At its core, "Tremors" is a simple movie: a tiny town in the middle of the desert is terrorized by some prehistoric, man-eating worms that attack from under the ground. It's a bit of a throwback to the classic 1950s monster movies like "Them!" and "Tarantula!" Our plucky townsfolk endure with surprisingly few casualties, and in the end, the hero gets the girl. All things considered, it's a pretty run of the mill premise on paper. And yet somehow, it not only worked, but it drew critical acclaim and, amazingly, spawned six sequels and a short-lived TV series.
So how did a modern day B-movie from 1990 not just endure, but become a bona fide cult classic with enough staying power to keep churning out installments in the franchise as recently as 2020? The first answer is that, obviously, it has one heck of a likable cast. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward star as Val and Earl, two handymen desperate to finally put the small town of Perfection, Nevada behind them and shoot for something bigger. Their chemistry pops off the screen, and the screenplay provides them with plenty of banter that lets you know just about everything you need to about their friendship right from the jump. Michael Gross, best known as the dad from "Family Ties," and Reba McEntire, best known as being Reba freakin' McEntire, help to round out the colorful cast of characters as a married pair of gun (and bomb, and cannon) toting survivalists.
But there's obviously more to the film's staying power than just its likable cast and fun -- and often silly -- action. Just ask director Ron Underwood.
A Monster Movie With Lots Of Humanity
Underwood was interviewed for the documentary "Tremors: Making Perfection," and discussed why he thinks the film has reached cult classic status, and enjoys such a great monster movie legacy. In Underwood's words:
"I think the film goes to some very basic fears we have of being surprised by something out of our control, and it is about a community coming together and fighting that off. Fighting off the evils that surround us. So I think it goes to something pretty primal, and you can relate to it whether you're young or old."
To his point, much of that is owed to it being a basic premise done right. It could very easily have gone horribly wrong. "Tremors" also taps into larger themes like people banding together and becoming their best when the chips are down. It's a film that's got something for just about everyone. As Underwood put it:
"It has its scares, but it's a little more human. Part of the reason I think it didn't do as well when it came out was the horror films at that time were very dark, very scary, and this film was lighter because it had people that you cared about who had a lightness to them and a sense of humor despite the awful situation they were in."
Tremors was always a long shot to become a hit, let alone spawn a decades-spanning franchise. Not even the people involved were convinced it was going to amount to anything. Kevin Bacon, in particular, was hesitant about even signing on. Times have certainly changed, and Bacon has become keen on trying to revive the franchise with a TV series. As for us, we'll be crossing our fingers that we haven't seen the last of Valentine McKee.
Valhalla awaits us all, and based on the latest news about "Furiosa," it's closer than we think. George Miller's much-anticipated follow-up to "Mad Max: Fury Road" has just wrapped production in Australia, meaning it's on track to careen into theaters in 2024. The prequel film is set to follow the titular heroine, war captain Furiosa, who eventually turns against the wasteland tyrant Immortan Joe. But before any of that goes down, Furiosa must live out her origin story: being snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and surviving life with the great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth).
Finding someone to fill a role originated by Charlize Theron could not have been easy, but Miller clearly knocked it out of the park when he set his sights on Anya Taylor-Joy. The young actress has been on the rise since she first appeared in 2015's "The Witch," and has consistently dazzled audiences in every role since. She's certainly got the acting chops to follow in Theron's footsteps and honestly, what more do we need in a Furiosa? Besides, I guess, the ability to drive. In which case it might surprise you to learn that Anya Taylor-Joy can't (legally) drive
While chatting with IndieWire, the actress revealed, "I don't actually have a license." But that minor detail aside, nothing could stop her from getting behind the wheel on a movie set:
"I can't [drive] on a highway and I can't parallel park, but if you need me to do a juicy 180 in a truck, I can do that and not hit the camera people, which is great. Eventually, I will be in a place long enough to get a driver's license, and then I'll be really happy, because then I can play."
Furiosa Vs The DMV
Imagine thinking that you've climbed into a car driven by award-winning actress Anya Taylor-Joy only to realize that the person behind the wheel is the battle-hardened apocalypse survivor, Furiosa? This is the bleak fate that awaits one unlucky (or extremely lucky) DMV worker. "That's the other thing," Joy said in the same interview. "If a driving instructor gets in a car with me, all I know how to do is crazy stunt driving." Valhalla awaits absolutely anyone who happens to be on site that day because there's no way that Furiosa can be contained by traffic laws.
Despite those plans to get a license, Joy added that she can't imagine finding a car that lives up to the expectations set by "Furiosa": "In terms of first cars, I think I'm quite spoiled in the fact that they were built by the 'Mad Max' art department." Do you think anyone would notice if she snagged a car as an end-of-production present?
Whether or not she leaves with a car, Joy has big plans to continue her stunt driving days elsewhere — which is great news for movies, and terrifying news for whoever gets tasked with testing her. Joy said:
"I'm planning on getting my stunt driver's certificate...so then I'll be able to do all of my driving in all films, which would be great. But I fear for the poor man or woman that is taking the test with me, because gentle, I am not."
"Furiosa" is currently slated to hit theaters on May 24, 2024.
Meta has fired or disciplined more than two dozen employees and contractors over the last year whom it accused of improperly taking over user accounts, in some cases allegedly for bribes, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter and documents. From the report: Some of those fired were contractors who worked as security guards stationed at Meta facilities and were given access to the Facebook parent's internal mechanism for employees to help users having trouble with their accounts, according to the documents and people familiar with the matter. The mechanism, known internally as "Oops," has existed since Facebook's early years as a means for employees to help users they know who have forgotten their passwords or emails, or had their accounts taken over by hackers.
As part of the alleged abuse of the system, Meta says that in some cases workers accepted thousands of dollars in bribes from outside hackers to access user accounts, the people and documents say. The disciplinary actions are part of a lengthy internal probe led by Meta executives, according to the documents and one of the people. "Individuals selling fraudulent services are always targeting online platforms, including ours, and adapting their tactics in response to the detection methods that are commonly used across the industry," said Meta spokesman Andy Stone. He added that the company "will keep taking appropriate action against those involved in these kinds of schemes."
Mozilla today released its annual "State of Mozilla" report and for the most part, the news here is positive. From a report: Mozilla Corporation, the for-profit side of the overall Mozilla organization, generated $585 million from its search partnerships, subscriptions and ad revenue in 2021 -- up 25% from the year before. And while Mozilla continues to mostly rely on its search partnerships, revenue from its new products like the Mozilla VPN, Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) Plus, Pocket and others now accounts for $57 million of its revenue, up 125% compared to the previous year. For the most part, that's driven by ads on the New Tab in Firefox and in Pocket, but the security products now also have an annual revenue of $4 million.
With the launch of this year's report, the Mozilla leadership team is also taking some time to look ahead, because in many ways, this is an inflection point for Mozilla. When Mozilla was founded, the internet was essentially the web and the browser was the way to access it. Since then, the way we experience the internet has changed dramatically and while the browser is still one of the most important tools around, it's not the only one. With that, Mozilla, too, has to change. Its Firefox browser has gone from dominating the space to being something of a niche product, but the organization's mission ("to ensure the internet is a global public resource, open and accessible to all") is just as important today -- and maybe more so -- as it was almost 25 years ago when Mozilla was founded.
There's even more evidence now that the NVIDIA 16-Pin 12VHPWR cable issues are due to user error instead of a major design defect. As discovered by GamersNexus, we are now in the fourth week since the first issues appeared and more details pop up to tell what's causing these cables to melt.
NVIDIA 16-Pin 12VHPWR Cable Problems Once Again Suggested To Be User-Error, Users Mount Up More Pressure on Green Team
There are three main topics to cover in this post, first and foremost are the new discoveries made by GamersNexus which once again point out two potential reasons why this issue is being caused. Now one should not call this the definitive reason for the issues as NVIDIA has yet to provide its own official update, but there are three sources that have said this might be the reason. First, we have Ronaldo Buassali from GALAX & TecLab who said this in the very beginning followed by Corsair's tech expert, JonnyGuru, and now, we have more details on the matter by GamersNexus who have also managed to recreate the melting issues live at their lab.
GamersNexus Suggests User Error Is Causing NVIDIA's 16-Pin 12VHPWR Cables To Melt
In a very deep and detailed analysis that took several days of testing, Steve Burke and his team over at GamersNexus found two main causes behind the melting of the 16-Pin 12VHPWR cable from NVIDIA. Yesterday, we told that there were two cables provided by two different companies and one may feature problematic soldering and design. However, GamersNexus tested both and found out that the issue can occur on both cables, so the manufacturer doesn't matter.
The tech outlet continues to suggest that the issues are caused by either user error where users are not inserting the cables within the connector properly or foreign debris that might enter the connector after plugging the cable in or out or while manufacturing. Based on data from various AIB partners, GamersNexus reports that the failure rate is somewhere between 0.05 to 0.1% and that means that out of 100,000 units that have been shipped for the RTX 4090 so far, only 100 are really affected by this.
A summary of the entire video has been provided by NVIDIA's subreddit mod, Nestledrink, which can be read below:
Per Nvidia partner: Failure rate is 0.05% - 0.1%. Nvidia may provide more context on this later
Any of them "can" fail because there are a few modes of failure and one of them involves user error
Confirmed 2 Manufacturers: Astron / NTK (Also, subcontracted to Tricon?)
Failure in general is overwhelmingly uncommon and many of the failures are very easily avoidable
What are the causes:
Foreign object debris in the cable
Caused by improper manufacturing and scraping of the bump combined with high current and or poor connection
Creating poor points of contact
Extremely improper insertion by the user
Improper insertion in combination with a taut wire on one or more pins
Causing one point of poor contact that heats up
Conclusion:
Cables are melting when the connector is unseated
It requires being very unseated AND pulling the cable at an angle
Did not fail when tested unseated but not being pulled at an angle
"Partial insertion and angling of the pin into the socket could have increased susceptibility for a high resistance parallel connection at the lip of the socket" - Failure Analysis Lab Testing sent to GN
Any debris will make this worse
Failures are rare
Don't chase specific adapters as any of them can fail
Anxiety surrounding the issue might exacerbate the issue
When people are unplugging and re-plugging, it could create foreign object debris (not common)
User error when re-plugging the connector
Purely objectively, GN feels you should be comfortable using a 12VHPWR connector but it requires them to be fully connected and seated (Critical)
There should not be any gap
Push the cable until you can't wiggle it out anymore (GN gave an example of how he could pull the seemingly fully inserted cable out by wiggling it out -- this is an indication that the cable is NOT fully seated)
NVIDIA Hit With Lawsuit Over 16-Pin 12VHPWR Melting Fiasco
Moving on to story number two, we have Lucas Genova, an owner of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card who has filed a class action lawsuit against NVIDIA over the whole 16-Pin 12VHPWR cable. The lawsuit can be seen filed over at Justia and was filed at the California Federal court on 11 November 2022. The user states:
NVIDIA "marketed and sold the RTX 4090 with a defective and dangerous power cable plug and socket, which has rendered consumers' cards inoperable and poses a serious electrical and fire hazard for each and every purchaser."
Lucas states within his law suit that he installed his graphics card correctly but despite that the 16-pin cable on the card melted. Now there's no evidence as to if the cable was properly inserted or not but despite that, the user should be able to RMA his card for a new unit without any issues. We should advise all RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 owners to check and make sure the cable is inserted fully within the 16-Pin connector on the card. The issue occurring this often shows that the design of the cable isn't very user-friendly as the previous 8-pin connectors if they require you to put in a lot of force.
Another Founders Edition's 16-Pn 12VHPWR Cable Melts
Over this weekend on Reddit, another RTX 4090 GPU was mentioned as melting/malfunctioning, causing yet another user to contact their representative. This time, however, it comes from an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition card. This new development now stretches into the territory of NVIDIA's high-end proprietary cards.
The card was purchased on the 19th of October from Best Buy (it is unknown whether it was online or in-store). The GPU was inside an ASUS ROG Helios chassis with the side panel removed to ensure that the cable would not be bent on the 16-pin adaptor, as the user knew of the possible damage. The three 8-pin PCIe cables were confirmed to have been connected per the user to the ASUS ROG Thor 1200W PSU to offer adequate supply to the card.
The cable for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition. Image source: Party_Quail_1048 on Reddit.
On October 29th, the screen suddenly went black. Before the day, the user would play Call of Duty: Warzone each day, between two to three hours each. Upon investigation, the connector and corresponding adapter was already damaged, showing signs of melting. The graphics card has since been returned to NVIDIA for replacement, which will add to the list of cards that NVIDIA is currently examining for the actual cause of the problem. The user has reported that they have received the replacement graphics card but are very hesitant to install the new graphics card until a problem and solution have been found.
The connector on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition. Image source: Party_Quail_1048 on Reddit.
The problem has been active for the last month since the first day of the release of the Ada architecture-based graphics cards. However, this is the first known incident involving an NVIDIA-branded graphics card (i.e. Founder's Edition).
Once again, we wait for NVIDIA's official reply over the matter. The company has been working with AIBs to get to the bottom of all of this but hasn't really revealed the exact cause yet.
Are you willing to buy a graphics card with the 16-pin 12VHPWR connector cable?
Yes but only with ATX 3.0 PSU
Yes but I'll use it with non-ATX 3.0 PSU
No, Neither with ATX 3.0 or older PSU
I will stick to my non 16-Pin card till the dust settles
NVIDIA has announced that it will be hosting the official CES 2023 'GeForce' Special Address on the 3rd of January, 2023.
NVIDIA Ready For CES 2023, Cooks Up 'GeForce' Special Address Aiming Gamers With More RTX 40 Goodness
The company has unveiled in a press release that its CES 2023 event will be virtual once again and will be live-streamed on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, at 8 a.m. PT. The company will also have a presence on the show floor where they will showcase their latest products and innovations but the majority of the announcements will happen on stream. Following is the presser:
Mark your calendar for our virtual NVIDIA Special Address at CES on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, at 8 a.m. PT, where will be kicking off the year with our latest innovations. Tune in at NVIDIA.com. News leading up to and during the event will be posted here.
If you are planning to attend CES in-person, we invite you to check out our gaming suite at the Cosmopolitan at CES 2023, where we’ll be showcasing the latest technologies, products, and software from GeForce and GeForce NOW.
via NVIDIA
As for what to expect, we exclusively reported a few days ago that NVIDIA will be unveiling its next GeForce RTX 40 series graphics card, the RTX 4070 Ti, on the 3rd of January followed by a launch on the 5th of January. This more or less confirms that the card will be on NVIDIA's agenda during their CES 23 keynote. As for other products, we can expect NVIDIA to give an update on the RTX 40 GPUs for laptops which are expected to couple nicely with Intel's 13th Gen Raptor Lake-HX CPUs & AMD's Ryzen 7000 'Dragon Range' chips. Both CPUs are also expected to have products based on them be showcased at CES 2023.
Other than that, the company will also be talking about the software side of GeForce innovations and even more titles supporting their brand-new DLSS 3 technology. We can't wait to see what NVIDIA has in store for us so save the date and we'll see you at CES!
The issue? They just couldn’t get the price low enough when they included a controller. In Spencer’s estimation an Xbox streaming box only makes sense if they can deliver it at a $99 to $129 price point, and they couldn’t make it there, partly because it sounds like they wanted it to run a version of the current Xbox firmware. So, instead the focus shifted to the recently-released Samsung TV gaming app…
“The console we built that now people have seen, Keystone, was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside, and we decided to focus that team’s efforts on delivering the smart TV streaming app.
With Keystone, [we’re] still focused on it [and] when can we get the right costs, but when you’ve got Series S at $299, and like during the holidays you’ll see some price promotion, you’ll obviously have Series X higher, I think in order for a streaming-only box to make sense, the price delta to S has to be pretty significant. I want to be able to include a controller in it when we go do that. So, it was really just about if we could build the right product at the right price, or if we can’t, how can we focus the team’s effort? And we decided to go do the TV app with Samsung and we’re really happy with the results there.
I don’t want to announce pricing specifically, but I think you’ve got to be $129, $99, like somewhere in there for that to make sense in my view, that we just weren’t there. We weren’t there with the controller. And I love the effort. The reason it’s on my shelf is the team rolled up their sleeves and in nine months they built that thing. And a bunch of us took it home and it worked. It worked really, really well.”
It sounds like Spencer isn’t totally cold on the idea of reviving Keystone, we just have to wait a bit until the price is right. I guess we’ll see.
What do you think? Would a basic Xbox streaming box be something you’d be interested in?
Dining with Chef Slowick (Ralph Fiennes) is a dangerous experience in "The Menu."By Christopher James
The subgenre of class warfare comedy is alive and well in 2022. Most recently, movies like Bodies Bodies Bodies and Triangle of Sadness have smeared the 1% with blood and excrement, respectively. Director Mark Mylod (of Succession fame), opts for the former with his all-star comic thriller, The Menu. The film effectively entertains, even if it doesn’t ultimately add much to the conversation.
We meet Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) at a dock about to be picked up for an elite dining experience. Right from the beginning, we see a disconnect between the two, as if they were newly dating. Tyler is beyond excited for the dining experience, documenting every moment. On the flip side, Margot couldn’t care less. Tyler and Margot travel alongside nine other illustrious guests to an island restaurant run by celebrity Chef Slowick (Ralph Fiennes)...
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: The FBI and CISA revealed in a joint advisory published today that an unnamed Iranian-backed threat group hacked a Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) organization to deploy XMRig cryptomining malware. The attackers compromised the federal network after hacking into an unpatched VMware Horizon server using an exploit targeting the Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228) remote code execution vulnerability. After deploying the cryptocurrency miner, the Iranian threat actors also set up reverse proxies on compromised servers to maintain persistence within the FCEB agency's network.
"In the course of incident response activities, CISA determined that cyber threat actors exploited the Log4Shell vulnerability in an unpatched VMware Horizon server, installed XMRig crypto mining software, moved laterally to the domain controller (DC), compromised credentials, and then implanted Ngrok reverse proxies on several hosts to maintain persistence," the joint advisory reads. The two U.S. federal agencies added that all organizations who haven't yet patched their VMware systems against Log4Shell should assume that they've already been breached and advise them to start hunting for malicious activity within their networks.
CISA warned in June that VMware Horizon and Unified Access Gateway (UAG) servers are still being preyed upon by multiple threat actors, including state-sponsored hacking groups, using Log4Shell exploits. Log4Shell can be exploited remotely to target vulnerable servers exposed to local or Internet access to move laterally across breached networks to access internal systems that store sensitive data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1 was officially released today as the latest update to this leading enterprise Linux distribution. This afternoon also marked the release already of RHEL-derived AlmaLinux 9.1...
Chipmaker NVIDIA Corporation reported its earnings results for the third fiscal quarter of 2023 at the close of the market today, with the firm managing to meet its revenue guidance that it had set during the previous quarter. NVIDIA, like other personal computing technology firms, has suffered the brunt of the inflationary wave this year, with the firm's Gaming division that accounts for its largest segment and sales to gamers and other users posting painful drops.
NVIDIA reported $5.9 billion in revenue and $680 million in earnings per share for the quarter, with both marking significant annual drops. For its fourth fiscal quarter, the firm expects to rake in $6 billion in revenue, which will reverse this quarter's sequential drop to mark a small growth. However, annually, the revenue will still drop.
Cryptocurrency Woes Continue to Plague NVIDIA - Firm Misses EPS Estimates By A Mile
Heading into today's earnings report, Wall Street analysts had expected NVIDIA's revenue to sit at $5.8 billion and its earnings per share to come in at 70 cents per share. However, while the company managed to beat the revenue estimates by a hairline, its earnings per share reading came in at a jaw-dropping 27 cents per share. This marked a one-cent increase over the previous quarter, but a stunning 50-cent drop over the year-ago quarter.
A cursory look at NVIDIA's income statement shows that the firm's operating expenses are to blame for the earnings per share drop. These 'blossomed' by 31% annually, at a time when the chip designer's revenue tanked by 17%. Overall, the income statement does not paint a pretty picture at all, as NVIDIA's operating income, net income and earnings per share have dropped by a rather outlandish 77%, 72%, and 72%, respectively. These are the GAAP results, and the non-GAAP results show that the EPS dropped by 50% - still not a pretty picture. The adjusted EPS stood at 58 cents, and this is the one that is compared to the analyst estimates.
NVIDIA's segment breakdown for its Q3 2023 revenue. Image: NVIDIA
Crucially, however, and one reason that NVIDIA's shares are up in aftermarket trading, is the fact that its data center and gaming revenue came above estimates. Datacenter continued to be NVIDIA's saving grace in the quarter, as it stressed the need for any company to diversify its revenue streams. The official results show that the revenue for this segment stood at $3.9 billion, marking yet another quarter that proved that NVIDIA is now a data center company instead of a gaming one. NVIDIA had warned in its previous quarter that gaming revenues were expected to drop. Analysts had pegged gaming revenue at $1.42 billion and data center at $3.72 billion.
Data center revenue was $3.9 billion, accounting for more than half of NVIDIA's overall net sales, as it managed to stay flat sequentially but grow by an impressive 31% annually. This growth comes at a time when spending in the sector seeing worries of a slowdown - due to inflation and the upgrade cycle already being behind most big spenders. However, the data center segment is also currently trying to navigate the fresh U.S. sanctions against China. These have limited NVIDIA from selling its top data center and machine learning graphics processing units (GPUs) to the country; however, NVIDIA is reportedly looking to salvage its China business by offering a new product that meets U.S. government regulations.
Another painful component of NVIDIA's latest earnings release is the firm's cash flow, which has dropped significantly as well. Its free cash flow represented an outflow of $156 million, while in the year-ago quarter it had stood at a whopping $1.28 billion, and at $824 million in the previous quarter. NVIDIA's chief financial officer Ms. Colette Kress blamed the dismal free cash flow performance on inventory and supplier problems. For comparison, AMD reported a positive cash flow in its latest earnings release.
For the current quarter, NVIDIA aims to bring in $6 billion in revenue. The firm's shares are up by 2% in aftermarket trading at the time of publishing.
Back in June, Samsung announced that it would be bringing Gaming Hub to its 2022 line of Smart TVs. The feature would allow users to access game streaming services like Xbox, Nvidia GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, Utomik and more. Now, it looks like those with older Samsung TVs will now gain access to gaming apps, as the company has announced support for a limited number of TVs produced in 2021.
When Disney first launched its streaming service in late 2019, the message was clear: the company would be branching out to experiment with different forms of storytelling, providing a different experience than what audiences could find in theaters. It was an exciting concept and one that yielded mixed results. Under the banner of franchises such as "Marvel" and "Star Wars," Disney+ has explored every nook and cranny possible in each respective universe. For every meandering and derivative show like "The Book of Boba Fett," there were shows like "Andor" that broke new ground with their structure and tone.
On the Marvel side of things, series meant to serve as installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were allowed to play with genre and expectations. Early on in 2020, "WandaVision" showed signs of creative storytelling not seen in any MCU project up to that point. Even now, the MCU has developed a new short form of storytelling under the "Marvel Studios Special Presentation Banner." The first project, "Werewolf by Night," was a breath of fresh air for the studio. Other creatives have noticed the opportunities at hand when making shows and movies for Disney+. Jonathan Kasdan, creator and writer of the upcoming series "Willow," sees the positive reception to these specials as a door to explore other characters in the world of "Willow" in new and unexpected ways on the platform.
Opening The Door For New Stories
/Film's Jeff Ewing attended a screening of episodes of Willow, followed by a Q&A with executive producer Jonathan Kasdan and executive producer Michelle Rejwan. Early on during the panel, Kasdan expressed his excitement for the future of "Willow" and how the Disney+ streaming platform lends itself to other types of episodes and specials similar to "Werewolf by Night"— with Val Kilmer's Madmartigan from the 1988 film used as a specific example:
"And you know another thing we're excited about? I think you can feel it in the culture here at Disney; at least, 'Werewolf by Night' is an example of the kind of thing you can do; it just feels like an opening of a door. Maybe there's like a short-form stand-alone... You know... Like, we'd love to tell Madmartigan Stories or whatever it be in whatever form it might take. So, we're up for all of it."
Kasdan and his team are clearly excited about other specials and series that could be set in the world of "Willow." That's unsurprising, given that it's been over 30 years since the original film. It's been a long wait for a continuation, and the fantasy setting of the original movie and the series could potentially build a world for itself that rivals the likes of Amazon's "Rings of Power" or HBO Max's "House of the Dragon." It's also important to point out that Kilmer's character is apparently not in the series; in his place is Christian Slater's character, announced at D23 as an "old friend" of Madmartigan's. Given Kilmer's health, any potential Madmartigan series or special would more likely than not recast.
Nevertheless, Kasdan is game to experiment with different forms of storytelling on Disney+. All that remains to be seen is if the world and characters of "Willow" warrants an expansion following this upcoming season.
Soon, the world will be treated to yet another Lucasfilm production in the form of the "Willow" TV series. The Disney+ show will debut on November 30, much to the delight of fantasy fans around the world who've waited patiently since the release of the 1988 movie to see more of Warwick Davis' Willow Ufgood.
Though that original effort failed to meet George Lucas' lofty box office ambitions, there soon developed a devoted cult following for "Willow" in the decades since its release. Now Disney and Lucasfilm have once again flipped through their folder of IP and are hoping that giving this particular one the prestige TV treatment will prove to be the magic touch Willow and his band of enchanted heroes need.
In the time it took Lucasfilm to come around to the idea of revisiting this particular fantasy saga, star of the show Davis has had a lot of time to branch out. He did, of course, put in a few appearances in various Star Wars projects, most recently popping up in "Solo: A Star Wars Story" for a cameo. And when he wasn't starring in the Leprechaun horror franchise, Davis was sharpening his comedic skills starring in the questionable (even then) Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant mockumentary "Life's Too Short." Unfortunate short joke title aside, the show does at least seem to have expanded Davis' acting abilities, providing him with an opportunity to break away from the sci-fi fantasy genre with which he'd been associated for much of his career.
'If He Believed It, It Was A Willow Line'
As it turns out, the now-seasoned Davis did indeed bring a lot more to his "Willow" role this time around, including some improv skills that were no doubt honed during his time with Gervais. In a Q&A following a screening of "Willow" episodes attended by /Film, executive producers Jonathan Kasdan and Michelle Rejwan praised Davis' contributions to the upcoming show. Kasdan in particular described the "Harry Potter" actor's attention to the granular details in "Willow," recalling how Davis and the production team would "talk about every script" and how the actor "really came to life" when it came to the finer points of his character.
But what really seems to have impressed the producer is Davis' confidence with improv. Kasdan explained:
"What had happened in the years between 1988 and '21 when we made the show is he'd also become this brilliant improviser, having worked with Ricky Gervais and having done that part of his career. So he ... had a kind of looseness to him that I don't think the original movie had, where he's just playful and can have fun and he quickly developed a confidence that if it came out of his mouth and he believed it, it was a Willow line."
Improv Comedy Meets Epic Fantasy
Kasdan's comments bode well for the "Willow" sequel series, which will be set 20 years after the movie's storyline and will see Willow and his mystical group venture, according to the official teaser trailer, "into the unknown." And while it seems strange to think the "epic period fantasy" series will benefit from a Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant show that ended after a season, it makes sense in the context of Davis' career and his desire to develop. The actor has clearly been on his own quest to branch out since the original 1988 "Willow," saying during promotion for "Life's Too Short" that he's had "a lovely career of doing some big sci-fi fantasy movies and working with great people but there's always a desire for me to do comedy." Thankfully, that's exactly what he did, bringing much of that experience to "Willow" and seemingly impressing Kasdan at the very least.
Back when rumours about the Disney+ show were swirling, Davis teased some of character evolution, telling Comingsoon.net: "I'm a bit older and a bit wiser as an actor now, and the character would also be a bit older and wiser ... What has happened between the time we saw him in 'Willow' and now? Has he mastered the art of sorcery?" Whether all of this is enough to make "Willow" more of a mainstream hit than its predecessor remains to be seen. It's especially hard to say considering the bloated genre that is fantasy in 2022 — not to mention general audience burnout in the face of the seemingly never-ending supply of "content" being pumped onto our streaming services. But "Willow," with its diverse international cast and more experienced star, certainly has a good chance of at least lasting longer than "Life's Too Short."
Intel’s XeSS is yet another supersampling program, similar to NVIDIA’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR. However, it differs from those two supersampling programs in its compatible hardware, as it works on graphics cards outside of Intel-produced ones. It should be stated that Intel XeSS still absolutely works on Arc GPU hardware.
Anyways, with these supersampling programs, they can be applied to specific games. Intel XeSS is currently supported in several games, including Hitman 3, Riftbreaker, Redout II, Naraka Bladepoint, Gotham Knights, and more. On that note, two new titles will join the Intel XeSS family, which you can see below.
Death Stranding Director’s Cut is the enhanced version of the 2019 PlayStation 4 and PC game made by Kojima Productions, with new gameplay additions different from the original release. Now, the title will have access to Intel XeSS, allowing players to use the software’s features within Death Stranding.
Farming Simulator 22 puts players in control of managing their own farm, and performing various tasks on the property, like tending to cows, operating tractors, and more. Intel XeSS was added to the game today and can be applied with supported graphics cards and hardware to give players access to XeSS’s features while playing Farming Simulator 22.
Intel XeSS and its features can only be applied to the PC versions of the above titles, so console users will have to miss out on these additional features. We’ll continue to update as more information on Intel XeSS, and its supported games are released.
Death Stranding Director’s Cut is available now on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Farming Simulator 22 is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC, and Mac. In other news, there's been an update regarding the state of Bandai Namco's Blue Protocol. The specifications for the PC version of the game were also revealed
There’s a moment in the stunningly realized Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio where the familiar title character (winningly voiced by Gregory Mann), newly granted a semblance of animated life by a compassionate supernatural spirit, attempts to greet his new “father,” Geppetto (David Bradley), for the first time. "Born" with the ability to think, speak, and move, a clumsy, curious, impulse control-challenged Pinocchio emerges from the shadows crawling on all fours, a spider-like creature who sends Geppetto into paroxysms of fear (also, running away in terror). It’s a sign – though not the first nor certainly the last – that del Toro’s (Nightmare Alley, The Shape of Water, Cronos) stop-motion adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s 1883 children’s classic will veer into the dark fantasy and Gothic horror central...
The U.S. government on Wednesday issued a blunt recommendation for organizations running VMWare Horizon servers: Initiate threat-hunting activities to find and expel Iranian APT actors that used the Log4j crisis to slip undetected into corporate networks.
Aaron joins Andrew, Amanda, and Rich to talk about God of War: Ragnarok, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Sonic Frontiers, Marvel Snap, Orbital Bullet, A Little to the Left, A Castle Full of Cats, your emails, and more!
God of War 2 is still the king, and I think a lot of you agree
God of War has been around for 17 long years, and with Ragnarok still fresh in everyone's minds, we figured it was worth taking a look at a few of the best games in the series.
Here's a list of the top three God of War games to date!
3 - God of War Ragnarok (2022)
I've had access to God of War Ragnarok for weeks at this point: which is solely a statement on how much I've been absorbed with it, and nothing more!
Ragnarok is a fantastic modern action game that builds upon a a lot of what the 2018 laid down, while adding its own twists, turns, and character moments. There are some points that feel rushed, and give credence to the suggestion that this Norse story should have been a trilogy: but it does stick the landing, and has a few undeniably useful quality of life/mechanical upgrades that make it easy to get into. Plus, the postgame is extremely smooth in terms of its segue, and it's been really fun to "mop up" the rest of this packed game.
I suspect that the specific placing of God of War: Ragnarok and God of War 2018 will be the most contentious part of this list: we'll see how it plays out!
2 - God of War (2018)
God ofWar 2018 had the unenviable task of re-introducing (not rebooting per se) the franchise to the general public, and God of War fans as a whole.
Amazingly, the team managed to do just that and not only surpass expectations; but keep the continuity from the prior games. To me that's arguably the biggest achievement in a sea of pointless and cynical reboots, as the creatives had to bring Kratos into the modern era while keeping his rage, violence, and general aura alive. Bringing a son into the mix was the perfect way to do that, and God of War 2018 serves as a great blueprint for how to handle companions in games and not make them feel like an escort quest hinderance.
All of the babble and exposition when walking around makes God of War extremely replayable too; and when checking it out before making this list, it easily justified its inclusion. I don't think it gets enough credit for how much pressure it was under to deliver.
1 - God of War 2 (2007)
History has been extremely kind to God of War 2, as it's still living rent free in the pantheon of all-time action greats, even this far removed from the PS2 era.
While God of War 3 will make it on a lot of top three lists: I found it to be overly bombastic at points, and drawn out with a few of its environment/level choices. God of War 2 on the other hand is a nonstop thrill ride and accomplishes everything it sets out to do.
Like many top tier action games, I hold anything that can give you a good mix of humanoid and monstrous boss fights in high regard. Devil May Cry gave us faceoffs against Vergil. Ninja Gaiden had the Spider Clan. God of War 2 has Perseus, Icarus, Zeus, and Theseus: while throwing out iconic creatures like the Kraken.
It enhances what came before it with the impactful, but surpassed original God of War, and it provides one of the most all-encompassing fantasies of immersing yourself in (tearing apart) Greek mythology that the series has ever given us. While most of the franchise is tethered in Greece (including the spinoffs), God of War 2 was the one that really nailed it, and felt like a "greatest hits" of the time period.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer was featured in a lengthy chat on The Verge's Decoder podcast. As usual, Spencer provided plenty of quote-worthy comments to readers, such as reiterating the company's commitment to consumers to keep delivering Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles for the foreseeable future.
Elsewhere in the interview, though, Phil Spencer noted that the Microsoft Gaming business could very well become untenable in the long term without expanding into the mobile market, which is a key factor in the $69 billion deal to purchase Activision Blizzard.
In terms of the Activision opportunity — I keep saying this over and over, and it is true — it definitely starts with a view that people want to play games on every device that they have. In a funny way, the smallest screen that we play on is actually the biggest screen when you think about the install base in a phone.
That’s just a place where if we don’t gain relevancy as a gaming brand, over time, the business will become untenable. We’re not alone in seeing this; this is true for any of us. If you’re not able to find customers on phones or on any screen that somebody wants to play on, then you really are going to get segmented to a niche part of gaming where running a global business will become very challenging. [...] It’s critical that if you’re trying to run an at-scale global gaming business, you meet your customers where they want to play, and mobile is more and more that place.
To that end, interviewer Nilay Patel pointed out that King actually makes more money than Activision and Blizzard because Candy Crush is more profitable even than Call of Duty. The Microsoft Gaming CEO agreed as much, adding that the deal being all about Call of Duty on console is a construct made by Sony.
Absolutely. In addition, the number that’s not in the Candy Crush/King number is Call of Duty: Mobile and Diablo mobile, which are big franchises that exist in that Activision and Blizzard bucket that are also major players on phones. Yes, the idea that Activision is all about Call of Duty on console is a construct that might get created by our console competitor and maybe some players out there.
It’s the same reason that Take-Two looks at Zynga and says, “Okay, we have to build out our mobile capability.” I would say Activision/Blizzard/King did a better job of doing that earlier, and definitely better than we did. They are now in a position where they have great PC franchises, great console franchises, and great mobile franchises. The real differentiation that they add for Microsoft is their mobile capability.
As a reminder, UK and EU regulators are now going deeper into their review of the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard deal while we're still waiting to hear from the US Federal Trade Commission. For its part, Activision Blizzard still expects the deal to be closed by June 2023; if that doesn't happen, Microsoft will have to pay a $2-3 billion fee.
A third series of Staged and a behind-the-scenes special will launch on BritBox on 24th November The new episodes see Simon Evans trying to get David Tennant and Michael Sheen to make a radio version of a Christmas classic
Staged, the sitcom starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, is to return for a third series, this time on BritBox.
The six new half-hour episodes will be available on the streaming platform from 24th November as a box set, alongside the first two series and a new behind-the-scenes special.
The streaming platform confirms: “The award-winning series, starring David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg will return to our screens with some seasonal good cheer and its usual healthy dose of squabbling.”
Created by Simon Evans and Phin Glynn, Staged launched on BBC One in June 2020, reflecting the country being in coronavirus lockdown. A second series followed in January 2021.
The Staged Special “features not only mistakes and outtakes but it also shows how the show itself was found. From experiments in how to film the show to playing with the idea of who and what the characters would be, it’s a unique look back at a unique show produced at the most unique of times.”
Meanwhile Series 3 of staged sees life back to normal for David and Michael. “They have moved on from lockdown and returned to their everyday working life, while Simon’s career remains stagnant. His phone does ring, but only to ask if he can get David and Michael back together; and they’ve made it clear they want nothing more to do with him. But Christmas is approaching, and Simon hopes the warmth of the season might soften them to the idea of a radio version of a Christmas classic…but that’s as far as Simon’s plan has got!”
A Half-Life remaster, available to try out now, improves, tweaks, and upscales the iconic Valve FPS game without seriously affecting gameplay and style, offering an ideal middle ground for Gordon Freeman enthusiasts searching for something less transformative than Black Mesa – and another means to pass the time as we wait for Half-Life 3.
Perhaps your family is well-adjusted, open-minded, and chill, and your holiday gatherings are an unalloyed joy. For the rest of us, it’s complicated—which isn’t to say bad, necessarily. But also not good. America is so deeply divided right now, it’s likely that no two people have the same idea about how best to…
Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing subsidiary of Amazon, is asking managers to weed out underperforming workers on teams that have grown too fast, and will extend a hiring freeze across the organization into the first quarter of 2023 as the business seeks to keep costs in check amid slowing growth. Fortune: In a meeting this week, numerous AWS managers were informed that a hiring freeze that began earlier this month would continue into the first three months of the new year, but that layoffs were not currently planned at AWS, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The lack of layoffs was greeted with relief by some AWS insiders, given the recent news that parent company Amazon was eliminating roughly 10,000 jobs across its retail and devices operations, as well as in human resources. Some AWS teams may still shrink however, as the business takes steps to reduce staffing levels in groups that are currently above their headcount targets for the year. Managers of such teams are expected to "fix" the situation by the end of Q1 next year by managing out low performers through performance improvement plans, attrition, and other means, the person told Fortune.
The Gerber Shard hooks onto your keychain and provides several tools any DIYer needs on a regular basis. You get a two-sized flathead and one philips head screwdriver, bottle opener, wire stripper, lanyard hole, and a pry bar in one tiny tool.
It was largely priced in. Even so, Trump's formal announcement of candidacy for the 2024 US Presidential elections is creating a favorable tailwind for the shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:DWAC), a SPAC that is slated to take the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) public via a reverse merger.
We reported on the 07th of November that Trump was expected to formally enter the 2024 Presidential race on the 14th of November. That announcement, however, came one day later – on the 15th of November.
Bear in mind that TMTG intends to use the funds acquired through a public flotation of its shares to build a conservative-oriented media machine, which includes plans to bolster Trump's newly-launched social media platform, dubbed Truth Social, as well as launch a subscription-based, video-on-demand service and initiate cloud-based offerings under the "tech stack" suite of products.
So, what does Trump's candidacy mean for Digital World's prospects? Well, a formal Presidential bid means that more users will flock to the Truth Social platform to hear Trump's thoughts on various subjects, boosting the platform's engagement metrics in the process. This is doubly important as Trump has so far not given any indication of coming back to Twitter despite indications that Elon Musk is about to remove the blanket ban on the former US President.
Trump's Truth Social has a similar design interface to that of Twitter. However, the platform has just around 2 million daily active users. For comparison, over 200 million people use Twitter daily.
While Digital World shares are currently benefitting from externalities, the SPAC continues to flounder when it comes to its intrinsic factors. For instance, the merger between Digital World and TMTG has been complicated by a flood of federal investigations, including an ongoing investigation by the SEC and FINRA on allegations that the SPAC's management violated securities law by holding private discussions about a merger with TMTG as early as May 2021 but failing to disclose this pertinent information in its public filings. The SEC is also looking into reports that Rocket One Capital might have been privy to the impending merger between TMTG and DWAC before the public announcement. These developments have forced DWAC and TMTG to try to secure an extension – via shareholder approval – to the contractually mandated timeframe by which this deal has to be consummated. The next iteration of a special meeting of the SPAC's shareholders is now scheduled to take place on the 22nd of November, where DWAC and TMTG will again try to extend the merger consummation deadline by 1 year.
None of these developments seem to matter to Digital World shareholders at the moment. Consider the fact that the SPAC's shares are currently up over 4 percent in early pre-market trading. With the stock inextricably tied to Trump’s political fortunes now, expect wild gyrations as Trump moves up or down in polls.
As you’ve probably noticed, we love sharing our passion for games by giving you guys sales, special discounts, and overall awesome deals on your favourite titles on various occasions (like for example upcoming Black Friday!) or just because we’d like you to experience them and save some money.
We do that a lot, and while sometimes it is possible to miss a few of said deals here and there, we have a remedy for that to never happen: adding games you’d like to purchase on a Wishlist!
It is incredibly easy and convenient, so why not show you how to do that step by step? Let’s go!
Step one: Think of a game you’d like to know when it's discounted on GOG.
Step two: Go to its gamecard either on our store page or in GOG GALAXY client.
Step three: Just click “Wishlist it” under the “Add to cart” button and receive notifications when the game goes on discount.
Or you can make it even easier. If a game you’d like to wishlist caught your eye when browsing our store catalogues, just slide over it and click a heart icon - this way you don’t even need to go to its gamecard.
To access your Wishlist simply slide over your profile name when you're signed in on GOG website and click "Wishlist".
Also, when you're on active promo page of any sale, every game that you have wishlisted will appear there in a special "From your wishlist" tab.
But that’s not the only thing you can do. By signing up for the wishlist email alerts there’s no way you will ever miss the offers. Here’s how to do that:
First, go to our website. Then, when signed in, slide over your profile name and a list of tabs will appear.
Then, click “Orders & settings”. After you’re redirected to that tab, choose “Subscriptions” on the list on the left side.
All you need to do from that is to check “Wishlist alerts”.
And done! Now whenever games from your Wishlist go on promo you’ll receive an e-mail so you can grab that masterpiece with an amazing deal.
Pssst! We highly recommend doing just that because a certain promotion regarding everyone’s favourite day of the week is coming!
Dining with Chef Slowick (Ralph Fiennes) is a dangerous experience in "The Menu."By Christopher James
There’s a moment in the stunningly realized Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio where the familiar title character (winningly voiced by Gregory Mann), newly granted a semblance of animated life by a compassionate supernatural spirit, attempts to greet his new “father,” Geppetto (David Bradley), for the first time. "Born" with the ability to think, speak, and move, a clumsy, curious, impulse control-challenged Pinocchio emerges from the shadows crawling on all fours, a spider-like creature who sends Geppetto into paroxysms of fear (also, running away in terror). It’s a sign – though not the first nor certainly the last – that del Toro’s (Nightmare Alley, The Shape of Water, Cronos) stop-motion adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s 1883 children’s classic will veer into the dark fantasy and Gothic horror central...
