.

What Is Young Justice?

"Young Justice" is an animated series centering on some of the younger heroes in the DC Comics universe. This includes, but is not limited to, the likes of Nightwing, Aqualad, and Superboy. The show aired its first two seasons on Cartoon Network beginning in 2010. It was eventually, to the delight of a great many fans, revived by HBO Max for a third season, titled "Young Justice: Outsiders." And, as we'll explain in a second, that won't be the end of it for the young heroes of the DC universe.

Here is the synopsis for Young Justice:

Being a teenager means proving yourself over and over, to peers, parents, teachers, mentors and, ultimately, to yourself. But what if you're not just a normal teenager? What if you're a teenage superhero? How much harder will it be to prove yourself in a world of superpowers, super villains and super secrets? Are you ready to come of age in such a world? Are you ready for life or death rites of passage? Are you ready to join the ranks of the great heroes and prove you're worthy of the Justice League? That's exactly what the members of Young Justice, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis, will found out - whether they have what it takes to be a proven hero.

Yes, Young Justice Season 4 Is Happening

During San Diego Comic-Con back in 2019, series executive producers Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman confirmed that a fourth season of "Young Justice" has been ordered by HBO Max. Given that "Outsiders" had concluded its run just a couple of weeks before the announcement was made, it seems Warner Bros. made quick work of the decision.

One of the last truly significant updates we got regarding the show came during last year's DC FanDome panel. While Vietti and Weisman didn't divulge much, it was confirmed that the fourth season would be titled "Young Justice: Phantoms." As for what that title means for the story? That is, more or less, anyone's guess at this stage. Though fans will surely speculate amongst themselves until we get some more concrete details.

What Is Going On With Young Justice: Phantoms?

The filmmakers have been hard at work on "Young Justice: Phantoms." One of the most recent updates we got, as of this writing, was from Greg Weisman. Taking to Twitter, he revealed that 18 of the season's 24 total episodes have been completely finished. That also confirmed that we are getting a full load of episodes in the new season, which is good news for those who have been impatiently waiting for more than two years now.

Beyond that, it is expected that the core cast members will be back for "Young Justice" season 4. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, Jesse McCartney as Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing, Nolan North as Conner Kent/Superboy, Danica McKellar as M'gann M'orzz/Miss Martian, Khary Payton as Kaldur'ahm/Aqualad, and Stephanie Lemelin as Artemis Crock/Tigress.

When Will Young Justice: Phantoms Be Released?

The big question right now is when precisely we will get to see "Young Justice: Phantoms." We know that it will be on HBO Max, though no release date has been firmed up at this time. That being said, DC FanDome is just around the corner and would provide the perfect opportunity to confirm a release date — and maybe even give us a trailer. At this stage, we can expect to see it in late 2021 or early 2022.

Read this next: The 15 Best Batman: The Animated Series Episodes

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Alan Taylor's direction in "The Many Saints of Newark," as "The Sopranos" creator David Chase called it, is "no bullsh*t." Taylor had worked for Chase before, having directed several standout episodes of the original HBO series. And with the prequel film, Taylor was still working directly with Chase. They didn't always see eye-to-eye, even on the ending, but Taylor always felt he was heard by his collaborator. 

The director received acclaim for his work in television before he transitioned to feature films with "Thor: The Dark World" and "Terminator: Genisys." Unlike those movies, Taylor had a positive experience making "The Many Saints of Newark," and it shows onscreen. During an interview over Zoom, Taylor told us about his experience with David Chase, what he could do in the film that he couldn't in the series, and the big question that looms over the film. 

"He's Doomed."

I talked to David Chase yesterday about some of the themes of the show, including death and everyone lying almost all the time. How do you try to visualize his themes?

I think it's a view of humanity that we are terrible judges of our own selves and our own character. We're constantly being dishonest to others and to ourselves. There's something sort of universal about that. It's not a judgmental thing, it's not finding fault. It's just, this is the human condition. I sometimes think that the thing that most distinguishes our species from every other is that we lie. I think a lot of animals don't.

It's sort of beautiful, in a way, to watch them try and navigate that. And it can be in little, petty things. There's a scene where Harold is in bed with his mistress and he talks about having dropped by the recruiting station earlier that day, and it made him think about joining the army. We know that he dropped by to cold-bloodedly murder somebody with a shotgun, but for all purposes he's telling the truth. He's saying, "You know, I was at the recruiting station and it made me think." He's being truthful about what he is talking about, but it's also built into a huge lie. Most of our dialogue is.

I think Dickie is the biggest liar in the movie, but do you think he genuinely wants to do good deeds?

I do think he wants to be the good guy, but he's doomed. The question that hangs over the whole movie is, can we be the person we want to be or are we doomed? Is our destiny locked in? And so, he's lying constantly to himself, but it's for a good cause, in a way. He wants to believe he can escape his father. He wants to believe he can escape that cycle of violence. He does, I think, believe, naively, that if he does enough good things, he will climb out of that. And as you say, he, like all the characters, is sort of lying constantly to himself and others.

It's interesting, his dynamic with Ray's character in the second half of the movie, because Ray can see through lies. That character, Sally, can just see right through Dickie to what, really, the truth is. Dickie keeps telling lies to him, but you can see they're not phasing him at all. He, somehow, is the truest character in the movie. So their dynamic is interesting. It's reminiscent of the Melfi-Tony relationship, I think, in the show.

"It's The Worst Behavior In The World."

There's a scene in the movie based on a story David Chase heard about a gangster firing a gun at his wife's beehive hairdo. It's shocking in the movie. How'd you approach that scene?

It's terrifying. It's ridiculous. It's the worst behavior in the world. And it is a story that David had told before. And I think he was trying to find a way to dramatize it. And I love the way it's played. I loved the reaction in the backseat of the car to it. And my favorite moment is probably, besides Vera's reaction to it, is at the end when Jon Bernthal settles down and says, "Don't give me that look." He's just done the most ridiculously hateful, violent thing in the world, and he's still, sort of, taking offense. Yeah, it's a classic "Sopranos" scene, I think.

You've said that it would have kept you up at nights, trying to live up to David Chase's vision. Specifically, what kept you up at night ?

Well, if you think about the challenge of this thing, it's insane. It's a very popular show, some people think it's the best TV show ever created. It's certainly on everybody's top lists, so that bar is already ridiculously high. If you try and analyze what the key success of the show was, part of it was that David had taken the classic gangster movie and made it contemporary, and put it on the small screen. And so, here we are going backwards.

We're taking it off the small screen and putting it on the big screen, and we're making it period again. So in a way, you are sort of taking away some of the defining qualities of this show. So the challenge of trying to really figure out, "Okay, what is the heart of 'Sopranos'? What is the core? What's the meaning? What are the themes? What are the questions?" and make sure those get across, is the most daunting aspect of it, I think. Because it is, in so many ways, a continuation of the show, but also very, very different.

"Some People Love It, Some People Are Still Furious About It."

You've had to deal with fan expectations before, but with "The Sopranos," a part of the appeal of the show is that it doesn't give you what you want. Does that make fan expectations less daunting?

I wouldn't say I would feel relieved, because I think the fanbase is just as fierce about what they think is right and wrong for this world. But you're absolutely right. It's hardwired into it that you're going to do some bait and switch, some expectation denial. And the audience loves that and hates that, because the response to the last scene in the series is so emotional for people. Some people love it, some people are still furious about it.

I love it. Whether he dies there or not, that is the inevitable, that is his ending.

It's funny. If you talk to David about it, at least in my experience, he will never give a straight answer to what happened there. I think that's very important to him. I don't have that same obligation. I give a straight answer. I have a very clear idea of what I think happened in that scene. It was that interpretation that guided me in making the movie. I have to acknowledge that David has never agreed with me when I say that. I think it ended with a bullet in the back of the head, that scene. But you'll never pin David down to that.

I think a part of David believes that there's only a few ways the gangster life ends, and that's the most likely. And there's a very significant thing in the show for me, which was that there's only one line of dialogue that was said as dialogue and then reprised as voiceover, which is when Bacala says, "I guess when the bullet's got your name on it, you don't hear it coming." Which I think is the biggest sign in the world, as to how we're supposed to interpret that final scene. I say all that with the fact that the creator himself will not agree.

"Those Are Some Of My Favorite Things To Shoot."

He has a standard for excellence, obviously. Every little thing is major to him, I imagine, so how is he to work with in that regard?

I was anxious about that a little bit, because everything matters to him so much. But I felt freer in the movie than I did on the show. I think it's because we were sitting close to each other and we were doing it together. So it didn't feel like, like I said before, like he was at a remove and having to send his deputies down to police it. It felt more like a collaboration, in a good way. Often the things he would react to would be things that I didn't get at all. I would be shooting in a certain direction and it would be, sometimes, too pretty for him, and he would want me to make it slightly less pretty.

I learned a lot from him working on the show, and one thing I learned was how to render things in a straightforward way. It's funny, because he's got a very complex way of writing. He withholds the expectations, and contradicts expectations. But there's something sort of straight ahead and powerful about the way the show was shot. I tried to sort of mimic that in the filmmaking on this, as well. It's funny, the details that matter to him are frequently stuff that is out of my orbit, so we get along fine.

A lot of directors always say shooting at dinner tables is tricky, but so much of "The Sopranos" and "The Many Saints of Newark'' is just that. How do you approach those scenes?

Those are some of my favorite things to shoot. It's interesting because in a way, you feel like you're locked down, but you don't have to cover it in the way that... I think the television convention is you do a shot at the table and everybody gets a close up, and that's sort of the story. But what I love about these things is, where people are sitting is crucial, who is sharing a frame with who is crucial. Putting the camera in places that are sort of outside of the obvious frontal coverage, where you've got behind people's heads. Or you're stacking some people against other people, and being very aware of what eyelines matter the most and making sure that those are powerful.

I love this stuff. It's a math problem that you have to work out, and a dance you have to choreograph, even though everyone is seated. Maybe I also like it because I'm a control freak. I make the actors stay put so I can decide how to shoot them, and they don't have any choice.

"I Shot It Like It Was A Fantasy."

What did the movie allow you to do, visually, you couldn't on the show?

Well, we had more money and we had a bit more time. There are some scenes we did in the movie that were literally in the show, that were flashbacks. Like seeing Johnny get arrested at the playground, and stuff like that, that we had a chance to do in a movie. I think we got to do them for real this time, because we had the resources to do them for real. There are things that are, I don't think, are necessarily straight ahead, like you were saying before about the characters lying. I love Dickie talking about how he's coaching a baseball team.

There's no telling whether that happened or whether that's a total fantasy. I shot it like it was a fantasy, at least in my mind. We got to that location, and for the one day of our entire shoot, fog rolled in. Which was just perfect because it was part of the dreaminess of it. Actually, it wasn't in the script. I sort of added that beat at the end of that sequence where he kind of snaps out of it, and looks around, and Ray's not there anymore.

For me, you're supposed to think, "How much of that is really true? How much of this is a dream?" That quality, I think, is in the show. It's kind of a dreamy, surreal quality. And that's not simply straight ahead. That's a little more off-kilter. I was excited to try and bring some of that to the movie, too.

David Chase said that the additional shooting brought the movie closer to his heart. What was added later?

It's funny, because we started shooting and we had a completed script. But I think David was still a bit itchy about it and didn't feel like he'd resolved some things. And then, the fact that we had to shut down for a bit, and had to pause, gave him time to think. He added not that much, a handful of things that actually made a big difference in terms of shaping the whole experience of the movie.

I think people would be surprised to know that some of these things came at the last second, that they weren't built-in. The way the movie starts is one of them, being in the cemetery and hearing people speaking, that way into the movie.

There's a scene towards the end that echoes an earlier moment between Tony and Dickie. That was, again, added as part of the adjustments, partway through shooting. So we didn't reshoot anything. He just found some things to add because he had that time to reflect, I think.

I could tell he was a lot happier with what we were getting once he put those things in place. He and I still argue about some things. He cut two scenes I didn't want to cut. The ending is something he and I have argued about. For the most part, it was a great collaboration and I felt he was really listening to me. But when it came down to something really concrete, like we disagreed, it's pretty clear who's going to win.

"The Many Saints of Newark" is now in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.

Read this next: The Best Movies Of 2021 So Far

The post The Many Saints of Newark Director Alan Taylor on The Big Question That Lingers Over the Film [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

Trinity and Jacob take time out from their fucked work schedule to hang out in the trailer! Watch the latest episode of Park After Dark at https://bit.ly/pad3-19 and the TPB/SwearNet app - download at https://linktr.ee/tpbswearnet and come fuckin' join us!

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A new report finds that some of the country's most powerful utilities raked in millions of dollars in taxpayer bailout funds last year -- while continuing to shut off service for households across the U.S. during the pandemic. Gizmodo: The report, released Thursday from the Center for Biological Diversity and BailoutWatch, takes a look at states with publicly available data on utility shutoffs. In the 17 states where there was available data on shutoffs, the report found that the 16 utilities operating in those states cut off electric services for their customers nearly 1 million times between February 2020 and June 2021. (For some context on shutoffs during a normal, non-pandemic year, the U.S. Census found that 1.2 million households in 50 states reported experiencing shutoffs within a three-month period of taking the survey in 2017, the latest Census Bureau data available on disconnections.) The offenses here are not shared by the utility industry equally; there are especially bad actors. The report highlights six utilities that were responsible for a jaw-dropping 94% of all shutoffs last year. NextEra, Duke Energy, Southern Company, Dominion Energy, Exelon, and DTE Energy make up what the authors call a "Hall of Shame." NextEra alone, the report found, accounted for more than half of all shutoffs. The analysis also examined financial documents, including proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission before a company's shareholder meeting, to calculate how much money these 16 utilities received from the government as part of relief efforts during the pandemic. The CARES Act was originally designed to help struggling businesses pay workers, but utilities took advantage of corporate loopholes within the act that changed how big businesses could report taxes. (The CARES Act also disproportionately benefited oil and gas producers: BailoutWatch, one of the authors of this report, has also used financial documents to show how oil companies laid off thousands of people and yet still gave their CEOs raises during the pandemic, all the while taking handouts from the government.)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Can technology change human nature? Marcin Sergiusz Przybyłek, the sci-fi author and creator of the dystopian universe you can admire in Gamedec RPG, has a very strong opinion on this. Read an article that he wrote for us from an… unconventional perspective.

The end of the 22nd century is a strange time. People live in cities - cages, separated from the aggressive ecosystem by ABB barriers. The emigration to Gaia continues. Hundreds of thousands of sensory worlds allow you to choose another reality, live in it, and even work. Zoenets practically do not leave the network.

Has human nature changed? We just came out of the caves and finished off six other species of Homo sapiens. No, we haven't changed. We still steal, lie, manipulate, kill. Only the circumstances, the tools, the backgrounds have changed. Human nature has remained the same.



I'm a gamedec. I know what you're thinking: weird profession. Not serious. I'd withhold judgment if I were you. I'll tell you a few words about what I'm dealing with, and then I'll ask you if you still judge me that way, okay?

You know that when you go online, your body gets devitalized, right? You lie like a log on a virtual bed. You can't move. You can't hear what's going on in your apartment. You only feel and see what the game offers. The game is in your brain, not in Realium. You are the perfect example of a victim. What could be more vulnerable than a man who lies up to four days as if paralyzed, unaware of his real surroundings?

Yes, you've locked your doors with digital and mechanical locks, but will that defend you from a break-in? Any lock can be hacked, and any lock can be broken. All it takes is for someone to know that you're a player, that you're currently riding a dragon in the Way of the Dragon, proudly raising your sword. All they need is your actual address. That's possible with the illegal but effective Investigator app.



If it turns out not that you live on the other side of the globe, but that you reside in the same polis as him, he will visit you in your place and...

The possibilities are endless.

He can kill you the traditional way, he can hack your helmet and burn your brains out, he can rob you of both real and digital goods, he can drag a corpse into your apartment and frame you for murder, he can have an orgy in your apartment, or he can plug a chip into your computer. When you get out of bed and log on to your bank to buy your next shipment of gamepills, he'll access your account and regularly debit you either in small amounts or one specific amount.

When you play, you use a helmet, a suit, a bed, and a computer. Each of these objects can be illegally modified, tweaked, turned into a death trap. Of course, this requires expert knowledge, but humans have always been exceptionally inventive in ways to inflict suffering. The modified action of the suit can chill your body. Sounds innocent? Pneumonia after spending three days in cold temperatures without moving sounds good? With our highly virulent bacteria? A suit can overheat you and produce perhaps even worse consequences. A hacked helmet can cause you to start tripping over your own feet in realium, to cripple you. A broken bed will lead to bedsores, and a computer that someone hacked into can cause all of these things at once.



As you play, you're using a gamepad that modifies your metabolism, and you're also plugging infusion fluid into your nanosocket, aren't you? Think about it, what harm would you do to yourself if you ingested something illegal and injected into your veins something that looks like IV fluid but is a hallucinogen, a substance that causes panic anxiety? Would you want to get out of bed as a person with developed psychosis?

Did I scare you? My friend, I'm just warming up. I've only talked about the basics: the hardware and the chemistry of gaming. A million games are waiting online, hundreds of millions of players, guilds, companies, and each has its own goals, its own causes, its own agendas, each fighting in the eternal dance of survival.

Games are hacked in dozens of ways. Cheats can prevent you from logging out. They can lock you into an endless loop of events, and they can break sensory gates and make every sword swipe in an innocent clan game feel like someone stabbed you. Cheats can cause you to lose a race that could have made you a fortune, digital cheats can disrupt your perception during a noted esports game, and it could determine your career.



Companies make games. As a rule, these companies compete with each other. Sometimes they sabotage each other's creations, making players feel bad about playing the X or Y game without knowing why. Is it hard to do that? Did you know that we have good and bad mood centers in our brain? How do you think a virtual helmet can stimulate them? Start thinking.
Not to mention the Thomas vibe, which triggers the player to believe that God himself is watching. Do you think I've told the whole story? Not at all. I just licked the surface. But such is when everything has to be "short," or the interlocutor will fall asleep.

So, let me come back to the original question: do you still think gamedec is an unnecessary profession?

Don’t hesitate – dive into the fascinating world crafted by Marcin Sergiusz Przybyłek with the help of talented visual artists and game developers. Gamedec is an RPG where nothing is what it seems and your every decision counts! Also, be sure to check out the list of inspiring games, chosen by the author himself.

"The Many Saints of Newark" brings us back to the world of "The Sopranos." The film, which is now in theaters and on HBO Max, is a prequel set in the late 1960s and early 1970s, where Tony Soprano is still just a kid. He's surrounded by younger versions of other "Sopranos" characters, but the real focus of "The Many Saints of Newark" is a character we never met on the show – Dickie Moltisanti. Dickie was long-dead in "The Sopranos" timeline, and while the hit mob series had more than a few flashbacks to Tony's youth, we never got to see Dickie – until now. 

As played by Alessandro Nivola, Dickie becomes the mentor to the young Tony (played by Michael Gandolfini, son of the late, great James Gandolfini). He's not related to Tony by blood, but he's thought of as an uncle – and he's the cool uncle, too. The one who is willing to give Tony advice – and stolen merchandise. Dickie thinks he's doing right by his "nephew," but what he's really doing is leading the kid down a doomed path; a path that will eventually turn Tony into a murderous mob boss. 

By the time "The Many Saints of Newark" ends, the film answers a question being asked on the posters: Who made Tony Soprano? So let's take a look at "The Many Saints of Newark" ending, and how it relates to "The Sopranos" as a whole. As you might've guessed, there are major spoilers here, so you probably shouldn't read this until you've actually seen the movie. 

Uncle Dickie

While Tony Soprano is a character in "The Many Saints of Newark," the film's main focus is on Dickie Moltisanti, Tony's mentor and defacto uncle. Dickie is a local mobster who runs with Tony's father, Johnny Boy (Jon Bernthal), and Tony's actual uncle, Junior (Corey Stoll). But these blood relations feel very distant to Tony. Tony's father spends a large part of his childhood in prison, and when he gets out, he seems to have almost nothing to do with his son. We learn Tony is a bright kid, but he has no real guidance – aside from Dickie. And that's not such a great thing.

Why? Because Dickie is a violent gangster with a murderous temper. Throughout the course of the film, we see him bump off several characters, including people close to him. In a fit of rage, Dickie murders his own father (Ray Liotta) by bashing the man's head against a steering wheel. After this murder, Dickie ends up in a romantic relationship with his father's new bride, AKA his stepmother (Michela De Rossi). But that ends badly too, with Dickie later drowning the woman in yet another rage-induced incident. 

In the midst of all this, Dickie keeps trying to convince himself he's a good guy. Sure, he does bad things. But he does good things, too! He coaches a little league team for blind kids. And, of course, he tries to mentor Tony. Early in the film, he tells Tony that the kid "has to be good" and stop getting in trouble. He even makes Tony pinky swear that he'll "be good." Dickie also takes time to pay frequent visits to his incarcerated uncle (also played by Ray Liotta). But his uncle is a much different man than his brutal father, and keeps trying to convince Dickie that even if he thinks he's doing good things, he's nowhere near being a good person. He even advises Dickie to stay away from Tony, because he knows that sooner or later, Dickie is going to completely corrupt the kid. 

The Fate Of Tony Soprano

Tony's life is directionless. He's a smart kid who doesn't apply himself, and he's in serious danger of having no real future. It doesn't help that his mother (Vera Farmiga) is a manipulative, mentally unstable woman who has no idea how to communicate with her son. The only real direction Tony gets is from Dickie. Dickie even hooks Tony up with some expensive, stolen speakers. Tony hesitates at first. He mentions that he wants to go to college, and his college plans will be screwed if he gets caught with stolen merchandise. 

"Look, you wanna be a civilian, I appreciate that," Dickie says, but then immediately adds: "Take the speakers, and tell yourself, 'This is it. This is the last time I'm ever going to steal something.' It's that simple." This is Dickie's idea of good advice, but of course, he's just teaching his nephew to steal and then lie to himself about what he's done. But things change when Dickie gets the advice to leave Tony alone. He takes it to heart – he really does want to do right by the kid. So he starts giving Tony the cold shoulder, ignoring the kid when he comes around looking for him. This confuses and angers Tony because he doesn't understand why his beloved uncle has suddenly shunned him. In anger, Tony throws the stolen speakers out his bedroom window, smashing them to pieces. 

Pinky Swear

While all of this is unfolding, we also focus on a new character to the "Sopranos" world: Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr.), a Black man who starts off working for Dickie. Harold eventually decides that he wants to go into business for himself – he's tired of taking orders from racist white guys like Dickie and his mob buddies. And so Harold starts knocking off locations that are supposed to be part of Dickie's turf, essentially starting a mini mob war with Dickie and his crew. 

"The Many Saints of Newark" fakes us out a bit here. Harold eventually declares that he's going to kill Dickie. Meanwhile, Dickie starts to feel bad about cutting Tony off and decides to meet with his nephew. He sets up a meeting date, but he never makes it. Instead, Dickie is shot in the back of the head while unloading the trunk of his car one night. At first, we think that Harold made good on his threat, and bumped off Dickie. But that turns out to not be the case. Instead, it's revealed that Tony's real uncle, Junior, is the one who had Dickie killed. Why? Because Dickie spent years making fun of him to his face. In Dickie's mind, he was just taking part in that age-old wiseguy tradition of busting balls. But Junior's pride was too wounded, and he secretly had Dickie whacked in the end. 

In the final scene, Tony attends Dickie's wake, where Dickie lays dead in an open casket. Here, Tony imagines Dickie reaching his dead hand up, pinky extended. Like they did when he was younger, Tony and Dickie lock pinkies, agreeing to a silent bond. The implication is clear: Tony will follow in Dickie's footsteps. He'll become a mobster, and any hope he might have had of getting away from this violent, deadly life has been completely extinguished. Fuggedaboutit.

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The "Welcome to the Blumhouse" streaming anthology series is coming back to Amazon Prime this October with four more brand new horror movies just in time for spooky season. One of those movies is "Bingo Hell" from director Gigi Saul Guerrero, a hilarious and horrifying story about a small town bingo hall where winning can be deadly. In "Bingo Hell," Lupita (Adriana Barraza) discovers that her local bingo hall has been taken over by a mysterious businessman named Mr. Big ("Mandy" actor Richard Brake). She doesn't trust Mr. Big or his fabulous prizes, and when her neighbors start showing up dead, she knows exactly who to blame. 

I got the chance to chat via Zoom with co-writer and director Guerrero about the movie, which she holds close to her heart. After all, she based the main character on her own feisty grandmother!

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. 

A Movie Where Grandma Can Be The Hero

Oak Springs feels like so many small towns in suburban America. Were there any movies or TV shows that helped inspire that feel of Oak Springs, from gentrification to the run-down parts of town, or was it really just more from life?

We didn't want to be too specific that it took place anywhere. We wanted it to just feel like just outside of any city. But we definitely loved the closeness of the communities and movies such as "Needful Things." We wanted that vibe of a smaller town or a smaller area outside of a city. So I'm so excited that you liked that part of the film.

Yeah, absolutely, because it feels so relatable. It's one of those things you can just pick yourself up and put yourself in the movie.

Yeah, exactly.

There aren't very many movies about senior citizens, and there's even fewer where they get to fight the forces of evil. I can only pretty much think of this and "Bubba Ho-Tep" with Bruce Campbell. So what inspired you and your co-screenwriters to feature older women in these heroic roles?

Oh man, that part was to me the most exciting part of this whole thing. My grandma is my best friend, I love her to pieces. And I wanted just to make a movie that she can see herself in as the hero. I think one of the last ones I saw was "Batteries Not Included" or "Cocoon," which was so long ago. So definitely all of us talking, it really felt right to have this age group as the heroes in the film. Because organically and naturally they're so funny, charming, stubborn, and wacky in their own ways that I don't think anybody young is like. We're so different and their perspective in life is so unique that those kinds of heroes in "Bingo Hell" really fit the mood and the tone of the story as well.

The Coolest Little Old Ladies

Lupita rules, so I have to ask what inspired that character.

My grandma. If you meet my grandma, you are meeting Lupita. 100% it's her. So working with the wonderful actress Adriana Barazza, she was watching home videos of my grandma, I was showing her Snapchats of my grandma, I was showing her as many things of my grandma as I possibly could. And she understood to a T what that consisted of, even the noises that she makes in the movie, "Nyah," that's 100% her. It's so cool and it's so much fun. And we wanted that cranky, stubborn, cute grandma that everyone can be like, "I know somebody like that." And Lupita and her best friend Dolores really bring that charm that older ladies have.

That leads right into my next question... The relationship between Lupita and Dolores is the glue that really holds the movie together, and it holds the town together too. I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about writing that back and forth dialogue and just bringing that relationship to life.

Oh, thank you so much. We wanted this friendship to be so prominent, because though in the movie the theme that is very prominent, not just gentrification, it's greed. Money can change people. Money can not just change people but break people as well, but not even money can break a true strong friendship and community apart. So it was important for us to write a friendship that has lasted for years, years, that you know in the history of these two ladies they've gone through hell and back but they're still standing strong. And they're that representation of a strong community and of the community that is still standing and hasn't left. So that banter between the two really feels a lot like it's me when I'm older, and in Dolores it's my co-writer Shane McKenzie. Him and I had so much fun writing that banter, and Perry Blackshear really helped us out to bring the whole script together in a contained setting. So it was a total beautiful process of collaboration with the three of us, but the friendship was always from the very beginning one of the most important elements to bring.

Comedy And Horror Go Hand-In-Hand

Can you tell me a little bit about how you used horror to highlight gentrification and greed and the problems that face these marginalized communities? Because that seems to sort of be a thread through this grouping of "Welcome to the Blumhouse."

Yeah. Well, genre in general, it's the best type of genre out there, horror, to talk about such topical subjects, any kind of social commentary or very relatable harsh subject matter. That it allows you to not just be entertained but escape the actual, real horrors of the world. I think since the '70s or earlier horror movies have been talking about social commentary for a long time. It allows us to escape and have fun and be entertained.

I think that's also why comedy and horror goes so well hand in hand and can be mixed, because you can have a good time, you can laugh. It's okay to put some humor in our lives. We need it more now than ever, especially with everything going on. So while writing this during the pandemic, we all felt we needed a fun film. We all felt it was time to bring those fun elements of laughter and humor, with of course blood and slime, but everything together just gives you the perfect combination of fun. So yeah.

All About That Sweet, Sweet Slime

How did you design that slime? It's disgusting. Tell me a little bit about coming up with the slime on the money in particular, because it's just wild.

Well, I was that weird child that wanted to be on the Nickelodeon show covered in slime. I was that kid that wanted to be covered in green goo. So this movie not only presented that opportunity, but the slime was, not just for its color green to represent the money, we wanted something that was a perfect metaphor to show that money isn't real, that money is not going to solve your problems. It really is a gross solution to our problems. So we wanted that feeling with the slime. And more on the technical side, it was probably my most favorite time during the making of this movie, because the props master came up to me during prep and said, "Here you go, Gigi, here is a bag of 10 different slimes, all different consistencies. Take it to your hotel, play with all of them, and let me know which one you like."

Oh boy, did it feel like Christmas. I just took this big bag of slime back to the hotel, made a big mess. And I feel really bad for whoever had to clean it the next day. And I just went to his office the next day and I'm like, "Hi. Yes, I like number 10. Thank you." I just walked away. But that was so much fun that I will work with slime again. I don't think a lot of that crew will, but I definitely will.

Designing The Bingo Hall From Hell

So tell me a little bit about what inspired the differences between the bingo hall when we first see it and then when it becomes Mr. Big's Bingo Hall and it's this insane Las Vegas looking thing that's so out of place in this town. 

I definitely kept saying out loud, "What is the thing that will throw off my grandma?" What is a place that she just walks in and she just does not belong? So it was a wonderful collaboration with not just the production designer Owl and his team, but also with our cinematographer Byron. For the three of us, we felt so strong that color was going to be Mr. Big's influence. Color was going to be the evil of this film. We started out with very saturated, warm colors that didn't really make the town stand out, Oak Springs. So having indoors this bingo hall that just does not at all feel like part of Lupita's world was a lot of fun to do. And the more color we kept adding to the movie, the more you could tell that Mr. Big's strength was getting more and more powerful. So definitely creating and designing that bingo hall was a blast. We were like, "I wonder, what would Willy Wonka's bingo hall look like?" So definitely we got really inspired with that.

"Bingo Hell" is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

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The post Bingo Hell Director Gigi Saul Guerrero Dishes on Slime and Senior Citizens [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

It’s hard to know how to feel about Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop, especially when we know so little about it, even two months out from its Nov. 19 launch. Remaking any classic is a fraught prospect, and more so in this case, given that the original ‘90s series is the definitional anime for a ton of US-based…

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IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
Genre: Action / Adventure / Animation
Size: 844.84 MB
Runtime: 12hr 0 min

After the events of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Poe Dameron and BB-8 must make an emergency landing on the volcanic planet Mustafar where they meet the greedy and conniving Graballa the Hutt. The crime boss has purchased Darth Vader's castle and is renovating it into the galaxy's first all-inclusive Sith-inspired luxury hotel. While waiting for his X-Wing to be repaired, Poe, BB-8, Graballa, and Dean (a plucky and courageous young boy who works as Graballa's mechanic) venture deep into the mysterious castle with Vader's loyal servant, Vaneé.

"Venom: Let There Be Carnage" has finally arrived in theaters after roughly a year of delays. As with many superhero flicks of the modern era, it also brings with it a post-credits scene. Sometimes these scenes are just having a little bit of fun. Other times they bring with them universe-shattering consequences and reveals. In the case of this particular movie, it's the latter option. So buckle up, because we've got an awful lot to talk about.

Warning: major spoilers ahead for "Venom: Let There Be Carnage." Proceed with caution.

The Lead Up To The Post-Credits Scene

The ending of "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" sees Eddie/Venom (Tom Hardy) defeat Cletus/Carnage (Woody Harrelson) in a deadly battle at the cathedral. Unfortunately for Eddie and Venom, they have caused a bit too much chaos and must flee the city. They bid farewell to Anne (Michelle Williams) and demonstrate a little bit of growth by wishing Dan (Reid Scott) well. Eddie and Venom share a lovely moment together on a park bench before deciding to stick together. They truly do deserve one another.

The last thing we see before the credits roll is Eddie and his symbiote companion hanging out on the beach in an undisclosed location. They exchange an awkward love for one another, the camera pulls away, and that's that. Or so we think. But this movie has saved its biggest surprise for last, and it's one of the most consequential moments in a superhero movie to come along in some time.

What Happens In The Post-Credits Scene?

Put on your tinfoil hat and get yourself in a calm place because things are about to get wild. After the animated portion of the credits concludes, we catch back up with Venom and Eddie in their rather nice hotel room on the beach. The two are having a playful argument of sorts about how Venom has vast knowledge from being part of an alien hive mind, while Eddie is begging to get just a taste of that knowledge. Venom relents, and things start to go haywire. The TV gets static-y and strange. The room doesn't feel right. At first, it seems like this is a result of Venom sharing some of that knowledge with Eddie. But when Venom declares that the madness going on has nothing to do with him, we know something big is up. Then a golden shockwave blasts through the room, and this franchise as we know it, and indeed the entirety of the onscreen Marvel universe (or should we say multiverse) has changed forever.

When Eddie looks at the TV again, we see none other than J. Jonah Jameson, as portrayed by J.K. Simmons, rambling away on his TV show, "The Daily Bugle." But this is not the version from Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" movies, mind you. Rather, this is the version of the character we were treated to in the bombshell post-credits scene attached to "Spider-Man: Far From Home" in which Jameson reveals that Tom Holland's Peter Parker is the one behind Spidey's mask. And then, sure enough, we see footage of a mask-less Spider-Man on-screen as Jameson bemoans him as a menace. Eddie watches on in confusion/wonder and Venom says "That guy" while licking the TV, perhaps hinting at some sort of complicated relationship, or just a tease of what's to come. 

Then another man walks out of the bathroom, asking what Eddie is doing in his room. Clearly, all is not well in the multiverse. Madness, this way lies.

What Does This Mean For The Future Of Venom?

Up to this point, the "Venom" movies have existed completely apart from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Tom Holland's Spider-Man. This is by design. Sony owns the movie rights to the "Spider-Man" franchise and all of its surrounding characters. Sony opted to make spin-off movies using what they had, crafting their own universe while Spidey was off playing with the Avengers. That has all changed. Perhaps Powerman 5000 put it best when they once sang "This is what it's like when worlds collide."

Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock/Venom is now poised to meet up with Spider-Man and, perhaps, other characters from the MCU. How, or when, this will happen remains to be seen. Though it is worth mentioning that the golden ring we see in the post-credits sequence looks an awful lot like the one Doctor Strange creates in the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" trailer that rips open the multiverse. These two events may well be connected. In any event, it's finally happening, people. We are in full-on multiverse mode and straight-up anything is possible at this point. So speculating any further without additional information would be useless, fun as it may be.

What Does This Mean For The MCU?

On the flip side, the MCU is now in for one heck of a shake-up. This now means that seemingly any character from Sony's universe can collide with characters in the MCU (provided that Sony and Disney continue to have a working relationship and care to share these characters). Venom could meet Doctor Strange. Jared Leto's Morbius could do science things with Mark Ruffalo's Hulk. Who knows? It's kind of all on the table now. Does this mean that the "Venom" movies now exist in the MCU? Not exactly, as the way the multiverse works hasn't been fully explained just yet. Though with "Spider-Man: No Way Home" arriving in December and "Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness" hitting theaters in March of next year, we're sure to learn a lot more soon enough. Madness is on the horizon indeed, dear reader.

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The post Venom: Let There Be Carnage Credit Scene Explained: It's Madness, Eddie appeared first on /Film.

When I first started training for my elk hunting trip, I thought my biggest obstacle would be my lack of upper-body strength, my tendency to be very inconsistent with exercise routines, or an inability to shoot an arrow with precision and accuracy. But it turns out that—just like with any other sport—training and…

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YouTube’s Nerrel has released a must-have HD Texture Pack for the Nintendo 64 classic Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. PC gamers can download it and use it (provided they have a legitimate copy of the game) via a Nintendo 64 emulator. Now the good news here is that there is an auto-installer. … Continue reading The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask gets a must-have HD Texture Pack →

The post The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask gets a must-have HD Texture Pack appeared first on DSOGaming.

Practical, thoughtful, unique -- these are the tech gifts under $100 that we love the most. All are reviewed or tested by our experts at CNET, so you know they're good.

Although his directorial credits are somewhat limited, British filmmaker Matthew Vaughn has forged an innovative style that fuses sharp humor with memorable characters, shocking darkness, and genuine sincerity. While he frequently works with established franchises and adapts previously existing properties, Vaughn makes his stories feel original, and his confidence behind the camera has made him one of the most prominent voices of his generation.

Vaughn is brilliant in the way he approaches familiar genres. Espionage thrillers, romantic fairy tales, superhero origin stories, and underground mafia sagas are by no means new, but Vaughn knows his cinematic history and subverts expectations by tackling these stories from a less familiar perspective. A more traditional approach may have made these films feel stale and unoriginal, but with Vaughn at the helm they come across as fresh.

Vaughn has carved out an exciting future for himself. His "Kingsman" prequel, the "The King's Man," hits theaters in December 2021 after a series of COVID-19-related pushbacks. After that, Vaughn will return to the world of spies and assassins with "Argylle," a conspiracy thriller starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, and Samuel L. Jackson. Until then, here are all six Matthew Vaughn movies, ranked worst to best.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Vaughn's "Kingsman" sequel is his weakest film by a wide margin. It's hard to doubt his ambition in crafting a follow up that outdoes the shocking extremes of the first film, but in aiming big, Vaughn lost the charm that made the original film unique. The first "Kingsman" had engaging characters and playful nods towards the history of spy films. However, "The Golden Circle" is so plot heavy that it often feels like Vaughn is trying too hard to cram all of his ideas into a single, convoluted story.

The main issue with "The Golden Circle" is that it doesn't justify the return of Colin Firth's Harry Hart. Hart's death in the first film was a real moment of darkness that showed that, despite the self-aware tone, the films are not spoofs. Not only is his survival in "The Golden Circle" implausible, but it destroys Eggsy's (Taron Egerton) character development. Eggsy had begun to grow and develop as a hero of his own, and no longer needed a mentor character. The time dedicated to explaining Hart's return also hampers the film's momentum.

Julianne Moore is underwhelming as villain Poppy Adams, a cartel overlord who launches a plot to kill all drug users. Moore's performance is too campy, even for the film's exaggerated style. The attempts at social satire, with a conspiracy involving the President of the United States (Bruce Greenwood), also fall flat.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

When it debuted, "Kingsman: The Secret Service" was a breath of fresh air. The James Bond and Jason Bourne films had become grittier than ever, making "The Secret Service" a throwback to the classic days of spy cinema with fun gadgets, outrageous locations, and eccentric villains. "The Secret Service" stays modern and has a surprising aptitude for dark humor and outrageous deaths, as evidenced in a frantic sequence in which Colin Firth takes out an entire church of fanatic extremists. The bloodbath should make even the most hardened viewer laugh and cringe in equal manner.

Taron Egerton is an extremely likable protagonist. Eggsy's backstory is compelling, as he's wrestling with living up to the expectations of a father he never knew. Growing up poor and struggling to stay out of trouble, Eggsy fulfills his potential by following in his father's footsteps and joining England's elite squad of gentlemen spies. Firth's character doesn't only teach Eggsy the tenets of the Kingsman's code, but how to be a man of honor as well.

"The Secret Service" does drag during Eggsy's training, and the storyline about Firth investigating the sadistic billionaire Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) is more interesting. The references to Roger Moore-era Bond films also grow irritating; it's nice that Vaughn knows his history, but callbacks are unnecessary when the film is creating an identity of its own.

Layer Cake

Prior to becoming a director, Vaughn worked as a producer for fellow British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, who codified the London crime thriller with films like "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels." With his directorial debut, Vaughn took on a similar story to the ones told by his longtime friend, but "Layer Cake" is far from a Ritchie duplicate. While Ritchie's films are darkly comic and relentlessly paced, Vaughn opts for a slick and tragic tale about a man who is unable to escape the consequences of his criminal lifestyle.

"Layer Cake" is the film that announced Daniel Craig as a major talent, and his role as the ruthless cocaine shipper known as "XXXX" is largely seen as the performance that helped him become James Bond. XXXX knows how dangerous the drug wars are getting, and he looks for an early retirement. After deciding to become a legitimate businessman, XXXX reenters into the game when his longtime ally Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) asks him to oversee one last job. Craig brilliantly shows XXXX's conflicted feelings; he knows how to run a tight operation, but he's hesitant to engage out of fear of being drawn back in.

The various gangs and political players involved in the heists could be confusing, but Vaughn clearly explains each group's involvement in the story, giving them a purpose. Even minor characters, such as Tom Hardy's Clarkie, are memorable.

Kick-Ass

"Kick-Ass" came out right when superhero movies were beginning to dominate the film industry. The genre was in desperate need of a shake up, and "Kick-Ass" explored the filthy reality of what being a caped crusader would actually be like. The prospect of saving lives and fighting cruel villains seems fun in the pages of a comic book, but as a daily profession, it would make it impossible to live a normal life. "Kick-Ass" also satirizes the notion of hero worship; the titular crime fighter possesses no powers, has no reason to become a hero, and is far from charismatic.

The story's masterstroke is making the characters comic book fans, and the film references the history of superheroes through conversations that feel realistic. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is effective as the geeky Dave Lizewski, who begins fighting crime because he feels unsatisfied. Taylor-Johnson makes Lizewski initially pathetic, but shows his growth as he learns to accept the responsibility that he once thought he could reject.

However, the real scene stealers are the veteran superhero Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his young daughter, Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz), who was trained by her father from an early age. Vaughn utilizes Cage's unconventional sense of humor, but Big Daddy also gives important lessons to Lizewski about fighting evil no matter the personal cost. Moretz is a burst of energy, and seeing a child ruthlessly dispatch mobsters is hilariously awesome. Mark Strong is also fun as the main villain, Frank D'Amico.

Stardust

It's a real shame that "Stardust" underperformed financially, because the sweeping romantic adventure deserved to be "The Princess Bride" for a new generation. Compared to the sadistic nature of Vaughn's R-rated films, "Stardust" is charmingly sincere. The characters are quirky and the story lampoons familiar fantasy tropes, yet the emotional moments are still heartfelt. It showed a sweet, sensitive side to Vaughn and proved how versatile of a filmmaker he is.

The lovesick peasant Tristan Thorn (Charlie Cox) yearns for the love of the maiden Victoria (Sienna Miller). He embarks upon an epic quest, traveling across the magical fantasy kingdom of Stormhold in order to retrieve a fallen star with a humanoid form named Yvaine (Claire Danes). Not only is Tristan hopelessly naïve and limited in his abilities as a swordsman, but he's never traveled outside of the stone borders of his hometown. Cox brings the hero's journey to life as Tristan grows beyond his comic incompetence.

The heart of "Stardust" is the growing bond between Tristan and Yvaine. The pair bonds as they escape the vengeful Prince Septimus (Mark Strong), who wants a magic stone that Yvaine holds in order to take the throne of Stormhold. Gradually, Tristan realizes that, although he began the mission looking for Victoria's love, it's Yvaine's that he has earned. Strong chews the scenery as an insecure ruler, and Michelle Pfeiffer is having a blast as an ancient witch that Septimus unleashes.

X-Men: First Class

Before Vaughn's involvement, the X-Men franchise was in shambles. "X-Men: The Last Stand" ruined the setup of the first two films, and the disastrous "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" failed to tell a compelling origin story. Fans were skeptical that another prequel would work, especially considering how iconic the performances by Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Ian McKellen as Magneto already were. However, Vaughn's brilliant "First Class" told a fascinating story about two friends who bonded over their differences, only to be torn apart by how they chose to confront intolerance.

The young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) come from opposite backgrounds. Xavier is born into privilege, living in an expensive mansion and granted the resources to research mutant development. Lehnsherr is raised with tragedy, and witnesses the violent slaughter of his family during the film's gripping Holocaust sequence. Xavier seeks to make amends with mankind while Lehnsherr chooses a path of vengeance, and Vaughn understands how privilege impacts both characters' perspectives. The younger versions of Beast (Nicolas Hoult) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) also flesh out characters not given enough depth in the original X-Men trilogy.

The recreation of the '60s is spot on, with fun period details recalling Vaughn's love of early James Bond movies. The incorporation of mutants in the Cuban Missile Crisis is an interesting way of tying the story to real history, and creates an exciting climax in which the mutants are divided by their loyalties to Professor X and Magneto.

Read this next: Every Pre-MCU Marvel Movie Ranked

The post All of Matthew Vaughn's Films Ranked Worst To Best appeared first on /Film.

There are lots of things that seem like they might belong in a shed or other outbuilding, but actually don’t, as moisture and temperature can affect things stored in uninsulated and non-climate controlled environments. Some sheds and garages are insulated, but rust, corrosion, and other types of damage can occur if…

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There seems to be a trend the last few years with a new 4K release of a different Stanley Kubrick movie on an annual basis. I’m definitely not complaining as that means we are closer to a possible new release of Eyes Wide Shut. This year, we are blessed with A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, one of the most polarizing movies out there. It’s a movie embedded in pop culture. It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen it because everyone has heard or seen some kind of reference to it at some point. It’s uncompromising and probably not something that would ever be filmed nowadays. It’s offensive on so many levels, yet is able to present atrocities to viewers on an unexpected artistic vision.

Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his group of “droogs” run around London, committing various crimes for their own enjoyment. They make their own rules and do as they please. This includes vandalizing property, beating up the homeless, and raping women. These events play out with classical music in the background, most notably Beethoven who is Alex’s favorite. The music is key as it plays an integral part during the film’s second half. Eventually, his troubles catch up to him and Alex finds himself locked up with possible release if he agrees to take part in a science experiment. Newcomers will have to watch to see how the outcome and what questions around morality rise about.

One of the best 4K transfers out belongs to The Shining, another Kubrick classic. That release was probably the first time I watched an older film that could easily be confused as a modern release. It was that good of an upgrade. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE is given the same love when it comes to the video presentation. It has a 2160p HDR transfer and somehow, one of the dirtiest of mainstream cinema is given the purest of clean transfers. There isn’t any kind of contrast boost which is often accused with these upgrades as the color palette retains its natural tones. I really don’t see how this movie will ever look better than it does here.

The main letdown with this release is the lack of a Dolby Atmos track. The film features plenty of action and a memorable score, but fans will have to be okay with the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track. The track actually comes off clear in exposition sequences and has enough oomph to get engaged in the soundtrack. No new features are added to this release but includes the last Blu-ray edition with its accompanying documentaries, minus the bonus disc from the Digibook.

This latest release of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE proves the strengths of HDR transfers are worthy of upgrades and is a must for fans. You can now purchase A CLOCKWORK ORANGE in 4K Ultra HD via purchase from select digital retailers now!

The post [Blu-ray/DVD Review] A CLOCKWORK ORANGE appeared first on Nightmarish Conjurings.

Solid-state drives (SSDs) continue to become more and more a part of the data storage landscape. And while our SSD 101 series has covered topics like upgrading, troubleshooting, and recycling your SSDs, we’d like to test one of the more popular declarations from SSD proponents: that SSDs fail much less often than our old friend, the hard disk drive (HDD). This statement is generally attributed to SSDs having no moving parts and is supported by vendor proclamations and murky mean time between failure (MTBF) computations. All of that is fine for SSD marketing purposes, but for comparing failure rates, we prefer the Drive Stats way: direct comparison. Let’s get started.

What Does Drive Failure Look Like for SSDs and HDDs?

In our quarterly Drive Stats reports, we define hard drive failure as either reactive, meaning the drive is no longer operational, or proactive, meaning we believe that drive failure is imminent. For hard drives, much of the data we use to determine a proactive failure comes from the SMART stats we monitor that are reported by the drive.

As with HDDs, we also record and monitor SMART stats for SSD drives. Different SSD models report different SMART stats, with some overlap. To date, we record 31 SMART stats attributes related to SSDs. 25 are listed below.

#	Description	#	Description
1	Read Error Rate	194	Temperature Celsius
5	Reallocated Sectors Count	195	Hardware ECC Recovered
9	Power-on Hours	198	Uncorrectable Sector Count
12	Power Cycle Count	199	UltraDMA CRC Error Count
13	Soft Read Error Rate	201	Soft Read Error Rate
173	SSD Wear Leveling Count	202	Data Address Mark Errors
174	Unexpected Power Loss Count	231	Life Left
177	Wear Range Delta	232	Endurance Remaining
179	Used Reserved Block Count Total	233	Media Wearout Indicator
180	Unused Reserved Block Count Total	235	Good Block Count
181	Program Fail Count Total	241	Total LBAs Written
182	Erase Fail Count	242	Total LBAs Read
192	Unsafe Shutdown Count

For the remaining six (16, 17, 168, 170, 218, and 245), we are unable to find their definitions. Please reach out in the comments if you can shed any light on the missing attributes.
All that said, we are just at the beginning of using SMART stats to proactively fail a SSD. Many of the attributes cited are drive model or vendor dependent. In addition, as you’ll see, there are a limited number of SSD failures. This limits the amount of data we have for research. As we add and monitor more SSDs to our farm, we intend on building out our rules for proactive SSD drive failure. In the meantime, all of the SSDs which have failed to date are reactive failures, that is: They just stopped working.

Comparing Apples to Apples

In the Backblaze data centers, we use both SSDs and HDDs as boot drives in our storage servers. In our case, describing these drives as boot drives is a misnomer as boot drives are also used to store log files for system access, diagnostics, and more. In other words, these boot drives are regularly reading, writing, and deleting files in addition to their named function of booting a server at startup.

In our first storage servers, we used hard drives as boot drives as they were inexpensive and served the purpose. This continued until mid-2018 when we were able to buy 200GB SSDs for about $50, which was our top-end price point for boot drives for each storage server. It was an experiment, but things worked out so well that beginning in mid-2018 we switched to only using SSDs in new storage servers and replaced failed HDD boot drives with SSDs as well.

What we have are two groups of drives, SSDs and HDDs, which perform the same functions, have the same workload, and operate in the same environment over time. So naturally, we decided to compare the failure rates of the SSD and HDD boot drives. Below are the lifetime failure rates for each cohort as of Q2 2021.

SSDs Win… Wait, Not So Fast!

It’s over, SSDs win. It’s time to turn your hard drives into bookends and doorstops and buy SSDs. Although, before you start playing dominoes with your hard drives, there are a couple of things to consider which go beyond the face value of the table above: average age and drive days.

• The average age of the SSD drives is 14.2 months, and the average age of the HDD drives is 52.4 months.
• The oldest SSD drives are about 33 months old and the youngest HDD drives are 27 months old.

Basically, the timelines for the average age of the SSDs and HDDs don’t overlap very much. The HDDs are, on average, more than three years older than the SSDs. This places each cohort at very different points in their lifecycle. If you subscribe to the idea that drives fail more often as they get older, you might want to delay your HDD shredding party for just a bit.

By the way, we’ll be publishing a post in a couple of weeks on how well drive failure rates fit the bathtub curve; SPOILER ALERT: old drives fail a lot.

The other factor we listed was drive days, the number of days all the drives in each cohort have been in operation without failing. The wide disparity in drive days causes a big difference in the confidence intervals of the two cohorts as the number of observations (i.e. drive days) varies significantly.

To create a more accurate comparison, we can attempt to control for the average age and drive days in our analysis. To do this, we can take the HDD cohort back in time in our records to see where the average age and drive days are similar to those of the SDDs from Q2 2021. That would allow us to compare each cohort at the same time in their life cycles.

Turning back the clock on the HDDs, we find that using the HDD data from Q4 2016, we were able to create the following comparison.

Suddenly, the annualized failure rate (AFR) difference between SSDs and HDDs is not so massive. In fact, each drive type is within the other’s 95% confidence interval window. That window is fairly wide (plus or minus 0.5%) because of the relatively small number of drive days.
Where does that leave us? We have some evidence that when both types of drives are young (14 months on average in this case), the SSDs fail less often, but not by much. But you don’t buy a drive to last 14 months, you want it to last years. What do we know about that?

Failure Rates Over Time

We have data for HDD boot drives that go back to 2013 and for SSD boot drives going back to 2018. The chart below is the lifetime AFR for each drive type through Q2 2021.

As the graph shows, beginning in 2018, the HDD boot drive failure rate accelerated. This continued in 2019 and 2020 before leveling off in 2021 (so far). To state the obvious, as the age of the HDD boot drive fleet increased, so did the failure rate.

One point of interest is the similarity in the two curves through their first four data points. For the HDD cohort, year five (2018) was where the failure rate acceleration began. Is the same fate awaiting our SSDs as they age? While we can expect some increase in the AFR as the SSD age, will it be as dramatic as the HDD line?

Decision Time: SSD or HDD

Where does that leave us in choosing between buying a SSD or a HDD? Given what we know to date, using the failure rate as a factor in your decision is questionable. Once we controlled for age and drive days, the two drive types were similar and the difference was certainly not enough by itself to justify the extra cost of purchasing a SSD versus a HDD. At this point, you are better off deciding based on other factors: cost, speed required, electricity, form factor requirements, and so on.

Over the next couple of years, as we get a better idea of SSD failure rates, we will be able to decide whether or not to add the AFR to the SSD versus HDD buying guide checklist. Until then, we look forward to continued debate.

The post Are SSDs Really More Reliable Than Hard Drives? appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

(Welcome to ...And More, our no-frills, zero B.S. guide to when and where you can watch upcoming movies and shows, and everything else you could possibly stand to know.)

Despite proudly standing as far apart as possible for so many decades, the lines between film and television have blurred in recent years. TV initially came saddled with a reputation of being "less than" its cinematic brethren and a pale shadow of the glamour afforded by the big screen. Then came the era of "Prestige TV," which saw the likes of "The Wire," "The Sopranos," and their many imitators proving to audiences that intuitive writers could take advantage of the serialized format to accomplish what movies simply weren't built to do. Nowadays, the pendulum may be swinging back in the other direction as television series' increasingly take a page out of the movie playbook -- specifically, the prevalence of spin-off shows that seem to be chasing the high of certain cinematic universes.

That certainly appears to be the case with the Paramount+ series "Yellowstone," which proved to be so popular that multiple spin-off shows have been put into production. "Y: 1883" will serve as a prequel series to the original (and ongoing) show, so read on for everything you need to know ahead of its planned debut.

Y: 1883 Release Date And Where You Can Watch It

"Y: 1883" will debut on December 19, 2021 and it can be watched exclusively on the Paramount+ streaming service. The original "Yellowstone" series has been airing on cable for the Paramount Network, though the shift towards streaming could be seen coming when the first two seasons were made available on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock in July of 2020. 

What Is Y: 1883?

As you might be able to tell from looking at that funky title (but probably not), "Y: 1883" is a prequel series to "Yellowstone." The show is part of a big five-year deal for creator Taylor Sheridan with ViacomCBS and MTV Entertainment Group. According to Deadline, the terms of the deal reportedly include "five seasons of new or returning series":

Y: 1883 follows the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. It is a stark retelling of Western expansion, and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America's promised land: Montana

Y: 1883 Showrunner, Crew, And More

"Y: 1883" comes from the mind of Taylor Sheridan, best known for "Sicario," "Hell or High Water," "Wind River," "Those Who Wish Me Dead," and the upcoming "Mayor of Kingstown" series. As co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer of "Yellowstone," Sheridan returns to fill the same roles for "Y: 1883." He is expected to write and direct all 10 episodes of the first season.

Y: 1883 Cast

"Y: 1883" will be led by Sam Elliot ("The Big Lebowski," "Justified," "A Star Is Born") as Shea Brennan, Tim McGraw ("Friday Night Lights," "The Blind Side," "Tomorrowland,") as James Dutton, Faith Hill ("The Stepford Wives," "Dixieland") as Margaret Dutton, and Billy Bob Thornton ("Sling Blade," "A Simple Plan," "Friday Night Lights") as Marshal Jim Courtright.

Read this next: The 20 Best Westerns Of All Time

The post Y: 1883: Release Date, Cast, And More appeared first on /Film.

This week, the latest episode of Marvel's "What If...?" animated series finally delivered on the crossover possibilities we've been hoping to see from the animated anthology series that take place in alternate realities outside of the primary Marvel Cinematic Universe. The episode, titled "What If...Ultron Won?," imagined a world where the villainous artificially intelligent robot Ultron succeeded in assuming the body of Vision and launched nuclear missiles around the world, leaving an apocalyptic wasteland ruled by Ultron and his robot army. But that's not all. 

In this universe, Thanos still arrives on Earth, having collected most of the Infinity Stones. However, he's easily dispatched with by Ultron/Vision's energy beam that shoots from the Mind Stone, and this powerful being is the one who comes to harness all of the Infinity Stones. That makes him the most powerful being, not just in his universe, but seemingly all universes. In fact, it appears that might even include the "Star Wars" universe, thanks to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Easter egg.

Marvel's What If...? May Have Snuck Into Star Wars

During the climactic moments of "What If...Ultron Won?," the villainous Ultron/Vision suddenly finds himself able to see outside of his own universe, becoming aware of the alternate universes that make up the Marvel multiverse. That includes being able to see The Watcher, whom he sees as the next powerful being that he needs to destroy. The two get into an intense battle, where The Watcher holds his own much more than we thought. And this is where we appear to quickly veer into the "Star Wars" universe.

The fight between The Watcher and Vision/Ultron becomes so heated that as they fight through the cosmos, they suddenly start smashing through several different universes, literally shattering the invisible walls that separate them. It's during this sequence that it looks like the conflict flies through a familiar location that we've seen in the "Star Wars" movies. Check it out (via Inverse):

Does that place look familiar? The lava-covered landscape with the industrial spires? I think we might have seen a certain Jedi Master comes to blows with his former apprentice after he turned to the dark side of the Force here, in a movie called "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith." Yes, it would appear that this is the planet Mustafar that The Watcher and Ultron/Vision briefly fight their way through. If you need any more convincing, check out the photo of Mustafar below from the "Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire" VR experience.

There's Another Familiar Star Wars Location Too

As you can see above, not only does it look like The Watcher and Ultron/Vision flew through Mustafar while battling, but it looks like the prongs of Darth Vader's castle are lingering there in the background. How close were we to Darth Vader becoming aware of what was happening and turning this into a three-way fight? Perhaps not close at all since "Star Wars" was meant to take place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. This could be the time period in which Darth Vader's castle is being turned into a luxurious hotel, which we'll soon see in "LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales."

That's not the only familiar location fans noticed from "Star Wars" either. In a scene before the Mustafar moment, The Watcher gets knocked down into another universe, and the surroundings appear to call attention to another world from "Revenge of the Sith." Take a look:

Don't remember this landscape? It's the planet Felucia that's briefly seen in the montage of the film's climax when Darth Sidious has executed Order 66, prompting the Clone Trooper army to take out their Jedi allies. In a quick scene, the blue Twi-lek Jedi named Aayla Secura is killed on Felucia. Though what we see in that scene in the film doesn't closely resemble what is shown in this episode of "What If...?" you'll see that the concept art definitely matches:

What Does This Mean For Star Wars And The MCU?

Even though this is quite a surprising crossover, this is likely just meant to be a cheeky nod to "Star Wars" since both director Bryan Andrews and head writer A.C. Bradley are big fans of the franchise. In fact, this isn't the first time "Star Wars" Easter eggs have made it into an episode of "What If...?" If you go back and look carefully at the "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?" episode, when the prince of Wakanda is looking for a ship to make a getaway from The Collector's lair, you can see the distinct features of both an X-wing and a TIE Fighter in the fleet of other starships that The Collector has amassed over time.

Though we wish that this crossover into "Star Wars" could pave the way for an even more epic alternate universe where Marvel superheroes and "Star Wars" character could occupy the same space, just for the novelty of it all, we'll just have to settle for Easter eggs. Plus, there's always Patton Oswalt's epic filibuster that combined the "Star Wars" and Marvel universes in an incredible fashion:

Read this next: The 13 Best Animated Star Wars Moments

The post Marvel's What If...? Episode 8 Appears to Enter the Star Wars Universe appeared first on /Film.

The deepest movie anyone has seen when they're fourteen, "Donnie Darko" remains a seminal favorite after all these years. Richard Kelly's directorial debut was a darkly intellectual venture, and the science-fiction psychological thriller is still being analyzed and debated two decades later. "Donnie Darko" set the stage for Kelly's signature style of complicated cerebral cinema (I'm looking at you, "Southland Tales") as well as a penchant for endings that require a hell of a lot of deciphering.

Over the years, everyone and their best friend has come up with their own interpretation of the film's ending, but we're here to break it all down for you and offer the true dissection of what really happened to Donald J. Darko 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds after that fateful meeting with Frank the rabbit.

It goes without saying, but spoilers ahead.

What Is Donnie Darko About?

"Donnie Darko" deals with time travel and alternate universes, so getting the story straight in a coherent manner is not the easiest thing. Bear with me. Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a mouthy, moody, mentally unwell teenager struggling with sleepwalking, who continually sees visions of a terrifying man-sized rabbit called Frank who tells him the world is going to end. 

One morning, Donnie wakes up on a golf course after a night of sleepwalking to discover a jet engine crashed through his bedroom. Had he not sleepwalked, he would have been killed. Bizarrely, the authorities are unable to figure out where the jet engine came from; there are no planes missing, and no other debris from the crash. Over the next 28 days Donnie is manipulated by Frank to commit crimes, some of which lead to the absolute destruction of those close to him.

His reign of terror includes burning down the pedophilic motivational speaker Jim Cunningham's home, leading to Jim's arrest, and a confrontation with his high school bullies that results in Donnie's would-be girlfriend Gretchen's death when she is hit by a car. The driver of the car? A man named Frank, wearing a rabbit mask. Completely beside himself, Donnie shoots Frank in the face and Donnie realizes that an injury prophesied by Frank in Donnie's nightmares is the same one that Donnie gave him. 

As Donnie realizes his nightmares have been predicting the future, Frank's prophecy of the impending end of the world comes true and a vortex rips in the sky. Just as the plane begins to crash and its jet engine is sucked into the vortex, the movie goes back to where it began -- but this time events play out differently. Instead of waking up on the golf course after a night of sleepwalking, Donnie awakens in his bed and is crushed by the falling jet engine that has travelled back in time from the plane crash (hence the FAA being unable to find the rest of the plane). 

Is this a super-generalized look at the film? Yes. Would this become a convoluted mess if I tried to dive any deeper? Also yes.

Okay, But What Does It Mean?

Frank the Rabbit is warning Donnie about the existence of a tangent universe that he is able to see in his sleepwalking. This is a separate, alternate reality that comes to a head at the start of the film. Why does this tangent universe come into existence? Well, we're not given an answer on that one. Kelly deliberately leaves this a mystery because the man is not interested in spoon-feeding us baby birds any answers. During the time of the movie's release, a tie-in website included text from the character Roberta Sparrow's book "The Philosophy of Time Travel" to help explain the nature of the tangent universe, stating:

If a Tangent Universe occurs it will be highly unstable, sustaining itself for no longer than several weeks. Eventually it will collapse upon itself, forming a black hole within the Primary Universe capable of destroying all existence.

At the end of the movie, we know Donnie sacrifices himself in order to bring the jet engine (classified as The Artifact, per Sparrow's book) from the tangent universe where it belongs in Donnie's original reality, as Donnie has been chosen as the "Living Receiver. Sparrow is implied to have also been a Living Receiver, which explains her knowledge of primary universes and tangent universes. She explains that the Living Receiver has a mission to return The Artifact. "No one knows how or why a Receiver will be chosen," says Sparrow, but it's clear that it's up to him to save the world.

But, But How?

When Donnie watches the jet engine fall into the time vortex, it offers him the ability to make a different choice. He's the only one who knows what will follow if the engine crashes into the house without him in it: a dark future that includes the deaths of his mother, his little sister, and Gretchen. He instead goes home, goes to bed, and even laughs at the absurdity of recognizing that his sacrifice will make it possible to save the lives of others. He comes face to face with the trolley problem, and takes himself out of the equation.

Donnie's choice to die instead of waking up on the golf course closes the tangent universe and completely changes the future course for all of those he interacts with. His mother and sister on the plane won't die, because there's no more vortex. Gretchen was with Donnie when she was hit by the car, and since she will no longer meet or get to know him, her life will be spared. Frank won't die because he won't hit Gretchen with his car and spark a reactionary attack from Donnie. 

The downside is that Jim Cunningham's house will remain intact, along with his dark secret. However, it's implied that some remnants from the events of the tangent universe remain in the subconscious of the survivors. Donnie's mom, Rose, and Gretchen wave at each with slight confusion in the aftermath of the accident, indicating that they feel as if they know one another, despite not knowing how. Jim himself is shown weeping in the movie's final montage, as though some part of him remembers the fire and his arrest, and Frank is seen touching the same eye that he was shot through in the tangent universe. It's safe to hope that someone will likely have an inkling about Cunningham's true nature, and act accordingly. 

No one will ever know the truth of Donnie's selfless action, but chances are, they can sense it.

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

The post Donnie Darko Ending Explained: The Power of Selflessness appeared first on /Film.

ipxnet server is a wide open relay server and should have authentication added

The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) this week released a tool to help organizations assess their insider threat risk posture.

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Professional developers want to embrace DevSecOps and write secure code, but their organizations need to support this seachange if they want that effort to grow. The cyber threat landscape is becoming more complex by the day. Attackers are constantly scanning networks for vulnerable applications, programs, cloud instances, and the latest flavor of the month is APIs, widely considered an easy win

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed an unpatched security vulnerability in the protocol used by Microsoft Azure Active Directory that potential adversaries could abuse to stage undetected brute-force attacks. "This flaw allows threat actors to perform single-factor brute-force attacks against Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) without generating sign-in events in the targeted organization's